Personally I think gameplay matters most in an RPG. RPGs, like all games ever made, are designed to be played for fun. Put too much story in an RPG and you might wind up with having to watch long pointless boing cutscenes. I like my RPGs to have plenty of dungeons, lots of places to explore, a large world to romp around in, tons of things to do, lots of spells and skills to learn, etc etc etc. All the story an RPG really needs is 'There's a bad guy, go kill him to save the world' STORY END! I don't care about the relationship the characters have with eachother, I don't care about what Chatty McNonplayable is afraid of, I don't care who wants to stick who's hoo-hoo dilly in whoever's cha cha, I don't care about who wants to do what with his life after the big bad boss is defeated, I just don't care.