Story itself doesn't necessarilly matter in RPGs...

[octavius]

The only thing needed is some motivation for my character(s).
If I want story I read a book.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Story should be an emergent property of CRPGs, determined by the actions of the player-character(s).

 

[Fargus]

Damn, Avellone is loaded. No wonder that bitch was devastated after he broke up with her.

 

[Camel]

Story should be an emergent property of CRPGs, determined by the actions of the player-character(s).

Such as?

 

[notpl]

It doesn't have to be good, but you notice when it's bad. A lot of game-makers are such poor writers that they aren't even able to clear the "innocuous" bar and it instead becomes a distracting negative element to the game. Bad dialogue in particular leaps out at anyone with a soul and immediately makes the game unpleasant to interact with.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

As long it doesn't interfere with player agency and doesn't destroy the pace, it's ok. The "story" could help to fell you immersed and motivated. So, if these aspects are related with how the story is conveyed then the "how" is important.

That said, a good "story" is what reinforce the player agency and immersion.

 

[octavius]

What really made me detest story driven games was the Heroes Chronicles, where the writing was fan fiction level, it was far too verbose, and the "story" was at odds with what my heroes were actually doing in the game. And I certainly don't need a game to tell in details what my characters are feeling, thinking and dreaming.

 

[Reinhardt]

all the story you need is like in battle brothers. it tells you where to go and what to kill. and writing while it does that don't make your eyes and brian bleed and don't overstay its welcome.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Both the story and the execution of it matter if you are compelled to pay attention to it.

I can't think of anything more nightmarish than a game in the style of Torment with shit writing and shit story.

It's less of a problem if you can easily ignore both the story and how it's executed, though i'm not going to say it's completely irrelevant either. A bad story certainly detracts from a game even if you are not forced to pay attention to it, it's just not as much of an issue compared to games where it's shoved down your throat whether you want it or not.

 

[SexExitium]

it's like lyrics and music ok
i can spit a sick verse on beethoven's 9th; does it make it better? absolutely. is it indubitably necessary? i dunno prove me wrong or prove me right

hth

 

[Inec0rn]

does it make it better? erm without a doubt no.

 

[BruceVC]

...but how it's narrated, the style of writing, or setting all do.
Prove me wrong or prove me right

Its a very important factor to me and what motivates me to complete any game

I often find once I complete the main narrative I lose interest in the game quickly, I recently played Fallout 3 and F:NV and once I completed the main quests I lost interests in side quests and exploring

Thats why I tend to drag out completing the main narrative in games like Far Cry or Assassins Creed because the activities arent as significant once the main quest is done

But there are some exceptions to this like the Forest where the main quest is vague and exploring is part of narrative

And of course mechanics like combat and being able to explore interesting places are also important but the narrative binds it all together

 

[octavius]

it's like lyrics and music ok

I don't think so.
There are many great song lyrics, but I've never seen any game writing I'd consider great. The closest is probably Betrayal at Krondor, where Halford's writing was an incline compared to the rather juvenile books by Feist (it also helps that the game has all round solid game mechanics).
Apart from BaK, the games with best writing are those that follow the principle of "brevity is the soul of wit".

 

[Habichtswalder]

The fact that execution of a story is often (maybe always) more important than the story itself is not exclusive to RPGs. It also applies to other games and other forms of media. A good plot will never be recognized as good if it's presented in a bad way while a boring plot might be seen as good if the delivery is spot on.

 

[damager]

I want interesting stuff to happen in my rpg's not npc's full of themselves dumping endless backround stories on me.

Make dialogue realistic and short. How strangers would talk to you. You have a graphical interface, tell me story through it. Not greytext.

Most RPG writers really have to learn to write less, more interesting stuff. Games from this decade good at this: Skald (2024), Underail (2016). A lot of other stuff I remember as being pretty terrible.

 

[Alex]

Stories do matter, but a lot of people lose track of what the story is in an RPG (or a CRPG).

Take wizardry, for instance. The story doesn't really revolve around the amulet of Trebor. That is just the reason to get you in the dungeon. The story revolves around the exploits of your party. Around the near death encounters with monsters, around the traps you avoid or fall into, around your party starting out weak but slowly becoming powerful adventurers.

Making a CRPG have a good story is all about giving the player good tools so that this story about their game is interesting and fun, and maybe making the dev created story elements somehow interact well with the story that forms around play instead of trying to drown it out.

 

[eXalted]

the older i'm getting the less tolerance i have for "stories" in my vidya.

Yes.

I want to play, not read the same tropes for the 100th time.

"Hello, [Player], here is this really deep emotional story, expanding so much the lore and my character. Oh so complex, oh so interesting... now go give this letter to NPC 2 on the other side of the map"

... oh my, this gameplay, so immersive.

 

[gurugeorge]

In line with my contention that (C)RPGs are basicallly adventure simulators, "story" as such is another failure point on the way to making a perfect simulation - or to put it in another sense, it's a kludge to get around the fact that the (immersive) simulation and the systems aren't yet good enough for the player to "create their own story" simply by interacting intelligently with the virtual world, npcs, etc.

That said, it's a necessary workaround for now, because without some kind of narrative, the RPG would lean too much to the gamey side, and not have as much of a sense of adventuring through a virtual world, and so would become simply a series of tactical encounters (which is a perfectly fine form of game, but not really much of an RGP). (Again, being an adventure simulator, the RPG has to balance the various factors of C&C, tactical gameplay, strategic planning, immersion and narrative, all within the context of what's technologically and practically feasible.)

 

[The Bishop]

it's like lyrics and music ok

I don't think so.
There are many great song lyrics, but I've never seen any game writing I'd consider great. The closest is probably Betrayal at Krondor, where Halford's writing was an incline compared to the rather juvenile books by Feist (it also helps that the game has all round solid game mechanics).
Apart from BaK, the games with best writing are those that follow the principle of "brevity is the soul of wit".

Every creative work is subject to Sturgeon's law. It's just that video game stories roll for Sturgeon's law at a disadvantage. A lot of things need to happen for a game to come together in the first place. And then the story can be a failure in its own right.

 

[BruceVC]

I want interesting stuff to happen in my rpg's not npc's full of themselves dumping endless backround stories on me.

Make dialogue realistic and short. How strangers would talk to you. You have a graphical interface, tell me story through it. Not greytext.

Most RPG writers really have to learn to write less, more interesting stuff. Games from this decade good at this: Skald (2024), Underail (2016). A lot of other stuff I remember as being pretty terrible.

What about Romance with party companions? Doesn't that interest you

 

[notpl]

I think the Gothic series is a fantastic example of what you can accomplish with no good writers. And even worse voice acting, at least for us English players. The story in 1 and especially 2 is about as generic and dull as can be, the kind of thing you'd get if you asked chatGPT to generate a fantasy rpg plot outline these days, and none of the characters were compellingly-written. Hardly anyone has any characterization at all, in fact - the only thing differentiating Lares from Lee or Thorus or Diego or anyone else is their voice actor and which role they're serving in the plot at any given moment. And that's fine. If one of them were to open up randomly and tell you a story about their dad abusing them or something it would probably be fucking terrible. Instead, they say just enough to keep the plot moving, they say little enough that you don't really care about its quality in a prose sense, and most of the game's atmospheric heavy lifting is instead done by the music, the map design, and the character animations and other immersive elements.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

...but how it's narrated, the style of writing, or setting all do.
Prove me wrong or prove me right

This is also true in most novels, movies and comics. I don't just mean entertainment stories, I also include highly artistic stuff like The Alexandria Quartet or Ulysses. Sometimes it happens that the story itself is valuable, but this is rare.

 

[Harthwain]

...but how it's narrated, the style of writing, or setting all do.
Prove me wrong or prove me right

I think I agree with that statement. You can have a [very] simple story that gets carried by its setting (even with basic writing).

Gothic is a good example of setting doing the heavy lifting while the writing is very down-to-earth. Which is a good thing, because it doesn't get in the way. In fact, the closer you get to the end, the worse the story gets. Ultimately going from "I am just some guy" to "I am the Chosen One". Sometimes less is more.

 

[Skinwalker]

An RPG with a great story but mediocre gameplay is better than an RPG with great gameplay but a mediocre story.

 

[luj1]

If your world is well crafted it can tell its own story and you can focus on gameplay