Does plot really matter?

[Accelerator]

Actually I partially retract my previous statement after thinking about it for a bit.

Plot, Gameplay and Characters are all important. It needs to do one of those things excellently and the other two have to be done at least well for me to consider it a great game.

Persona 3/4 has excellent characters, enjoyable story, enjoyable battle system. So I would overall consider it a great game.


Tales has an excellent battle system, usually decent story, likable characters. So again, a good game.


Legendia has excellent characters AND a decent story but a bad battle system. It still does two out of the three right so I'd consider it good.

Music is pretty important too. I'm pretty sure Xenoblade's battle music is like half the reason the otherwise rather dull battles become pretty enjoyable.

Basically I think this isn't the NES era. There are a lot more aspects to a game than just the gameplay. I think they all can come together to make something pretty good.
_________________

[Abicion]

[Cloud]

It depends, but my rule of thumb for things like JRPGs is that I at least want things to happen and for the plot to move forward at a steady pace. Do that, and I can generally at least enjoy it if it's coupled with good gameplay.

I don't really expect top notch writing when I play video games, but it at least has to keep me interested, for better or worse.

[Slivius]

Whoops, I can't believe I actually managed to mistake Duke for the Don...
As in, I accidentially switched their names around.

If you didn't do the sidequests concerning Duke, he really did come out of nowhere.

Vesperia:
petty crime -> crime syndicate -> guild -> crime syndicate -> the empire goes mad -> end of the world -> duke

It's anticlimactic at it's best if you ask me.

@Kenny: How do you feel about games like SSB(m/b) then? Those hardly have any plot, nor characters that go through some growth of sorts during the game. But it does have excellent gameplay in my opinion.
_________________
Also known as Sliv, Slivvie, Quilvius, Slivendiferious, and slivijizzisious

Ruilus wrote:

Holy hell. Yesterday was a blur of wine, whiskey and brandy. I can't remember where I left my sofa.

[Accelerator]

Obviously I'm only really talking about games where writing is a major focus.
_________________

[Arn]

Too much different points make me rethink a lot of thing, Kenny mentioning Legendia is one of the things that made my argument kinda fail because it's one of the best Tales games I've played and it's one fo the worst gameplay in the seria. HA!

But I dunno I still think a lame plot is is something disconsiderable as long as the gameplay is good.
_________________

[Soren]

It depends.

Some tales games have mediocre stories and I play them because the battles are fun. Pokemon has pretty boring stories all the time but that doesn't matter because the fun is in catching pokemon, training them, and battling.

But I would not touch a game like Professor Layton or Phoenix Wright if the story was bad because for those games, the story is the point of the game.

[Kajitani-Eizan]

the plot has to be of sufficient quality to meet the demands of the style/genre of game. further quality is an added bonus but not usually required. less quality usually means excessive facepalming, confusion, suspension of disbelief, dislike of the characters, etc. etc.

(see for example: Final Fantasy XIII-1)
_________________
Mint-III

[Adol Christin]

Plot doesn't need to be great by any means. It simply needs to be entertaining. Bayonetta's plot makes no sense to the point of hilarity, but something about it keeps things moving, for example.

I'm ok with any plot that's not just an incoherent mess and poorly written, even if I've seen it all before. Expecting something totally new every time would just set me up to be disappointed all the time because that's simply not going to happen. Too many stories have already been told to expect frequent originality, so I just expect solid writing and likeable characters.
_________________

Adventurer, Hero, Pirate. Adol the Red.
Spamus->Adol Christin

[Suikoden2]

Plots are only as important as you make them out to be.
_________________

[jesselt]

It's fine without a story, so do we really need one?
_________________

^Cruxis

[Conn]

The more in focus the writing is, the better it needs to be.

So I don't need anything from an action game. I don't even need the flimsy justification for why I'm punching dudes in the face. The main goal of the game is fun and that's all I expect it to deliver.

Meanwhile, JRPGs put story first and foremost often to the detriment of actually being a fun, compelling game, so yes I do expect it to actually have reasonably good writing (at least when it comes to characters; I can excuse a poor story if the cast is a likeable bunch). I would say that I form opinions on JRPGs largely— but not entirely— on their writing.

Of course, if a game manages to do both, then it's all the better for it and I will give it heaps of praise.
_________________

[CyborgZeta]

If it's an action game like say, Resident Evil, then the plot doesn't matter to me and I can pretty much ignore it.

RPGs however tend to have pretty heavy plots. So I think in those kind of games it's important to at least have a decent plot. Tales of Xillia 2 for instance wouldn't have been nearly as good without its plot.

That's not even getting into games like the Ace Attorney series which are pretty much all plot, little gameplay.
_________________

"Blacker than a moonless night, hotter and more bitter than Hell itself...That is coffee." - Godot

[Shadowfox]

Go play The Walking Dead and tell me plot doesn't matter.
_________________
*Sig by WarriorAngel01*

Rise, <3's P4 wife
Alkaid and Shino are <3

[WarriorAngel01]

On a JRPG forum, your answers are definitely going to be skewed, just saying

But I think it depends on what kind of game you want to play. If it's a platformer, I'm fine with an excuse plot or no plot at all, as long as its adequately challenging and fun (like Super Mario Galaxy I guess).

A good storyline does significantly increase my enjoyment of a game though. Consider the Zelda series: it was fun without a plot or with a plot that really doesn't impact the game that much (the first one and a Link to the Past), but the reason I love Wind Waker so much is because of its story and characters.

Actually, most of my favorite games had a great story and characters you really felt for, like Baten Kaitos and Tales of Legendia. Both games also had a very developed world that was directly involved with the plot, which was really awesome. That both games looked ridiculously good and had a great soundtrack to boot didn't hurt their chances of becoming my all-time favorites, honestly.

Anyway, I think some of the best games tell a story, although it doesn't necessarily have to be in words. Case in point, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus.
_________________

newest stuff