Video game story making

(This is mainly about action games, the rest of gamers can ignore this). To developers:
Some gamers play games a bit more for story, some play them a bit more for gameplay, some play them mostly for story, some play them mostly for gameplay. Some don’t even want any story at all. I’m the type that wants story mostly later in the game after I’ve invested in the gameplay and decided that I like it.
I love a great story but only after I’ve been allowed to play the core gameplay long enough for me to know that this is a game I want to emotionally invest in. I don’t want to spend 30 minutes or 10 minutes learning the story of a character or a world that I then find out I don’t like the game of which it is the story of. I need to know that I like the gameplay first by actually playing the gameplay. I want the feel of the game to seep into me through stunning environments in a way that only 3D worlds can do, by moving through those enviroments as a part of the game. I’ll even put up with mediocre combat like in Skyrim or the first Dungeon Siege if the game’s world is a bowl of gems to explore.

I’ve been playing games since I was 5, that’s 30 years next year. I’ve noticed that story and cutscene takes more and more time of games in general, especially of triple A titles. I love triple A titles because they tend to have the best graphics and graphics are a huge part of the experience for me. But they are bogged down by the incredibly extensive amounts of cutscenes nowadays. Even before you start the game itself. I love the idea of games having near-Hollywood-quality presentation including story and feel, but most games just don’t get there even if they try. A few of them do. Some are even better. But if I wanted to watch a movie I would just do that. If I wanted to read a dialog story I would just do that. As in pick up a book or a Kindle or listen to an audiobook with the hottest sci-fi novel or whatever. I’m not saying don’t make a great story for your games, but I’m playing games for the core gameplay. Please don’t force the story on me before I even get to know the feel of this game (which to me mostly comes through enviroment and gameplay).
If I like the core gameplay I might decide to invest in the story. But I am nowadays wasting my time by skipping through cutscene after cutscene (if they are even skippable), dialog after dialog, before I even know that I like the game. Just put the option there please for gamers who are not spending money on games for story primarily. Or at least introduce the story later in the game. And please by god do not force tutorials on gamers. You kinda get the hang of how games typically work after like 1 year of playing them, what to speak of 10 years or 20 years or (in my case) 30 years. It’s also possible to introduce gameplay elements through the game itself rather than toolboxes, infoboxes, markers, cutscenes, forced tutorials and everything that’s designed to hold your hand like if you never played a game before. Please stop that.

I love games where you have to explore the environment but they keep it interesting and with minimal infoboxes and dialog. Good enemies + good combat + good environment … this is almost all I’m looking for in a game. I’m rarely interested in the story told through anything but the environment as you pass through it (Half-life games do this brilliantly, they have rich story but it’s a part of the environment usually). I’m fine with cutscenes if they are not cliché or ugly, and if they aren’t flooding you and disrupting your gameplay experience too early in the game.
I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but this is how I experience it: Dialog in video games tends to be really bad if you are not a teenager or a kidult. I used to read it all when I was a teenager, but the older I get the more I just skip all dialog in a game until I get invested in the game. Actually, dialog and cutscenes too early in the game, like when I’m not invested in the game yet, ruin much of gaming for me. Games take themselves too seriously in this department. I’m saying this as someone who likes games taking themselves seriously. They just do it in the wrong way. They dump too much story on you too early. If I wanted to watch a movie or read a book I’d do that. I still like story in games, but please build up the story slowly, not with minutes and minutes of people expressing themselves in cliché NPC speak or badly scripted Hollywood imitations. You’re degrading the experience of game after game by filling it with airport-novel tier story writing and icon markers for everything/oversized UI. The solution: make all dialog and cutscenes optional, make your core gameplay fun, make your environment gorgeous, and keep all UI and markers optional. Consider that not all gamers are interested in games for story, or at least not until they have invested emotionally in the game by playing the gameplay itself. Please add the option to be able to skip it all before you even play the game. Don’t make it so that I have to click on skip for every line or every cutscene. Just have an arcade mode with minimal story presentation. If the game is good I’ll check out the story later or enable the story feature. You can also use the environment to tell the story, which I tend to prefer as it doesn’t disrupt the core gameplay in the same way if at all (probably just adds to it).

I love games where you have to explore the environment but they keep it interesting and with minimal infoboxes and dialog. Good enemies + good combat + good environment … this is almost all I’m looking for in a game. I’m rarely interested in the story told through anything but the environment as you pass through it. I’m fine with cutscenes if they are not cliché or ugly, and if they aren’t flooding you and disrupting your gameplay experience early in the game. I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but this is how I experience it: Dialog in video games tends to be really bad if you are not a teenager or a 22-year-old. I used to read it all when I was a teenager, but the older I get the more I just skip all dialog in a game until I get invested in the game. Actually, dialog and cutscenes too early in the game, like when I’m not invested in the game yet, ruin much of gaming for me. Games take themselves too seriously in this department. I’m saying this as someone who likes games taking themselves seriously. They just do it in the wrong way. They dump too much story on you too early. If I wanted to watch a movie or read a book I’d do that. I still like story in games, but please build up the story slowly, not with minutes and minutes of people expressing themselves in shit-tier-writing cliché NPC speak. You’re degrading the experience of game after game by filling it with airport-novel tier story writing and icon markers for everything/oversized UI. The solution: make all dialog and cutscenes optional, make your core gameplay fun, make your environment gorgeous, and keep all UI and markers optional. Consider that not all gamers are interested in games for story, or at least not until they have invested emotionally in the game by playing the gameplay itself. Please add the option to be able to skip it all before you even play the game. Don’t make it so that I have to click on skip for every line or every cutscene. Just have an arcade mode with minimal story presentation. If the game is good I’ll check out the story later or enable the story feature. You can also use the environment to tell the story, which I tend to prefer as it doesn’t disrupt the core gameplay in the same way if at all (probably just adds to it).