Is it about the story or is it about the characters?

Characters do drive a story, but it's a symbiotic relationship. If one is lacking the audience is left wanting at the end of the experience. The correct answer is both are of equal importance...or it's important to strike a balance between the two. DAI might be a good example. It had really good characters, but the story while it had good moments was collectively meh. If you were to graph the tension from start to finish the peak of the story came when Corypheus took Haven and it was a steady decline to the conclusion. Good storytelling should always be steady rise to the climax.