Gameplay or Story?

If I wanted good strategy gameplay, I would not play Fire Emblem. I would play AW, etc. where RNG has little place. FE is supposed to be the communion between small time strategy and story. Units have names, faces, strengths and weaknesses and such traits should be acknowledged. It is difficult to do both overly well.

IMO story has to pick up the slack. Fire Emblem gameplay can only be so fun.

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Story matters most but gameplay has to be enjoyable and smooth. Hence why I never got far in the Dark Souls series.

Look at The Last of Us on HBO Max, the game it’s adapted from had pretty basic gameplay, but the story, though basic was filled with deep and complex characters, which is why it translated well into television.

I generally will play things for gameplay over story, and can sacrifice story for gameplay. But it highly depends on writing quality. I don’t mind a light story, but even a light story should be competently written. Most of my favourite games have a light but enjoyable story.
In FE’s case, I find it inexcusable for there not to be a focus on both, as the whole thing that makes FE unique is gameplay-story integration and the way story and characters gets you invested in what you’re doing.
This is why I’ll probably never play Engage, because Fates was a miserable experience for that reason and that seems to be Fates 2. I did enjoy a few of the gimmicky maps in Fates (Conquest more specifically, only version I played), because they had something that was unusual or novel, but most of the technically more well-designed maps were pretty standard and didn’t have a hook. If I had been invested in the characters or story, though, I would’ve probably been more invested in those maps and the progression of the game as a whole.

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It’s generally a matter of balance but the preference towards gameplay you see around the comunity is probably because story can be easily skipped, there’s no skip chapter button, but there is for cutscenes, so people don’t tend to stay members of the comunity if they don’t enjoy the gameplay, that’s the only way i can justify myself saying that story is optional, gameplay is not.
That said a good story can enhance the gameplay, giving you stakes, characters to cheer on and worry about, giving you the player a personal stake on any meaningful choice the gameplay may present. Meanwhile, good gameplay will keep the player from becoming bored of the element that comprises 80+% of the game, which is vital since, otherwise, i doubt they will keep on playing for long, so for this Series i’d say gameplay over story, but in an ideal world both should have the same quality.
New game devs and romhackers (which, in my heart of hearts, should be counted as the same) often feel the pressure to excel at both, this is not healthy, and specially if its a passion project all that matters is that you enjoy what you create.
Want to make a game with basically no story? It’s your game! No one should say that’s wrong.
Want to use febuilder to make a visual novel? Once again, your game, your creation, at the end of the day out of everyone who may see the project and enjoy it, the most important one is you, so even if you make something the community doesn’t praise to the high heavens, know that your love for it is all that should matter.

Note: i didn’t enjoy the characters in fates, awakening, 3 houses or engange so i ended up playing them as gameplay only fe games, skipping the story as i felt no stakes whatsoever after 10+ hours, apologies but if that bit of hypocrisy matters i wanted to make it known.

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