Single-player video games do not need a story to be fun. In fact I especially hate it when story is used to compensate poor gameplay. I like a lot of story-oriented games (ie. visual novels) but I also like a lot of games with little to no story at all.
This blogger's blog post goes waaaay out of line insulting jrpgs (http://www.haterade-gaming.com/editorials/44-game-design/53-why-jrpgs-suck-dick) but he makes some great points: video game stories just aren't that good (and this can be readily apparent if gamers actually read more... and watched more movies, tv and anime for that matter) and story shouldn't be a crutch to salvage poor game design.
To me, I think of video game stories mainly as guilty pleasures. I consider Phoenix Wright, Hotel Dusk and Tsukihime as guilty pleasures. They ARE low-brow, they are not high art, but they are fun. Just like a low-brow tv show, movie or anime. Video game designers that try to pass off their stories as high art literature are pretentious.
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