What do you think is essential for a good game?

[TheHighDino]

Which part of a game do you think is essential to make it a good one...? Story, Graphics, Controls, Character Design....?

 

[Je Suis Ubermonkey]

Above all I'd say playable, if not solid, controls/mechanics. If you want a game you can't interact with easily, go watch a movie. It'll be far less frustrating.

 

[Xerosch]

Atmosphere. Of all things atmosphere. And a good story NOT including a mute main character.

Both things can save flawed/conservative gameplay as it's the other way around.

 

[Nooners]

CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY, hands down. Excellent story, graphics, everything else doesn't matter is the controls don't work or the gameplay is garbage.

 

[bulldogftw]

Fun, you can't have a good game without fun.

 

[Zac Smith]

A little bit of everything people have already mentioned. Get the right mix, for your game, and you'll have a winning combination.

 

[madwarper]

Gameplay.

You can have the best graphics, atmosphere, story, sound, etc. If you can't play the game, it's all a waste.

 

[boag]

Gameplay will always be the most important part for me, although i have forgiven lots of games for having a great story.

 

[Sinathor]

Gameplay, atmosphere and aesthetics.

Massive bonus points from a good storyline and characters. But as much as I love these two things, they are optional to make a fun game. If I want only good story or characters, I'll watch a good movie.

Soundtrack and sound design can make miracles, but is rarely so bad that it makes the game worse. Bonus points in my eyes (or ears? ^_^)

Graphics are completely optional as long as the aesthetics part is well taken care of. Skilled devs can make the game look good without flashy graphics. For example, Gothic 2 is still one of the best looking games in my opinion.

 

[Jess Green]

being that my fave genre is RPG's i guess it would have to be story for me and likeable characters, i've played some games which should of been very good in theory but its not a good thing when you want the person/persons your playing to die because they annoy beyond belief.

 

[Axelhander]

CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY, hands down. Excellent story, graphics, everything else doesn't matter is the controls don't work or the gameplay is garbage.

Winner of the thread, right here.

To expand on this a bit:

- Solid gameplay mechanics and an intuitive, fun way to use those mechanics.
- Level design that takes advantage of the mechanics in fun, challenging ways (think: NES Castlevania 1 and 3).

 

[TrevHead]

everything.

although tight controls come first, good level design second

 

[hardband]

Gameplay, if a game is unplayable then it doesn't matter whether it has a brilliant story, and if you are going to make the game as limitedly interactive as you can, you might as well make a movie.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Mechanics, play type, and reason for playing, obviously. A great story can make up for not-that-bad mechanics, but shoddy mechanics and bad story mean I'll stop playing. And if I stop playing partway through, that's clearly not a good thing.

 

[SuperNova221]

"I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time." - Herbert Bayard Swope

That.

And I can't think of anything that a game NEEDS to have in order to be good. I've played games without things that i usually think are essential that are still great in their own right.

 

[TheHighDino]

Fun, you can't have a good game without fun.

I like that answer... Thats a good answer....

 

[Smooth Operator]

First and foremost it's gameplay, it needs to be smooth and polished, if not all else fails.

 

[IzisviAziria]

All this other stuff you guys have posted is great... Truly, important to a game.

But we're missing something.

Obviously, a good game needs Shurikens and Lightning.

 

[Gigano]

The only essential bit is that it's technically stable so it doesn't ruin the experience.

Other than that, it's hard to pinpoint something I'd deem necessary for a game to be good, as that really depend on what you expect from it. A competitive multiplayer game like Unreal Tournament 3 can be good despite having virtually no story, and a visual novel like Hanachirasu can be good despite having virtually no gameplay (but retaining an interactive element through offering choices, qualifying it for being called a "game" much like Zork or Myst was).