Story is automatically a good thing?

[elprincipe]

Bodhesatva said:

I've noticed many reviews recently which have trumpeted the significance of storyline, and have implied -- if not outright explicated -- that story is, in essence, always a good thing. A little bit like graphics: better graphics is always a plus.

Frankly, this irks me, because I almost uniformly hate story-driven gaming; I have a strong dislike for traditional RPGs, and I find stories -- even better ones, as with Bioshock -- uniformly tedious and infantile in games. More specifically, I don't think an interactive medium is built for strong storytelling.

 

Does anyone else feel this way? Or have something to add? Does anyone here feel that storytelling is automatically a good thing, and if so, can you explain why?

Totally agree with you my friend.  Traditional Japanese RPGs are some of the most boring games I've ever played.  The stories are awful and the gameplay consists of navigating through menus, walking around and hitting the 'A' button to tell your people to attack (which they then do without your input).

I think video game stories are almost universally laughable, especially when compared to something like a novel, but if they are simple and not relied upon for the appeal of the game I have no problem with them.  Unskippable cutscenes and intros, yes, I have a big problem with that.