[[quoteright:286:[[VideoGame/MetalGear https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TacticalHomoertoScene.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:286:[[WebVideo/{{Unskippable}} I salute your passing, reasonable ratio of gameplay to cutscenes. You will be missed.]]]]

%%Think before putting a new series in this list when comparing its ratio. Kinetic Novels are the absolute highest in the scale; ZOE and X are the rough middle; and Pong is opposite of KNs. It cannot get any higher than the highest on either side.

->''"It’s not an exaggeration to say that well over half of ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|GunsOfThePatriots}}'''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."''
-->-- '''Chris Kohler''', [[https://www.wired.com/2008/06/metal-gear-stor/ "Metal Gear Solid 4 and the Marriage of Movies and Games"]]

%% Quote replaced per thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1327331003042025100&page=257
%% Please do not change or remove without consulting the thread.

Just about every game released has at least a little story in it. Some games are almost nothing ''but'' story, such as {{Visual Novel}}s -- like ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' or ''VisualNovel/HotelDuskRoom215''.

Does this work? It depends. Games with great gameplay and [[NoPlotNoProblem no story]], such as the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series, sell fantastically. Games with bad gameplay and no story tend, unsurprisingly, not to last. Games with bad gameplay but a high Story to Gameplay Ratio, especially if the story is considered great, sell to those who are willing to slog through the boring game to get at the crunchy story bits and {{Cutscene}}s. Enough of those people exist to make many of these games profitable, though with the exception of a few popular ones, most of these never go anywhere near a bestsellers chart.

Many modern [[RolePlayingGame Role-Playing Games]] have a high ratio. Many modern {{Action Game}}s have a low ratio.

Periods where a game takes control away from the player for the purposes of advancing the plot or tutorials are known as {{Exposition Break}}s.

See also PlayTheGameSkipTheStory; EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame; ExcusePlot; JustHereForGodzilla; CheckpointStarvation and the various InteractiveStorytellingTropes.

'''''Please note:''' This list is ranked. That means the closer is an item to the top, the more gameplay it has; the closer to the bottom, the more story it has. So, if you know about a really, really plot-heavy game don't place it under "Lowest Story to Gameplay Ratio"; instead, place it right above "Highest Story to Gameplay Ratio".''

----
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Lowest Story to Gameplay Ratio ]]


* The first video games ever made, like ''VideoGame/{{Pong}}'', had no story due in large part to technological limitations of the time only allowing for the gameplay itself, resulting in a lot of AllThereInTheManual for early games.
* Depending on one's personal definition of "story," most EmergentNarrative games (which are, for some reason, usually [[SimulationGame life sims and management sims]]) could fit at either end of the scale. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration The traditionally understood binary 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).
* ''VideoGame/{{Vanish}}'' has a very minimalist plot. You're thrown into the sewers by unknown people, and you have to find the exit. Also, there are plenty of subterranean monsters in the way. No further explanation is present.
* ''VideoGame/{{N}}'': Even after being cleverly embellished to sound like a grand quest, the page describing the ninja's basic goal (getting gold, avoiding enemies, and reaching the exit) is quite tiny.
* Parodying this, ''VideoGame/SubTerra'' has a short story that intentionally has nothing whatsoever to do with the game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Eversion}}'' has this one-line description of a plot hidden away in the readme file: "Princess is kidnapped. You must save princess", but it has pretty much no impact on gameplay.
* ''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 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.
* Similarly, ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'' gives no importance to its story at all. Oh, there is the whole thing about the machinations of [[NebulousEvilOrganization J6]], but they're AllThereInTheManual; none of that ''actually'' makes it into the game. In fact, the only thing in the game that reminds you that J6 even ''exists'' is that Goh wears their name on the back of his gi. (Note that Goh didn't debut until the UpdatedRerelease of the ''fourth'' game, which first hit arcades in August 2002--close to nine years after the series first hit the {{fighting game}} scene.)
* Creator/JohnCarmack of Creator/IdSoftware maintains that story is completely incidental to gaming. The original two ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' games, as well as ''VideoGame/Doom64'' 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''.
* {{Roguelike}} genre is characterized by fairly thin plots. ''VideoGame/NetHack'', ''VideoGame/DungeonCrawl'', ''VideoGame/{{Angband}}'' and most of its variants as well as the genre-defining ''VideoGame/{{Rogue}}'' feature plots no more complex than "retrieve MacGuffin" or "slay the BigBad". Some Roguelikes have more plot -- for example, ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery'' has a neat backstory and a more defined fantasy world than most Roguelikes, but remains ultimately driven by gameplay, not plot. Of course, for a genre that typically features {{Permadeath}}, having lots of plot to replay each time could get a bit annoying.
* StoryBreadcrumbs have been a more popular trend, particularly in indie titles. In games where your reason for slaying all these enemies are usually paper-thin, it scatters bits of lore throughout the game instead, not unlike ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''. Whether it's done with item FlavorText or an in-game MonsterCompendium like ''VideoGame/RiskOfRain'', dedicated "lore rooms" in ''VideoGame/DeadCells'', or simple loading screen text in ''VideoGame/NuclearThrone'', it helps flesh out the game's setting and characters just enough to know what they're like.
* {{Fighting game}}s in general ''do'' have a story, but you wouldn't know it from the actual games. Most of it is AllThereInTheManual in many cases, and the examples that actually do avert this (or at least try to explain the reason behind all the fighting in-game) tend to be [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory ignored]].
** The ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' 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 Flash fighting game ''Death Vegas'' is on the other end of the scale. Not only are there extensive cutscenes setting up each fight and placing it, but every single character's fights, and their outcomes, are a canonical part of the overarching story.
* ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' is all about the action. Sure, there's [[AllThereInTheManual character bios you can find online]] and you're told what you have to do for each heist, but in the end, you're only playing to shoot at all the cops and take all the money.
* Strange to think of it, but long-running console [[RolePlayingGame RPGs]] like ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' and ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' used to belong on this end of the scale. You had some exposition from a quest-giver to tell you what your newest goal is, some [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] to hand out clues and advice, and the other 99% of the game was you exploring the world and thrashing monsters. The "story" was just a series of obstacles and objectives that ensured you gradually progressed from the easy areas to the hard ones. ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' is a modern throwback to this style of game.
** This was [[http://www.telebunny.net/talkingtime/showthread.php?t=4183&page=3 pointed out]] by Brickroad in his brilliant LetsPlay of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'':
--->''[[GetOnTheBoat The SHIP storyline]] is also a really good indication of how [=RPGs=] used to be versus how they are now. Playing the game blindly, there's nothing to indicate that the player needs a SHIP and nothing that points to get one in this town. If this scenario popped up nowadays the heroes would have a [[ExpositionBreak long unskippable discussion]] about how they desperately need a ship, run a few {{fetch quest}}s in town before overhearing someone talking about the {{PIRATE}}s, then come up with an elaborate scheme (probably involving a [[UnexpectedGameplayChange stealth minigame]]) to sneak aboard and take control of it somehow. Personally, I preferred the old way: roll into town, beat up some chumps, sail away laughing. Also note: now that I have the SHIP I'm still not told what to do with it. It's "You have a SHIP now! Yay! Explore!" and not "You have your SHIP, now you can sail to the place you knew you needed to go!" Just feels like more of an adventure, you know?''
** When ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' was released, they cut down the cutscenes; [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks and the fans didn't like it one bit]].
* Like the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, ''VideoGame/{{Ultima|I}}'' and its prequel ''Akalabeth' began on this end of the spectrum. As both gameplay and story depth evolved, later Ultimas shifted toward the middle.
* Basically, any video game that tries to be nothing more than a game (not that that's a bad thing). There may be an intro, and an ending, with dialog, and maybe some brief cutscenes in-between.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' is a perfect example of this. A voiced intro, a voiced ending, and nothing else except the occasional snippet of dialog from an NPC.
** Nintendo in general makes many games of that kind even today. If there is any real depth to the story, chances are that those parts are completely optional, like the ''VideoGame/{{Metroid Prime|Trilogy}}'' scans.
** ''VideoGame/WarioLandShakeIt'' has this, to probably the most minimal point ever. You've got an intro scene, an ending movie... and after watching them just once, you never get forced to see them again (going straight in an optional bonus menu). Same for the credits.
** Though the sequels have more developed plots, ''VideoGame/{{Turok}}: Dinosaur Hunter'' is one of the most extreme examples of this side of the scale. Apart from a short hint that appears when you load or start a new game, and a dialogue-less ending, it has no discernible plot whatsoever.
* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' generally tends toward a greater gameplay ratio; if there is any plot-relevant to the game, it is usually limited to the in-game dialogue or short cutscenes. Even as ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow'' provides probably the most in-depth storyline in the franchise history, it still has a large enough gameplay element to maintain a healthy balance against the plot element.
* ''Franchise/TombRaider'' has a plot, but it's very minimal by having cut scenes only happening at the end of each "chapter" and said cut scenes are mostly just the plot explained in a simple form. The majority of the game is focused on the gameplay itself. [[VideoGame/TombRaiderII The second game]] slid further down the ratio by having even fewer cutscenes than the first game, but [[VideoGame/TombRaiderIII the third game]] onward moved the scale in the opposite direction by having a cutscene for almost every level's end.
* CultClassic ''VideoGame/AnotherWorld'' contains no dialogue, with the exception of an introductory sequence; however, the game is rich with narrative, all expressed through its (linear) gameplay and setpieces. Its minimalism influenced many future games.
* ''VideoGame/BangaiO Spirits'' does not even pretend to have a plot in contrast to its predecessor which at least had an ExcusePlot. The little character interaction that there is tends to include [[NoFourthWall discussions of this issue]].
* The first two ''Merlin's Revenge'' games had a moderately long cutscene at the beginning and end of each game, with the story having no impact on gameplay. This was changed a bit with the third game, which added a few very short, skippable cutscenes in the middle of the game, most notably the scene with the stone inscription.
* The Japanese Platform/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 Platform/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.
** Actually, there is a reasonably developed story. It's AllThereInTheManual.
* The ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' 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/CrimzonClover'': While most shmups will try to at least throw an ExcusePlot into why you're shooting down these bad guys or what they are, the creator flat-out admits the game has absolutely no narrative. NoPlotNoProblem indeed.
* ''VideoGame/{{Meteos}}'' has an opening cutscene and an ending based on which mode you play, and nothing else. This doesn't stop what little amount of story that shows up there from being amusing. It also has brief descriptions of each world, typical of games that like to have a bit of story without getting in the way of the action.
* The ''VideoGame/StarFox'' series typically has a 1-2 minute long cutscene at the beginning and end of each stage. Most of the plot comes from in-game transmissions that take place during gameplay.
* ''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 {{MacGuffin}}s 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.)
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' had literally no story when it was first released. The "Meet the [Class]" movies give the characters some additional dimensions, and it's implied in a couple of places that RED (Reliable Excavation Demolition) is a demolition company and BLU (Builders League United) is a construction company, but that's about it.
** [[http://www.teamfortress.com/movies.htm This page]] adds a bit more background to the teams, but essentially the story boils down to "two companies that control the world have hired mercenaries to kill each other. Go help them."
** Now, it has much more story with [[http://www.teamfortress.com/war/administrator/ this comic]] and [[http://www.teamfortress.com/pumpkinpatch/the_last_will_and_testament_of_Zepheniah_Mann/ this page,]] the latter which describes how the whole mess started.
** The plot still pretty much remains in the background, however, and when a plot point actually does appear in-game, it usually just takes the form of a taunt or response line.
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead''. There are small cutscenes at the beginning of each campaign that lasts under a minute. There is dialogue throughout the levels, but they take place during the actual gameplay. Not to mention there is writing on the walls which are optional for the players to look at.
** NothingIsScarier in effect. With this game and its sequel, much of the cause and backstory of the ensuing ZombieApocalypse is only in the footnotes. The characters only meet at the start of the game (or at least a week earlier in the case of the first game), meaning that not all of them are exactly open to sharing their personalities and getting attached, as you never know who's going to turn next.
** Drops closer to the story-heavy end with the release of [[DownloadableContent The Sacrifice]] and the accompanying comic.
* Considering the reputation the series acquired for its frequent use of QuickTimeEvents and taking control away from the player, it may be surprising for new players to hear the first two installments of ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' were actually very light on plot. Past the short JustifiedTutorial and skippable narrations at the beginning of each campaign to set the historical context of the missions, levels have very little downtime and typically have the player shooting or being shot at within the first 30 seconds.
** A staple of the series has been interrupting gameplay with unskippable cutscenes and quick-time events to further develop the game's story. [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Some of the games in the series]] have more character development and story than others, ''on top'' of the unskippable cutscenes.
* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' had quite a few cutscenes, but they were never very long, and there wasn't much story behind them. The sequel had a more in-depth storyline, but the cutscenes were still not very long, with most of the plot being told in in-game transmissions.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' tells most of the story through the passive-aggressive ravings of an AI and the implications of the environment. Most of the game is about performing physics-warping puzzles and getting from place to place -- and yet the game's writing was one of its biggest selling points, being pitch-dark and very, very funny.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', while keeping the physics-warping puzzles from the first game, expands beyond the test chambers and has quite a bit more story, mostly through the dialogue of the AIs and recorded messages you hear throughout. The co-op campaign, however, is really just many more puzzles that [=GLaDOS=] wants you and a friend to complete.
* The early, 8-bit ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' games (not to be confused with the current ones). The original ''Ninja Gaiden'' was one of the very first games to have many well-done cutscenes with a genuinely interesting story filled with twists and turns. The fact that it was backed up by some great ([[NintendoHard if impossible]]) gameplay helped a lot as well. One of the first games which caused players to beat each level to see what happens next in the story.
** Incidentally, the writer for these games would later go on to work on a number of beloved [[Creator/SquareEnix Squaresoft]] [=RPGs=], specifically [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger the]] ''[[VisualNovel/RadicalDreamers Chrono]]'' [[VideoGame/ChronoCross series]] and ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. He did not, however, return for...
** The 3D ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' games, which seem to have taken the opposite approach to their predecessors; the story is incomprehensible, uninspired, and entirely uninteresting, but strictly relegated to cutscenes that are short, flashy, and far-between. The main incentive for the players to keep going is simply to challenge themselves. It works for what it is, but it's ironic and somewhat sad that the [[ContinuityReboot reboot]] of a series that helped pioneer the concept of the story in action games would completely abandon such a defining feature of its predecessors.
* ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' and most of its sequels/imitators. There is a story, but it definitely takes a back seat to wander around beautiful, lonely worlds solving fiendish puzzles. (Individual sequels waver a bit -- ''Myst'' gives you almost nothing to start with, and each subsequent game adds a little more story and a little fewer puzzles.)
** The split between Myst and its sequels is because of the story. In Myst, all of the stories are backstory and you only really learn it at the very end. The only storyline in the game itself is "go fetch" and there's only one decision in the game that's story-driven, so the puzzles and the pretty pictures are all gameplay. In all of the sequels, you're an active part of the ongoing story and the puzzles are part of (or drive) the storyline, so they belong much farther down this list.
* ''VideoGame/{{Vietcong}}''. The briefing and debriefing cutscenes are rather long, but the rest of the game is mostly a standard jungle [[FirstPersonShooter FPS]].
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'':
** ''No More Heroes'' has several-minute-long cutscenes before and after boss fights, but most of the game is spent doing odd assassination jobs around the city, exploring the city, fighting through the levels, etc.
*** [[Creator/{{Suda51}} Its creator's]] [[VideoGame/{{Killer7}} previous game]], on the other hand, was notorious for having well-directed, stylish cutscenes (and a lot of them) and an extremely complex and ambitious story... juxtaposed with highly linear and questionably interesting gameplay.
** And by contrast, ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'' has (mostly) shorter cutscenes and more gameplay than ever, which has earned it greater praise from critics but mixed responses from fans.
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' has a low to moderate ratio: there is story and dialog, yes, but you never lose control of Gordon Freeman during any dialog or event. On the other hand, because you often can't move Gordon to the next area until the dialog is completed (which is usually when the person talking unlocks the door or whatever is in your way), these scenes can arguably be thought of as semi-interactive unskippable cutscenes.
* The ''Franchise/SilentHill'' series. The cutscenes don't go on for too long and are spaced out reasonably. Yet a lot of stories are contained within those scenes.
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' is an odd, hard-to-place example. The world you play on has an extremely rich and detailed backstory that's ''completely [[ProceduralGeneration procedurally generated]]'', but in Fortress Mode they're largely irrelevant, unless you find yourself with a situation where you're the last surviving settlement of a VestigialEmpire that everyone else is at war with.
* The ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoon'' series is a shooter series with a vast amount of backstory, but most of it is optional, aside from 2-minute cutscenes at the beginning of each stage.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' sits much higher on the list than one would expect with its rather frenetic violence and combat. This is mostly because, in addition to a lot of cutscenes, the games make a point of having plenty of exposition and dialogue taking place ''during'' the levels. Additionally, all the games from ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' onward have terminals, datapads, and audio logs scattered throughout the levels which give lots of additional information on the background lore, with several actually being complete stories in their own right.
* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', Creator/{{Bungie}}'s first FPS series, is also high on the list due to story and worldbuilding delivered through the terminals, during the time when the plot of FPS games amounted to "kill monsters." The series's story writer Greg Kirkpatrick responded to complaints about ''Marathon's'' "confusing and unnecessary story" with an answer that is the opposite of John Carmack's own view on this near the top of this list: "Read my lips: Computer games tell stories. That's what they're for."
* ''Creator/BioWare'':
** ''Franchise/MassEffect'' sits a bit lower down than some would expect, as a lot of its dialogue is skippable. However, it is quite hefty on the talking side of things, but still has plenty of action. Well, not to mention that the dialogue is playable, so it's really ''not'' gameplay.
** Hell, pick a Creator/BioWare game. ''Any'' [=BioWare=] game. For good or ill, they put a lot of their efforts into characters. For every half-hour spent on dungeon-crawls and slaying monsters, expect an hour and a half of helping your [[DysfunctionJunction colorful crew]] through their {{Character Arc}}s.
* ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'' is quite high on story AND gameplay. This is part of its appeal.
* The ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' series has long dialog scenes before and after operations, but after you've beaten the operation once, you can skip right past them.
* ''VideoGame/RuleOfRose'' had a really intriguing, complex, and fleshed-out storyline, but mediocre at best gameplay. Almost everyone who played it and enjoyed it did so solely for the story; unfortunately, since it sat closer to the gameplay end of the scale, many reviewers gave the game bad scores because they felt that the gameplay took away from your ability to enjoy the story.
* [[ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld There are two types of]] ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' players: the type that only see the support system in terms of the bonuses it gives to combat, and the type that launches [[http://forums.feplanet.net/index.php?showtopic=26098 The Support Conversation Project.]]
* On its surface, ''VideoGame/ThomasWasAlone'' doesn't look like much more than a puzzle/platformer where you move blocks with differing abilities around. The real charm in this game is the surprisingly deep story about an artificial intelligence named Thomas awakening and becoming self-aware enough to develop lasting friendships with other A.I.s.
* The majority of ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games are usually very plot-driven (even the NES games have surprisingly high content in story), but they rely on the player grinding through several hours of dungeons to progress. In fact, they average out at the approximate center, but they rely on gameplay more than a story. Exceptions to this are the ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' games, which are actually higher in the story than gameplay.
* The ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' games have a plot [[labelnote:(specifically)]] [[YouCantGoHomeAgain Kyle Brennan trying to get back to Earth]] in ''X: Beyond the Frontier'' and ''X-Tension]'', [[AlienInvasion defeating the Kha'ak invasion]] in ''X2: The Threat'' and ''X3: Reunion'', and [[SpaceColdWar the rising tensions between Earth and the Commonwealth]], culminating in full-scale war, in ''X3: Terran Conflict'' and ''X3: Albion Prelude''[[/labelnote]], but 99% of the game is screwing around in the WideOpenSandbox and [[AnEntrepreneurIsYou building a trade empire]].
* ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' games, is based on a literature novel series and featuring adaptation that's true to its source material and many, many story-driven quests -- but as the game goes on, the exploration becomes wider to the point that [[VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt the third game]] features a WideOpenSandbox with many things to do and lots of story and interaction driven quests.
* ''VideoGame/RivalsOfAether'' has a story mode where the gameplay is largely irrelevant to the story being told. For example, Zetterburn's episode begins with him returning to the Fire Capitol to find it in mourning, then the gameplay commences with an utterly disconnected battle against Maypul at Treetop Lodge, then the story resumes with Zetterburn learning his half-brother Forsburn supposedly killed their father. That said, each individual chapter ends with its last stage actually reflecting the plot, with the last stage's opponent in some cases being a dark doppelganger of another character.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Highest Story-to-Gameplay Ratio ]]


* ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' is an interesting example of this, especially for the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series, which typically relies on {{Excuse Plot}}s. Most of the story is done with indecently long cutscenes before having to go somewhere. [[EndingFatigue The ending is also about an hour long]] and due to the lots of cutscenes the game is roughly 30 hours long compared to other Pokémon games which had it roughly being 18 hours long so there is almost 2x the amount of story to gameplay. [[SerialEscalation This escalates at the end of the third island]] where most of the story is told then.
* ''VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEndersThe2ndRunner'', while not as exposition-heavy as [[VideoGame/MetalGear a certain other Hideo Kojima franchise]], frequently splits up the action with scenes upwards of ten minutes long, but the game also has some versus mode with no story. In fact, this is roughly the middle point of the scale, being completely balanced between story and gameplay.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' deserves a mention here, even by the standards of [[Franchise/KingdomHearts the series]]. Entering a new room? Cutscene! Wait, it's just a corridor. Regain control of your character long enough to walk down it for three seconds. Next room: Cutscene! Goofy says something, monsters appear, regain control to fight them, the battle ends, Cutscene! "That sure was a tough battle, Sora..." and so on. (Ironically, ''KHII'' allowed players to skip cutscenes much like in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'', likely in response to how long certain cutscenes in [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI the original]] could run--doubly so if they preceded [[ThatOneBoss particularly hellish boss fights]].) The prequel ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' has a similar situation.
* {{Dating Sim}}s are rather similar to {{Visual Novel}}s as far as gameplay goes, differing in that they give you a greater variety of choices and actually allow your mistakes to play out instead of slapping you with a bad ending immediately.
* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'':
** ''[=BlazBlue=]'' has a very large, very complex plot, especially for a fighting game. A character's story usually consists of about six or seven short matches and up to an hour of text.
** ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma Chronophantasma]]'' veers even heavier towards the story side. Gameplay in the story mode has been reduced to single-round combat, and many times, the fight will end when the enemy A.I. has barely lost half of their health.
* ''VideoGame/MeltyBlood'' in its first two releases, much like the [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} visual novel]] it's based on, has a story which is as lengthy as one, with large amounts of text to read between a handful of fights.
* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' ''Xrd'' and ''Strive'' doesn't even bother putting fights in between cutscenes for its story mode. The entire thing is one 4-5 hour long KineticNovel.
* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series is essentially a story that you help move forward by doing the right pre-determined things. It's slightly more interactive than a traditional VisualNovel, but not ''much'' more.
* Meta example: classic 1982 ZX Spectrum text adventure ''The Hobbit''. Gameplay was heavily reliant on the story for direction and atmosphere, it's just that [[Literature/TheHobbit said story]] had been published 45 years previously.
* ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' is interesting in that regard. While there is a who, where, when, why, and how, and a very charismatic set of characters to carry those nicely, it's not given to the player ''at all'' until they're at least out of the NoobCave. And even then the plot trickles slowly, yet increasingly. The semblance of a serious storyline only comes to light by the third stage, for example.
* Creator/BlizzardEntertainment:
** ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' is a little odd in this regard. There's lots of story in terms of dialog from [=NPCs=] and other characters, but all of it can be (and often is by most players) ignored by those who just want to jump into the quests.
** The ''Warcraft'' universe, in general, has really good story-lines but it is safe to say that the game's immense popularity is not because of its plot. The game would likely still be as popular as it is even if it had virtually no story. The same can be said about ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}''.
** ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' is in an odd place in that has two distinct fanbases, one that loves the story and lore and one that skips this altogether and just plays multiplayer. The last few entries actually had different game mechanics for single and multiplayer.
* Quite a lot of modern InteractiveFiction puts the emphasis on "fiction" to the point where puzzles (the most gamelike elements of the genre) are completely dispensed with in favor of narrative exploration. ''VideoGame/{{Photopia}}'' is the preeminent example. ''VideoGame/AMindForeverVoyaging'' pioneered this approach in the 1980s.
* ''VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney'': The first and last few chapters in particular consist almost exclusively of steering your character around from one cutscene to another.
* ''VideoGame/SiegeOfAvalon'' uses the tagline "Played any good books lately?" for a reason.
* ''VideoGame/{{Hellsinker}}'' is notable for being incredibly plot-heavy for a ShootEmUp... [[MindScrew if you can understand it]].
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' games have their praise and fanbase in each game's storylines. Character backgrounds are diverse and very detailed, mostly explained through cutscenes and sometimes into the side-conversations between characters known as "skits". For most games, the Lore of the worlds may even be explained in these cutscenes and skits as well.
* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' isn't so much an actual game so much as it is a highly interactive novel.
* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' takes this concept to the next level, by not even featuring a combat system.
* ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'' is basically a movie where the player has to [[PressXToNotDie press certain buttons at certain times or die]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'', also known as ''Indigo Prophecy'' in the USA, has been defined as an "interactive movie" by its creators. Its gameplay and story very much overlap and complement each other. Despite being almost entirely focused on its plot, the story is surprisingly flexible and control is only very rarely taken away from the player due to the almost entirely contextual control scheme.
* Like {{Visual Novel}}s, the classic [[Creator/{{Sierra}} Sierra On-Line]]/ Creator/LucasArts-style adventure game genre, in general, can be very linear, with simpler games like ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'' amounting to little more than a series of cutscenes separated by inventory puzzles.
* ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}'' has a great story [[FridgeBrilliance especially when you get to thinking about it.]] Its gameplay is still challenging and/or enjoyable, but the story is the reason why half of its pages even exist. It's the darkest of the ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' series but still keeps the quirky charm of its predecessors, if that's even possible.
* 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. As a result, the sheer length and interconnected nature of the series that increases with each new installment has become [[ArchivePanic the biggest barrier of entry to newcomers]].
* ''Xeno'' series:
** The ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' series, which is essentially several movies with occasional interactive parts. Just to show how bad it was in the first game, in the first few hours, playtime was only about a fifth of the cutscene time. And the scene when you first get on to the ship you're going to be going around in for the rest of the game, is ''thirty minutes long'', and they even let you save mid-scene. The second game was slightly better, but not by much.
** ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' is similar, being essentially a part of the same series. Not only does the game interface come off as somewhat hastily assembled (and it probably was), but the game's story is extremely involved. Disc 2, which the dev team didn't even have time to finish, is essentially one huge cutscene interrupted by a couple of dungeons. You finally get access to the world map just before the final dungeon, for the sake of sidequests. Most [[JustForFun/{{Egregious}} egregiously]], towards the ''very'' end of the first disc there's a cutscene that's about an hour long.
** And in a twist of irony, ''Xeno''-creator Tetsuya Takahashi specifically described ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' ([[ThematicSeries no relation to previous]] ''Xeno''-titles) as being on the exact opposite end of the scale from his (in)famous previous works, calling the pursuit of excessive story-to-gameplay ratio "a dead-end". In fact, Xenoblade has long cutscenes and a complex plot... but it's set in [[SceneryPorn one heck of a]] WideOpenSandbox. Basically, they made the gameplay big enough to contain the story. That Takahashi is now working with Creator/{{Nintendo}} (see above) may or may not have anything to do with this new direction.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', a game which deserves a special place, due to the sheer length and quantity of its cutscenes being [[SerialEscalation substantially greater than the previous games in the series]]. Granted, there's plenty of gameplay, but the ratio against cutscenes is vastly balanced towards the latter -- it's less like one game and more like ''five full-length movies''. The game was even awarded two Literature/GuinnessWorldRecords for "longest cutscene in a video game" (at 27 minutes) and "longest cutscene sequence in a video game" (at 71 minutes).\\
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Notably, while it tends to overshadow the previous games due to its sheer amount of cutscenes, ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' actually has a much lower and more balanced StoryToGameplayRatio compared to the earlier games in the series due to having longer gameplay sequences. For a counter-example, check out ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', which has about one hour of gameplay for every ''two'' hours of cutscenes.
* Modern ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games:
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' spin-off ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'' is one long cutscene with occasional ThirdPersonShooter elements.
** ''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}}'', is pretty much for sidequests, {{Optional Boss}}es, and extra scenes.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' rivals the tenth entry for cutscene ratio; it's even been called an interactive 50-hour film.
** While ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' is no slouch with the gameplay, there is a ''lot'' of story to delve into. Going by the main scenario alone, you can expect a lot of exposition with some combat against minor enemies in between and then getting paired up with other players to complete a dungeon or trial which is where the story tends to ramp up.
* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' is especially notable for this; not only is it worse than [[VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}} its predecessor]] for being more movie and "Quick Time Events" than game, it was even marketed as an ''"interactive storytelling experience." ''[[note]](i.e. a VisualNovel with choices dressed up as a movie)[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'': It's [[SerialEscalation far from]] boring however, being basically an interactive action {{Anime}}.
* ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'' is much closer to ''Asura's Wrath'' in the sense that it made ''Heavy Rain'' an interactive (sometimes action) ''{{Drama|Tropes}}''. 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.
* Unlike most [[CollectibleCardGame CCG]] mobile games, most of which feature some kind of gameplay (most being {{Rhythm Game}}s), ''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.
* {{Environmental Narrative Game}}s 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''.
* {{Visual Novel}}s. Someone defined the genre as "That kind of Japanese game where you pick a choice and then pray that you didn't screw it up."
** {{Kinetic Novel}}s, such as ''VisualNovel/{{Planetarian}}'' and ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', don't even give you any choices.
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