Ideally you would have both a great plot and characterization but would you rather read/watch/play something with a unique engaging story but boring unlikeable characters or something with characters you love but a shitty plot?
This is a tricky one and I'm gonna try to be as neutral as possible with it
Plot: If your plot is boring the best characters in the world generally will not make up for it, don't get me wrong I love a good character but if the plot doesn't make them FEEL important then I just won't get engaged
Character: Now that being said, a great plot can be ruined by shitty, unlikeable characters. To be honest I really struggle with this because I'm just bad at writing characters so I'm not gonna speak too much on what you "need" in characters, because I still haven't figured it out myself, but I'm trying.
My conclusion is, you need a good mix of both, you can't have one or the other be bad they both have to be at least tolerable, I don't feel like one is really more important than another, although and this is my personal opinion. I've always focused more on plot than character, but I'm trying to break that habit.
I think one can make up for the other. But in order to go from good to great, a story should have both.
personaly, I want to know what happens in the story, so I'd rather read/watch/play throug a story with good plot and bland characters than one with bland plot and good characters. but that's just me.
if you have good characters, there will be plenty of fanfic writers (some of them with better plot writing skills than you) interested in writing about your interesting characters that were stuck in a bland plot. and you can ally yourself with those writers to have both a good plot and good characters.
but if you have an interesting plot, and your plot also involves how your characters became who they are, along with IF, why and how they change into something else, focusing on a good plot MAY or may not result in you creating good characters along the way, by focusing on fitting them into the plot and becoming a balanced part of the story.
besides, if your narrative is good, entertaining and immersive, how much attention will people pay to things like character development while reading (instead of after being done with the reading and analysing it)?
sorry for the bad grammar x_X
Plot can be anything if your characters are good enough.
In my opinion, the two HAVE to be deeply intertwined. A setting and the worldbuilding are a separate thing, but the plot is the characters' motivations that moves the story. Their personality should match with their motivations, and the plot be shaped around the cast of characters.
Those are my 2 cents, anyway!
