How important is a story line to a single player game?

[Dr Seuss]

I got into an argument with a friend the other day on this topic, and now I am genuinely curious. How Important does the public feel the storyline is to a game? Personally, I can't play a single player game if it doesn't have a storyline, I just get bored of it too quickly. What about you guys?

[r2724r16]

It depends on the specific game.

 

GTA V single player can be played without following the storyline, and it's still fun IMO. 

[Shammikit]

A gud story is a Must for me in a single player game. Other things like graphics come second.

[LukeNukem9]

Just Cause 3 (which i play and recommend) has a good story line. it starts you out then your on your own. I prefer this because you get a sense of freedom.

[aless83]

I'm having the issue that all singleplayer games are basically the same by now... go to NPC X and help him do this, go to NPC Y and help him find this... it's really hard to be surprised anymore. 

 

 

[tikker]

Depends on the game I guess. Does it depend heavily on the story? Then yes, otherwise not so much. The only game so far that I cannot really get into anymore is Ghost Recon Wildlands, because its story is meh and the gameplay is alright, but a bit bare.

 

I guess gameplay counts as much, maybe a little more than story for me. There are games like Witcher 3 and Mass Effect, where the story really is a key part of the experience. On the other hand, there's Doom 2016 where the storyline is basically... well you don't play it for the storyline.

[mariushm]

Yeah, a good story definitely helps. 

If it's a genre I like, I will play a game even if the story lacks, for example I'll play whatever fps (shooter) is out there simply because it unwinds me, it relaxes me in a way.. I mean non competitive ones, no counterstrike or fortnite or such multiplayer games.

But games like call of duty or battlefield where single player is kind of an afterthought ('let's check this bullet point, people are gonna play multiplayer anyway')...those i don't really care about.

There are games where story definitely helped me stay interested and complete the game, for example Cave Story+, Ori and the blind forest and Celeste ... all are platformers, a genre that isn't really at the top of what I like

 

There's also games where story is actually important.. SOMA comes to mind, or if we go back a bit, puzzle games like Syberia for example... what pleasure would you get without the story?

[19_blackie_73]

I'm a big fan of open world games, so story is in this case very important for me.

On the other hand, I like racing sims and games, here's not much story to have so I don't care, in fact I'm sometimes happy that there's no cringeworthy story with "oh you are so good, so much fans love you, keep on going"

[WereCatf]

53 minutes ago, Dr Seuss said:

I got into an argument with a friend the other day on this topic, and now I am genuinely curious. How Important does the public feel the storyline is to a game? Personally, I can't play a single player game if it doesn't have a storyline, I just get bored of it too quickly. What about you guys?

A proper plot is extremely important to me. Sure, yes, I do play the occasional game that doesn't have anything like that, like e.g. Civilization - games, but those are the exception to the rule, not the rule itself; like you, in most cases I get bored really quickly without a plot to play through. In addition to liking games with proper stories, I especially much like games where I can play cooperatively through the story with my boyfriend -- too bad that there are so few coop-games out there these days, though

[Guest]

It depends. 

Fallout 3, that’s like 90% of the game. 

Doom... not really.

doom has a setting (time, place) but the story doesn’t matter. 

[Tedstonegenious]

That sort of thing depends solely on the individual. If you like a great story, then great. But being able to just screw around is also great. do what you want.

[aigars2]

Unless it is a first-person shooter a storyline is a must have for any successful game.