Story or Action

What's more important to you and why?

Especially before about a decade ago - and those are the games I've played - storytelling in games is secondary and primitive. Partially this is because of the nature of the media: either you have to keep the story vague or take freedom of choice and action from player. Nevertheless, I've hardly ever encountered a game where the story itself could exist without gameplay - one of the reasons video game movies are mostly awful.

Meanwhile there's also adventure and puzzle games that have sometimes no "action" at all. So the question should rather be "story or gameplay?"

That said, I'll have to admit I can somewhat enjoy a game with bad gameplay but great story. Nocturne and Mafia 1 come to mind of ones I've played. But still, if I'm to pick between a game with great story and one with good gameplay, I'll always prefer the latter.