Would you play 9/10 combat game with 1/10 unskippable story?

[Tyranicon]

So the newest marketing push from Dragon Age: Veilguard seems to be prioritizing their new, flashy action combat and we're getting headlines like:

Which besides sounding really bad, is also disrespectful to the devs that worked on previous games but whatever.

So a thought popped in my head. Would the grognards of codex actually grit their teeth and suffer through a modern game for good combat?

It's a thought experiment. Good combat is of course up to your definition.

As for the story, it's basically the entire rest of the game. Characters, quests, item descriptions, etc. Imagine something written by a coffee shop barista that exclusively writes Concord fanfiction. Unless you like that for some reason, then just imagine the opposite.

Would you do it?

 

[Cohesion]

You mean games like tales of maj'eyal, bg3, pillars of eternity, pathfinders, colony ship?

 

[Sweeper]

Would I?
I prefer games like that.

 

[Zanzoken]

I thought Origins had fun combat. *shrug*

To answer the question though, there is not a gameplay designer in the world talented enough to get me to drink Bioware's pozzed swill.

 

[Ramnozack]

I'd rather castrate myself by dunking my nuts in a pot of boiling water than spend a single second playing any nu-bioware garbage, much less pay for it.

 

[ga♥]

You mean games like tales of maj'eyal, bg3, pillars of eternity, pathfinders, colony ship?

Both pathfinders have decent enough story, unlike the others you mentioned.

 

[Tyranicon]

You mean games like tales of maj'eyal, bg3, pillars of eternity, pathfinders, colony ship?

 

[ga♥]

Anyway NO, I need a good story.
If a story+setting is good I can live with a shitty combat, not the other way around.

 

[Kev Inkline]

Chess: 1/10 story, 10/10 combat
PST: 9/10 story, 2/10 combat

Both are cool, though I'm too midwit to really enjoy chess, so I reckon that makes me a storyfag.

 

[Gargaune]

No. I could play a game with great combat and subpar writing or I could play a game with great combat and no writing, but for it to be "1/10" writing it'd have to be actively pissing me off, so no, I wouldn't play that.

 

[mondblut]

Chess: 1/10 story, 10/10 combat
PST: 9/10 story, 2/10 combat

Both are cool, though I'm too midwit to really enjoy chess, so I reckon that makes me a storyfag.

Chess story is not unskippable. It's emergent storytelling. (also, its combat is NOWHERE near "10/10", any computing system more advanced than abacus can do a far better simulation)

Now imagine if every move caused 100 screens of retarded oneliner jrpg dialogues full of "...", "?!" and pretentious babbling about teenage angst and muh power of friendship.

I mean, some people do like final fantasy tactics. me, I'd rather play russian roulette with a semi-auto.

 

[Vic]

If it's skippable then yes. I played many games like this where I skip through all of the story, not even knowing, or caring, what is happening because the gameplay was good.

But if it's unskippable? Probably gonna pass because.. just why force me to read/watch your crappy tranny propaganda. And let's be real in current year it's going to be tranny propaganda.

 

[Butter]

I have games I can play that don't force me to make that compromise.

 

[MjKorz]

I can suffer a shit story for the sake of good gameplay.

 

[Average Manatee]

I have cheat engine unskippable is not a word I abide by.

 

[I eat frozen vegetables]

Didn't you describe ToEE?

 

[S.torch]

No. And I believe everyone who says that they would are lying to themselves to some extent.

A game with mediocre mechanics but excellent or interesting story & atmosphere is enjoyable. The Codex Top 10 is solid proof of this. Those games have absolutely joke combat and mechanics but they're high regarded for their other merits.

The opposite doesn't exist. There's just so much stupidity you're willing to endure. Character's fist two or three idiotic quips? Sure. Dozens of hours hearing the same cretin throwing reddit punchlines and ironic yapping? haha NOPE. At the end of the day people will drop something faster if it clashes with their own personality.

 

[scytheavatar]

1/10 story, 9/10 gameplay is basically Fire Emblem Engage. And the answer to that is hell no to me (and a lot of people seeing its metacritic score).

 

[the mole]

assuming the functions of my computer haven't been disabled, any cutscenes or story I can alt tab out of

 

[Kev Inkline]

Chess: 1/10 story, 10/10 combat
PST: 9/10 story, 2/10 combat

Both are cool, though I'm too midwit to really enjoy chess, so I reckon that makes me a storyfag.

Chess story is not unskippable. It's emergent storytelling. (also, its combat is NOWHERE near "10/10", any computing system more advanced than abacus can do a far better simulation)

Now imagine if every move caused 100 screens of retarded oneliner jrpg dialogues full of "...", "?!" and pretentious babbling about teenage angst and muh power of friendship.

I mean, some people do like final fantasy tactics. me, I'd rather play russian roulette with a semi-auto.

I think you're mistaking complexity of combat rules or computations with its quality. Simulation is a completely different issue. And if you're after the closest possible match to that of real life, then it's probably best to take up combat sports, as nothing simulates a thing better than itself.

 

[Bastardchops]

This is most JRPG's. Except the combat is 5/10.

 

[Harthwain]

King Arthur: Knight's Quest is like that - excellent tactical combat, but the first Chapter is very rigid in terms of companions, so replaying to try out different alignments can be a bit of an issue.

 

[Reality]

Voted no, but I've already made this compromise five or six times in practice. It's a "last time" vote.

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

Da won't have good combat but the threadname questions answer is obv yes. There has never been more than 1/10 story in any game ever anyway

 

[Blutwurstritter]

If its a short game around 10h, yes. If its one of those bloated open-world garbage games with 40h+, no. But I am really hard pressed to think of games that score a 9/10 in combat. I guess I could give a few fps that score, but rpg's?