Story and gameplay are far more important than graphics for me. I don't give a shit if Crysis has more pixels than real life does, it's boring. Real life looks dull. Now if we all looked like the guys from Team Fortress 2 it would be awesome fun! Which is to say, I like a good art style versus high system requirements.
That said, Half Life 2, Ep 1, 2 and most likely 3, have a shit story thats serves nothing more as a means to go from X to Y via Z. (Lets go from Black Mesa East to Nova Prospkt via Ravenholm!). It is however well told and they make Alyx a generally likeable person which is helpful when you spend most of the game with her.
(I'm a fan of RPG's though, so uhh, I would say story is more important.)
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