Graphics - I demand a holodeck!
But the overall quality of a game isn not very much about graphics at all, a lot of modern games lack a compelling and immersive story, or fail to provoke feelings like some of the older games did.
All to many new games are sequels, poor remakes or just a boring game without story to make mony for the publishers. Most are very lacking in innovation too.
I think it's time developers stopped focusing so much on graphics and turned their attention back to story and gameplay.
I finished a new playthrough of Freelancer a couple of days ago, and while the graphics are kind of poor and it only have 4:3 screen aspectratio when I use a widescreen everything was streched out, and that would normally bother me, but the atmosphere of the game made me forget about that, and 20 minutes in I didn't even notice.
And then there is the soundtrack.
I really miss the soundtrack of C&C Red Alert 1 and very few games today come even close of such a compelling soundtrack. Mass Effect gets an honorable mention for having one of the best soundtracks of modern games IMO.
And last;
I have yet to play a game that triggers such an emotinal response in me as the ending of Unreal 2. That is the first and only game I've ever played that made me genuinly sad, not only after I've finished it, but each time I think of it.
I think developers need to stop doing pretty but shallow and uninteresting games and start making deeper, more intelectual games.