For stories in RPGs I prefer:

[Popiel]

Just don't be stupid. Story can be simple or complicated, I don't really care, just please, game, don't be stupid. As long as there's narrative coherence, no plot-holes and story isn't outright moronic we're okay in my book. Aa for books: just go for them for muh gud plots.

 

[barghwata]

I enjoy simplistic writing, with no pretentiousness and that doesn't take itself way too seriously, and i like the characters to be just normal people, down to earth with regulars desires and motivations. A good example of this is fallout and to a lesser extent gothic.

 

[Eirinjas]

Tryhard storytelling in video games blows. If you have to constantly insist yourself on the player it's a fail, imo. The best storytelling is understated. Baldur's Gate is a good example - the first game gives you clues about what's going on, but once you've been emancipated from Stepdad Gorion it mostly turns into a year in the life of another young, aimless asshole traveling the world to find himself before he has to get a real job and settle down.

BG2 felt like an acid trip at the carnival with brownshirts on Kristallnacht in comparison. "Understated" was not in the design document for #2.

 

[MajorMace]

How to fix most of post 2005 crpgs :
Tune down the lore and story.
Tune up the characters and events.

i like the characters to be just normal people, down to earth with regulars desires and motivations. A good example of this is fallout

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Storyfags must burn.
No mercy.

 

[JarlFrank]

I don't care as long as the story is interactive and gives the player some level of choice/involvement.

If I have to linearly follow a story without making my own decisions, I will mostly ignore it. Games are interactive. If you tell your linear story in non-interactive cutscenes, you should have made it a movie instead.

 

[Mustawd]

Sheep

 

[anvi]

Storyfags must burn.
No mercy.

It is currently 32 votes to 9 We're gonna need a bigger gun.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

I'd vote for all three of them, provided games are actually doing them well.

 

[undecaf]

Storytelling is an icing over the gameplay cake. It’s a bonus if the story is ”good” on top of it all without starting to dictate the flow too much.

Anyway, simple story premise is quite enough if the narrative is allowed to be led and influenced by the player via his choices and character build. And if the flow of the story is actually part of the gameplay itself.

That’s why the original two Fallouts still reign supreme in that regard. There is a kick forward for the character and a goal to reach, but the ”actual” story is what you make of it during the gameplay (which is as RPG as it gets...).

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Ideally, a deep and interesting story filled with twists and turns and all that good stuff. Preferably more grounded, political intrigue style stuff with lots of backstabbing and grey areas involved. The sort of thing you can hold a lot of discussion about.

However, I don't disregard a simple story as long as it's told well.

 

[S.torch]

Manuals aren't stories.

But they're books. And although manuals are not entirely made up of stories, they are a vital part of them. All those Codex favorite games like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale are based on the stories written in different manuals.

You post like a fag.

Don't project yourself, retard.

 

[Garbage]

Deep stories are nice, but i'll let that slide if the worldbuilding/lore is really neat.
Bonus points if I can spent hours overanalysing the flavour text of items and equipment.

 

[anvi]

Storytelling is an icing over the gameplay cake.

Icing made of dog vomit.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

I like deep emergent environmental storytelling.

 

[santino27]

'Deep, interesting story' doesn't have to mean bloated word count. In fact, it shouldn't... bloat is a sure sign the writers fucked up/weren't up to the challenge and there wasn't nearly enough editing done.

 

[Geckabor]

Deep stories are great and all, but if choosing a simple story means that the developers get more time to focus on more essential things (like gameplay, exploration, loot...), then I'd take that option every time.

 

[Ranarama]

Tell your fucking story through gameplay. If I read more than three paragraphs in a row without doing anything else, then you've made a text adventure.

You're not the writer you think you are.

 

[Cat Dude]

It depends on character design for me. Having deep story is useless if all main characters look stupid like Final Fantasy 10 characters.

 

[Neanderthal]

Ideally narrative should go hand in hand with gameplay, each supporting the other, look at Dead Money for an ideal implementation of this.

 

[Elemental_wanamingo]

I haven't really played games where I found the story to be totally uninteresting or stupid or annoying. I'd guess doing some research before buying the game generally helps with that. Sometimes the stories and dialogues get too long but I have never stopped playing because of it.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Ideally narrative should go hand in hand with gameplay, each supporting the other, look at Dead Money for an ideal implementation of this.

Dead Money attempted to turn a hybrid FPS/RPG into a survival horror game, rendering it an excellent example of how narrative can harm gameplay.

 

[mondblut]

...not getting in my way.

 

[frajaq]

story needs to be decent enough to keep me going, keeping me interested in how thing ends/unfolds, one of the reasons I don't "get" blobbers much, shit seems straight up boring

but of course the balance of gameplay needs to be there otherwise there is no story good enough that would make me keep going with horrid gameplay

Greedfall nearing the end got really annoying with enemy encounters/HP bloat and the incredible amount running back and forth between zones doing menial shit, usually that would annoy me and I would just quit the game, but I was interested enough in how this story would end (and if the ending slides would be decent) that I kept going with it

 

[Riddler]

I would prefer a good deep story but I don't trust any developer to actually deliver that, so please keep it simple.

Better to shut your mouth and let people extrapolate instead of exposing your own ineptitude.