History Main / StoryToGameplayRatio

* Depending on how one defines story, most systemic games (which are, for some reason, usually [[SimulationGame life sims and management sims]]) could fit at either end of the scale. ''You'' get to shape almost all the events in the game, as the game generally doesn't dictate anything narrative-related to you except for the mechanics. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration The traditional delineation between the mechanics of the game and the themes of the story simply isn't there]] because the gameplay essentially ''is'' the story, and its mechanics are the themes (e.g. what it takes to successfully manage a [[VideoGame/SimCity city]] or [[VideoGame/{{Civilization}} nation]] or [[VideoGame/DwarfFortress underground fantasy fortress]], [[VideoGame/TheSims what makes people happy and successful and what it takes to achieve those things]], etc.).
** Creator/ParadoxInteractive's FourX games (''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', ''VideoGame/CrusaderKingsII'', ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'', ''VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun'', etc.) are nearly all examples of this kind of "what ''is'' story?" game design. They all pretty much lack any traditional plot as it's usually defined in games...but on the other hand, the gameplay mechanics and gameplay events in them are insanely granular and diverse, and include many themes that in most games would normally be "just" part of the story rather than the gameplay (e.g. marriages, assassinations, betrayals, the rise and fall of whole civilizations and species, and so on).

* The Japanese UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast version of ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}'' is basically five stages of outright blasting and combo action with a few lines of story at the start of each stage. The most story-heavy section of the game is the last stage, where there are a few lines preceding each of the boss's four phases, and there's some "dialogue" right at the very end... And that's about it. Control is taken away from the player twice per stage; Once at the end of the intro section, again when the boss appears, (except in the last stage, since the boss appears immediately after the intro section), and at the "stage clear" screen. Any other time, the player is free to move and shoot however they like.
** In the English UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube port, even this little amount of story is ripped away; The only story to be had is in the manual and in the very final cutscene.

->''"It’s not an exaggeration to say that well over half of ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|SonsOfLiberty}}'''s first hour is spent watching movies. This percentage dips a bit as you get further into the story, but it’s still a great deal of the experience."''

->''"It’s not an exaggeration to say that well over half of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'''s first hour is spent watching movies. This percentage dips a bit as you get further into the story, but it’s still a great deal of the experience."''

* ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'' is much closer to ''Asura's Wrath'' in the sense that it made ''Heavy Rain'' an interactive (sometimes action) ''{{Drama}}''. It is more accurate to call it a "five-six hour movie with some interaction" than a video game as well. According to the commentary, they even minimized the interface from ''Heavy Rain'' and made it almost without a UI in the game proper.

* The selling point of the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' is its detailed and very rich WorldBuilding and character-driven plots. How detailed? The first trilogy alone is larger than the Mass Effect trilogy combined. There's a staggering amount of text in every game, dialogue scenes are frequent and just as frequently go on for a good twenty minutes. While there's typically a lot of sidequests to do and dungeons to crawl, it's typically a breather for an hour before you dive back into the plot. Even then, every NPC has a name, personality, and backstory, and they'll be happy to explain why they need your help. Scripts never fall below 300000 words in length, and can easily go way above that. It's also fond of making duologies and trilogies of one interconnected plot, just getting through these is the equivalent of several novels. What's more, unlike most Eastern RPG developers, every game takes place at the same time and place with crossover plotlines.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' thus far has the highest ratio of [[Franchise/FinalFantasy its series]]; the hero goes along a linear path from one scene to the next, with occasional boss fights in between. It's only when you're ready to face the BigBad that you finally have the freedom to travel about at your leisure, which, like ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' below, is pretty much for sidequests, [[BonusBoss bonus bosses]], and extra scenes.

* John Carmack of Creator/IdSoftware maintains that story is completely incidental to gaming. The original two ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''s and the original ''VideoGame/{{Quake|I}}'' embody this philosophy, with stories no more complex than "you're here, bad guys are over there; kill them." ''VIdeoGame/QuakeII'' is only a little bit more complex, and ''VideoGame/{{Quake III|Arena}}'' eliminates even the slightest hint of a story. ''VideoGame/Doom3'', however, is considerably more plot-driven (though most of the larger info dumps are recorded messages and e-mails the player can freely skip), as is Raven's ''VideoGame/QuakeIV''.

* ''VideoGame/VirtualOn'' has an even lesser ratio than the other typical fighting games. Whatever the ExcusePlot might say, the sole purpose of the game is to entertain the Gundam-maniacs; the mechas, save for [[TheChick Fei-Yen]], do not even have a personal story of their own. ''MARZ'' met with backlash for trading stripped-down gameplay for an intense storyline, however.

** The ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fighting games belong with the rest of the franchise below; in one-player Story Mode there's the same amount of in-game dialogue, with the same degree of (loose) relevance to the plot.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' series features dialogue just before each boss fight... and that's about it unless you have the [[AllThereInTheManual Japanese manual]]. And much of that dialogue doesn't have anything to do with the main plot until the last 2 or 3 stages. This gives its vibrant fanbase plenty of room to come up with all sorts of fanon.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}''. It ''had'' a plot way back in preproduction, but it disappeared right about the time the dev team decided to cel shade everything to hide graphical flaws. The game is ten hours of chest farming and collecting MacGuffins to get to the next zone, framed by an ExcusePlot. (However, ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' and ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' cared significantly more about their plot and characters, and ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'' is mostly focused on plot, due to being a Creator/TelltaleGames spin-off.)

* Unlike most [[CollectibleCardGame CCG]] mobile games, most of which feature some kind of gameplay (most being [[RhythmGame Rhythm Games]]), ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'' relies on almost 0 skill - players form teams of cards but points are gained simply by tapping the screen. Only the [[RandomNumberGod RNG]]-conjured Encore system resembles any kind of traditional gameplay, and that represents only a fraction of playing time. Naturally, without gameplay to attract players, the story is a much bigger focus than for other mobile games -- when it started, it was the first to feature such complex character interactions and backstories or such heavy drama.
* [[EnvironmentalNarrativeGame Environmental Narrative Games]] tend to feature extremely minimalist game mechanics and very little gameplay challenge in order to promote an emphasis on storytelling and exploration. Popular examples include ''VideoGame/DearEsther'' and ''VideoGame/GoneHome''.

* John Carmack of Creator/IdSoftware maintains that story is completely incidental to gaming. The original two ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''s and the original ''VideoGame/{{Quake|I}}'' embody this philosophy, with stories no more complex than "you're here, bad guys are over there; kill them." ''VIdeoGame/QuakeII'' is only a little bit more complex, and ''VideoGame/{{Quake III|Arena}}'' eliminates even the slightest hint of a story. ''VideoGame/Doom3'', however, is considerably more plot-driven, as is Raven's ''VideoGame/QuakeIV''.

[[caption-width-right:286:[[WebVideo/{{Unskippable}} I salute your passing, reasonable ratio of gameplay to cutscenes. You will be missed]].]]