Huber Syndrome - Episode 14: Is Story More Important Than Gameplay?!

Lot's of strong opinions on this one. I think we all take something different away from what we choose to play. Enjoy what works for you but stay flexible and try something new from time to time. Recently I found story focused games to be really fun, (Blues and Bullets, Life is Strange, Telltale Games...) but I love me some good game play as well (Souls Games, Overwatch). Point is stay open to the other side of the spectrum because you might find (like me) that you have been missing out.

Morgan Mohalla

Joseph Conrad Rules! "Youth" is also epic and has the same narrator as Heart of Darkness.

Morgan Mohalla

@Andrew Chalmers I disagree completely. Games can tell different stories and make you feel differently from any other medium. To make a basic example, what movie or book could replicate the feeling you get during the CoD: Modern Warfare mission "No russian"? (Maybe not the most effective example, but most people should be aware of it) None, because they don't put you in control. This argument that "Games are for gameplay and books are for stories!" is so narrowminded.

A game with bad or average gameplay but has great story, to me, is a story with a high admission fee. It's a game that has failed. It should've just been a book or a movie. If I were to review it as a video game, it'd get a bad or average score. If I were to review it for the story, I'd dock points for the high admission fee. When I play a video game, I want the gameplay to be of the highest priority. The story comes second, and should never supersede the gameplay. At best, it should be on par with the gameplay (actually, this is the ideal case). If it bypasses the gameplay in terms of quality, then the game is beginning to fail. To me, a game's story should only exist to amplify the gameplay. To bring meaning to your button presses. To give the gameplay context. But if it goes beyond that, it should be in another medium altogether.

Andrew Chalmers

I couldn't finish Uncharted 4. All it was was graphics and voice acting for me. The gameplay was clunky, frustrating, boring, terribly placed, too easy, but when "challenge" arrived it was cheap and badly designed. The story wasn't even great, so I don't understand the hype. I absolutely need competent gameplay for me to justify making time for playing a game. This is why people dismiss Uncharted with the phrase, "it should just be a movie." I think it's perfectly fair to say that, but I know Ben would be upset by that. *shrug*

gameplay vs. story. depends on the game. MMOs like WoW and FFxiv, i judge more on the gameplay, because I'll be taking hours each day to play, it has to be fun to play each class. Single player Rpgs or certain jrpgs, I'm more focused on the story.

Bryce Ray Parker

Check out the forums on the easy allies website. There's a technical issue subforum where you could post the problem you're having

Mango

Man I'm having issues getting the content where do we go when we have issues?

rudy palermo

Agreed! Story is what makes a game memorable to me. Gameplay is important and games like Super Mario 64 (that barely have any story) are definitely memorable, but an intriguing story can elevate a game even if the gameplay is lacking. I do find that setting plays an almost as import role. For example, I didn't really care about the story in Fallout 3, but I just loved being in that world. The holy trinity therefore is gameplay, story and setting. To me Mass Effect, the Arkham series, Zelda (yes, I care about the story in Zelda) and Ni No Kuni are prime examples of this trinity

Robbert Roodzand

"Deep horseback riding"

GW Fawkes

Well, you can't say the gameplay is mediocre because there isn't much gameplay at all but Huber, Life Is Strange! EMOTIONAL

Totally agree with Spec Ops the Line!! Underrated gem, blew my mind.

Oriol Siurana

Here's one you missed, Huber. There is no greater story-driven game built upon mediocre components than NieR. It's a truly phenomenal experience if you can look past its ugly exterior. I highly recommend it!

"Doesn't blow anybody away" as ppl get blown away with a grenade launcher. Nice.

Games with a good story and mediocre game play is like eating at a low end restaurant with a great chef and awesome food. Games with awesome game play and mediocre story is like eating at a fancy restaurant where the food feels overpriced and bland. Sometimes you're in the mood to just have nice atmosphere over good food but I'll take a juicy burger on a dirty plate any day of the week

Mango

Huber, totally with you on story over gameplay making a game stick with you after it's done. I just finished the witcher 3 + expansions, and I will never like that series' combat but that world... dang, maybe the best game I've ever "experienced" in my life. Finding a game that's fun to play will entertain me for a few days, but if I step away from it it's probably gone for a good long time. Finding a game world (story, lore, dialog, whatever) that makes me feel things, or makes me want to speculate, something like that hooks me in and I know I'll be thinking about it for months, if not years. As another, lesser example, Mass Effect 1 didn't have bad gameplay but the gunplay took a long time to get going, inventory was annoying, etc. and even so, the way they set up that universe, the characters, etc. made it obvious the series was 10/10 for me from the get go. Also a counter-example, the Just Cause series is very possibly the most fun I've ever had from a pure, nuts and bolts gameplay perspective but because the stories doesn't mean anything to me, because I don't really care about the world that I'm running around in, the games never seem to stick with me. I know I can go back to them if I just want to have fun but like you with DSIII, as soon as I'm done it's out of my mind.

Bradley Spies

I've never *really* gotten into a game story.. gameplay for me, but I'm open for a great story. Love the Deus Ex series.. Off topic, I don't like the room you're in (come on Allies, lets get that Studio tier), it has a weird pink hue.. giving me a HUEber syndrome.

David Curtis

Wow, this was very short and I was enjoying it so much. Why Huber? :( I also miss the old IT'S TIME FOR THE SYNDROME, the new Seinfeld-esque tone doesn't really click with me as well. Still, great to have another episode and thanks for the MASSIVE amount of streams you've been doing!

Marcel "Giru017" Frohlich

These are starting to get a little on the short side Hubes...

Chris Georgaras

I agree completely with Huber. There is a time and place for both deep story games, and games the completely focus on gameplay. Most games fall somewhere in between, Dark Souls still tries to tell a story, confusing as it might be. Obviously the best games out there, has both great "gameplay" and stories, such as the best Final Fantasy games, but if I had to choose, I would much rather play a game with a great story, and mediocre gameplay, than the other way around.

Thore Dørup

I'm with you on this Huber, for me a game without a decent story has trouble hooking me as it feels like I'm playing without a goal in mind and there will be no payoff in the end, it kinda just feels lifeless. That being said I don't know if I'd say story is more important, I feel like gameplay and story are as important as each other - a good harmony is what makes a game great.

Agreed, I can forgive a game more if it has a phenomenal story but decent gameplay than the opposite. Bad story just drags down the whole experience. Some games are even mostly story with little gameplay (like Visual Novels, etc.), yet have been some of the best game experiences in recent memory.

Samo Rozman

Huber, Lisa the Painful RPG, for real man

Story for me is always more important than gameplay, and if you can somehow get both...that's the holy grail. And while it wasn't bad gameplay, I would say that the original Knights of the Old Republic's story definitely powers through any slow spots in gameplay.

Under five minutes!? I needs more Syndrome Huber! Great set of episodes. Just out of curiosity, what inspired the change in the Syndrome segment graphics?

Gan Khef

Apocalypse Now - the absolute grandfather of all modern films, and my favourite film by far. Unpopular opinion though - grab the Redux version, and watch that bad boy. Sure, the extra scenes may be fluff, but the reordering of scenes, the longer running time, help the viewer to descend in further into the heart of darkness. Which, cross promote, is also my favourite novella, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.. Which to tie back to Huber, is also the main inspiration for Spec Ops. We have noe come full circle - good day all

Chaeotic

Huber, I love you to death, but that has to be the clickbaitiest title I ever did read. Great episode anyway, lol.

Anontastic