Games are like books with pictures for words. Words are unnessassry in games and only hinder the imagination and worst yet, they pause the game. Metroid NES had no words and the best story of all time. Jmo.

Some put GoW2 above GoW3 due to its superior story. Boils down to personal preference really.

Story adds to the gameplay. It gives a reason to play the game, just like achievements/scoreboards do.

So what are these most successful games which don't have points/achievements/story?

It's not about the story, but the way the story is told for me. Demon's Souls is still my favorite example of video game story telling.

With a few exceptions (Zelda is most obvious to me) I don't care about story at all. I am a child of the 80s. I play games for fun, and read books for stories.

For example, even in a largely story based game like the GTA series, I just skip the cut scenes and do the missions. I do not care at all about what is happening to the character.

I think its because God of War isnt all about gameplay. The mythos that the series is set upon are very interesting and fascinating for many people.
With that said, i dont know why people would start saying this now. I dont know what the storyline in ascension will be, but i doubt it tarnishes the series in any way.

not mutually exclusive.  there are many elements to the science of fun but in it simplest form it boils down to what i said in the first line.  or i could rephrase it into something slightly different...in order for someone to have fun there needs to be a reward for the actions i'm taking.  there are many types of reward mechinisms out there but neuroscience also shows that if you can tie an emotional element to the reward mechinism the reward (and hence fun) is even more effective. 

..hence the roll of story in video games.  i'm not saying many video games are telling good and emotionally stirring stories, but a lot of games are trying.  when successful, a game like halo (which have the same gameplay as thousands of other of fps) stands out from the crowd.  it stands out as being more ... well, fun.

thanks! 

and i agree with you about the bottom.  story needs to be effective to rouse an emotional response.   i think in video games they too often think that more story and more cut scenes automatically leads to a better story.  definently not the case.  a very light story is often times better than a flat out bad story.

Disagree completely about Gears of War. I've always loved the Gears story line and that goes to a lot of people. The Dom scene in Gears 3 was emotional and amazing. The books were good too and one reason they have been successful is because of the story line. The big complaints about the story was always the cheesy 1 liners, not the story itself. That has always been the story.

People really like Kratos, which is the God of War. Without Kratos, you don't have God of War. The gameplay is brilliant but the story has always been eh to me. Just some mad dude wanting to kill the gods. Still a great game, but how can you continue the story when it's a single player game focus?

To the main question why do people care? Well I think pretty much everybody wants another God of War game as it is a great series but how can you continue something like that? I care because the story is a part of games to me.

If you are going to ask this question then explain to everybody how you can continue God of War while making it relevant to the series