It kind of bothers me that i don't care about story line in games

[Naer]

just want to get to the action

But i feel like I'm missing out on the experience.

Recently bought tekken 7 for pc(fantastic game) and the story mode is listed as the first option. Feel guilty about not giving a go but i do it for a few minutes and i don't care. Just want to get to it. it wasn't always like this

 

[KB]

Everyone's entitled to play games how they want, but I think you are missing out. Games like Mass Effect, Alan Wake and Amnesia tell some great stories. They really get you into the game and make them memorable.

 

[Nashemon]

Definitely missing out. No two ways to look at it, in my opinion. Without story, even one told without having you read words, it's just pointless killing with no meaningful objective (in many games). Story provides immersion, and different emotion or satisfaction that simply completing the action sequences can't give you. I definitely see it a lot, though. Particularily playing MMO's with friends, whenever we are questing, they are all off running from waypoint to waypoint while I'm still reading the quest details, so I get into the habit of just skipping them myself. Or people asking how to skip cutscenes in virtually every game ever made.

That said, story is not the most important part of a game. A game can have a bad, downright boring, or uninteresting story, and still be great fun to play.

Curious, do you feel the same way when watching a movie if there's no action on the screen, you fast forward, or at least want to fast forward? I ask because my fiance sort of always does this (same with video games, not interested in the story, or at minimum not interested in games that have stories). If there's no action within the first 10 minutes of the film, she asks me, "what's the point of this?" I tell her "for plot and character development." By the end of the movie, she usually likes it, but she doesn't like having to wait for action to start. Funny, she loves to read fiction books, though.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Depends on the game. If the game has cutscenes I cannot pause, inevitably I'm going to miss some part of the story due to a honeydo request, at which point I feel like I might as well write off 70% of the rest of it since I can't 'rewind' for that. Some games it doesn't matter one iota what the storyline is (and the games are better for it, see Quake 2), some it's integral and the game doesn't exist without the story (see most RPGs).

 

[Smoblikat]

Do you like RPG's? Some of my favorites with really good storylines are:
KOTOR (1 & 2)
Fallout 3
Oblivion

 

[gorcorps]

just want to get to the action

But i feel like I'm missing out on the experience.

Recently bought tekken 7 for pc(fantastic game) and the story mode is listed as the first option. Feel guilty about not giving a go but i do it for a few minutes and i don't care. Just want to get to it. it wasn't always like this

I don't think you can really fault skipping the story in the Tekken games. With the exception of the Injustice games, and maybe the newer MK game, the stories included in fighting games is pretty much useless.

If you're trying to skip all of the cutscenes in something like, Uncharted, then you may have an issue

 

[MetalMat]

... It's a Tekken game, it's not like you are missing out on anything groundbreaking.

 

[HumblePie]

People play fighting games for the story ? ??? When was that ever a thing?

You play a story based game for story, you play a fighting game for.... fighting. Least that was how it was the last time I checked.

 

[RayCathode]

Personally, I wouldn't say you're missing out. I've never felt engaged by any video game story and that includes games like Torment (the old one), Deus Ex, Mass Effect, etc. I didn't even finish most of those games. If you weren't interested in the story then the game play had nothing to offer.

Ubisoft is one of the worst offenders though. Unskippable cutscenes and, even worse, the "manually walk forward while someone drones on about the silly plot" segments. That alone keeps me from playing any of their single player games. Thankfully, they didn't find a way to do that in R6: Siege.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Play what you like, the way you like.

Not everyone is going to enjoy Planescape: Torment, or Tom Waits' music, or Krzysztof Kieślowski's films. Not everyone is going to enjoy the Saints Row games, or Justin Bieber, or the movie Shoot 'Em Up.

That said, you might be a replicant.

 

[RayCathode]

I suspect I'm misreading the intent of your message, but I hope you're not implying with your examples that those who don't enjoy video game stories are lowbrow and those who find them rewarding are sophisticated. I'm not going to pretend that I sit in an ivory tower listening to opera while discussing the difference between Kant and Hume. However, I can assure you that my other entertainment tastes go beyond comics, Star Wars and top 40 bands.

Maybe it's just partly my age that has shaped my opinion. In what I consider the "golden age" of video games (1985-1992 or thereabouts) they couldn't tell stories like they do today even if they wanted to.

 

[Iron Woode]

Everyone's entitled to play games how they want, but I think you are missing out. Games like Mass Effect, Alan Wake and Amnesia tell some great stories. They really get you into the game and make them memorable.

and especially Bioshock 1 and 2 and Infinite.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I suspect I'm misreading the intent of your message, but I hope you're not implying with your examples that those who don't enjoy video game stories are lowbrow and those who find them rewarding are sophisticated. I'm not going to pretend that I sit in an ivory tower listening to opera while discussing the difference between Kant and Hume. However, I can assure you that my other entertainment tastes go beyond comics, Star Wars and top 40 bands.

Maybe it's just partly my age that has shaped my opinion. In what I consider the "golden age" of video games (1985-1992 or thereabouts) they couldn't tell stories like they do today even if they wanted to.

Not at all, I like all of the things I listed except Bieber. Saints Row and Shoot 'Em Up are goofy fun. Tastes vary -- I've never gotten into "serious" Jazz, just a bit of swing and big band. I don't play RTS, sports, fighting games, collectible card games, or PVP shooters.

But why aren't you helping that turtle?

 

[Ancalagon44]

The story of a game interests me, but, I'm more interested in the world story than the individual character dramas, with few exceptions.

Example: In Baldurs Gate 2, I enjoy the lore regarding the various gods and the options that the player character has for dealing with situations. Should I help the djinni find their Rakshasa quarry, for example? Who is the Imprisoned One and how did he get there? Who is Irenicus and what does he want with me? Etc etc.

But, I do not care about my party members. I do not care if Minsc likes to protect Aerie. In fact, most of the time I do not play with NPC party members, I generate my own. Party members to me are tools to be used to win battles, not people I care about.

Stories like the BioShock stories are generally incredibly good, as another example.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Really shouldn't bother you. Play games anyway you like. the point is to have fun, not worry about what you should be doing. Personally, I like story lines. I feel more connected to the character. Games like the Witcher series are very dependent on story. STALKER series somewhat in between. As I said, just enjoy.

The Wife

 

[shortylickens]

Kerbal has no story and it freakin rocks.

 

[HutchinsonJC]

If the game has cutscenes I cannot pause, inevitably I'm going to miss some part of the story due to a honeydo request, at which point I feel like I might as well write off 70% of the rest of it since I can't 'rewind' for that.

I think you'll find that in many cases, you can find the cut scenes on youtube. If you don't want to write off the story line, you really don't have to.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I think you'll find that in many cases, you can find the cut scenes on youtube. If you don't want to write off the story line, you really don't have to.

I know, totally kills the immersion though, if I have to 'kill the dragon' then alt tab to friggin youtube to figure out why.

Just let me hit esc to pause, with a button to skip cutscene at the bottom or something. I've seen everything from 'every button autoskips' to 'bring up menu with stuff still in background' to 'whoops this cutscene doesn't have subtitles for whatever reason!' and everything in between. Like 10% of games have pauseable cutscenes.

 

[HutchinsonJC]

The gaming industry could really use some standardization in that regard, yeah.

 

[RayCathode]

While I don't find the stories interesting, I have to say that setting can matter. Take the same game, in one version dress everyone up in suits of armor and in the other something post-apocalyptic. I wouldn't be surprised if I felt the latter was actually a better game.

But why aren't you helping that turtle?

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. All those moments will be lost in time. Like tears in rain.

 

[cmdrdredd]

just want to get to the action

But i feel like I'm missing out on the experience.

Recently bought tekken 7 for pc(fantastic game) and the story mode is listed as the first option. Feel guilty about not giving a go but i do it for a few minutes and i don't care. Just want to get to it. it wasn't always like this

Tekken and really most any fighting game has a trash story and it's unnecessary. The meat of the game is competition. Other games focus far more on building a story around your play time.