Games with good gameplay but terrible story that made you stop playing

[JellySlimerMan]

Very self explanatory. There is a recent debate that, if games do the "gamey" thing right, one can overlook a story simply because stories have NO place on games. Just like how a music videos dont NEED the visuals as long the music is ok.

So, care to make a list of games that fit this criteria for you?

EDIT: Just to be crystal clear, If a game has VERY GOOD gameplay, but shit story (Some examples posted so far are: Sonic 2006 (when its not gliching the fuck out), Dishonored, Mass Effect 3) then it should be mentioned here.

I am trying to gather information if pure gameplay IS the way to go for games. Sure, games gotta GAME, right? but is mindless fun, without direction, timeless? i can see myself playing Alien Soldier for its "VISUALSHOCK! SPEEDSHOCK! SOUNDSHOCK! NOW IS TIME TO THE 68000 HEART ON FIRE!" gameplay and not for the non existent story. Maybe there is people that can't withstand Tetris without a narrative, maybe a story seems to make things become timeless because its the ONLY thing we know that effectively does, and gameplay is a new thing and don't really expect it to last long.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

I... don't think this has ever happened. I don't believe that stories have no place in games. Many of my favourite games are driven by their stories (Planescape: Torment and Silent Hill 2 spring immediately to mind) but if a game has a crap story, I can live with it if it's enjoyable to play. I generally can't accept truly shit gameplay for the sake of a story, though. Torment is probably the absolute minimum standard of gameplay I can accept and that's really only because it weaves the narrative into the gameplay. If the story were more linear I'd have watched a longplay or something.

Max Payne 3 came close but, ultimately, all the shooty fun I was having out-weighed the fact that it was full of unskippable cutscenes telling a story that didn't interest me. Even then, it wasn't the story itself that nearly stopped me from playing, it was the fact that it wouldn't let me ignore it. As well as the fact that the frequent cutscenes ruined the pacing of the gameplay.

 

[piinyouri]

^ Same for me.
I don't share the exactly the same sentiment of that one poster the other day who was positive stories don;t belong in games, I've experienced plenty of really good stories that can enhance the gameplay.

But I'm just not that plussed when a story is crap, or even mediocre. In the case of either, I will usually end up skipping scenes and dialogue just to get back to the gameplay as soon as possible.

So, to answer the question, I have never stopped playing from just a bad story.

 

[TehCookie]

I don't think the argument was there is no place for stories in games but gameplay is more important. I've played games with great gameplay and a terrible story and enjoy them. I've never been turned off by a bad story with great gameplay. If a game has a great story but I am unable stand the terrible gameplay I'm not going to play it.

Though I'm going to go with why can't we have both good gameplay and a good story?

 

[Holythirteen]

Heh, tall order.

I think it's impossible....

Oh wait! I think I gave up on soul calibur games because I got sick of the crap attempts at story(fight this "zombie" who fights exactly like Voldo! Fight this "bandit" who looks exactly like rock!), but obviously the gameplay stopped being rewarding by the time I did. That might be as close as you can get.

If you paid money for it, and the gameplay is somewhat rewarding, you're probably gonna keep playing it.

So yeah, story still secondary to gameplay, but if a story is awesome enough the gameplay becomes a minor nuisance to get more story! I remember feeling that way about Tactics Ogre and FFT. (Though come to think of it I never got around to finishing Tactics Ogre.)

The two Armored Core games I really enjoyed had pretty random craptacular stories that were little more than tasteless garnish for the missions.

I was hoping this thread already had a good example, I feel tricked.

 

[Caiphus]

The original Borderlands made me quit a few times to be honest. I'd get into it, enjoy my time until level 20 or so, then get really bored because I hadn't paid attention to the story and stop playing.
Did it like 3-4 times.


Edit: On the other hand, To the Moon was close to my GotY last year purely because of the story. That game was phenomenal, and its gameplay was really rather non-existent.

 

[alphamalet]

To the concept of a game, game play is simply more important than stories.

If most people stopped playing video games because the story was bad, then there would be no gaming industry.

The industry was built on games like Pong, Pacman, Gallaga, and countless other arcade games that enthralled people for hours. None of them had any story to them...

I'm not saying that stories are pointless, or that they have no place. Stories are wonderful and can greatly add to a gaming experience. Hell, one of my favorite games is Silent Hill 2 and I hold its narrative in high regards. The quintessential pilliar of a game however IS gameplay and it must be the priority in any undertaking where someone sets out to make a video game. Gameplay is the one component that sets games apart from any other medium of entertainment. With that being said, the best combination to make everyone happy is great game play AND a great story; it's what game devs should strive for.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

HAWX and Army of Two come to mind. The former because of the ready willingness of mercenaries to die in mass numbers and the questionable resources of a PMC come to mind. In the span of a handful of missions, I destroyed an air power greater than all the nations in Africa and South America combined and, somehow, the US was still doing badly in the war. Army of Two lost all credibility with the hijacked aircraft carrier. Destroyed I can see. But hijacked?!. That's a vessel in a fleet with more than 15,000 personnel plenty of whom are armed. One does not seize a ship that is home to 5,000 sailors and marines by force of arms. At best, assuming the enemy somehow managed to get the tens of thousands of troops on the vessel without taking absurd casualties on the approach, an approach it should be mentioned against a force that wields more firepower than most nations, then the ship would simply be scuttled. Seizing full control of the ship assumes control of both engine room and bridge and in between those two points would be thousands of armed defenders in incredibly complex terrain.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Gotta say, that's never happened to me.

The reverse however...

 

[MindFragged]

I didn't replay farenheit/indigo prophecy once I'd gotten one of the main endings because I was that disappointed. I also went and traded it in the next day. Does that count?

Edit: It has also put me off trying more recent Quantic Dream releases, for fear of more of the same, so.... yeah. Really didn't like that story.

 

[Daft Time]

Eh, I've played RPGs with pretty decent game play but horrid stories that I've dropped. It really depends on why I pick up a game in the first place - I didn't, for example, pick up Mirror's Edge for the narrative. On the other hand, I only play a small number of games where I'm not interested in the story in the first place (despite many having good game play).

TL;DR - If I pick up an RPG with a shit story, it gets dumped.

 

[MindFragged]

TL;DR - If I pick up an RPG with a shit story, it gets dumped.

If it counts as an RPG, I found Borderlands 2's story pretty lackluster/schizophrenic, though I have an inkling that I am in a minority there. Still played it through and enjoyed it thoroughly though.

 

[Daft Time]

TL;DR - If I pick up an RPG with a shit story, it gets dumped.

If it counts as an RPG, I found Borderlands 2's story pretty lackluster/schizophrenic, though I have an inkling that I am in a minority there. Still played it through and enjoyed it thoroughly though.

Yeah, it really wasn't the kind of game I'd classify as an RPG - though I had the same thoughts on it's story. I also finished, and enjoyed it for the most part, with some friends. I wouldn't have picked it up to play single player though.

 

[Don't taze me bro]

For me it would be Gears of War 3. Sure, the gameplay didn't really evolve from the previous two games, but the story and dialogue was so cringeworthy, I stopped playing after a few hours.

 

[Best of the 3]

Borderlands for me, it was one of the most boring experiences I've ever had. The gameplay was all well and good, but it had been done before. I was really hoping for a good story in that game but I couldn't get into it. Borderlands 2 on the other hand I loved.

 

[Olas]

I think this might be true, at least for me, of the Warhammer 40,000 RTS games. While I have no issues with the gameplay mechanics or design, I find the characters and story to be almost unbearable. Then again some people seem to like it, so I guess it's just a matter of taste.

C'est pas pour moi.

Edit: [a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/9153-Hating-Warhammer-40k-and-Space-Marine"]Apparently Yahtzee thinks the same way[/a]

 

[floppylobster]

Starcraft II.

Perfectly playable and fun RTS as long as you don't listen to the story or any of the cut scenes. If you do that then you'll be trying to get all the characters killed as soon as possible. I would have enjoyed that game if I hadn't watched the cut scenes. Unfortunately my curiosity got the better of me, so I watched them, and now I can't go back to it.

 

[DementedSheep]

I can't think of a specific example. There are games I've stoped playing cause they are boring and having shitty story is a genrally major part of that but I can't think of anything I stoped playing purely because of the story. Closest I think of was spellforce where the VAing was pissing me off so much I couldn't play it.

 

[Nazulu]

Depends what you mean by terrible story, most I've played have bland story's that have been recycled over and over. I'm fine with that, just look at Mario. It's still is disappointing when no one remembers anything from Mario Galaxy 1 to MG2 though, but it doesn't hurt me with stupidity.

Terrible story's to me make me hate the characters or if rubbed in your face enough, will became really annoying, and so I wouldn't want to finish the game. Perfect example is Sonic 06'.

 

[krazykidd]

Radiata stories . That game bored me to tears with it's story and i didn't care .

Every sandbox game , ever . I can't stand sandbox games for this very reason .