What videogames are you playing in 2026?

[Parmandur]

I think outright orthogonal to the medium might be slightly too extreme a position for my taste in 2025 AD, because some subgenres of games absolutely rely on a strong story as part of their package of what makes them work, but certainly there always have been and still are games and even RPGs which have little in the way of story by the more traditional definitions of story. But it would also be fair to say story has played a role since the dawn era of games (cf Colossal Cave Adventure etc) and seems to be becoming increasingly important to games (as a rule).

There is also of course the dreaded Visual Novel which challenges the divide between games and novels and has been with us since what, the early 1980s?

Ortjoganal not in terms of a game cannot do story...but much like features like maps or rad cover art on novels...the medium does not require it. The "stroy" of Donkey Kong Banana is negligible at best. Still fun.

 

[Gradine]

I truly think that the only way to be disagreeing and quibbling with me right now is by assuming that I must surely mean something more than the literal words I am typing. I don't.

The quibble is not that we necessarily disagree with your premise. I guess I can only speak for myself, but my quibble is that this is not a unique quality of RPGs as a video game genre. Even the most basic of games ultimately have a story of some nature, whether that is contained within supplemental material (like an instruction manual, which was often where games, including many seminal RPGs, put their stories in order to save on memory/space for the game files) or even just largely inferred (many classic arcade games, thinking games like Missile Command or Pac-Man). I think that's, again speaking for myself, where I'm getting tripped up

 

[Gradine]

Saw a video recently where two people are talking about Fallout games:
A: "So what Fallout game should I start with?"
B: "That depends what you prefer, a game with a good story or a game with good gameplay."
A: "Can I have both?"
B: "No."

What I'm saying is that I'm having fun as hell playing through Fallout 4

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The quibble is not that we necessarily disagree with your premise. I guess I can only speak for myself, but my quibble is that this is not a unique quality of RPGs as a video game genre. Even the most basic of games ultimately have a story of some nature, whether that is contained within supplemental material (like an instruction manual, which was often where games, including many seminal RPGs, put their stories in order to save on memory/space for the game files) or even just largely inferred (many classic arcade games, thinking games like Missile Command or Pac-Man). I think that's, again speaking for myself, where I'm getting tripped up

Im not sure what ive said in contradiction to that. I have only said that RPGs must have a story in order to be an RPG, and that therefor the quality of the story is not orthagonal to the quality of the game.

 

[MarkB]

Saw a video recently where two people are talking about Fallout games:
A: "So what Fallout game should I start with?"
B: "That depends what you prefer, a game with a good story or a game with good gameplay."
A: "Can I have both?"
B: "No."

What I'm saying is that I'm having fun as hell playing through Fallout 4

Fair enough, but the story is always what discourages me from playing through Fallout 4 again.

Then again, the gameplay prevented me from ever getting very far into the story of either Fallout 1 or 2.

Not sure how Fallout New Vegas doesn't make the cut, on either criteria, though.

 

[Gradine]

Fair enough, but the story is always what discourages me from playing through Fallout 4 again.

Then again, the gameplay prevented me from ever getting very far into the story of either Fallout 1 or 2.

Not sure how Fallout New Vegas doesn't make the cut, on either criteria, though.

Having recently gone back to it the gameplay doesn't hold up that great, but it's definitely holistically the best in that sense.

 

[Gradine]

Im not sure what ive said in contradiction to that. I have only said that RPGs must have a story in order to be an RPG,

Again, I'm not sure that it's necessary to qualify this specifically for RPGs. I think this is pretty solidly true of games writ large, with very, very few exceptions.

and that therefor the quality of the story is not orthagonal to the quality of the game.

I don't know, I've played great RPGs that don't have great stories (again, thinking of most dungeon crawlers, or at least the good ones), and I've played RPGs with great stories that I've hated (at this point, basically any Infinity Engine or similar game without turn-based combat, but I'd also put something like Chrono Cross here). That seems to meet the standards of the definition of orthogonal.

 

[Parmandur]

Im not sure what ive said in contradiction to that. I have only said that RPGs must have a story in order to be an RPG, and that therefor the quality of the story is not orthagonal to the quality of the game.

But I can think of a number of RPG video games without any story...?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Again, I'm not sure that it's necessary to qualify this specifically for RPGs. I think this is pretty solidly true of games writ large, with very, very few exceptions.

Whether it is true to puzzle games isnt relevant to the statement thst it is true of RPGs. You are again expanding my statement beyond its scope. If you agree thst it is true of RPGs, then you agree with my statement, regardless of absolutely any possible question regarding other types of games.

I don't know, I've played great RPGs that don't have great stories (again, thinking of most dungeon crawlers, or at least the good ones), and I've played RPGs with great stories that I've hated (at this point, basically any Infinity Engine or similar game without turn-based combat, but I'd also put something like Chrono Cross here). That seems to meet the standards of the definition of orthogonal.

Every role playing game with a weak story would be better as a game if the story were improved.

Before anyone tries to um actually at me, improved does not mean "increased in amount of game time dedicated to it" or anything else like that.

The best dungeon crawler would still be better if it's minimal story were somehow executed better, built a world more effectively, implied motivation more convincingly, etc.

The fact that a RPG can be good in spite of a weak story doesnt make story orthagonal to RPG quality, it just means that games are more complex than one overriding factor of quality.

They can also be good in spite of weak gameplay mechanics. Ive never seen anyone claim that mechanics are orthagonal to the quality of an RPG.

 

[pukunui]

What I'm saying is that I'm having fun as hell playing through Fallout 4

Fallout 4 is still the only Fallout game I've played. I've played through it three times - Minutemen, Railroad, and BoS. Don't think I could ever side with the Institute. I've tried and failed to play it without engaging with the settlement mini-game. Building settlements is so much fun - and being able to access your resources from just about anywhere is so convenient.