Poll: What is most important to you in a game?

[GrimHeaper]

I ask you what is most important in a game for you.
You can also state the game that did this the best for you.
For me the game that did it best was super mario RPG the gameplay was VERY solid.

 

[Jim From Accounting]

Over all I like things to be balanced with each other.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Crushing my enemies, seeing them driven before me, and hearing the lamentation of their women.

 

[Gaiseric]

Gameplay.

A frustrating UI, shit controls, or a game riddled with bugs can ruin the best of games.

 

[Gaiseric]

Crushing my enemies, seeing them driven before me, and hearing the lamentation of their women.

You are awesome.

 

[Cipher1]

The most important thing to me in a game is replay value so it needs an arcade/skirmish mode or modability because if im spending £40 for a game I want something more than a 6 hour campaign.

 

[Randomeaninglessword]

The script, even the most plain/boring game can still be enjoyable if the story is good.

 

[Stako]

To me it's a combination of gameplay and script/story. The camera and the controls should cooperate, nothing more. The rest can go to hell.

 

[GrimHeaper]

Crushing my enemies, seeing them driven before me, and hearing the lamentation of their women.

I see you robot chicken Conan.

Over all I like things to be balanced with each other.

To me it's a combination of gameplay and script/story. The camera and the controls should cooperate, nothing more. The rest can go to hell.

you have to answer a SINGLE thing otherwise I wouldn't have been specific.

 

[Zeema]

Gameplay

if its not Fun or Existing then don't play it

And Story is a big part for me 2

 

[Thespian]

I voted Voice Acting just to be the outlier. Trolololol..

But seriously, gameplay needs to be engaging, fresh, inspired. A good story to keep me interested works too.

 

[The Hot Sauce Thief]

For me, it would be gameplay and story, but I'll go with gameplay.

 

[Mr Thin]

I don't understand how there can be any valid answer other than gameplay.

A game can be missing pretty much anything and still conceivably be a good game.

But if it has bad gameplay, it's a bad game, period.

I think the question should be 'What is most important to you in a game (apart from gameplay)?'.

In which case I would answer the script. I loves me a good story, I does I does.

 

[CleverNickname]

Other

The setting. Or, if it's set in present-day earth, the unique idea that makes it not-quite-real. Sci-fi/fantasy is easy, but even Splinter Cell or FEAR got it right - a super-ninja-spy and a slow-mo dude? I can get behind that. It's why Deux Es is a great idea.

Gameplay is just as important, but that's a boring answer. Metro got this wrong. I should probably read the book, cuz the setting and atmosphere are awesome - but it's a sorry shoddy shooter.

 

[Summerstorm]

Other: The rounded "Atmosphere" of the game.

Things just have to fit. Gameplay is of course VERY important, but also it NEEDS to fit into the story, the script, the plot.

You NEED to present it too, so you NEED to have FITTING graphics and music. (They don't need to be high-end 3D models if your game doesn't go for the "feel" of that.)

The point is, games should do one or two things:

Be entertaining!
Tell a Story!

Only one of those is needed to make a game viable, and both to make a GREAT game. Everything else is just cream on the cookie or chocolate chips in it: Help make it veryvery tasty, but a cookie is always fine, no matter which one. (Great now i am hungry)

 

[Zhukov]

I hereby declare this question to be rather stupid.

It's like asking which is most important in a movie: image, sound, script or acting?

Correct answer: all of the above.

Same goes for games. I want a game to deliver a compelling narrative coupled with good gameplay in a interesting setting populated by well-crafted characters.

"Which is most important" be damned

 

[Distorted Stu]

Story and gameplay. Aslong as the two coexsist an dcan get me immersed its a done deal

 

[Lilani]

I hereby declare this question to be rather stupid.

It's like asking which is most important in a movie: image, sound, script or acting?

Correct answer: all of the above.

Same goes for games. I want a game to deliver a compelling narrative coupled with good gameplay in a interesting setting populated by well-crafted characters.

"Which is most important" be damned

The OP asked which is most important TO YOU. In other words, what is the make-or-break point of most games to you. Some people don't care much about story or graphics, but want the gameplay to be engaging. Others don't mind tedious gameplay, but rather just want a good story more than anything else. And there are others still who can forgive story or gameplay imperfections as long as the characters are entertaining.

Personally, I think I am in the latter two categories, for the most part. I have played and loved Final Fantasy XI and Grandia III, both which have EXTREMELY tedious and complicated battle systems, but FFXI is filled with great characters and deep stories and Grandia III also has a solid story going. So as long as I'm enjoying at least the characters or the story, I can stick around for quite a while.

I've never been able to stand games like Halo, though. It's not that I don't like FPS's--I am patently addicted to TF2 at the moment. It's that I don't like FPS's that just feel...generic. TF2 is very tight and the characters are hilariously entertaining. It is a unique and well-rounded experience. Halo, on the other hand, just feels like any other old alien shooter you'd see rusting in an arcade somewhere. Everybody is covered in those ridiculous suits, making everything a lumpy, samey eyesore.

Meanwhile, I know a lot of people who love Halo and simply could not forgive FFXI's contrived battle and leveling system enough to give the story a chance. So it's all a matter of taste when it comes to that sort of thing.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Other

The setting. Or, if it's set in present-day earth, the unique idea that makes it not-quite-real. Sci-fi/fantasy is easy, but even Splinter Cell or FEAR got it right - a super-ninja-spy and a slow-mo dude? I can get behind that. It's why Deux Es is a great idea.

I agree, it's the world-building that makes it interesting to me.