Your views on mechanics vs story?

[Lucabratz]

The relationship between the two factors is like Ying and Yang. One cannot exist without the other. At first, that sounds like extremely flawed logic, however, let's put this into perspective of many games you have played that are extremely narrative driven. Say for instance, INSIDE, Undertale, Heavy Rain, etc. All of those games explore their stories more so over their game mechanics, and yet they are playable enough to not hinder the story, nor do they straight up prevent you from exploring it, they all play simply enough. Not to mention there is more to take away from a more impactful and meaningful story than a game that is fun for a few hours then it is forgotten and pushed to the back of your mind until it will rarely come up in conversation. Now, how about the many cases in which both are present; those are what we call great games. Whether it'd be Rockstar's beautiful and chaotic sandboxes such as GTA, Red Dead Redemption, or LA Noire, or the recent Indie Microsoft Exclusive Souls-inspired Ashen, or the zany and over the top open-worlds of insomniacs Sunset Overdrive, Infamous Second Son, or their recent Spider-Man. All of these games blend story-telling and well-written narratives to exciting and engaging gameplay with tight mechanics that never feel too gimmicky, since that is when problems begin to arise with subversive or archetypal games.
Simply brushing off a good story because the mechanics in-short prevent you from playing the game, is a legitimate criticism, however labeling one as more meaningful and one can be done without, is quite a detrimental way of thinking, because that will allow for you to disregard blatant issues with the product or piece of media you are currently consuming. The takeaway here is BALANCE. If the balance is perverted, then the entire work suffers, which is why well-balanced games in terms of story vs gameplay should be paraded as examples of great design and production, and it is why I am very happy to be living in a time where story-telling in games simply was not possible, such as the earliest of consoles in the 1980s.

[TheCruelTutelageofPai-Mei]

One can compensate for the other as long as neither is totally shitty...last of us was GOTY(all time for some) with simplistic and linear gameplay. That story though and the overall polish...

[Noobc0re]

One can compensate for the other as long as neither is totally shitty...last of us was GOTY(all time for some) with simplistic and linear gameplay. That story though and the overall polish...

Awards mean nothing. Also, I'm quite sure there are plenty of people who dislike The Last of Us on account of its lackluster gameplay.

[Arrowny]

I try to look at games in isolation instead of comparing them to each other (even though it's hard). I think I'll become too elitist if I don't, which would make most games unenjoyable.

For example, two of my favorite games are Dark Souls and Heavy Rain. There's not a lot of story in Dark Souls, but what I love is the gameplay diversity and challenge of it. I can play it over and over again and try out different builds and it doesn't lose its appeal very quickly imo. I also remember the feeling of accomplishment once I beat it for the first time.

Mechanically, Heavy Rain is brain dead. I would call it an interactive story more than a game, but I wanted to marathon the hell out of it. (Spoiler!!, but the game's old as hell now so I don't care). What made me really appreciate interactive story games was the scene in Heavy Rain where you cut off your own finger. I had never felt a sense of actual nervous tension in a video game before. There was something oddly personal about this scene to me. It was the most fucked up thing I ever had to do in a game and I was actually a little disturbed by it IRL. I realized this was something you could only do in a game. This scene in a movie wouldn't give the same emotional response as actually pushing the buttons and doing it yourself. That being said, I wouldn't put Heavy Rain in a top 10 greatest games list, but it is in my Top 10 personal favorites for being the only game to elicit a genuine emotional response from me lol.

[Tuklofeign]

For you, how important are solid mechanics in a game compared to the importance of a good story?

To me, I need a good mix of both. I really, really, love a good game story. As I have said many times here, the Mass Effect trilogy remains my favorite gaming series. It doesn't get enough credit for what it did do right by innovating a system where the choices you make in one game carries over to the other two. That alone was a massive undertaking and despite BioWare fumbles in recent years deserves high praise and acknowledgment.

That said, when I think of the mesh of game mechanics and story, I think back to what George Lucas once said about special effects and storytelling.

"A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing."

Now with video games if you swap special effect with mechanic, you still have some wiggle room. But if you do your job right, the mechanics should compliment the game and story. Mass Effect did this well with a blend of RPG and shooter mechanics serving as the action side of gameplay while the dialogue system made use of the Paragon and Renegade system to augment the storytelling. Contrast how well all of this folded together in any one game of the original trilogy with Mass Effect: Andromeda and you can see a stark difference. The gameplay was far more refined in Andromeda with better vehicular operations in the Mako 2.0 and the combat, but when it came to story, characterization, and dialogue, it failed in comparison on almost every level.

So on that note, if we're talking story-based games, the story tends to be more important. But that's not to say mechanics are not equally important when it comes to helping to tell that story.

Just my 2 copper.

[TheCruelTutelageofPai-Mei]

Awards mean nothing. Also, I'm quite sure there are plenty of people who dislike The Last of Us on account of its lackluster gameplay.

I think the general consensus is pretty clear though. My point being that its a clear example of a cherished game that is quite limited in its mechanics.

So one can compensate for the other if polished enough. Of course its easier if the core gameplay is king...with last of us gameplay might be simplistic, but its at least solid. Allowing the game to flow and the story, direction, and artistry to shine.

Of course the whole genre of "point and click" pretty much lives and dies with story. A perfect example really.

[Gogo Govnar]

I think it really depends on the game. Sometimes I want to play a story heavy game, sometimes I just want to have fun playing where mechanics matter more for the sake of enjoying the game, but the best games are probably the ones that balance story and gameplay. That would be my take on it at least

[xadu]

"story" is almost always a series of cutscenes I hate and skip automatically.

I absolutely hate cutscenes, and even more when they are infected with the infamous insufferable quick time events.

A lot of game developers, confuse games with movies, and that is worse with developers related to console gaming.

Mechanics is what makes games interesting. Mechanics make me think how can I exploit them to get advantages. The games I most love are the ones extremely hard, which allow the player to take advantage of creative ways to use the mechanics.


I love to kill enemies over my level, which I are not supposed to be strong enough to defeat. I loved to make the big Daddy fight each other in Bioshock. I loved to abuse the alien in Alien Isolation, and cause him to be hysterical and angry. I loved to make cities in Civilization to make itsmos between oceans so my fleet had a strategic advantage over the enemies.