Poll: What Increases Immersion For You The Most?

[VoidWanderer]

The strength of the lore of the world I am playing in.

Fallout games were great, because it felt like a post-apocalyptic setting.

Amalur was a game I really enjoyed because of the richness of the lore. God of War games were fun because even though you were a monster of combat, the sense of scale in the owrld reminded you that you are still insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

 

[lacktheknack]

Games are infantile at telling stories or developing characters, so any game that attempts this is pretty much by definition bad. Silent pictures from the turn of the last century do a better job than any game yet made at telling a story or character development. So far games are so bad at it, they should really just stop trying, if you pulled out from playing games just a bit and compare the art form to literature or cinema, games are just comically underdeveloped, so far.

This is parroted really often, but it's flat out false.

FALSE.

Angela Orosco from Silent Hill 2 is much more interesting and complex than most characters on screen TODAY, let alone the turn of the century silent films, and we see her for... what? Twenty minutes?

Then we have the extremely underrated Geneforge series, which actively yanks your chain and demands answers to "What measure is a non-human?", as well as building a fascinating world to throw various permutations of that question to you again and again. Not only did it succeed in actively changing my mindset on the question (a movie has NEVER done that to me), it also grabbed and held me for story reasons ALONE at several parts. Given the chance to visit the Geneforge Universe or Middle Earth, and witness the events of either series, I'd pick Geneforge, which technically means that I like Geneforge's story more than the freaking Lord of the Rings (which I'm also a fan of).

Or how about Psychonauts? The entire game was BASED off of character backstory and revelations, but it has one of the most fanatical fanbases in games, so CLEARLY they're doing SOMETHING right.

I suppose you're going to have to outline what YOU consider to be good characterization and storytelling (which will naturally vary wildly from everyone else's, because you're going to go out of your way to define it in a game-excluding way), and then you can make bizarre and ill-informed statements like this, otherwise I have to assume you accidentally fell through a worm hole and swapped universes.

 

[lacktheknack]

- MY NAME IS BOLO-SAN-TOES-EEE (otherwise known as bad voice-acting)

Watch it, buddy. That's one of my favorite comedy scenes in gaming.

<youtube=8U-BPDDDSto>

Never has a scene made me die laughing from voice acting alone, except this one.

 

[arrow_storm]

1. Gameplay
2. Story
3. Visuals

The only reason I put gameplay first is because if I don't enjoy actually playing the game, then there's no immersion from the very beginning. That doesn't mean it has to be good gameplay, I just have to enjoy it (eg. Skyrim).

Story is what's really important for me. A good story (eg. Mass Effect 1) can suck me in and keep me there for hours and hours, while a bad story can and has made me walk away from an otherwise perfectly good game.

And visuals, 'cos if you gotta stare at something for hours, it better be worth staring at.

Sound/Music doesn't usually register with me at all, unless it's very distinctive or very bad and even then it can't make or break a game for me. It's just... there. If it's good, so much the better. If it's not, meh.

 

[Theminimanx]

I voted for soundtrack because it's relatively close to what really immerses me, sound design. Not just music, but sound effect as well. The three games that really immersed me were: amnesia, cod 4 and half life 2. All of these games have good sound effects and know when to play what kinds of music.
A first-person view can also really help.

 

[DaphneRose]

Storyline is one of the biggest things for me, if a game can't appeal to me in terms of story (or have a specific reason for playing/specific appeal, like LittleBigPlanet's cutesy appeal with sackboy and childish appearance).

Having a story and deep, complex characters that I can empathize with is essential. I'm a little surprised this isn't an option! Almost all games (excluding multi) are story based. Even MMOs have a plot. If the story is lackluster, my PC is a dud, and the NPCs are awful, I can't get through the game...

No matter how pretty the visuals, intuitive the controls, or enchanting the background music.

 

[Xixikal]

Mostly NPCs for me, if the game has them. NPCs really make the game, they fill in the world and give it depth. Unbelievable NPCs can really destroy a gaming experience... not looking at anybody in particular Arcania: Gothic 4...
Seriously though, who uses the SAME face for every second NPC?! Particularly when you're forced to interact with half of them!!

 

[Roofstone]

Gameplay, and audio is the most important. A good music track helps a long way for any game.

Also, in particular a game feature does it well for me: The need for eat, drink and sleep, too few games use this. I'd love a zombie game that adds this feature. <3 Probably exists one, but I've never seen.
(... ¯\(°_o)/¯)

 

[AniThari]

For myself the visuals put me in the mood of the game, everything else is there to support the visual theme. I can get over terrible controls - I trained myself to shift between games on a pc to the GameCube to the PlayStation and know each set of 'defaults' for each game and system type.

If something goes wrong with the visuals my brain goes, "Looks like the developers missed a spot," and that there is the nail in the coffin. I might - with even minimal effort - put the thought in the back of my mind, but it will still be there, staring at me while it waits for the moment to strike again.

To be honest that's why I have trouble getting through ME3. Not that "Oh the ending will be bad," it's that I look at Shepard move and my brain can't stop going "That's not how people look when they move! Especially, not a woman!" So I run to the multiplayer and smash my skull against Durak's - my Krogan - and shout, "LET'S SHOTGUN THINGS BIG BUDDY!" He roars in agreement, I get into character before I know it, sound crazy in voice chat when I laugh with Durak, and its overall good times.

The instant you can't separate you from the player character, that's when you're immersed. But in my humble opinion, if you can't see yourself as a character of that world it's going to be a struggle to immerse yourself there.

 

[Microman4]

For me, it's combination of story/plot, atmosphere, visuals and gameplay.
the story the game has to tell draws me in, but it's the characters, world and writing tends to grab hold of me. For instance, Mass Effect.
If the game has a great atmosphere or general feeling to it, thats good too
Visuals and gameplay (and soundtrack to an extent) build on my interest, especially if it builds on what the story had already told me. Like the busy cities in Assassin's creed. However, it also seems that the gameplay is what bring me out of an experience, like when the AI doesn't work, or the NPCs merge with the scenery....

 

[Mercutio]

Soundtrack all the way.

In System Shock 2, when I'm running up the ramp to the shuttle bay and THIS -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiQHBGfYr0g starts playing, the real world simply ceases to exist.

For more impatient people, the really good part of the track starts at about 0:35.

 

[bandman232]

Music. My GOD the Mass Effect series had some good music. Suicide Mission. Nuff said.