History Main / PlayTheGameSkipTheStory

Some games are sprawling epics centered about a cast of compelling characters and emotional twists and turns. Some paint pictures of entirely new worlds with [[AllThereInTheManual considerable background material]] and long and involved histories. The amount of detail that goes into some games' storylines can rival a big budget movie or television series. On the other side of the scale, some games are made with [[NoPlotNoProblem no plot at all]] or have the [[ExcusePlot bare minimum]] of one -- all the developers care about is the gameplay, and they see little-to-no need to give any narrative framework when they can instead focus entirely on RuleOfFun, but then there's this: an especially unfortunate attempt where it is clear that the developers genuinely ''did'' spend a lot of time and effort on a game's plot. They clearly were trying for, if not greatness, at least competence. Unfortunately, most of the players didn't care. The story might be ham-handed and laughable, the cutscenes might be jerky and unconvincing. All too often, though, maybe the company's only "mistake" was developing the story of a game designed around or played primarily for multiplayer, competitive, or online play. Or it attracted a lot of players to whom the metagame is the main source of enjoyment. Either way, the story goes unnoticed, since much of the player base finds it completely irrelevant to actually playing the game.

* ''VideoGame/RaidenV'' is noticably more plot-heavy than past games in the ''VideoGame/{{Raiden}}'' series, all of which have only a [[ExcusePlot nominal plot as an excuse for players to fly out and kill stuff]] (the ''VideoGame/RaidenFighters'' spinoff has mission briefings, but that's it). However, many longtime fans of the series (especially anyone who never played ''Raiden Fighters'' titles) find the story elements unnecessary and the constant voiced dialogue to be obnoxious in a genre that traditionally has been focused nearly entirely on gameplay, causing many players to simply set voice volume to 0% and turn off top-of-screen subtitles.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' receives a lot of flack for the major TonalWhiplash after its more mature [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX predecessor]]. Nonetheless, it's also praised for its well-tuned battle system serving as one last hurrah for turn-based combat before the series ditched it in favor of real-time action.

** The series is renowned for its many {{Game Mod}}s and hardcore modder fanbase. With every new game, the number of people who only care about mods gets bigger and bigger.

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' has much of its extremely complex backstory told through supplemental materials such as comics and animated shorts. The game itself ignores said plot, to the point where there's not even any explicit motive behind any of the in-game objectives due to there not being distinct sides other than "Team A vs Team B". Most players couldn't care less.

Some games are sprawling epics centered about a cast of compelling characters and emotional twists and turns. Some paint pictures of entirely new worlds with [[AllThereInTheManual considerable background material]] and long and involved histories. The amount of detail that goes into some games' storylines can rival a big budget movie or television series. On the other side of the scale, some games are made with [[NoPlotNoProblem no plot at all]] or have the [[ExcusePlot bare minimum]] of one -- all the developers care about is the gameplay, and they see little-to-no need to give any narrative framework when they can instead focus entirely on RuleOfFun.

But then there's this: an especially unfortunate attempt where it is clear that the developers genuinely ''did'' spend a lot of time and effort on a game's plot. They clearly were trying for, if not greatness, at least competence. Unfortunately, most of the players didn't care. The story might be ham-handed and laughable, the cutscenes might be jerky and unconvincing. All too often, though, maybe the company's only "mistake" was developing the story of a game designed around or played primarily for multiplayer, competitive, or online play. Or it attracted a lot of players to whom the metagame is the main source of enjoyment. Either way, the story goes unnoticed, since much of the player base finds it completely irrelevant to actually playing the game.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes'', which is a action[=/=] stealth game which involves running around a military base fighting soldiers, and that's as far as most people go. Very few players will end up caring about the story behind why you're running around the base, or what happened in the opening cutscene, and play it for the [[JustforPun solid]] gameplay.

* In ''Literature/VillainessLevel99IMayBeTheHiddenBossButImNotTheDemonLord'', Yumiella recalls before she was [[NextLifeAsAFictionalCharacter transmigrated]] into the {{Fictional|VideoGame}} {{Romance|Game}}/EasternRPG hybrid ''Light Magic and the Hero'', she didn't much care for the romance options or story. What she really liked was the battles and gameplay.

* Some ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' players will barely finish the missions and couldn't care less about the rather-intriguing storylines in each game, just creating mayhem instead of moving the plot forwards. This has led to the unfortunate stereotype where non-fans are surprised to learn the games even ''have'' plot. This is one of the most common criticisms of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV''; the setting is highly praised, but the plot has a tendency to force itself upon the player. ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' went as far to say that the multiplayer is superior to the single player specifically because it just let you run amok in the city without constantly bothering you to complete missions. Eventually, the game was VindicatedByHistory as the plot is now praised for its DarkerAndEdgier story, especially towards protagonist Niko Bellic who is considered to be the most complex protagonist in the franchise who unlike Claude or Tommy Vercetti, actually has emotions and feelings.

* Parodied in Creator/ProZD's video "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkpgP8ovFZQ when you skip all the cutscenes to get to the gameplay]]", which has him utterly skipping the story in ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}''. Even during Archibald's AlwaysWithYou speech, he's yawning through it.

Some games are sprawling epics centered about a cast of compelling characters and emotional twists and turns. Some paint pictures of entirely new worlds with [[AllThereInTheManual considerable background material]] and long and involved histories. The amount of detail that goes into some games' storylines can rival a big budget movie or television series. Other games are made with [[NoPlotNoProblem no plot at all]] -- the players just want to [[RuleOfFun have fun]]. Others may have a [[ExcusePlot bare minimum]] of one.

But then there's this: an especially unfortunate attempt where it is clear that the developers genuinely ''did'' spend a lot of time and effort on a game's plot. They clearly were trying for, if not greatness, at least competence. Unfortunately, many other people didn't care. The story might be ham-handed and laughable, the cutscenes might be jerky and unconvincing. All too often, though, maybe the company's only "mistake" was developing the story of a game designed around or played primarily for multiplayer, competitive, or online play. Or it attracted a lot of players to whom the metagame is the main source of enjoyment. Either way, the story goes unnoticed, since much of the player base finds it completely irrelevant to actually playing the game.

* Many people playing campaigns in ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'' are ignoring cutscenes and interaction between characters completly - both to save time and because many consider plot of the game to be terribly written ExcusePlot and disgrace to otherwise quite charming and interesting lore.

* Any ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' game that attempts to have a story more complex than "Sonic fights Eggman" is immediately met with scorn by any professional reviewer and [[BrokenBase many fans as well]]. This came to a head with ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog''. This game gives the hero at least five different [[OriginStory origin stories]] and reasons for existing. The only thing fans remember? [[{{Narm}} "FIND THE COMPUTER ROOM!" "Where's that DAMN fourth Chaos Emerald!?"]]

* The ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' world is filled with robust wildlife with unique traits, various habitats and lots of locales, many of which aren't even visited. Looking at the quest descriptions can paint a pretty good picture of the type of society the world is, and how the hunters affect them. There are also various sentient races that aren't monsters, like Wyverians, Felynes, Melynxes and Shakalakas. There are even what are presumably maps of the world at the base camps in some locations. Even the weapons and armors have colorful descriptions, especially in regards to the origins of the weapons or the cultures they come from. But go on any forum and 99.9% of what you'll see is how to fight a monster or where to get what material. All ''anybody'' cares about is the gameplay. It's even more apparent with ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter4'', which was announced to have a greater emphasis on story with the player character being part of a traveling caravan that has various colorful characters. This didn't stop Western players from importing Japanese copies and not caring a bit about not being able to read any of the text. Because of this trope, you won't see many fans of both the ''Monster Hunter'' main series AND ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterStories''--it's right in the latter's name.

* This was part of ''VideoGame/HellgateLondon''. Although part of the unfortunate reasons the game died, the more unfortunate reason was that the company went bankrupt before most everyone got a chance to beat it.

* Many fans of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'' seem to be in agreement that the game's story is the weakest of the trilogy, as while the main cast of characters are beloved for how well-developed they are, the villains are often ridiculed for how one-dimension and plentiful they are, and the writing is often slated to take a nosedive around the [[EndingFatigue second-to-last chapter]]. Despite the criticisms directed at the story, the gameplay is often declared to be {{even better|sequel}} than the last [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 two]] [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 games]], owing to the many quality-of-life features added, the more in-depth battle system, and the removal of some of the more [[ScrappyMechanic contentious mechanics]] from the previous installments.