What's More Important - Challenge or Story?

DualShockers writes: "There is somewhat of a conundrum these days in the gaming industry. When games are designed, they are designed to cater to a certain audience, presumably the developers know this, the publishers know this and the end-user – us gamers – know this. We know ourselves well enough that we can spot a game that appeals to us from a mile away. Some games are designed to be controller-crushing-difficult and some games are created just to tell you a story and the audience goes along for the ride. Yes, indeed, there can be a happy medium, but what should be more important? What is more important to you?"

[Ninferno]

Challenge is way more important than story.

[Hitman0769]

Great Article! For me personally, I have to say I prefer challenge over story 9 times out of 10 but when a game does it just right it is usually the most immersible game experience you can ask for.

This article reminds me that some gamers (like many I've know) have trouble with overly challenging games and that a radical re-design of games could benefit the industry overall. Think about the New Super Mario Brothers game and how they let you skip around levels even if you have not beat them yet. This could work out really well in other game genres besides platforming if done in a artistic way.

[Chubear]

BOTH are important. This is current gen not last gen. You don't have to sacrifice one over the other. You can and do have loads of games that have high quality in story, challenge, graphics, gameplay mechanics, online gameplay etc etc.

The only reason you'd even bother picking one over the other is if you acknowledge to yourself that the current gen console of your preferred choice isn't really meeting your gaming needs for the new era and thus you must compromise.

[Hitman0769]

This is a great question. I've been asking myself the same thing lately.

[IG_DARKSA1NT]

I like a little of both.

[JoelT]

Yakuza 3 is a perfect example of this. The gane wasn't really difficult by traditional action game standards (especially a Japanese one) but because of it's engaging story I couldn't put it down.

[taz8080]

For many story is a distant thought over Multiplayer or even game play mechanics.

Making gamers too challenging actually turns many gamers away

[Chadness]

Story > Challenge for me, but actually a happy medium is the best case scenario.

[Chadness]

With certain genres story could take a back seat - FPS titles, sports and racing (obviously). But I think if a game has a hugely important and strong narrative, the challenge should be kept in check so as to allow a frustration-free experience.

[anonymouse111335]

Depends on the game, but challenge overall, since I believe gameplay should be given the highest priority in producing a game, it should have various difficulty modes, and be hard enough to be challenging at a certain skill level (relative to your level of skill) but not to where you're ripping your hair out from the challenge.