This thread was inspired by a recent article that stated God of War needs to stop (without giving any reasons though). I can understand if someone is tired of the gameplay or just wants Santa Monica to work on a new game. What I don't understand is when people say God of War needs to stop because of the story. The story in God of War is probably the most insignificant factor in the series, so why do people care about it? This goes the same for any game where the story isnt significant at all.

Unless the game is something like Mass Effect or Metal Gear Solid, then who cares about the story? When a person plays a game focused on the gameplay like many action games, they don't think about the story. When you finish playing a game like Gears of War for example, you don't go back and think of the intricate plot or character development. They think back to the shooting mechanics, headshots, enemies etc. In God of War, people think about the brutal killings, the satisfying combat, etc. No one thinks about the depression Kratos felt after killing his family. I barely even remember the God of War story tbh. .

I personally wouldn't mind if a lot of games took the Mario route and gave a minimum story. In certain games, the experience would be just as enjoyable imo. .

So why do you people care? In games that focus on gameplay where the story isn't important, why do you care if the story is good?

I don't. Stop accusing me of things all the time.

Good points.

Story plays a bigger role in some games than in others. Nothing inherently wrong with that.

I believe games should be judged on how well they do what they do, not what they don't do or what people think they should do.

Depends on the genre or even the game. Some games are enhanced by a story you can become invested in and makes the gameplay all the more worthwhile. Are you implying Sony gamers don't care for story driven games in their exclusives?

FYI, Gears of War storyline is mostly "between the lines", enhanced by the 5 novels.

It depends. God of War has a plot, it has a storyline that moves it from place to place. Would GoW have been nearly as big if there was no background and all you did was kill random gods? I don't think so.

For many people, a framework of character and plot helps significantly with immersion, with empathizing with the characters and making their motivations your own, at least for a little while. Valkyria Chronicles, for example, would have been greatly diminished as a game without its highly compelling story, even though the game-play would have remained fun.

Personally, for me, shallow characters and an absence of plot hurt a game greatly. I don't care if I ever play another Mario game, for instance. It does nothing for me, I just don't care about what I'm doing, and have no motivation to finish. I've owned three Mario games over two Nintendo consoles and haven't finished a single one.

So for me, and I think for many others, the best games combine good story and game-play to some degree. Some people shift more to the story side, some shift to the game-play side, but it's good to have both.

True, if its gameplay first, then who cares. I mean look at COD storylines lol.

GOW always struck me as gameplay first and just "kill gods" storyline. Nothing fancy.

different people like different games. because that is true, it isn't surprising that people complain about certain aspects of games that other people overlook.

human nature requires motivation to take interest in an action.

in video games, story is often times the motivator. you could be playing for points or k/d ration or whatever but most games use story.

It's an interesting debate to be had, but I think the question in the OP misses the point slightly. You ask why should anyone care about a story if the story is underdeveloped or absent altogether. People probably care because they don't WANT it to be underdeveloped or absent altogether. They want a deep, engaging story with their video games.

I'm of the opinion that storytelling is inessential in video games, although there have been some pretty great games with terrific storytelling: Final Fantasy VI, Metal Gear Solid 3, BioShock, etc. But there are also all-time great games with little or no story: Tetris, Super Mario Bros., Street Fighter II, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Let's remember that these are meant to be games after all, not interactive movies or storybooks.

I'm reminded of this article from VGChartz: http://www.vgchartz.com/article/250250/dylan-cuthbert-miyamoto-focuses-on-gameplay-first-story-second/

I think it's a good philosophy to have, although I appreciate those who disagree with me.