What's the most important thing for you in a game?

[Profound]

I love RPG's with a good story

[mizeri]

The art is definitely near the top for me. If the art isn't interesting, and it doesn't have an art style that is at least remotely appealing to me, I usually don't even both looking into the game. I'm not talking about graphical fidelity (pixel count, lighting/shadows ect.), although it helps, but what the game looks like. It's one of the reasons that Alice: Madness Returns is one of the best games I've played this year.

dont ever play el shadai, worse game i ever played, along with bleach, they are really pretty but the games are so bad

[Ferocity]

Game should have adequate gameplay and scale (length). If it is RPG, it should have decent character progression system and wide world to explore, preferrably without artificial replay components like difficulty modes or role replays. Also, if it is RPG, it should have respawnable resources (mobs, containers etc.) and ultra hard challenges, with character progress being limited by least amount of factors possible except time and patience.

[OrcsRLame]

Story above all else for me. After that is gameplay. And as said already in this thread, polish is important. It's hard to describe, but it's easy to know when a game is unpolished. When a game is really polished, you don't really notice it per se, you just feel like the game is fun.

Graphics and sound are also very important. And when I say graphics, I don't mean resolution. I don't care if a game has super detailed and amazing graphics, what I do care about is art design. For example, Battlefield 3 with everything on Ultra, it looks really good, but I don't care for the art design that much. I'd much rather look at a dragon in Skyrim, or Ragnaros in wow.

And sound in general is super super important, be it ambient sounds or music.

[Nihilim]

Story above all else for me. After that is gameplay. And as said already in this thread, polish is important. It's hard to describe, but it's easy to know when a game is unpolished. When a game is really polished, you don't really notice it per se, you just feel like the game is fun.

And sound in general is super super important, be it ambient sounds or music.

Great minds think alike! Story is by far the most important aspect for me. If it's lacking, then everything else is lacking to me as well.

[Deleted]

Immersion, and also it should give me an incentive to keep playing (which mostly works storywise, I'm not very big fan of sandbox games).
A good example for me was Rise of the Argonauts. It wasn't a really polished game which got really bad marks from reviewing sites. I immensely enjoyed it. The combat was stylish (although the controls were a bit crap), the story was cool, the bosses quite original and the atmosphere was great.

[ddsad2212]

Gameplay. Everything else is nice, but gameplay is number 1, but good game play can be ruined, if every other aspect is very bad

[Doriath]

Good characters and stories.Gameplay doesnt matter to much for me,if i enjoy the characters im sucked into it anyways and graphics is a bonus.

[Pull My Finger]

Gameplay, music.

[Ynna]

I don't think there's a singular most important thing about a videogame. Gameplay, Aesthetics (Graphics is a horrible way to judge games, in my opinion), Story, Worldbuilding, Music and other stuff should all work together in order to create the best experience possible. The gameplay should enhance the story and the characterization. The aesthetic should make for a better story and clear gameplay, as well as conveying meaningful aspects of the world.

[juzalol]

1. Challenge
2. Customization
3. Free roaming

I hate linear games where the developers decide what you do and if you
do it any other way you are screwed.

I love setting myself my own goals. Like in Skyrim, I want to buy all the houses, do
all the side quests, collect the masks, keep all the unique items etc.

I also love games that are so hard you have to think outside the box on some encounters.
(Kite mobs jumping up and down cliffs / platforms etc.)

[bloody251]

I don't think there's a singular most important thing about a videogame. Gameplay, Aesthetics (Graphics is a horrible way to judge games, in my opinion), Story, Worldbuilding, Music and other stuff should all work together in order to create the best experience possible. The gameplay should enhance the story and the characterization. The aesthetic should make for a better story and clear gameplay, as well as conveying meaningful aspects of the world.

I agree. Most games I've seen that has great graphics are very bad. They spend too much money on graphics that they forget the most important thing (at lest for me): gameplay. Even if the game has "omg looks so real" graphics, if the gameplay is bad I don't even bother playing.

There are some exceptions tho like Skyrim (I fell in love with this game lol).

[Ynna]

I hate linear games where the developers decide what you do and if you
do it any other way you are screwed.

I love setting myself my own goals. Like in Skyrim, I want to buy all the houses, do
all the side quests, collect the masks, keep all the unique items etc.

I also love games that are so hard you have to think outside the box on some encounters.
(Kite mobs jumping up and down cliffs / platforms etc.)

How do you feel about games that have a linear story progression, but still allow you to tackle challenges in a variety of ways?

I agree. Most games I've seen that has great graphics are very bad. They spend too much money on graphics that they forget the most important thing (at lest for me): gameplay. Even if the game has "omg looks so real" graphics, if the gameplay is bad I don't even bother playing.

There are some exceptions tho like Skyrim (I fell in love with this game lol).

It works the other way around as well. Having good gameplay, but an annoying or unclear aesthetic also ruins the experience. And their are games that don't play very well, but are still good games, so it's not as black and white.

[Deleted]

gameplay, sidequests (things to do outside of main objective) and easter eggs /secrets

[Blood Crusade]

I would have to say relative freedom. Being able to do pretty much what I want, but clearly with some boundaries. Choices, love em.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

For me it's the gameplay. I don't care about the graphic if the gameplay is awesome. I enjoy games that have lots of "secrets" like Final Fantary 6 (or is it 3?I don't know). And there must be a very good story.

If I wanted good graphics I'd watch a movie.

And you guys?What's the most important thing in a game?

The controls. The graphics are also important, but they're not a deal-breaker if you're doing your job good. For me, wow is the best movement-wise: no clunkyness, I press jump and my character jump instantly, I press left or right and it's instant, no delay, no akward animations. When I press a touch, I want instant results, not some weird animation that will make him stop walking or slow me down. That's what I love in wow gameplay and it's the only thing that makes me unable to play other games. Guild Wars 2 seems to have the same level of polishing gameplay-wise, so I can't wait for it to be released and the graphics are awesome!

Also, good immersion and lore is a plus. That's what I liked in the old wow, even though it was a grind-fest, you had the feeling it was helping toward something.

[Deleted]

When it comes to something to kill a few mins ith I play games that are more focused on a fun idea or concept. Like Elastomania or Liero.
But if I want to spend a few hours I want great story or great gameplay.
Graphic is on the bottom of all my lists. Well, graphics that are real is on the bottom. Best Zelda game so ar was Wind Waker. Awesome gameplay and enjoyed the looks.

[Deleted]

Lore. Without lore or a good history, it gets boring for me...

[Poppincaps]

Gameplay above everything. Pokemon and Fallout 3 are two of my favorite games of all time and yet they don't have the best stories in the world, but the gameplay is so great that I don't have time to think about the story. Although people saying Graphics aren't important are dead wrong. I doubt I would've felt the way I do about Skyrim if it had Morrowind's graphics. I mean the graphics and the beautiful areas were what made that game so immersive. Now as the graphics get better and more realistic looking I think the impact of graphics will be lessened, but atm they are still very important. Story is a different. Unlike gameplay, story usually cannot hold me by itself. The only game whose story was great, but gameplay wasn't (talking about the shooting and driving, not interragations) was L.A. Noire, but that is a very special case.

Overall I would say

1. Gameplay
2. Story
3. Graphics

[Deleted]

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