Can we excuse bad gameplay for good story?

A Confession

Friends, there is something weighing heavy on my conscience — nay, my every waking moment. The weight that bores down on me is something I have grown to love and covet — The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt by CD Projeckt Red.  I have been immersed in this world (and this horribly addictive card game Gwent, which thank god doesn’t exist in real life or any form outside of The Witcher 3) for about 40 hours now, and while I absolutely am driven mad when I cannot play it, discussions with some of the other editors are crafting the chain just like those of Marley and Marley in A Muppets Christmas Carol.

Marleyandmarley

How can this game weigh me down? Well, to be truthful, it is but the final stone upon a pile of stones that have been building over the last several years, and the story, and rock pile, started with TellTale Games’ The Walking Dead.

I had been playing The Walking Dead, and I enjoyed the story immensely.  It was a satisfying side story that had depth, character development, good pacing and it fit nicely into the world of the comic books.  I even named it a game of the year contender.  But is it a good *game*?  As a story, it’s great.  But the engine used to tell that story is broken — bad controls and almost no ‘game’ type elements.  Is this really any different than a quick-time event game?  A choose your own adventure storybook in a different format?

“Nonsense!” I decried, as I cherished my own personally crafted story with Lee and Clementine.  Then The Wolf Among Us released, and I enjoyed it deeply, as well.  But the cursor had issues.  And I kept noticing.  Game of Thrones on the new consoles popped up, as did Tales from the Borderlands…

And we still had the same basic issues.  Not just in controls, but in gameplay definitions and participation.  Tales of the Borderlands gives you some alternate modes beyond the standard formula, but it isn’t much.

And now, as I play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I find myself deeply engrossed in every side mission, wanting to find the motivation for the sick things that both monsters and people that are monsters inflict on others.  I’ve been telling some of the editors that the allure for the game is that Geralt is basically a one-man, fantasy CSI unit.  The game is nothing but mysteries and he’s the man to solve them!  If… I can just… find the right angle to get the … NO NOT EXTINGUISH!  LOOT!  Maybe if I turn back towards the camera…

witcherignite

And here we find the crux of the matter – the weight I realize that I have been crafting for myself over the past few years.  I have been excusing poorly crafted games due to their ability to tell great stories.  And now the Witcher 3 has broke me.  I find myself still completely immersed, until I try to move Geralt (seriously what’s going on there?), I try to ride my horse ANYWHERE, I try to loot something that has a candle on/near it (–and at what point did the devs NOT know that was going to be a problem — does snapping your fingers to light/extinguish flames override the fun factor of one of the game’s main mechanics — looting?  I think not) and inconsistent level notifications for opposing monsters — all these things pull me out of the experience faster than you can say Yennifer should start with a J.

The problem truly is a subjective one.    For me, it has always been about story — but I realize that my criticism of these games may not have been as harsh as they could have been because I was potentially willing to overlook technical issues for the stories those engines brought me.  I can no longer excuse it, answering the issue listed above.  The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is a phenomenal game, but it has many, many issues that should have been addressed before shipping to give us the polished experience the Polish developers intended.

Which is more important to you?  Story or gameplay?