I remember playing the first Metal Gear Solid on PS1, great fukking game, but I also remember the story... which was great too, intrigue, mysticism, war, chaos, conspiracies, and enemies that you never forget. Gears of War. MGS2&3, Halo, Uncharted, God Of War Series...
Let me say, that I can read the passion that was put into this post, and my normal reaction to something like this is to just troll and instigate. However...
I just can't agree with what you said.
The best games in my opinion, and by that I mean games that I could pop-in and play right now and not be bored, either had horrible stories or they had no story at all. What comes to my mind are games like Doom 1 and 2, Megaman 3/Megaman X, Street Fighter 2, Minecraft, Fallout 3/Fallout New Vegas, Skyrim, Ikaruga, COD multiplayer, Contra, Batman (NES), ESPgaluda, Chrono Trigger, and various others.
You mention some of the games, such as MGS2 or Halo, and I consider those games to be some of the worse games ever created (at least from a single player experience). Metal Gear Solid and Xenasaga are some of the worse offenders. In these games, the gameplay elements are straight up boring. I never played a Metal Gear Solid game more than once. Once the story's idiotic and moronic twist endings are revealed, there is no incentive to even play it again. The gameplay is simply not fun; the only incentive to keep playing the game is the big reveal at the end.
Back in the PS1 days/Early PC days. It was cool to see small cutscene every now and then, but by PS2 came around, the developers went to far. A 10 hour game should not have 4 hours worth of cutscenes. That is completely ridiculous. I don't have time to sit and watch stupid cutscenes. If I wanted to see a movie, I would watch a movie.
On the flip side, I have re-played games like Fallout 3, Chrono Trigger and Skyimr dozens if not 100's of times. Chrono Trigger (CT) has a unique Turn-Based system, and it's fun and rewarding to build characters and try different teams. CT's story is fun, but it's not anything thought provoking. But there are so many different endings and different outcomes, which are dictated by the player. Fallout 3 has a pretty subpar story. There are no ifs and/or buts about it. This story sucks. However, it's just plainly fun to play. It's fun to walk around the Wasteland, if only to just fukk-around and see what happens, because everything is so random in that game. I guess in the Case of Fallout 3, CT and Skyrim, The player's actions and the work that the player puts into the game are rewarded (in game) by more than just a stupid and ill-though twist ending. There are tangible results. You can become rich in the game by putting in work. You can become the world's ultimate villain, or the ultimate hero or you can become nothing.
Then there are games with no story.
I can turn my computer right now, and play doom 2 from beginning to the end ( Using brutal mod of course) and I would have experienced more suspense, terror and intrigue than any scripted story could ever give. This is because doom is designed to be nearly impossibly hard to finish, and in the later levels, the odds are always stacked against the player. You have to really think and strategize to beat that game.
and at the end of the day? What are the most popular games in the world. Flappy Birds? Tetris? Games aren't about waiting 5 minutes for the next quick-time event to occur.
I'm a nite owl anyways
Developers need to stop listening to the internet and stop believing things are really about multiplayer and not the story/campaign. I can't think of any great game that didn't have a good campaign. The MP should always be considered a special feature.
