Why the obsession with story and characters?

[Hatta]

Indeed. Tex's characters are functional.

Well there you go. Characters serve a function, that's why they're important. I wouldn't care one bit if I found 3 volumes of backstory on ThreeDog from Fallout 3, but the game wouldn't have been the same without him. Good characters give games, um, character.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

I think story is just another tool to use in creating games. I like to write novels and obviously story is important there. With some games, it's not there - like Robotron! No story but incredible atmosphere. - environments, sounds, gameplay, etc can carry it. I think atmosphere is a big part of the gameplay, though, since it defines your mentality while you're playing the game. Anyway.

Gameplay itself can be used to deliver the story. Like in Super Metroid! Exploring caves for hours on end could be a pretty lame film, but it's really engrossing because the player controls plot progression. When you get to the end, you have a connection with Samus that could not have been created with a movie or book. You're connected to the baby Metroid especially if you played previous Metroid games because of all the time you spent slaughtering them. I notice we're talking about JRPGs, and as much as I love them, the gameplay and story are separated by a brick wall...covered in barbed wire and guarded by tigers. They don't really embrace the game as a storytelling vehicle as much as they insert movie or book elements into the game. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, though. It can enhance the experience and drive the gameplay forwards. Some games need it and others don't.

It really depends on the original artistic vision for the game. You could argue that music is just as important as story, yet some great games don't have it. Valkyrie Profile just wouldn't be as great if it wasn't for the story. But Sonic the hedgehog and his disgusting rodent-human romance really needs to leave!

[Anayo]

Gameplay itself can be used to deliver the story. Like in Super Metroid! Exploring caves for hours on end could be a pretty lame film, but it's really engrossing because the player controls plot progression. When you get to the end, you have a connection with Samus that could not have been created with a movie or book.

I think that experience is different from a movie or book. In fact, I think only a video game can create that experience. It's the same 'feeling' I got from exploring the world in Metroid Prime, or from wandering the wasteland in Fallout 3. The game didn't try to introduce me to a cast of characters, it just wrapped me up in a mysterious, beautiful, and scary world and turned me loose to explore at my leisure. By the time I finished I felt sorta like I'd really been there.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Exactly. A lot of games simply copy movies or theater when they could be telling the story in their own unique way. Movies, books, and plays don't allow the player to explore a world at their leisure, as believable as that world may be. It's completely new and unprecedented, but it keeps getting marginalized in favor of more "innovative" cinematic experiences. Funny, huh?