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Would you play 9/10 combat game with 1/10 unskippable story?

Would you play 9/10 combat game with 1/10 unskippable story?


  • Total voters
    125

MjKorz

Educated
Joined
Jul 11, 2022
Messages
530
I cannot imagine a gameplay so good that make me forget an offensive story, if the latter is not invisible in the background. And no, games with no story, like chess, are not 1/10 story. It is better to have no story than a bad one.
Many dedicated connoisseurs of the TBT genre played the Japanese version of Front Mission 2 without understanding anything narrative wise due to the game being in Japanese. They sat through the entirety of gibberish character dialogues and cutscenes just to experience the gameplay which was good.
Just how long are these cutscenes? 10m, 30m, 1hr, more? Is it like you get a damn woke movie after each combat? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

Anyone care to list all the games that fit this bill?
The cutscenes themselves aren't long, usually couple of minutes, but there's quite a few of them and there's a whole lot of dialogue to read outside the cutscenes which would be illegible gibberish to someone who doesn't understand Japanese. Nowadays with the proper localization of the game being released, there's no need to go to such extremes to appreciate Front Mission 2 anymore.
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2022
Messages
2,505
Location
Vareš
What games? Planescape, VtMB and New Vegas? Morrowind?
Kotor 1&2, Arcanum, Shadowrun Dragonfall & Hong Kong, whole Witcher trilogy, all Bethesda games. Those have mid to acceptable gameplay at best but are fondly remembered.

Like it or not MECHANICS without SOUL are NOTHING.
only 2 of those games is in the top 10 (morrowind, arcanum) , are you not able to keep up with your own points?
 
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KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
15,420
Esc esc esc RETURN. <click> <click>
pc-computer.gif
 
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Serus

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
6,945
Location
Small but great planet of Potatohole
Depends how "unskipable it really is.
40-50 minutes unskippable cutscenes like the ones in MGS2 and 4. At random intervals during the cutscenes, the game commands you to get off your couch/chair and loudly proclaim: "LUDOKINO!", just as depicted in this SONY patent:
euqqgv.jpg


If you delay your exclamation of appreciation for more than 10 seconds, the game automatically restarts the cutscene from the start. That kind of unskippable.
This... is... brilliant! Mind blown! Why this isn't the standard (yet!).
 

S.torch

Liturgist
Joined
Jan 4, 2019
Messages
1,115
only 1 of those games is in the top 10 (morrowind) , are you not able to keep up with your own points?
1) Planescape: Torment. The PERFECTION made game.
2) Fallout. More like reload simulator LMAO.
3) Baldur's Gate 2. The original MOVIE GAME, combatsissies can have this.
4) Arcanum. INTELLECTUAL RPG for GENTLEMEN.
5) Bloodlines. GOTHIC RPG for LITERARY CHADS.
6) Fallout 2. Reload simulator 2.0 now with dumbed down dialogue LOL.
7) Fallout: New Vegas. One of the BEST OPEN WORLD games.
8) Deus Ex. SHOOTER LARPing as RPG.
9) Gothic. The original JANK.
10) Morrowind. Also known as the DEEPEST LORE EVER.

The ration is 5/5. But considering CHADnescape remains NUMBER #1, storychads stay WINNING. And be grateful because I gave you absolute SLOP like Baldur's Kek 2, the original movie game that included cringe ROMANCE and LARP SEX.

Now proceed to cry and cope, combatsissy.
 

Serus

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
6,945
Location
Small but great planet of Potatohole
The story should be skippable in any game.
Not so much the story as all superflous dialogue and cinematics. The story will be at very best mediocre anyway. Even better option - I want the story in a game to be concise and to the point. This way there is no need to skip anything. If I wanted something else i'd read a book. In fact i do, much more than play these days.
 

Serus

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
6,945
Location
Small but great planet of Potatohole
only 1 of those games is in the top 10 (morrowind) , are you not able to keep up with your own points?
1) Planescape: Torment. The PERFECTION made game.
2) Fallout. More like reload simulator LMAO.
3) Baldur's Gate 2. The original MOVIE GAME, combatsissies can have this.
4) Arcanum. INTELLECTUAL RPG for GENTLEMEN.
5) Bloodlines. GOTHIC RPG for LITERARY CHADS.
6) Fallout 2. Reload simulator 2.0 now with dumbed down dialogue LOL.
7) Fallout: New Vegas. One of the BEST OPEN WORLD games.
8) Deus Ex. SHOOTER LARPing as RPG.
9) Gothic. The original JANK.
10) Morrowind. Also known as the DEEPEST LORE EVER.

The ration is 5/5. But considering CHADnescape remains NUMBER #1, storychads stay WINNING. And be grateful because I gave you absolute SLOP like Baldur's Kek 2, the original movie game that included cringe ROMANCE and LARP SEX.

Now proceed to cry and cope, combatsissy.
Bloodlimes is "gothic"? For "literary chads"? Niiice. I though it's about chasing vampire tits and having a loot silly dialogues in a very silly pnp RPG setting. Arcanum isn't "intellectual", it has interesting setting, exploration and some quests. Fallout to be a "reload simulator" has to be played by a moron. And Planescape... let's not go there. Those description are lol-tastic, I - honestly - had a laugh.
 

Tyranicon

A Memory of Eternity
Developer
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
7,790
1721504273596.png


:balance:

I feel like the results would be more skewed if I framed it as "Would you play Veilguard if it had 9/10 combat?"
 

MerchantKing

Learned
Joined
Jun 5, 2023
Messages
1,626
The story should be skippable in any game.
Not so much the story as all superflous dialogue and cinematics. The story will be at very best mediocre anyway. Even better option - I want the story in a game to be concise and to the point. This way there is no need to skip anything. If I wanted something else i'd read a book. In fact i do, much more than play these days.
But the gameplay should be the story.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
15,420
Well, I think our technology not only knows your likes/dislike based on clicks but can fucking read your mind. How the fuck did it even know I wanted new earbuds. I was only thinking it.

I suppose, camera maybe looking at me looking at old buds? Maybe I muttered something and it picked it up but other times I know I said NOTHING! Mind you, I live under a tree with very spotty shitty T-mobile and only my phone.


DEMONS!






DEMONS!!
 

behold_a_man

Educated
Joined
Nov 26, 2022
Messages
221
Kotor 1&2, Arcanum, Shadowrun Dragonfall & Hong Kong, whole Witcher trilogy, all Bethesda games. Those have mid to acceptable gameplay at best but are fondly remembered.
Witcher had remarkably tight itemization and maybe the most elegant alchemy system I've seen in any game. Dragonfall excelled in encounter design providing quite a few challenges, choices having consequences (including the influence the party composition had on the gameplay and alternative routes), and resource management forcing me to make business decisions about healing companions, for example. I don't remember anything about Arcanum's story, but I do remember a plethora of spells with distinct effects, the crafting model, and the reactivity of the world depending on party composition or the main character's stats (like low intelligence).

I say some of the games you mentioned would be remarkable even with a rudimentary story.

No. And I believe everyone who says that they would are lying to themselves to some extent.

A game with mediocre mechanics but excellent or interesting story & atmosphere is enjoyable.
Does atmosphere have anything to do with a story? I believe atmosphere is built primarily by the soundtrack and visuals.

The opposite doesn't exist. There's just so much stupidity you're willing to endure. Character's fist two or three idiotic quips? Sure. Dozens of hours hearing the same cretin throwing reddit punchlines and ironic yapping? haha NOPE. At the end of the day people will drop something faster if it clashes with their own personality.
Dragonfall had unbearably cringy writing, a very solid main story, and was overall a great game.
 

stephensmall

Literate
Joined
Mar 5, 2024
Messages
19
No, the word "unskippable" being the deciding factor here. Crappy story is easier to tolerate if it's not a big focus.
I've played Naheulbeuk once then never launched it again despite the gameplay being really good -- story and dialogue were atrocious and they both were present in great quantities.

Some people mentioned TOME4 in this thread, and while it does have a pretty bad story, there's barely any of it and you can freely skip all the text in the game, so it's much easier to tolerate(it also helps that TOME4 has really interesting lore(and EoR campaign actually had a pretty good plot)
 

Tarkleigh

Learned
Patron
Joined
Jan 25, 2021
Messages
479
Location
Germany
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Of course not. These days, the story would be full with annoying characters and propaganda which would make it very hard to ignore the bad story. If it had just a thin story, it would be fine but that is not what is asked here, so my vote is a clear 'NO'

But I have never heard about this 'Concord' thing. Is this some game I am not familar with? I am 99% sure nobody could write fanfiction about an old supersonic French plane (if somebody does, please do not tell me), so I don't think you meant this
 

Tyranicon

A Memory of Eternity
Developer
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
7,790
But I have never heard about this 'Concord' thing. Is this some game I am not familar with? I am 99% sure nobody could write fanfiction about an old supersonic French plane (if somebody does, please do not tell me), so I don't think you meant this
It's new Overwatch, except where all the characters look like modern gamers.

1721577755214.png
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
15,420
Do their ingame physics reflect their irl abilities? Strength/agility/fatigue/hunger/me so sleepy?
 

Kabas

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Feb 10, 2018
Messages
1,721
Do their ingame physics reflect their irl abilities? Strength/agility/fatigue/hunger/me so sleepy?
The suggestion that a morbidly obese person can't perform the same physical activites as a professional athlete or a healthy person is considered to be ableism by some people.
 

Tyranicon

A Memory of Eternity
Developer
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
7,790
Do their ingame physics reflect their irl abilities? Strength/agility/fatigue/hunger/me so sleepy?
The suggestion that a morbidly obese person can't perform the same physical activites as a professional athlete or a healthy person is considered to be ableism by some people.

>makes obese character
>gives obese character "intensive care" as a trait

You can't make this shit up.
 

Bastardchops

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Nov 4, 2015
Messages
2,227
only 1 of those games is in the top 10 (morrowind) , are you not able to keep up with your own points?
1) Planescape: Torment. The PERFECTION made game.
2) Fallout. More like reload simulator LMAO.
3) Baldur's Gate 2. The original MOVIE GAME, combatsissies can have this.
4) Arcanum. INTELLECTUAL RPG for GENTLEMEN.
5) Bloodlines. GOTHIC RPG for LITERARY CHADS.
6) Fallout 2. Reload simulator 2.0 now with dumbed down dialogue LOL.
7) Fallout: New Vegas. One of the BEST OPEN WORLD games.
8) Deus Ex. SHOOTER LARPing as RPG.
9) Gothic. The original JANK.
10) Morrowind. Also known as the DEEPEST LORE EVER.

The ration is 5/5. But considering CHADnescape remains NUMBER #1, storychads stay WINNING. And be grateful because I gave you absolute SLOP like Baldur's Kek 2, the original movie game that included cringe ROMANCE and LARP SEX.

Now proceed to cry and cope, combatsissy.
Torment overrated, too much reading. If I want to read I can just read the 1,000's of superior books which exist. Even though I am something of a storyfag, I'd still prefer the gameplay to be very good/integrate well, since I am playing a game.
 

Fedora Master

STOP POSTING
Patron
Edgy
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
31,772
A game with unskippable cutscenes by definition can not also have good combat, because clearly the devs who made it are retarded.
 

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