Which is more important in a game, the storyline or the gameplay??

The games that im referring to hear are mostly the final fantasy games and the metal gear solid series.

I think it has to be gameplay because i want to be actually PLAYING the game not just
sitting there staring at the TV with the controller on the ground waiting for a bloddy movie sequence to end. Dont get me wrong I like a good storyline but is it really necessary to have long movie sequences like the ones in metal gear solid games. Its not that i have no patience its just that if I want to watch a movie I go to the cinema.
(oh yea I still think the metal gear solid series is good just to tell you but final fantasy..)

Well,depends on genre,i would not choose gameplay over Storyline or scripted event in a rpg like FF.

For me it' s GAMEPLAY by MORE than just a country mile. Does NOT matter what the genre is.

If a game has awesome gameplay but a lousy storyline I' m still going to enjoy it a great deal... If a game has an awesome storyline but lousy gameplay then I' m not going to like it very much.

If I want great stories I' ll read a book

Well,you interact into the story obviously,but look at ff8,did anyone really like the fighting there?
Was just an excuse to keep on learning about rinoa and the mainquest.

If I had played Final Fantasy 8 and the story was good but the fighting sucked, I would have shut the game off long before hitting the 1 hour mark.

Another example would be that after the seemingly EPIC rooftop scene near the end of Disc 3 in Shenmue 2 for the Dreamcast, I was one of the very few that didn' t dig the MUCH slower-paced Disc 4. I felt that the game should have ended with Disc 3. And simply have the Shenhua stuff of Disc 4 as the beginning portion of Shenmue 3. But that' s just me

Now, let me RUN before the Shenhua lovers string me up

Kikizo staff=SEGA FANBOYS! :P

Hey! I just criticized a part of the game (Shenmue II) that a lot of people are probably going to roast me for

You may try and fool as all,but we all know that kikizo always hated sony,ms and nintendo all they care for is those filthy sega :P

Gameplay, definitely.
Gameplay will make me keep playing a bad story, but if the gameplay sucks, i' ll never finish the game.
Take the FF series. I' ve never finished one, because i HATE random turn-based battles. However i finished FF tactics and i don' t even remember the story on that one, lol.
That said, I really wish developers would focus on making both aspects superior. Awesome gameplay can soothe the pain of a horrendous storyline, but it would still be a better game if the story didn' t suck in the first place.


And as for Shenmue II, IMO the game did end on disk 3.. Disk 4 should have been and extra, optional disk Maybe released for free as a teaser for Shenmue3.
It should not have been Shenmue 3 disk one. I don' t want to start a game like that, too slow.

I' ll take 100 percent of both thanks, and i don' t care if i am spoiled.

Dangit! i want a pony! and a good game! and a fudge sandwich! NOW!

Gameplay. Disgaea is, after all, a simple plot. The game is nigh eternal.

If you have not played those story games where you merely press a button or arrow when it appears on screen, you are truly blessed. Those are terrible! Absolutely terrible!

A healthy mix of both is ofcourse prefered. Each has its on perks, a game with no story and good gameplay can still be fun, but a game with no gameplay and good story wont be fun!


But Storyline is key to my expirience most of the time, thats why i dont play sports games, i feel like im wasting my time.

Gameplay is what' s separates games from movies - it' s cool to have a great story , but nothing can compensate for poor gameplay.

I loved FF7 and 8 gameplay actually.

It sucks that we have to choose don' t you think?
It' s alway one aspect of games over the other,it' s so rare to play a game that has everything right - but maybe that makes playing those games so inspiring , so worth living for.

I know what you mean when you say things like that about sports games - it' s not even about story , but about doing something ...I don' t know ...doing something you don' t do everyday :)

If you have not played those story games where you merely press a button or arrow when it appears on screen, you are truly blessed. Those are terrible! Absolutely terrible!

fahrenheit Rocked. Ever play that?

Gameplay any day. Why is this even a question? Story only serves to enhance gameplay. Many, many RPGs and other games probably have fantastic stories, but I' ll never know because I stop playing them after an hour or two (if even that) because the gameplay isn' t very good and/or boring. Examples of this are: Dragon Quest 8, any Final Fantasy game (yes, any), Metal Gear Solid 2, etc etc etc. I don' t know if these games actually did have good stories, but I' ll never know because the actual gameplay was a snooze fest in each one of them.

Gameplay, although too little of either triggers my " gruesome and/or unnecesary violence towards the developers" reflex. If the gameplay sucks, then I' ll give up before I get to the story.

Enchant arm hopefully have both,..

Depending on the genre, the scale could be tilted either way.

I like a nice balance of gameplay AND storyline. Storyline helps bring you into the game - psychologically. Gameplay helps one feel that they have a part in successfully completing and/or defeating the game and/or foe' s forces.

Without a good mix of these two elements, a game will suffer in the ratings.

has much as its referred to, mgs still has gameplay. In fact the ratio is something like this [gameplay:videos] 70:30

while something like metroid prime has 95:5

So what if Metroid Prime 2 had not loads of movie sequences than MGS. It still had a decent storyline. A game does not have to have loads of movie sequences to tell a story. MGS has far to many movie sequences anyway, there is just no nead for them. One thing that really enoyed me about MGS was the ridiculously long codec messages, like come on they start talking about love, war, peace and loads of other crap that has no relevance to the storyline. Like remember when you go to save a game in MGS3 she starts talking about a Godzilla movie!! I sometimes think that the MGS creaters are confused what industry they are in, the movie industry or the game industry. Anyway Metroid Prime 2 had Brilliant gameplay, remember the brilliant screw attack.