> There are plenty of these kind of games, ones that tell stories but don't do character development
You can skip character development altogether in the Mass Effect series (especially if you lower the difficulty and enable autoleveling). Only the first one requires you to increase a member's e.g tech skills to unlock some devices.
I played the first one without using basically any skills but my player sharpshooting abilities, occasionally upgrading armor and guns, more often than not for the sake of looks.
Telling stories, Resident Evil or Gears of Wars also come to mind, but I'm not sure that's what is asked here.
If someone wants something more freeform, maybe Skyrim, and dialing down the difficulty level will make a warrior's adventure possible (challenging even) without caring about the levels. A thief might be harder (without any points, I manage to stay covert, or pick master locks with patience, precision and a dozen lockpicks, but purse stealing is still a dice roll), while a wizard will be fundamentally limited in available spells unless he increases magicka.
Therefore I suppose here's the point: a game purposely designed on emphasizing on the player's skill (like lockpicking a master lock) instead of a virtually progressing one is something I would certainly like to play.
You can skip character development altogether in the Mass Effect series (especially if you lower the difficulty and enable autoleveling). Only the first one requires you to increase a member's e.g tech skills to unlock some devices.
I played the first one without using basically any skills but my player sharpshooting abilities, occasionally upgrading armor and guns, more often than not for the sake of looks.
Telling stories, Resident Evil or Gears of Wars also come to mind, but I'm not sure that's what is asked here.
If someone wants something more freeform, maybe Skyrim, and dialing down the difficulty level will make a warrior's adventure possible (challenging even) without caring about the levels. A thief might be harder (without any points, I manage to stay covert, or pick master locks with patience, precision and a dozen lockpicks, but purse stealing is still a dice roll), while a wizard will be fundamentally limited in available spells unless he increases magicka.
Therefore I suppose here's the point: a game purposely designed on emphasizing on the player's skill (like lockpicking a master lock) instead of a virtually progressing one is something I would certainly like to play.