Storytelling in games is overrated?

Personally, I think story is vital to some types of games (bioshock). In others, it isn't necesary (mario).
It's impossible to generalize and say that stories are/aren't necesary: it depends on the game. Some need it, some don't need it, but would benefit from it, others don't need it, and in other cases a story worsens the game.

It depends for what type of game.
For example, arcade fighting games don't really need much of a story,
whereas action adventure games need a bit more substance than just game play mechanics in order to keep things interesting.

most of the time story is important to me. cause they make the game a lot more complete......games like metal gears solid, okami, prince of persia, god of war ect................

John Romero once said that story in video games serve the only purpose as stories in porn movies. It's just there to tie everything together.

Yeah, that concept sure went far. Games evolved, tastes got more intricate. You may wish to go back to an era where all games were pure twitch arcade coin-ops, but I sure as hell don't.

It depends on the game. It depends on the genre. It depends on the quality of the story telling. It's a balancing act between gameplay and story. You cannot throw absolute terms over a subject like this, it's asinine to do so.

Killzone 2 recently had a very exciting single player campaign. Great action moments that really gave you the feeling of a futuristic solider.
But the plot? Total crap. Any attempt to frame something meaningful, cohesive, or interesting was washed away by a bunch of horrid voice acting and script writing. (Which is a shame, because if you go online and read the conflict and fictional history between the two forces, there is a ton of room for something awesome.)

But reviewers loved it, and so did gamers. Will it age particularly well? Probably not. But this is a situation where tastes and interest on the gameplay override being told a good story.

Story is an exceptional resource to have in your game. It can even rival your gameplay mechanics. There are loads of games that have both, clearly you are not playing enough of them. Although with your deceleration that if you want to have a good story you would just: "read a fucking book", I doubt your introverted nature will allow you to enjoy a good plot.

Stories aren't overrated, they're mostly just underdeveloped.

I don't see a problem with how video games tell stories. I watch a lot of anime so I don't mind going from cut scene to cut scene in a jrpg. I do agree that a story is necessary though. I prefer stories to be somewhat deep but shallow enough for me to not have to pull out a pen and paper to follow whats going on.  I play games to relax I don't want to think super hard while I'm playing. I do enjoy the occasianl mindf*** every once in a while though. 

Storytelling should be important to games, but it shouldn't be important to every game.  For the people in this thread asking how narrative-conscious gamers survived the 8 and 16 bit eras, I think many just made up their own stories. I know I did, and I don't think this was some personal peculiarity.  Story is important because some of us like spending time with a game rather than killing time with a game.  Of course, games need to be playable and fun, but a game without likable characters or competent plot is a lot like those "sticky hands" you'd get as a kid in capsule machines or at birthday parties--spend two days hucking them against the wall with childish glee before drying out and getting thrown into the trash.  

It really depends on what kind of game we're talking about:
Racing game: Gameplay
RTS: Gameplay
RPG: Story
Adventure: Story
FPS: Story/Gameplay. If I don't give a shit about what's happening I won't play it, if it isn't fun to play I won't see the story further unless it REALLY REALLY gets me.

Story in games is heralded because it's a drastically different method of storytelling than traditional storytelling from a film or book - you do not have an interactive experience when you are at a film, or reading a book. The idea of pacing and execution of a story in a game is a completely dynamic, variable and interactive experience and also you are relying on the player to be putting in a certain amount of effort from the player and so they have to predict the pace of the player which is affected by difficulty, learning curve, genre, and everything else you can pretty much think of.

no, i think that games should have story to them. i find it pretty boring to be playing a game without a story to it. i really like having story to a game other wise i get kind of bored with the game. games have to have good gameplay for the story to be forgiven. team fortress 2 doesn't have a story to it but it is a great game.

It's the new reading.

A story is nothing without the amazing  atomsphere and good gameplay.

Secondly- most games have amazing potential for great stories but the games developers havent got a clue how to write a good story (because they are all nerds).  Take halo for example. THe first game was excellent and had everything a game needs, but they had to completely fuck it all up in the sequals. The game got way too gamey and childish, whereas combat evolved was serious and had a meaning.

Max Payne- THe story in that is ridiculously good. And its backed up by the other things gameplay wise.

Developers need to realise players need a reason to play the game and carry on. They want to be "hooked" on the game and have a feeling like they must finish it and have to know what happens next. Many games for me dont achieve this anymore. THe last game that did this to me was probably half life 2 -the orange box.

I don't think so, not at all. As already said, it really depends on the genre of the game and if a story is necessary in the first place.

Gameplay is an important factor, no doubt about it, but a story can make players become far more absorbed into the game than it would if there was no story--or very little plot. A game without any reasoning for doing something becomes bland because there is no motivation behind your actions. It's the same for a movie or a book, without a character having motivation to do something, the action they take would make the title in question very bland.

However, I do think you are describing something very different. You mention that you like games that have the story told within the gameplay, not so much within multiple cutscenes. I think you have a problem with the way most stories are told within games, not the stories themselves.

Some more good story games:

The Darkness

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (much better than other WW2 movies, like SPR)

Too Human (gameplay ain't that hot, but story is)

Max Payne (graphic novel cutscenes are SOOO good!)

Psychonauts

Fahrenheit

Dead Space (not the story itself, kinda generic, but the storytelling is excellent)

Kane and Lynch

These kind of games show that game storytelling can distance itself from other mediums. Sometimes, you can break from cutscenes to tell a really memorable story, like The Darkness.

ok there are sooooooo many games that if they didnt have the good story in them, the game would be a wreck and there can be good (or even AMAZING!) games without any story at all for example: crackdown (ONE OF THE GREATEST GAMES OF ALL TIME!!!) has pretty much no story at all apart from: these guys are bad. kill them. (lol) and not one driving game in the WORLD!!! has EVER had a story in it and driving games are amazing!!!!

there is a difference in having a story and needing a story.
adventure games,RTSs and RPGs Need a story. they depend on you caring enough about the characters and history to keep you going, at least in JRPG this is seen upon 100% needed to build up a fan base. can you think of one game for any of the genre above that has been sucsessful and didn't have a good story at it's core? I guess no.
as for FPSs, sports and puzzle games dont always need a story.
BF2 is one of those that has NO story, NO single player, and that game was great. as for an example for a storry driven puzzle game puzzle quest comes to mind and it was sucsessfull too.

story is only to needed to a degree. those mopey (don't know how to write it) and emo PABs in FF is there for a reason, they are personal. they conect with some people and it makes it like reading a book. as for adventure games they are books, they are interactive books, look at secret of monkey island. it's a funny short book.
you watch a movie for the story, not to see action (well.....that statment is not correct but hey it goes the same for games.) use the same standards for your games.