I like story-driven games. If I'm going to invest a lot of time in a game, there has to be something that interests me, and usually it's a story. That's why I love most Japanese RPGs - there's a story, it may be cliched, but there's a story. KOTOR hooked me the same way, even though I'd figured out my character's actual identity within the first 15 minutes of the game. It's why most fighting games and most FPS games don't interest me all that much, not enough of a story to keep me hooked. Exploration is the other key to my like or dislike of a game. I need to explore the environment. It doesn't have to be an open world, but there needs to be enough nooks and crannies to check out in outside areas, as well as drawers and cupboards to poke my nose into in houses and other buildings.
That may be why the Dragon Quest franchise is my favorite rpg series. Lots of places to poke around in and a decent, if not great, story. Ratchet & Clank wins for favorite platformer series, enough of a story to keep it interesting and a heavy emphasis on exploration, plus you get to blow shit up. Games like Flower and Journey may not have much of a story, but the important elements are there, especially in Journey. Having read several of Joseph Campbell's books about myth and the importance of myth (Hero With a Thousand Faces, The Power of Myth, Myths to Live By), I see a lot of those mythic base elements, as well as seeing the game as the parable for life that it is.
I finished the main story for Jude in Tales of Xillia Friday night. If you're planning on playing the game, stop reading now.
One of the things that Xillia does a bit different than most other rpgs that I've played is that the end bosses aren't evil people/gods looking to rule or destroy the universe just because they can. Gaius truly believes that by destroying one world, he is saving his world. And technically he is. Jude, the hero, sees things as less black and white - he believes that it's better to try and save both and fail (but he believes that they won't fail) rather than sacrifice one for another. And he has to lose the girl to do it. Some people might say that it would be a better game if you got to make those choices yourself, like KOTOR, and it might. I look at it this way, though: I don't get to influence the story in a movie, and most rpgs are really just interactive movies where you get to be the protagonist, so I'm OK with being led down a pre-existing path laid out by the game designer.
I like stories in games, but usually need a little variety. For ever Last of Us or Mass Effect, I usually need a Pokemon or Mario where the story isn't a big deal, just let me go around and have fun. Though when a story driven game is bad lately, it tends to be more painful than when a gameplay focused one is (see Beyond: Two Souls and Assassin's Creed 3).
I'm easily entertained and a lot less critical than you seem to be, so I may very well find those games to be enjoyable. Then again, I may not.
While I'm playing Borderlands 2 with my friend Mark, I am the story guy, and he's the action guy. I do love to pay attention to what characters say in a game and what the story's about. I'm always telling him to shut up so I can hear what the character is saying and he's always plowing ahead for the next big boom. This dynamic changes depending on the game though.
That's like the difference between me and my nephew. He just plows ahead, while I'm yelling "hey, we didn't look over here" or "I'm still reading that!"
It's the one drawback to playing a game co-op. Sometimes I lose the sense of the story going on.
I like story-driven games too, which is likely why Dragon Quest quickly became one of my favorite RPG series.
I love the Dragon Quest games. VIII is my favorite of the ones I've played so far which is all of them except for II and III. I need to hook my Yobo back up so I can play them.
I like story and likable characters. That is probably why the Tales franchise is my favorite. Can't wait for Xillia 2.
That's what draws me to the Tales franchise, too. I haven't played a Tales game that I didn't like yet.
Me too. I may be the only one who like Symphonia: DNW. Emil was annoying, but Tenebrae made up for it.
I just got a review copy of the Tales of Symphonia collection on PS3.
Story is helpful to keep you wanting to play and find out what's next, and to help you to know what to do, but for me, gameplay is king.
I do enjoy likable characters, too. That's one of the reasons why I liked Legendia so much. The characters cracked me up (especially Grune).
It's silly, but what endeared Legendia to me so much was the fact that it was the first RPG I played after my dad died and it had a character with my dad's name in it (Moses). I didn't realize that until after I'd started playing, so it wasn't like I meant to play it because of the character.
Moses was a cool character, too.
I like story in games as well, which is why I wish I could tolerate the actual gameplay in JRPGs. I've gotten more used to exploration and like it too now, but for me the test will always be how easy it is to pick up and go in a game. I was raised on platformers, fighters, racers, etc. Look, I wasn't on it, but Ritalin was very popular in the 90s for a reason.
A lot has to do with things like TV, too. Everythings so flash-flash-flash compared to the shows I grew up watching. I frequently get headaches because of how quickly they flash from one scene to another.
I've actually gotten headaches from the same, and with Youtube videos starting to incorporate jump cuts more and more, it's only getting worse.
I do watch said Youtube videos, but I always prefer watching older movies to something like Hunger Games in terms of cinematography, cause the camera stayed still for the most part and kept rolling. Even if it dollies or trucks, it's a lot smoother in older movies. I think that's a large part of why I appreciate 2010's Kick-Ass so much, because those action scenes were much more fluidly and less staggeringly shot and cut.
Trust me, I might be from a generation that had TV like that (Power Rangers probably did that), but that doesn't mean I don't notice and probably still would even if I didn't have my background in production.
You really must've hated Final Fantasy XIII then when it came out back in the day.
I have played remarkably few Final Fantasy games, and XIII isn't one of them.