Do games need good stories to be good?

S

Strubes

Certainly, a good story doesn't hurt a game. However, are they necessary for a game to become enjoyable? I wrote a blog a couple weeks ago on this on GameTrailers, and I figured I'd see what you all thought.

Personally, a game doesn't need a good story, depending on the genre. I believe that RPG's rely on a good story and narrative to drive players towards wanting to continue on to the next portion of the game. However, games like Mario, Left4Dead, and numerous other games rely on game play mechanics, variety, and overall fun factor and succeed in doing so.

Anyways, what are your thoughts?

My original blog is here in case anyone wanted to give it a look as well (warning: some language): http://strubes.gametrailers.com/gamepad/index.php?action=viewblog&id=428206
 
x3! Rarely, RPG's can be good even with weak stories, such as with the Dark Cloud series. The gameplay is just so darn good it sucks you in.
 
I'd say it depends on the genre you're choosing. RPGs, action/adventure, and horror ganes should have a great story. Shooters don't really need a great story (Doom and L4D for example) but it's always pleasing to see a great story like Bioshock and Fallout 3 come along. Some platformers (LBP for instance) don't need a big story involved as well. Neither do fighters. However, a story can hook a player on for sequels to come! :lol
 
I agree that different genres place difference levels of importances on things to a certain degree example I don't care if you have made an RPG with greatest story in the world it's not going to do well today if the graphics are on the same level as the orginal Legend of Zelda game.
 
I think it's somewhat important, but having a good story doesn't always make or break a game.

I like to use Eternal Sonata as an example.

The story flat-out sucks. The pacing is horrible, and the ending makes no sense.

But the battle system is one of the best I've experienced. I LOVE the battle system in Eternal Sonata. I'd love to see it used in other rpgs.

So basically, even though the story was crap, I kept playing the game because the battle system was fun. ^_^
 
It really does depend on the genre and what I want out of the game (if it's like L4D, for example, and I just want a good multiplayer game, I don't care about story), but in many cases, a good story is almost necessary for me to consider a game great. A great game simply can't be so lacking in such an important element. A good game though, can get away with a bad story, although I would certainly prefer a better story.
 
Homicidal Cherry53 said:
It really does depend on the genre and what I want out of the game (if it's like L4D, for example, and I just want a good multiplayer game, I don't care about story), but in many cases, a good story is almost necessary for me to consider a game great. A great game simply can't be so lacking in such an important element. A good game though, can get away with a bad story, although I would certainly prefer a better story.
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This. Take Halo for example. So many fanboys said Halo was just another shooter, but to me, Halo's story is what set it apart from so many other shooters and is what made it so epic.
 
x2 said:
This. Take Halo for example. So many fanboys said Halo was just another shooter, but to me, Halo's story is what set it apart from so many other shooters and is what made it so epic.
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Oooh good point. That's how it was for me, too.

So yeah, Cherry hit the nail on the head.
 
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