Replayability: What does it mean to you?

[Mavecryst]

Hey all I'm writing up an article about gaming, and part of it will be the value of replayability; the feature I believe encompasses the right combination of other features to draw people into playing a game repeatedly. I have some ideas on what kind of games feel "replayable" and the features that make it so, but I'm wondering what your thoughts are on it.

Give me anything to do with replayable as the word means to you. Examples of games you couldn't put down, or some feature(s) from a game that you wish you could incorporate in any other game. Simple or complicated ideas, or even explanations to what makes a game replayable to you are welcome. Basically anything on the topic of replayability.

What does it mean to you?

[Blznsmri]

Different story arcs or choices that can be made to make each playthrough unique, immersive world, interesting gameplay and game mechanics, New Game Plus features are also nice.

Examples of games that I've played over and over are: Oblivion, Kingdom Hearts 1&2, Mass Effect 1&2, Borderlands, KotOR 1&2. Halo... primarily RPG's...

[Digglett]

Different story arcs or choices that can be made to make each playthrough unique, immersive world, interesting gameplay and game mechanics, New Game Plus features are also nice.

This. But, there are also games that are just fun to play over again, to collect new things, to explore a little more. My example would be Pokemon series/ LoZ.

[icedwarrior]

Replayability to me means being able to play a game again with enough incentive to do so without being bored. Example: Final Fantasy 10. The story, characters, fights, being immersed...everything about it I loved.

And Blznsmri is right, New Game Plus is always a welcome addition.

Edit: How could I have forgotten Oblivion? I've played Oblivion over and over, not to mention Fallout 3.

[Mavecryst]

So what I'm getting is.. You guys enjoy the experience of a game so much that you'll play the game again, either for a similar experience (KH 1 and 2 for e.g.) or to modify the experience for that playthrough (most of the other, more open-ended games mentioned). Good stuff! I had been more inclined to thinking that stuff with scoring would be a common source of replayability; people keep coming back to get a higher score e.g. with most, if not all, FPS games. Experience though is a powerful source of replayability if a game designer can create a moving, powerful experience with every playthrough.

[icedwarrior]

Well, I think it's too early to draw any conclusions. Three people shouldn't make up your "informed" opinion (err, that sounds derogatory, don't mean it to be...just mean if you're looking for a consensus, you need more people to weigh in).

Perhaps toppling a high-score would provide an incentive for someone else, but I just dislike doing so for the sake of doing so. ...other than achievements / trophies...for some inexplicable reason. They mean nothing...but they mean EVERYTHING! /grr ...now that I think about it, I believe that I love trophy-hunting because it is a completion aspect of the game. I like to experience everything a game has to offer.

Out of curiousity, what makes you replay a game, OP?

[Borfl]

Replay value for me is usually found in games that are action oriented. Take Star Fox for example, it's quite fast paced, it's a rail shooter, it's old, but god dammit is it still fun. There's different ways to progress through the game and the time it takes to defeat enemies correlates to your skill level.

Or FPS games like Metal Arms and Halo which are meant to be played gung-ho guns blazing, you can play in a very stealthy manner which I prefer to do. Or introduce a handicap that restricts you from using certain weapons.

And ofc there's the RPG titles, for example Fable, which I initally played through as a melee fighter with melee enhancing spells, however I later found out that going anything but melee just sucks.

And action adventure games where you can handicap yourself can be fun. Take for example the Zelda series. I make it a rule of thumb to do the three heart challenge in every title, and if it's still not challenging I'll play without a shield, not pick up any hidden skills, and find other ways to gimp myself.

The biggest thing with replay value for any single player game is if you can complete a game using multiple styles and there's multiple routes and you're not restricted to playing one set style because each subsequent fights call for it.

[Arkenaw]

Not much. I rarely, if ever, play a game more than once.

[Mavecryst]

Well, I think it's too early to draw any conclusions. Three people shouldn't make up your "informed" opinion (err, that sounds derogatory, don't mean it to be...just mean if you're looking for a consensus, you need more people to weigh in).

Perhaps toppling a high-score would provide an incentive for someone else, but I just dislike doing so for the sake of doing so. ...other than achievements / trophies...for some inexplicable reason. They mean nothing...but they mean EVERYTHING! /grr ...now that I think about it, I believe that I love trophy-hunting because it is a completion aspect of the game. I like to experience everything a game has to offer.

Out of curiousity, what makes you replay a game, OP?

Yep no worries, I know what you're trying to get at about the "informed decision" :P I was merely trying to say I was alittle surprised that the first 3 reactions was not what I expected! Which is great!

As for myself, I normally replay a game because something about it struck me as really "fun". So basically, also experience based. There have been games that I played to get better at it (replaying a game to "master" it, as opposed to replaying it for the experience, e.g. Crash Team Racing!), but normally, when I think of a game I enjoyed, I realised that there's always something about the gameplay that appealed to me so much I wanted to go back for another round of it. For example, I liked the Tales of series because of the semi-action approach to random battles. I like Shadow Hearts for the Ring system. I like Final Fantasies because almost every incarnation of it has something that I liked alot and want to go through again.

You seem to like replaying a game for completion. That's yet another approach to creating a replayable game! I don't really worry about achievements in games myself, but I can definitely see why it's a draw for many gamers, including yourself.

Thanks for the input all!

---------- Post added 2011-09-12 at 04:33 PM ----------

Not much. I rarely, if ever, play a game more than once.

Fair enough :P

---------- Post added 2011-09-12 at 04:35 PM ----------

Replay value for me is usually found in games that are action oriented. Take Star Fox for example, it's quite fast paced, it's a rail shooter, it's old, but god dammit is it still fun. There's different ways to progress through the game and the time it takes to defeat enemies correlates to your skill level.

Or FPS games like Metal Arms and Halo which are meant to be played gung-ho guns blazing, you can play in a very stealthy manner which I prefer to do. Or introduce a handicap that restricts you from using certain weapons.

And ofc there's the RPG titles, for example Fable, which I initally played through as a melee fighter with melee enhancing spells, however I later found out that going anything but melee just sucks.

And action adventure games where you can handicap yourself can be fun. Take for example the Zelda series. I make it a rule of thumb to do the three heart challenge in every title, and if it's still not challenging I'll play without a shield, not pick up any hidden skills, and find other ways to gimp myself.

The biggest thing with replay value for any single player game is if you can complete a game using multiple styles and there's multiple routes and you're not restricted to playing one set style because each subsequent fights call for it.

Interesting. So you basically create the replay value for a game by making it different and in some cases, more technically difficult. Never thought about creating your own replay value :P

[Brightamethyst]

I think the biggest factors in replayability -assuming the game is good enough that you want to replay it in the first place- are length of the game, and how easy it is to pick up and put back down. Games that are easy to play in short bursts tend to have higher replay value simply because there's less of a time investment. Action and puzzle games tends to give you instant fun while things like RPGs and survival horror and even many of today's longer action adventure games and such make you work for it. That often makes the action and puzzle games more attractive any time you're not planning to settle in for a serious gaming session. (there's a reason why people sometimes ignore the latest and greatest in favor of trashy flash or iphone games.)

[Holy]

Re-playability usually centralizes on either fairly short or massively long games.

With short games it's about how good the experience is and doing it again, without having to invest a lot of time into reaching where it becomes great
Ex: Super Mario RPG, Starfox 64, Paper Mario

With longer ones it's about finding everything as you go through the game, and longer games usually have different paths/choices to make
Ex: Morrowind, Fallout 3... hell, almost every western RPG.

[Deleted]

replayability to me is finding your own way to get past stuff, so you can later try to do it a different way. or something where you need to make a choice that precludes other choices. or having a lot of different playstyles in the game. for example, in WoW, it might be fun to level a new class, one that is vastly different from the class you usually play.

[Mavecryst]

Good points.

So either short games with instant fun, or long games with modifiable experiences! Time is then a factor as well eh. Strikers 1945 vs Diablo 2. Heheh.

[Moralio]

While I welcome new modes such as branching storylines, new game + etc. my general opinion on replaybility is: if a game is good, I will replay it just to experience it again.

[Deleted]

I really really really don't care about replayability. Even with a game like Heavy Rain, which has like 6 endings, I only played it once for 1 ending. That is the story I made of it. If I see any other endings, the story seems less 'real' to me, so I'd rather just have 1 fond memory.
Once I finish a game, I finish it. I don't like side-quests, but want to keep immersed in the story (that's why I liked Final Fantasy X so much, it doesn't give you a lot of freedom).

Hope that helps =)

[Mistral]

For me, a game with a good replayability is a game that "catches" you every time.
Even if it's 5-20 years old and you know the whole story and every secret, you just play it once more and BOOM! You can't stop... again.

[Deleted]

A game where you can have a different experience the next time you run through it.
RE4 had great replayabitlity for example. There were weapons you could only unlock through beating the game

[wariofan1]

Replayability is one of the most important parts in games, im not satisfied with beating a game, and then have to do it all over the same way, thats only fun for a little while, I'm also neither satisfied with the 100% feature being the only replay value. Theres gotta be some hidden boss or cool secrets or more unlockable characters/abilities AFTER the game's ending to make it worthwhile.