When a games plot doesn't go the path you wanted/expected it to, but tells its plot well, do you sti

Story is very important to me so telling a good story is more important than a story just going the way I want it to go, although I can balk at stories where characters I like are killed off. I don't kill off my companions, game friends, or game characters if I have a choice not to do so...so I do like choices. 

Myself?...well I have my thoughts on the next story, will I be upset if it does not follow how I see the story unfolding? quick answer no, with that said I would love to see Bioware through the next story pick up on a couple items that were brought up at the end of DAI. One being new party members that Solas does not know as the plot unfolds to the story that was given at the end of trespasser, the other is some filler Information as to valta and her journal pages I found in Skyhold (still trying to figure that one out) and my favorite Dwarf Sandal, I always love a mystery but yes I'll still enjoy the game

To me it's more about the characters, the NPCs I get to know and grow to love, and also how I'm able to develop my own character. That is what makes me love a game, especially the DA games, to the point of replaying them over and over even though I know how the plot goes.

TBH NotN7 and Nightscrawl pretty much summed up how I feel as well. If the story is good and the characters are compelling and makes for good replayability then I'm happy regardless of how or where it goes.

Thinking up potential storylines for da4 is fun but I'm not going to hold it against the actual game when it is inevitably its own thing.

I'll like or dislike it on its own merits.

I don't think the player should have any direct control over the path the story takes. Finding out what happens as a result of my character's choices is the main reason I play these games. If I got to choose the result, the motivation to play would simply vanish.

What's important is that I get to choose what my character does and why. And if I can't have both of those, I would prefer to lose the ability to choose what my character does and preserve the ability to choose why she did it.

Inhabiting the thought processes of one's character is the very essence of roleplaying. That's my non-negotiable requirement.

Those connections don't need to be immediately evident. Things can happen for reasons of which the character (and player) are unaware, just like the real world.

It's only a plot hole if there's no possible explanation.

Things we don't know are a great thing, because they allow for Schrödinger's Lore, where the same event can have different explanations across multiple playthroughs.

That's kinda a vague question xD.

Content is important. Genre is important (it's why unexplained genre shifts are a no-no in western fiction). As readers we all know what we like and don't like. I don't like horror, I don't like thrillers, and I'm not a big fan of suspense, so if a show or book I'm reading starts off as a nice adventure, then takes a hard unexpected turn into grisly horror complete with gore and innards and whatever else, I'll drop the series. It could be the best written horror in the world and I'd drop it in a heartbeat.

So these things are important. I signed up to DA:0 for a heroic, epic fantasy adventure, I did not sign up for a small scale, personal story ala DA:2. It may have been well written but that's not what I signed up for. If DA:3 had been similar, I would have dropped Dragon Age also.

Content ... depends what you're talking about. Some people will drop stories if there's rape involved, some people will drop stories if their favourite characters are killed, some will drop stories if there's too much focus on characters they can't relate to. 

And these feelings are perfectly valid. People know what they like and life's too short to trudge through stories out of some sort of obligation to force yourself to enjoy what's placed before you. If you don't like it, drop it and move on. I've done my time experimenting with all sorts of different stories and don't really feel the need to anymore. I know what I enjoy.

As for my personal feelings, you'd have to be more specific to get a hard answer from me, TBH. I get attached to characters though, so kill off my favourite characters and I'll drop the story.

Consider it this way:

In Jade Empire, uncovering Dawn Star, Silk Fox, and Sagacious Zu's connection isn't all that important to the story.

However, Master Li's betrayal IS something you need to understand for the story to make sense.

Just don't oppose him, then.

It would be a different story if the Spirit Monk didn't have a reason to oppose Master Li, but the game was already heavy-handed in establishing a pre-existing relationship there.

I did play through Jade Empire three times (to try the different fighting styles), but I think it was BioWare's weakest pre-Mass Effect RPG.