Dude are there spoilers in that wall of text? I didn't read it just in case.

Does every game need a story to be fun? I say no!

Don't be such a snob.

I must say, the story in Mark of the Ninja has never even crossed my mind. When I get it on PC it'll be for the mechanics and the systems, it takes something bespoke like the Walking Dead to get me to buy a game purely for its narrative component.

Also, although Bastion was indeed all about choice, the story-related choices at the end of that game that you make are so powerful that I can't imagine playing that game without them, especially as the final choice is completely open to interpretation as to which is the "good" or "bad" decision.

I liked the choice at the end of Bastion. It was a good, interesting choice, as opposed to a certain other game that had really uninteresting choices that were just "GOOD? EVIL?" I believe the second one had a very similar "end of the game, are you good or are you evil?" choice that just decides that, effectively ruining any sense of purpose to all of your work towards either side throughout the main game.

I think it's usually shitty, but can be done well.