As long as they are good, besides complex, I like them. (It should be noted that, complex or not, a good story for a game could be not so good for a movie or a book, see for example how much Mario and Tomb Raider movies sucked).

For me personally, I LOVE complex plots in my games. There are games that bring complex stories that IMO can compete with novels and movies. For all you guys bringing up books and films being far better in storytelling then videogames, I'd have you know that there are PLENTY of movies and novels that have bad stories and writing. You guys talk as if every single one of them have masterful storytelling.

...Was I ever in it? X:

As long as the plots don't get in the way of the things that actually make games good, then sure; why not? But the moment the plot starts to get in the way of the game's quality -for example, when game makers cut corners in the things that matter for the sake of the plot- then I want it gone.

I agree, not because game's have weaker stories but because stories tend to be best in the medium they were written for.

Some writers for games also write book, write for TV/movies, and do many things besides game writing. Keyword is some.

And I hear you, plenty of times the story is complex for the sake of being complex, not because it's a complex story at heart. But, sometimes the game actually has a complex story at it's heart, and the philosophy isn't thrown in there "just because" and is very important to the story and to the themes inside the story. Conversely, books/movies do that too, where the philosophy stuff is just through in there without any good reason.

I enjoy complex stories in games, yes, but not if they're overly convoluted. Deus Ex, Planescape Torment, Half-Life 2 all have relatively good stories. However, I think in games it is less important how good the story actually is but how well it's actually told. The interactive nature of games opens up far more ways to grip the player than just movies or books where you're that bit more distant from the story.

Take Mass Effect 2 for instance. The story is simplistic at best but the interaction of the characters and your individual effect on your own "player story" makes it that bit more involving. If a film or book came out with the same story it'd be generic as hell.

Half-Life 2 Ep 2 as well, where after having complete control of your character and able to influence (or at least having the illusion of influence) events throughout the game you are suddenly helpless and have to watch events take place before your eyes.

So yes, a complex story can be fun, but in games, it has to be told well.

If a game doesn't have a good story, good pacing and really good voice acting, then it just makes it a pain to play. If the story is crap, then it better have some excellent gameplay (Bayonetta), otherwise I'm not buying.

No,I don't like games where you have to think about something. lol

I agree! This is a presentation (as opposed to content) thing, and games do have more options for presentation. This applies to other forms of art and entertainment too. Good presentation can easily make up for lack of innovative or new or exciting content, whereas amazing content presented horribly will not reach people. I'm speaking mostly from the viewpoint of writing music (since that's what I know best) but I can imagine it spanning across other mediums as well.

So I'm noticing some people say "I like complex stories so long as it's done well, and makes sense". Essentially, we all like good presentation, and if the content is complex, the presentation better be amazing or it won't grip us. Even then, the perception of good presentation is completely subjective, so people's opinions can easily vary.

Also, there's this idea of clarity versus color. In music, more and more color can be added by making the harmonic structure (the chords) more and more complex, where instead of a chord being made up of 3 or 4 different pitches, you can have chords that have 7, 8, 9 or more pitches. But as you add complexity, you lose clarity and focus. It becomes harder for people (average listeners and musicians alike) to discern the clarity of the music. You can lose your audience this way if you're not careful.

This relates to games in terms of these complex stories. As layers and layers are constructed and woven into a complex story web so to speak, clarity is lost, and so are parts of the audience. But, as with the perception of good presentation, this is all subjective. What you or I find to be weird and convoluted could make perfect sense to other people. That doesn't necessarily mean we aren't intelligent, it just don't relate to or reach us.

So I want to partially retract, or at least rephrase, a previous statement. I don't care if a story is complex or not, I care for good presentation. Well, better put, make the story as complex as possible without sacrificing presentation. If presentation is sacrificed for the sake of complexity (or color in the terms I used above), then I'm probably not interested. Yet again though, it's all subjective, and what may seem like sacrificed presentation to me could be perfect presentation to another.