Graphics, Gameplay or story - which is more important?

I am used to playing RPGs that have great graphics and story like Final Fantasy, Xenogears, Okami, Shadow Hearts, Persona, and many others. I know that you prefer these types of RPGs too. But my question is, which do you think is more important in an RPG game? It's gameplay? Is graphics or its story?

 

Gameplay and story. Graphics alone will not carry a game from start to finish because games are not movies. Games require player interaction.

 

I agree without the two I will not have the best experience while playing a game sure I will still beat the game if it lacks these elements, but I will just rush through it sort of speak.

 

Story is the most important thing for me. It does not matter if the game has amazing graphs and gameplay if there is no substance. I have played many RPGs with not so impressive graphs, but because of the story I have played them.

 

Agreed. I mostly want Gameplay, then Story. Graphics are not really important to me, considering I'm a big fan of Minecraft Anyway, in RPGs, Gameplay and Story must come first, graphics are small detail for me

 

Gameplay > Story > Graphics

Gameplay really is the most important thing, if its boring then I'm not going to stick around for a story or shiny graphics, I just won't care. Even then for a lot of people they won't even be able to enjoy graphics at the highest settings, especially me, so just for that reason alone gameplay and story are more important as they're more accessible and easily enjoyed by everyone.

 

Gameplay is the most important. Story is second, and graphics/visuals are third.

A game can look like absolute balls but still be a great experience if it has a great storyline or well-designed/fun gameplay.

Games made back in the 90s in the days of the N64 had no choice but to be fairly bad looking because no hardware could support great looking visuals. So they had to make up for it by making the gameplay fun and inventive. As a result, the games released in that era of gaming are some of best/most beloved ones ever made.

In the last decade though there has been a heavy emphasis placed on visuals because of the huge boom in rendering technology. This caused a drastic dip in the overall quality of storytelling and gameplay mechanics in gaming, leading to the huge wave of linear, copy-cat generic hallway shooters we're currently plagued with. These games like to feature their action, explosions and visuals to distract you from the fact that they are actually boring boat-rides of bullets that hold your hand and prevent no real challenge.

 

Graphics are always a sweetener, but not particularly important... of course, if the graphics are soooo bad that it makes it hard to take the game seriously, it's a problem.

As for gameplay and story, both are important, but I would say gameplay is more important. I wouldn't mind going through a game with a crap story if the gameplay is really good but going through a game with horrible gameplay but a good story doesn't sound fun to me...

There are some games that definitely focus more on one than the other, like Borderlands' heavy focus on its gameplay which leaves the story as rather unimportant. On the opposite end we have... Final Fantasy 13, which is really linear early on (which was only 13 hours out of over 100 hours of gameplay for me, not even a quarter... people exaggerate this) because it first focuses on its story over gameplay (and it's a pretty good story in the end, IMO).

The best are those games that manage to have fun gameplay and a great story, though. Like Persona 3 and 4, for example!

 

Graphics are always a sweetener, but not particularly important... of course, if the graphics are soooo bad that it makes it hard to take the game seriously, it's a problem.

As for gameplay and story, both are important, but I would say gameplay is more important. I wouldn't mind going through a game with a crap story if the gameplay is really good but going through a game with horrible gameplay but a good story doesn't sound fun to me...

There are some games that definitely focus more on one than the other, like Borderlands' heavy focus on its gameplay which leaves the story as rather unimportant. On the opposite end we have... Final Fantasy 13, which is really linear early on (which was only 13 hours out of over 100 hours of gameplay for me, not even a quarter... people exaggerate this) because it first focuses on its story over gameplay (and it's a pretty good story in the end, IMO).

The best are those games that manage to have fun gameplay and a great story, though. Like Persona 3 and 4, for example!

 

I would say there really has to be a balance of each component otherwise it can really detract from the overall game and while graphics do not always matter exstensively they can still make a difference. I know people have played things like Nethack or Liberal Crime Squad and been just dandy but a game that is genuinely ugly can still bring about the downfall of an otherwise wonderful game; in the same vein if a game's story is absolutely mind numbingly stupid or the gameplay is absolute garbage no amount of pretty graphics is going to save it. So while gameplay and story play a much bigger role graphics can not be put on the sideline.

 

Their are so many games that have nice graphics, but lack the two elements.

 

The perfect example I can come up with is Killzone Shadow Fall, the graphics are phenomenal. I was in awe at looking at the beautiful environments and stuff but it only lasted for fifiteen minutes before I felt how horrible the pacing of the gameplay is. The game to me was boring because of the lack of an engaging gameplay and story. I still haven't finished the game because of this.

 

Gameplay. It's the only thing that absolutely NEEDS to be great.
A good story will always help too. WIth graphics, they are just the icing on the cake... a nice bonus but definitely not important.

 

After careful consideration, I think the importance to how good a game is should be
70% gameplay
20% graphics
10% story


The RPG (without MMO part) I have played most was Neverwinter Nights (1). I used to play on a server with 72 slots x 3 servers connected to each other. They have so many dungeons... since the owner let many moderators and players to create new areas (according to his rules of course). The world was expanding all the time. There was no good storyline, but plenty of good adventures and tons of actions.

My conclusion is, a good RPG game can be good without a good background story or any story at all, but the gameplay is extremely important.
As for the graphics, I can stand it as long as it isn't painful to look at. (although I do like eye candy in video games in general, but it isn't a must).

 

Between the three is a fairly tough call for me. Mostly it's tough because of story and gameplay. Graphics are a sure third in my book as the other two are more important.

A good story can really last on you but in the end, most of the time unless you're REALLY into the series you forget about it. Gameplay on the other hand is where the fun factor lies.

 

Gameplay, Story, and THEN Graphics.
I've played more games then I ever thought I would but I find myself coming back to the ones with the best story and gameplay more often then anything graphical.

 

I forgot to mention that, it seems story does play an important role in the singleplay campaigns. I enjoyed the singleplay campaigns of RPGs such as Neverwinter Nights. In multiplay online, the factor of story isn't nearly as important since you interact with other players. I found it was fun enough for me to go through many dungeons with a small party of real players in the hope of defeating powerful bosses and collecting items with random drop chance. The real fun parts lies withing the actions and items which both are a part of the "gameplay".

 

100% of the time I like a better story then graphics because would you like to have a game where it would look really nice but with a really bad story. or have a game with bad graphics but an thrilling story with excitement.

 

I'd have to agree that graphics can be okay, but the game play should be great. Story is good, but if we're being honest, the story is going to likely be something we've already seen before. If it's an original story, then even better, but the main thing is going to be the gameplay. Is it fun? Does it hold my interest?

 

For me, graphics are probably the most important part of an RPG's experience, although I do make exceptions for the games I played when I was younger since they're all colored with nostalgia I don't really mind the old lower-quality graphics.