I'll be the exception to the 'RPG = Story' rule. I've played many an RPG and I've never, ever paid any attention to the story. I have absolutely no clue as to what happened in FF7,8,9 and 10, or any of the dozens of JRPG (type) games I loved on the PS1 or 2.

In fact, most games I play, I usually skip all the cut scenes.

If the story isn't being told to me while I play, I don't care and won't stop to find out if I have the choice.

Integrate it, or (I'll) forget it.

I think Fallout 3 is a good example of how an RPG can have a story without me having to watch a bazillion cut scenes.

I think the perspective he is offering is very dependent on the role he finds himself working, and by extension the area he wants to work on. People in different departments would have their own unique take on the issue.

they're both wrong. the best games have story told THROUGH good gameplay. i'm not going to fumble with broken controls and messed up bullet physics to get to the next amazing cutscene. and the cutscene method just doesn't make sense to me "oh boy I can't wait until the game takes control away from me for the purpose of forwarding the story!" Ever heard someone say that? didn't think so.

No matter how good the story is I'm not playing it if the gameplay is borderline depressing. Story is there to make us give a hoot about why we're playing. Gameplay is there to actually play. Not to say I enjoy good gameplay and horrible story but I would rather a game isterest me with a decent storyline while having some cool gameplay.

@ Aurian:
KOTOR 2 had a great story. Unfinished, but the first 2/3 were brilliant. Not Obsidians fault either, Lucasarts made them change release date from Feb '05 to Nov '04.
Anyway, Avellones point is right on, he means expositin type storytelling isn't the most important thing.

The whole entire gimmick of Obsidian is a branching story with different story element at each forking path. So story elements for Obisidan is VERY important, because that's all Obsidian's got.

He makes a very good point. The gameplay cannot be seperate from the story. Just like how drwings compliment a graphic novel; or cinematography compliments a film. The gameplay and story should be one in the same.

I think the man has his points. Take, for example, any Mario platformer. The only reason there are the story elements in Mario games is to set up the 'Rescue the Princess' aspect.
Or the first 3 Metroid games. The story exists at the beginning to set up the "Kill all the Bad Guys and Monsters" reason for the game.
These are two series that are GREAT in spite of their stories, not because of them.

Now look at Mass Effect. The gameplay is terrible. The controls are clunky, the inventory system is atrocious, and your teammates are useless except to fill in the powers that your main character doesn't have. And yet people still love it, myself included. Bioware managed to create a universe that compels me to keep playing the game, at least until it ended. After that, I couldn't play another 5 minutes of it.
This is a game that is good despite it's gameplay.

Of course story is important. Especially in RPG games.

i have a lot of trust in Avellone - played a number of the games he's had a strong hand in writing/designing.

you need to keep this in mind, when reading Avellone's comments: he's speaking from the perspective of a western rpg maker. a strong desire amongst fans of this genre is, often, for substantial choices and consequences, and an integration of the gameplay with the story/dialogue. it's precisely these things which make this genre so appealing to many - due to these things, the designer tends to be *required* to meld gameplay and story to a fairly large degree. look at a game like Planescape: Torment, for instance - a large portion of the game, you'll be reading a lot of text. but there are various conversation chioces you can make during a conversation which can have meaningful effect... your stats come into play, possibly opening up new dialogue options (raising your Intelligence is always recommended in these sorts of games). and, of course, the game gives you the freedom to explore the world more fluidly and advance your main quest or subquests in multiple ways.

... eh, anyway. as a side note - i'm not sure why KOTOR2 gets such flak, particularly for the later parts of the game... frankly, i rarely see a game that doesnt end in a bit of a mess (same goes for lots of movies, too, for that matter). what particularly baffles me is how people let the first KOTOR off the hook, when *that* game had substantially worse writing (not *terrible* writing, but nowhere near as interesting, and generally lacking much of the insight that was evident in the second game), and it hardly ended any better than KOTOR2 did... and, as far as the ENDING of the two games - KOTOR1 shows a short cinema which (at least, for the light-side ending, havent seen the dark-side) directly rips off the end of Star Wars: A New Hope. KOTOR2's ending actually allowed you to step to the side, and interactively ask a number of questions to tie up many of the loose threads - something that games NEVER do! i'm not trying to argue that there werent a number of unfortunate loose ends that came about due to the project being rushed in the end, but i honestly fail to see how most *other* games did things better.

Im OK: KOTOR2 was Obsidian's first game - since then, they've made Neverwinter Nights 2 (how good it was depends on who you're talking to, though most agree that the engine that the game uses is too old and clunky), and two expansions: Mask of the Betrayer (which is widely regarded as an excellent work, akin to a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment) and Storm of Zehir (personally, i think it had some things going for it, but it failed to keep my attention. there wasnt so much of a focus on telling a story in that one, and iirc, Avellone didnt directly have anything to do with it).

I love when people don't read an article, but comment on the title.
You people must be real bright bulbs...

Avellone is one of the best writers in the RPG biz. Planescape
Torment gushes with his greatness, not to mention Fallout 2(do
you kids know of it even?).As for Kotor 2. The writing is top notch,
better than Kotor 1, but it was rushed by Lucasarts. The game has
a myriad of bugs, how the heck can the writing be "buggy"?!