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They should carry each other. Gameplay without story means I probably won't remember it as magic and uhmayzing and I might not want to come back to it after a couple of play sessions. Story without good gameplay is just a plain bad game. SO gameplay is definitely more imoportant but they both count for a lot.
Some of the early final fantasies I stuck with purely because I did enjoy the story. (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, JOB CLASSES...)
I've almost always played the Final Fantasy series for the stories! I mean some of the best fictional characters ever conceived. The reason why I was never able to perceiver with FFI-III is because they're not quite as story driven as the rest of the series, well at least in my opinion. They're always talk of a next gen remake of FFVII but to be honest I'd much rather see FFIV-VI brought to life in HD just as long as their stories aren't changed!
The only game in the series I can say hooked me in in the game play department was FFXII. FFXII was the only one of the games where I didn't find level grinding mind numbingly boring. I've clocked up almost 400 hours of game play on FFXII. I didn't even use the gambit system that much apart from for basic healing. I just loved how hands on you could get with the real time battles if you really wanted too.
With Final Fantasy, you got the best of both worlds, so why would you want to choose?
On a first playthrough I'll probably be focusing on the story and overall experience, as I learn the gameplay system as I go. On subsequent playthroughs, it's definitely more about the gameplay as I try to maximize my strategy and find the hidden stuff that'll make my party even better.
However, sometimes you even get more out of the story on subsequent playthroughs. FFXII offered so much depth and material to cover in the gameplay, but I learned to appreciate the story more and more as I played.
I think the gameplay and story aspects should complement each other in some way. I do appreciate what SE tries to do with each game, so I generally try to judge each on its own merits and, in my opinion, its success in providing an enthralling experience on both sides.
However, my personal taste shifts more towards the gameplay experience. I appreciate how X tried to tell a relatively focused story and how the gameplay reflected that with its linearity and constant drive towards the finish line, but nevertheless I found myself frustrated at not being able to explore, grind and experiment to my heart's content. Outside of my frustration, though, I find X has one of the better presented stories of the series (and maybe the genre).
On the flipside, XII gave us exploration and grinding in spades, and as a result I couldn't put the smurfing thing down. The plot itself probably suffered because of the enormity of the gameworld, but, frankly, I don't care. I barely remember any of the characters and XII is still one of my two or three favourites in the series.
Long story short: Gameplay.
(Going off-topic, this probably explains why I'm having so much trouble getting through DQ5 for the DS. I love the way the story is presented, but the gameplay is so cumbersome and, well, bland. And this coming from someone who thinks Phantasy Star for the SMS is one of the greatest JRPGs ever conceived)
If the gameplay was terrible, it'd have to be a really awesome story for me to keep going with it. However, I'm usually lucky with the games I buy and don't tend to find myself with that many games I haven't enjoyed. The story and characters are a big draw to it as far as I'm concerned. I hope the battle system, music and graphics will be good and usually they are, but the storyline is a big draw for me. I really like the idea of, as TheAbominatrix said, getting involved in an adventure book where I get to actually play a role in the story itself.
I mean, it's no coincidence that two of my favourite RPGs are Shadow Hearts and its first sequel and that I've a really big interest in history and alternative history as a genre. The gameplay of the original isn't worldbeating by any stretch, but it's one of my favourite games purely because of how good the storyline was and how it appealed to me. People say that a lot of computer gaming can be escapism, though that's rarely the case with me. I don't want to necessarily get away from the real world, I just like to be intrigued by a fictional one.
Final Fantasy games are like The Mummy films. Except the third one. That ones :bou::bou::bou::bou:. But they're like the first two.
What does that mean? I'll tell you. Nobody owns The Mummy on DVD. Nobody thinks "hey, I really fancy watching The Mummy, Imma go rent it yo!". But when it's on ITV2 (as it always is), you always watch it. And you enjoy it. And at the end you think "That was great", but still don't buy the DVD.
......I've forgotten where I was going with that. Basically, story and characters make a game great, but nobody would pay attention if the gameplay was truly horrific.