Poll: The perfect game is...

[SpaceBat]

Narrative and story telling is nice, I like a game with a good story, but it has never really been important to me. I'm always a little dumbfounded when somebody tells me "I don't like that game because the story was crap" ...... It's like saying you didn't like movie because the background music is bad; you're not watching the movie to listen to background music, you're probably watching it for the story, visual effects or acting.

Why are you always dumbfounded in situations like that? Is it that hard to understand that some people might actually be looking for good narrative and storytelling when they play games and that it is a primary factor as to why they play them?

The example you gave is incorrect.
Saying that you didn't like a movie because of the bad background music is like saying that you don't like a game because of background music. Story, characters and a good narrative for me, and for many others, is a crucial part of a game, not just some mostly unimportant part.
Hence the reason why I don't play games with awful story, characters or narrative much, such as Bayonetta, Skyrim and a couple of others.

To me, good gameplay and ambience and all of the other parts of a game as separate parts aren't what makes a game fantastic. It's how both these things can be mixed together perfectly and used to enhance the story and thus the entire experience what makes them important. Team Ico's games are the perfect examples of what I mean.

So yeah, to me Plot/characters are what makes a game important. That doesn't necessarily mean that these things have to be ridiculously deep, but they need to be able to bring up a powerful emotional response in one way or another from me. The rest of a game is important as well, but more as a way to compliment the story as a whole. I could always say "Fun-factor", but that depends on how well the above is done.

Also, it is so goddamn annoying and stupid when people say "if you want a good story, why not read a book" (not aimed at you, geK0).

 

[veloper]

When you're fighting horrible controls the whole game sucks, so I voted that. If the controls suck, the game cannot be perfect. Bad controls get in the way of a fair challenge and a fair challenge is the most important thing.

Plot? Only a handful of games have better than mediocre plots and that's never hurt gamesales. Plenty of addictive games like Tetris, that don't have a plot or characters whatsoever.
Ambiance is is more important than plot or character development. People are more likely to complain if the sound, music and visuals are terrible. A good atmosphere by itself can make your in-game actions seem more significant, while the story, if any, is often completely forgettable.

Originality is good, but a game that takes an old idea and does it better than the original (like better controls or something) is still very welcome. If a game is judged on it's onw merits, originality is never even a consideration.

"Addictiveness" can be sign you're enjoying the game. It happens when a game hits the sweet spot in challenge, controls, ambiance, etc. so not a very meaningful criterium in this list.
Length doesn't matter much to me, especially if the game is cheap or very replayable. I rarely finish long games, unless the game is top 10 worthy.

in order of importance:
challenge > controls > ambiance > originality > length > plot

 

[Weslebear]

Length and game addiction by FAR.

Some of my favourites lack story or development but go by on pure unadulterated game play which for a game has to be top priority at all times.

I love games with great stories too, but they can never make up for bad game play whereas game play can make up for literally no story.

Case in point, my opinion obviously.

TF2 is one of my top games, especially PC wise, and it's only multi-player with nothing else yet the solid, fluid and addictive game play make it an absolute joy to pour hours into.

Now take Mass Effect, I've read up on the lore mildly and watched let's play to enjoy the story, which is rather great, but by god I will never play them myself. I just get nothing from the game play and I can't play a game where the very core of the genre within the piece doesn't interest me. Now in book form I would be all over it.

 

[hoboman29]

When I first saw this thread I thought you wanted an opinion on what game is perfect (which is none)
To answer your question I think it matters about the big question of is it fun so I said controls IMO my favorite game ever is timesplitters 2 because it was gameplay first everything else second and it is awesome.

 

[dragonswarrior]

I'm definitely going with plot and character development. Neither one has to be spectacular, but even games that have great gameplay quickly bore me if the characters and plot are uninteresting or just poorly done. And all my favorite games are very plot and character focused, well my second tier of favorite games have interesting characters and plot, even if they aren't focused on them.

For me, having good and fun gameplay is a must, because, ya know, its a game. That's kind of important. But I have found myself becoming totally bored with games if they didn't have interesting plot or characters so I have to say that plot and character development is the most important. And I'm pretty sure some games that may have been sorta lackluster in the gaming department, I ended up liking anyway because of story elements.

 

[Smiley Face]

I think the explosive success of Skyrim should speak to some extent to the importance of ambiance over plot/character development. Skyrim is BURSTING with beautiful graphics, beautiful music, beautiful everything. And on the other hand, the plot is so secondary to the game proper that most people just leave it by the wayside until they're a good few dozen hours in, and character development... never really happens. You're a blank slate, and everyone else is pretty 'what you see is what you get'. I mean, they're interesting, but their interestingness doesn't come from their change, it comes from how they add to the atmosphere - another dimension of ambiance.

That said, plot/character development is also really important, and a good example of it in a game always catapults it to the fore - it's just that there are so many good games that don't have a lot of it that I don't see it as an essential.

 

[Auron225]

I went for Plot - but Originality is extremely important as well.

 

[HardkorSB]

what defines a perfect video game.

Non-existence. You can make a game which is perfect for a particular gamer but there's nothing that would satisfy everyone.

And don't say there's no perfect game because I don't care.

Well... I don't care that you don't care... so HA!

Fun is the most important factor. Games are entertainment so they need to entertain. If the entertainment is great then so is the game. It's not like in a movie, where it can be bad in every aspect and still be fun. A game with bad gameplay mechanics, controls, camera angles etc. will not be enjoyable, if will be frustrating. The the visuals, sound, plot etc. can add to immersion but these aren't things that really matter in a game.
You need to be able to interact with the world of the game as well as possible and the interaction needs to be fun.

That's my answer, the poll doesn't have that so I didn't vote.

 

[Deathmageddon]

Wow, more than half said plot... GAMES ARE NOT MOVIES!!!

 

[Wayneguard]

My favorite game is Morrowind. It has secured that place of honor almost entirely because of its world and ambiance. Audio and visuals (style is far more important than absolute quality) are very important to me. Other games that are great because of ambiance - Thief, Shadow of the Colossus, Disciples, Resident Evil... these are all games on my favorites list mostly because of art and audio style.

 

[Imbechile]

Lately, I feel like all the games being released these days are for the most part, uninteresting. All the games seem to just bleed together into one big grey mess of boredom I just don't like. Modern Warfare 3 is repetitive, Skyrim's glitchy, LittleBigPlanet 2 is too complicated, Sonic the hedgehog has a crap plot, (again), and I don't want to deal with this crap. I mean, who does? So my long winded lead-up to this question I ask my fellow Escapists is this: what defines a perfect video game. I'm sure you're curious about this answer just like I am. And don't say there's no perfect game because I don't care. I just want your opinion of the perfect game's defining key elements.

In the poll you are missing gameplay. That's all that matters. Everything else is just a nice feature.

 

[Angry_squirrel]

I'd say a mixture between comfortable game controls, since that constitutes gameplay (or is at least the closest to it out of what you've mentioned) are the most important.
Then I'd say ambiance, and plot/character development, since that's what really immerses us. The other two aren't as important I don't think, I can enjoy a short game, and an unoriginal one. I can't enjoy a game with bad gameplay, or one where I'm not drawn in

 

[Chevalier noir]

*Ahem*

[HEADING=1]Persona 4.[/HEADING]

That is all.

The thread continued after this post was made? Didn't read past this, its 100% true.

 

[Innegativeion]

Can't believe no one's posted this yet;

Spoiler

and, yeah, I abstained from voting as... I consider gameplay to be the most important aspect, but, that doesn't seem to be a present option.

 

[xPixelatedx]

I choose none because I didn't see 'fun' factor' anywhere on that list. That is all a game needs, really. I think developers already spend so much time on those other things many often forget people sit down to play games because they are bored and want to have some fun.

 

[Robert Ewing]

Well, you can't really call the spectrum of games one category. A racing game is infinitely different from an FPS for example.

All of that taken into account, I think a very good candidate for the perfect game is Metal Gear Solid 4. It excels in every area. While it may be a bit stingy on actual gameplay, when it does let you play the game, it's really, really good.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

The most important thing for me in a game is Plot and Character development.

If the game's story can keep me immersed,then I really don't care how bad the gameplay is.

On the other flip side of the coin,if the gameplay is fun it might intrigue me or push me to bother finishing the game.This can be a good thing as well(Mass Effect 2 I've been playing it over 8 times and it hasn't bored me yet,although it has same story).

 

[Gmans uncle]

Controls, defiantly controls.
People will forgive poor writing, they can look past lack of originality or lack of length (I mean c'mon look at the COD franchise), some wont even mind if it looks or sounds like shit (I'm a laptop gamer so 80% of my games end up looking like shit after I adjust the settings anyway) But if it's unpleasant to control, THEN you've fucked up the most basic element of the "game" portion of the whole "video GAME" thing.