What's more important to Game Design? Creativity or Polish?

[Crunchy English]

Since this is bound to get "Average Joes" angry at "Games are Art People" maybe we should raise our flame shields now. Ok, time for a brief backstory:

I work in an independent video game store and we run videos on all the TVs constantly. One of the one's we run is GameTrailer's Uncharted 2 Review. The one point those guys say at least 3 times (all while drooling over the game) is that it just basically steals stuff they liked from other games, and then proceed to do it so well that no one cares. Multiplayer elements from Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War 2 as a cited example, set pieces from at least a half dozen games, old-style Tomb Raider mechanics, etc.

No one is questioning the awesomeness of Uncharted 2. Though not for everybody, the game is just too polished and too well-made to bad talk. Still, in an industry where we continually praise and prize innovation, why is a game offering nothing "new" getting perfect scores? Is it because creativity is actually LESS important than we're constantly claiming? Would we rather play an amazingly well built "Space Marine Guy Shoots a Million Aliens 7" over a buggy and rushed "Spiker: The Time Traveling Mosquito"? (I think I made that up).

What do you think is more important?

 

[fix-the-spade]

Both, nothing less will do.

Creativity is useless without the polish to make it work.

Polish without creativity is boring, you've seen it all before anyway.

Anyone who thinks you can effectively compromise the two is doomed to never being great at anything. Creativity and Polish, no compromises.

 

[A Weary Exile]

I say creativity, I can overlook minor gameplay flaws if I'm immersed in a unique and exciting world.

 

[CheeseFlareUK]

I like a nice balance of both, but I'll take creativity over polish any day. Case in point: ArmA II.

No one is questioning the awesomeness of Uncharted 2.

I am, it was bloody horrible. Lets leave it at that though. No flame today.

OMG YOU HAZ AN OPINION! IT IZ RONG! FALE ON UR PART DUD! But in all seriousness, I want both, but creativity is more important.

 

[Ammadessi]

My favorite game series is Silent Hill; if that's not an argument for creativity vs. polish I don't know what is.

 

[DrDeath3191]

Polish. If the game doesn't work, the game doesn't work. Although everybody here wants a combination of both, polish I think is far more important.

 

[CheeseFlareUK]

Also, a game called darkest of days got horrid reviews only because
A. It had no boobs.
B. It had a new concept.
C. It had new gameplay ideas like enemies you have to keep alive or you skew the timeline.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The creative game and the badass action game can coexist side by side. Neither is more important then the other.

What's important is: Do I like it or do I not.

 

[Crunchy English]

Both, nothing less will do.

Creativity is useless without the polish to make it work.

Polish without creativity is boring, you've seen it all before anyway.

Anyone who thinks you can effectively compromise the two is doomed to never being great at anything. Creativity and Polish, no compromises.

But what's "Creative" about Uncharted 2? I'm not all the way through it yet, but I haven't seen anything new yet. It's still getting perfect scores and I'm still having fun.

 

[Curtmiester]

Also, a game called darkest of days got horrid reviews only because
A. It had no boobs.
B. It had a new concept.
C. It had new gameplay ideas like enemies you have to keep alive or you skew the timeline.

I highly doubt game reviews give bad reviews because a game is different. I know many games that got great reviews BECAUSE they are different.

 

[Skizle]

I'd say originality. without it we would all be playing the same games over and over again. but out of all of them I would go with the design. the look of a game is what draws people to give it a try.

 

[Avatar Roku]

Also, a game called darkest of days got horrid reviews only because
A. It had no boobs.
B. It had a new concept.
C. It had new gameplay ideas like enemies you have to keep alive or you skew the timeline.

It also played fucking awfully and looked, played, and narrated like a game from 10 years ago. Interesting concept, but everything else was bad.

I guess that's a good argument: creativity is good, but it can't save a game alone. There needs to be at least some level of polish. That said, I'd prefer creativity, but, although polish is less important, it needs to be present in some degree.

 

[fix-the-spade]

But what's "Creative" about Uncharted 2? I'm not all the way through it yet, but I haven't seen anything new yet. It's still getting perfect scores and I'm still having fun.

Wait, you're playing through a video game, a gorgeous one that's fairly well written at that, yet you fail to see the creativity?

It's not massively original I'll give you that. But the entire thing is based around creativity, someone's had to sit down and design every single element of that, it doesn't make itself.

Creativity and originality are different, Uncharted 2 wouldn't have been creative if it re-used all the assets of 1. Originality isn't vital for something to be good (the formula 1 designer's mantra is 'what worked last year, plus a couple of perecent'), but without creativity nothing can be improved upon.

 

[TheFacelessOne]

Creativity. Better to wear a dirty suit with a pineapple on your head than a suit so shiny that'll blind you, whilst standing behind other shining suit people.

Makes sense, right?

 

[Crunchy English]

But what's "Creative" about Uncharted 2? I'm not all the way through it yet, but I haven't seen anything new yet. It's still getting perfect scores and I'm still having fun.

Wait, you're playing through a video game, a gorgeous one that's fairly well written at that, yet you fail to see the creativity?

It's not massively original I'll give you that. But the entire thing is based around creativity, someone's had to sit down and design every single element of that, it doesn't make itself.

Creativity and originality are different, Uncharted 2 wouldn't have been creative if it re-used all the assets of 1. Originality isn't vital for something to be good (the formula 1 designer's mantra is 'what worked last year, plus a couple of perecent'), but without creativity nothing can be improved upon.

I think the definitions here are little shaky. Creativity and Originality.... hmmm. The fact that Drake likes to quip and follows a fairly common character development path doesn't make the writing impressive. In fact, its the weakest part of the game. The "Betty and Veronica" vibe I get from Chloe and Elena, the crazed military leader lifted right from a Bond movie.

Again, the game is well made but what's the difference between presenting something new and presenting something old very well? Can you do the latter just by copy/pasting? Of course not, it takes brains and hard work. But I don't know that it counts as creativty.

 

[NBSRDan]

Design > Creativity > Polish.

 

[Sewblon]

What is original now can easily become trite in six years, so I guess polish is more important overall. But a work doesn't need to be original, to be expressive, deep or profound.

 

[ArcWinter]

Get a creative idea, then polish it. It's really not that hard, unless you make it difficult.

Also: What is Uncharted 2?