Can anything redeem bad gameplay in your eyes?

[The_Blue_Rider]

So for Christmas my sister gave me 2 games, Brutal Legend, a game which I have played before and enjoyed, and Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, a game which I had only heard of and had not much interest in.

Now I gave Eat Lead a try, and right from the tutorial stage I noticed two things, one, this game is hilarious, and two, this game feels like a crappy version of Gears of War.
I told myself, "Well the games incredibly funny at times, so maybe I can endure the gameplay"
I couldn't, at least not at the moment, the gameplay is boring, the levels are boring, and the only thing that I really enjoyed were the dialogues and Matts one liners.
Now Brutal Legend for me is a game that serves as a really good comparison because Brutal Legend also has some pretty bad gameplay, its serviceable and it gets the job in but theres nothing wow about it, and the core gameplay mechanic (The RTS type battles) is also pretty terrible, however unlike Eat Lead, I enjoy Brutal Legend because its world is amazing and oozing with detail and creativity, its characters are hilarious and it has a huge soundtrack filled with amazing metal songs, thats the main reason it got me hooked, because, aside from rather dull gameplay, its an amazing experience and you can see the developers went the extra mile and crafted something with incredible care and love for the source material, as apposed to Eat Lead which, while being incredibly funny, has nothing else going for it. It fells somewhat like someone came up with the idea to parody shooters in general but forgot that they were making a game until the last minute.

/vent
Anyway now thats over, the question is, Can anything in a game redeem bad gameplay for you? Or does bad gameplay ruin the experience regardless?

 

[Zhukov]

A good story and characters can carry me through.

However, it depends on just how much gameplay there is. My go-to example is Planescape Torment. The story and setting are really interesting, but I find every other aspect utterly unbearable to the point where it just isn't worth wading through crap to experience the good bits.

 

[CleverNickname]

No

and I honestly don't understand how story or setting or character or whathaveyou can make someone endure bad gameplay in a game? Example, on my second playthroughs I finished neither Mirror's Edge nor Assassin's Creed 1. I like the games well enough, but then they get to the crappy endings that have little to do, gameplay-wise, with the rest of it. Long unavoidable direct combat, mostly. As soon as I got to those points, I quit. On my second time, because on my first I didn't know how dissonant they were until they were over.

If a game does that to you early on... why would you continue playing it. Watch it on YouTube if you must see everything, but don't torture yourself with shoddy gameplay when there's so many much better games to play. How many stories or character are there honestly that even deserve so much attention if they're in otherwise awful games?

 

[Smooth Operator]

It hasto have something to trade in return, I'll play a game with shitty story as long as there is great gameplay, and I'll play a game with shitty gameplay as long as there is a great story, characters, writing, setting, exploration, ... something that will keep me going.

But sometimes it does happen that the gameplay is just too painful and Eat Lead was that exact game for me.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Well, Fallout 3 had mediocre gameplay, though the tone and setting it established at the beginning blew me away.

 

[krazykidd]

Yes . I point you to LOST ODESSEY.

Gameplay wize it was pretty meh . The story however was incredible . The added short stories were beautifully written and very emotional . The characters were very well done and believable and well rounded ( except for the two children). I really enjoyed the game even though the gameplay was raher dull .

 

[rje5]

No, not really. Games should be all about the gameplay. Sometimes graphics can make up for lack of story, and sometimes the story can make me want to play an old game again even though it looks like crap now (KOTOR). But in either case, the gameplay has to work or else it's just frustrating. If the person in the game doesn't do what I want, or the game doesn't have elements every game in it's genre should have, then it turns into an incomprehensible mess.

Keep in mind, games are an interactive medium, and if the interactivity fails in any way, whether it's bad controls, missing controls, glitches, or anything else like that, then it has failed as a game and should've probably been a book or movie.

 

[Frostwhisper21]

Well it depends... Like joe said Fallout and its like have, honestly, terrible gameplay relative to other modern titles. Shooting in the fallout series, or combat in Oblivion(And skyrim, somewhat) is pretty bad.

But if you mean gameplay solely from mechanics, that's one thing. The gameplay in these games, to me, seemed to revolve around exploration and curiosity- not the actually fighting so much.

As a final note, from a critical standpoint, no nothing redeems terrible gameplay- gameplay is the one thing that really makes this medium unique. It'd be like having a movie with terrible acting and camera work, or a book with poor writing.

(Oh and in regards to story if it's good i can always wikipedia it or youtube the story-relevant parts, so thats another reason I find gameplay so curcial i suppose).

 

[JesterRaiin]

Inception style - everything is multilayered.
I can suffer minor to medium difficulties in exchange for interesting story or characters, or rewarding micromanagement or something. However, beyond some point nothing nothing can redeem bad gameplay in my eyes. Nothing.

Wonderful example is 1st part of Dead Space.
I recognize it as not only one of best horror games but also as one of best games ever. Yet it is broken - it can't run properly on my rig. I played it as long as it was possible (until Centrifuge section) but after dying for 30th time thanks to some f*cked up glitch i simply uninstalled the game.

It's not worth investing time and nerves into such experience.
Especially since there are <url=http://www.youtube.com/user/blankdoor>numerous walkthroughs on YT.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Well, yeah. Damn good story/art style/world. There are plenty of games I love that technically have crap gameplay. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a prime example of that.

 

[Vivi22]

Mediocre gameplay, sure. FFVI is one of my favourite games ever despite being far too easy. Assassin's Creed 1 was worth playing through the one time if only because AC2 is so much better and I knew what was going on from having finished it.

But outright bad gameplay? No. There is no redeeming it. Gameplay needs to at the very least be decent enough that it doesn't take away from the experience. If it can't even manage that then there's no reason for me to play a game. I don't care how good the story or characters are. If they're that good while the gameplay is utterly terrible then you're better off watching the story on youtube because it never should have been a game in the first place.

 

[castlewise]

Nothing can redeem truly bad gameplay, but story or style can redeem mediocre gameplay. Dragon Age 2 is a great example. The gameplay was lackluster but I thought the characterizations and the role playing was really well done. More than enough to get me to the end of the game.

 

[Arif_Sohaib]

A great story can redeem bad gameplay sometimes. The recently released Afterfall Insanity is a good example of this. As are both Witcher games(both of which I played with a trainer/cheats for unlimited health).
And if Eat Lead is released on PC(I can't afford a console) I definately want to try it.
Also the gameplay of Psyconauts wasn't too excaptional either, it was the atmosphere and story that really drew everyone in.

 

[4RM3D]

You play a game first and foremost because of the GAMEplay. Everything else is secondary. Whether or not I'll continue playing a game depends on how good the gameplay is. There are a lot of games (way too many) with mediocre gameplay, but at least decent enough to continue playing if there is something else to compensate for the lack of gameplay. That 'something else' is usually the story. If there is nothing to compensate for the lack of gameplay or if the gameplay is that abysmal, then I'll just stop playing the game, no matter what.

There are two different ways gameplay can fail:
1) The basics - this usually is the final nail on the coffin
2) The balancing - this breaks the gameplay but the game could still work

About 99% of the games nowadays have balancing issues, but I can still enjoy the game if the basics are okay and the game has something else it does very well.

Examples of games with balancing issues, but with an interesting story:
The Witcher 2, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origin, Deus Ex: Human Revolution

 

[Frostwhisper21]

About 99% of the games nowadays have balancing issues, but I can still enjoy the game if the basics are okay and the game has something else it does very well.

Examples of games with balancing issues, but with an interesting story:
The Witcher 2, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origin, Deus Ex: Human Revolution

I agree with this 100%- Games very rarely care about difficulty anymore- the challenge isn't there. Even MMOs are getting forgiving. And I don't even mean difficult as in death penalties because honestly the only penalty in games is time- i mean that the gameplay is difficult. Very few games i've bought in the past two years required much effort to beat, though thankfully multiplayer(if balanced) alleviates this somewhat.

That or you'll have stupid difficulty spikes- the bosses in Deus Ex are an oft-quoted example.

It's why Demon Souls was so appealing to some of us I suppose.

 

[Airbear101]

ehhhhhh if its HORRIBLE i can't play through it, but I suppose if the experience is at least unique i can dog it.

GOLFWANG

 

[Thaluikhain]

Depends what you mean by "redeem".

If the story or worldbuilding or characters are done well, I might respect it for that and not judge it too harshly...but not actually play it.

 

[Blade1130]

Mass Effect 1 was a game that to me had terrible gameplay (shooting that is) but made up for it with interesting characters, a damned good story, and unique choices that make the player think about what was "morally" correct, or how to best accomplish the mission. The overall shooting mechanic was awful, but I got through to the end of the game and enjoyed it immensely. Provided a game can do that, I'll let bad gameplay slide, but it would have to be damned near perfect in all these other aspects.

 

[BreakfastMan]

A lot of things can redeem bad gameplay (but they have to be really good). Good story, likeable characters, great looking environments/level design, great atmosphere, and just plain weirdness have all been known to redeem games with crap gameplay in my eyes. Not all the time, but some of the time.