For me story is the most important factor of the game, I don't mind long cutscenes, etc. as long as the narrative is structured well and the overall plot is compelling and well written.

One of my biggest problem with story is it's static/linear nature, after you've played it I have less incentive to play it again. Sure you can find a few examples where this isn't true, due to an excellent development, interactive story or nostalgia. Truth is there are times when I'm reading dialogs from the game or watching an introduction I feel like I'm wasting time, I see the story as an obstacle to the gameplay (which is what gaming is about).

And what's even worse isn't story but the damn tutorials stages or control dialogs... argh. Put that damn data in the manual, we aren't reading those anymore because you put it in the game.

That's in there, because people don't (like to) read manuals.

And developers prefer to stop the game and force them to read it. Love that.

A linear story isn't always a bad thing, if the story itself is well developed and written. Like with a movie, you're more inclined to rewatch a good movie than a bad one, and the same applies to the plots within games. Sadly, at this point in time it's still far more often than not that games simply are poorly written.

If it's done nicely, i don't have a problem with it. IF.

That's the thing, a movie is a media that is restricted in that sence. But this is not the case with games, you interact with it, and whenever that interaction is taken away from you can feel restricted. I sometimes think, "I want to be doing what the charecter is doing right now by myself".

Like I said before, obviously there are exceptions and there will always be different points of views. Video games can be blurred into movies, I don't mind, but I prefer to manipulate it if I have the possibility.

This exactly.

A game whose gameplay IMO was hindered by story was Twilight Princess. Those twilight areas in the beginning went completely opposite of the freedom in Zelda games, same as the sequence where you went to the castle in wolf form. That was actually worse cause it didn't have any fun gameplay.

Story should always serve gameplay, not the other way round. That Nintendo usually makes games this way is one of the reasons why I like them.

i also think, after reading these responses, that i used to confuse story and setting. i loved super metroid because the planet was awesome and well designed and fun to explore, and the music was great. but there was no story to limit me from exploring outright. it was fun getting further and further without any direction because it was up to you to figure it out. when you get to the crashed spaceship with the ghosts too, that was awesome because it gave you a little backstory without being pervasive at all. it was just there, you explored, and put two and two together.

its similar to why i loved the new super mario bros title this gen. there was a short cutscene at the beginning showing peach getting kidnapped, and that was it. the adventure was the story, and the player made it up. the settings in that game and the levels were awesome, which is one of nintendos strongest points. i just feel that if they made more games that dropped the narrative storytelling almost altogether and focused on giving players great levels or worlds to play in, nintendo would be golden again for the next gen.

Nintendo and storylines? Nintendo and complex, well written, engrossing and mature storylines?
Does not compute.