How important is good storytelling for game sales, popularity & longevity?

[richardhutnik]

WereKitten said:

richardhutnik said:

So, then another question here is whether story is best to be the driving point for a game, or is it something that merely adds value to games, that can help?  If it is the later, then would the things best be served by just doing enough of a story to make the game work?  How much is gained by a game, if you hire a-level actors to read the lines and spend a ton of money to have Anthony Hopkins do hours of dialog in a game?  I remember how Zero Punctuation guy complained how Liam Neason (sp) only did a brief bit of dialog in Fallout 3.  Would the game been better served if he did a LOT more dialog?

You're mixing up high production values with being story-centered, here.

Psychonauts or Grim Fandango lived and are rememberd for their setting, plot, characters. Not for their game mechanics, nor for their production values. You can discuss how having higher or lower investments in things like voice overs or visual arts is a good investment or not in the business sense, but that has little to do wih the fact that the storytelling is the backbone of a given game.

I could of gone with "movie-like" experience, but I know not all games are heavily multimedia.  What I will say is "production value" is what is normally done in movies in order to improve their quality to make the experience better.  So,  what I was focusing on is the elements in telling a story, the storytelling.  And I am of the belief increased production value helps with the storytelling process.