What do you value the MOST out of a video game?

Just as the thread asks.

*poll coming shortly*

An artist I follow made a poll about this on deviantart and I wanted to see if our forum-going populace agrees with the decisions his fans made.

For me a game has to either be fun or innovative. Why either or? Because fun is a major aspect BUT being more innovative than fun can help lead to others following suit and making the innovative idea "fun"

If the gameplay of a game isn't compelling and engaging for the player, the game sucks no matter what. A game can be awesome with a shitty story. A game can look beautiful but being boring as sludge.

Essentially all of these components listed makes a really great game, I feel (multiplayer is optional). Without gameplay, however, then who cares?

I think the environment and feel is what matters most for a game. Both are made by the art and music, and I feel that sucks a player in much better than gameplay. There are a bunch of critically acclaimed games that I just can't get into them because they just don't have the environment and feel... (see god of war, halo)

I think you guys are taking the fun/ innovative gameplay part a little bit wrong, not all gameplay is innovative. I'm not saying your wrong, gameplay is an essential piece of any game and without it you have something like an interactive picture.
Games like final fantasy, limbo, and kingdom hearts, wouldn't be as good if they didn't have an amazing art direction that sets them apart from other games, and music that stays with you.

Halo and god of war have great art direction and music btw.

I value the music of the game most. It strikes a nerve when a certain song plays during a certain part during the game for me and it makes things more interesting. The reason i love FFX as much as I do is more so because of the flawless soundtrack that game with the game. Same could be said about most games I enjoy. If i don't like the soundtrack, I probably won't like the game. (unless it's a sports game)

ahh, what i value the most in the game is, i think mostly the music and art. gameplay also, a game can have a shitty story but if the gameplay itself is fun and exciting, i'll definately like it. The graphics also are a major part for me, i love a game with amazing graphics and art. The music too, i like playing a game where the music gives you the right feel while playing it and such.

I think it'd be unfair for me to point out any part exclusively as a deal maker or breaker. Generally, I tend to judge on the average appeal based off of all dem factors (music, feel, graphics, gameplay), although I certainly agree gameplay is arguably the most important bit. To be frank, I've played some games lacking in story or that just plain suck. Why? Dat gameplay.

Story is important, but I still fall for some silly plots if music/artwork is good. I mean really, look at KH. A kid with a giant key, swinging said key at Shadows...?

TL;DR: I CAN'T DECIDE WHAT DO.

>settles on gameplay<

I think you guys are taking the fun/innovative gameplay part a little bit wrong, not all gameplay is innovative. I'm not saying your wrong, gameplay is an essential piece of any game and without it you have something like an interactive picture.
Games like final fantasy, limbo, and kingdom hearts, wouldn't be as good if they didn't have an amazing art direction that sets them apart from other games, and music that stays with you.

Halo and god of war have great art direction and music btw.

Hey new guy you should talk in the shoutbox every once in awhile ;)


Here is my deal with games, there is a story. Why do I watch movies period? Because there is a story, Why do I watch shows? Because their is a story? Books? Durp. The reason you should play a game is entertainment purposes, thats why I think people play games we think is lame, maybe it's hilariously goofy to some. Here is where the value in a game comes to play. To me I think graphics have been too installed into most games. That sounds weird huh? Play a sega game and you be ripping your hair out at how overly difficult they seem, yet you remember when you were a kid it was easy as pie. I think games have FAR gone into looking really good without adding difficulty (in most cases making it less difficult) and making you stare at the game through button pressing cutscenes. Gameplay matters the most, you have to enjoy it. But gameplay should go hand in hand with the story, crappy stories STILL can be fun quirky and just plain outta this world too.



Graphics - Don't matter I still play old school sega and PS1 and still enjoy the game I play, Gekido, final fantasy, anyone?

Story - Can pull you through crappy gameplay JUST to see the ending, however how can you have fun in a GAME if your just crying about the gameplay? Too Human anyone?

Music: It sets mood for a game and might be just as important as gameplay. I know EVERYONE remembers atlantica in kh2 right? Yeah I turned my volume off, I dreaded going there, I hated everything about it, in some instances I forgot to go there during my gameplay. Playing through a game with absolutely no volume/horrible horrible mood kills your gameplay, it goes hand in hand. The music can create mood of the situation whether fast paced or tense or full of concentration all of which are different aspects you can have in fun. Music i believe goes right along side story and gameplay.

Gameplay: Lets play a full entire game of tic tac toe and put a story behind it. Tell me are you gonna play that crap? I don't think so. Lets play God of War and take the insane combo'd moves out and the different weapons. You havin fun yet? Oh why don't we take the abilities and reaction commands out as well as flashy moves (could argue innovation I suppose) out of kingdom hearts and let Sora XXX everything with just a heal spell and nothing else. I don't know if I could power through that even with the story. Hey Val, What if final fantasy 13-2 was like X-2? Would you still love it? I don't think you would.



All about the gameplay when it comes down to it. Who cares about the story in super smash? who cares about it in no more heroes? who cares about it in mario? There's a lot of games I can keep going on through but I think the point is made so I'll just leave off of one final note MMOs (lol what story) done.



Oh oh oh oh another final note



MUSIC helps gameplay (writes up a petition for them to figure out a way to fix the ferno lag when it comes to the music box)

Edited by Griever, 05 September 2012 - 04:16 PM.

Hey new guy you should talk in the shoutbox every once in awhile ;)


Here is my deal with games, there is a story. Why do I watch movies period? Because there is a story, Why do I watch shows? Because their is a story? Books? Durp. The reason you should play a game is entertainment purposes, thats why I think people play games we think is lame, maybe it's hilariously goofy to some. Here is where the value in a game comes to play. To me I think graphics have been too installed into most games. That sounds weird huh? Play a sega game and you be ripping your hair out at how overly difficult they seem, yet you remember when you were a kid it was easy as pie. I think games have FAR gone into looking really good without adding difficulty (in most cases making it less difficult) and making you stare at the game through button pressing cutscenes. Gameplay matters the most, you have to enjoy it. But gameplay should go hand in hand with the story, crappy stories STILL can be fun quirky and just plain outta this world too.



Graphics - Don't matter I still play old school sega and PS1 and still enjoy the game I play, Gekido, final fantasy, anyone?

Story - Can pull you through crappy gameplay JUST to see the ending, however how can you have fun in a GAME if your just crying about the gameplay? Too Human anyone?

Music: It sets mood for a game and might be just as important as gameplay. I know EVERYONE remembers atlantica in kh2 right? Yeah I turned my volume off, I dreaded going there, I hated everything about it, in some instances I forgot to go there during my gameplay. Playing through a game with absolutely no volume/horrible horrible mood kills your gameplay, it goes hand in hand. The music can create mood of the situation whether fast paced or tense or full of concentration all of which are different aspects you can have in fun. Music i believe goes right along side story and gameplay.

Gameplay: Lets play a full entire game of tic tac toe and put a story behind it. Tell me are you gonna play that crap? I don't think so. Lets play God of War and take the insane combo'd moves out and the different weapons. You havin fun yet? Oh why don't we take the abilities and reaction commands out as well as flashy moves (could argue innovation I suppose) out of kingdom hearts and let Sora XXX everything with just a heal spell and nothing else. I don't know if I could power through that even with the story. Hey Val, What if final fantasy 13-2 was like X-2? Would you still love it? I don't think you would.



All about the gameplay when it comes down to it. Who cares about the story in super smash? who cares about it in no more heroes? who cares about it in mario? There's a lot of games I can keep going on through but I think the point is made so I'll just leave off of one final note MMOs (lol what story) done.



Oh oh oh oh another final note



MUSIC helps gameplay (writes up a petition for them to figure out a way to fix the ferno lag when it comes to the music box)

TL;DR but I would love to play through KH on Proud mode with just XXX and basic spells...and dodge roll and guard. Either or.

TL;DR but I would love to play through KH on Proud mode with just XXX and basic spells...and dodge roll and guard. Either or.

XXX? I didn't know Kingdom Hearts had por-

Oh wait I think there was some Sora x Riku somewhere. Or was that the second one?

I value your moms sweet ass.

I value your moms sweet ass.

Thanks for that

I think the environment and feel is what matters most for a game. Both are made by the art and music, and I feel that sucks a player in much better than gameplay. There are a bunch of critically acclaimed games that I just can't get into them because they just don't have the environment and feel... (see god of war, halo)

I think that's silly. You're entitled to your opinion and all, but I don't think environment is a very good thing to base the worth of playing a game on. Would you keep playing Dark Souls if the combat system was KH2 style? If it were a FPS? I dunno. What I just said isn't the question of the thread, but it's something to think about I feel.

I think you guys are taking the fun/ innovative gameplay part a little bit wrong, not all gameplay is innovative. I'm not saying your wrong, gameplay is an essential piece of any game and without it you have something like an interactive picture.
Games like final fantasy, limbo, and kingdom hearts, wouldn't be as good if they didn't have an amazing art direction that sets them apart from other games, and music that stays with you.

I never really said gameplay had to be innovative to be important. It has to be fun above all other things. If you don't enjoy playing a game you aren't going to like the game no matter how gripping the story or art direction or music may be. Innovation is very rare in gaming. You get it once in a while with titles like Halo or Assassin's Creed or even something like Limbo/Journey/and all that.

I value the music of the game most. It strikes a nerve when a certain song plays during a certain part during the game for me and it makes things more interesting. The reason i love FFX as much as I do is more so because of the flawless soundtrack that game with the game. Same could be said about most games I enjoy. If i don't like the soundtrack, I probably won't like the game. (unless it's a sports game)

It's funny because I barely ever notice the soundtrack to a game.

Hey Val, What if final fantasy 13-2 was like X-2? Would you still love it? I don't think you would.

Final Fantasy X-2 had an awesome job system and battle system. The story blew ass. I'd play X-2 again for the battle system alone, but the entire package of the game is not interesting to me. If XIII-2 was made in a X-2 style battle system I would still love it to pieces.


The more I think on this, the more the question really becomes a battle between what's MOST IMPORTANT about a game, and what you personally like the most. I think it boils down to a case by case basis. There is no one thing I can universally say I appreciate the most in every game I play. I can't say there's one thing I'm definitely drawn to the most when I see a new game. It's a mixture of a lot of things.

There is no one thing I appreciate more over anything else about a game. I still think it boils down to fun gameplay for me, but I'm a pretty huge geek about a game's story if it's actually well done and told in a good way.

ok guys

this one answers itself

since Video Games are their own medium via interactivity

which music, movies, books (except 2nd person adventure books), etc do not have

means that Video Games are defined by their gameplay first

everything else comes second to it in that regard

otherwise why not make a movie with a fantastic plot with great art and music?

or play a sport or some chess?

I'll just throw I thoughts over here.

Gameplay, plot, characters and Music. Music is not as important as great gameplay, characters and plot but it really set the mood and makes gameplay much more enjoyable.

The characters have to be great. They can have their own traits like being the annoying one or the sweet one but they have to seem and feel natural. Interaction between characters should look and sound natural and not forced (like for example when you've got two characters that are paired together it shouldn't all of a sudden happen and make you go "wat?". This is kinda linked to plot). I really ticks me off when characters are pushed around and make things look so awkward when they could be really good. I guess if I tried to explain it more I might just sound a little difficult about my point. Bad characters just really put me off when they're not done well in a game.

Plot, in my opinion, is equally as important as gameplay. You can have the most kick-butt gameplay but if you have the most rubbish plot I might end up throwing my copy of the game at a brick wall, then stomp on it until it becomes a million tiny pieces of plastic. Games take us into different worlds, away from reality. Sure it's different for older arcade games, but newer are starting to feel the demand for some kind of a plot too. I don't want to play a game and feel like everything is pointless. All the hard work put into it when the story is like a jigsaw puzzle with crap covered pieces scattered all over the board.

Then there's gameplay. I will be honest, there are times where gameplay can make up for a crappy plot. Things you can do in a game the different experiences can make things pretty fun. As I had said with plot, gameplay can also take into a different world by giving you the feel for doing different things in different way/thing you can't do in a real world.

Oddly enough, the guy I took this from said exactly what Lex just said. He bemoaned people voting for story because if the MAIN REASON you play video games is to be told a story, you should just go pick up a book. You should play video games for what it is that they bring to the table which other media do not.

That's (mostly) interactivity. I mean, that's honestly what propels video games in a different direction from films, no? And when a game is lacking in the aspect of interactivity and gameplay (like some critics said of FFXIII iirc), it's called an interactive movie. Because the main aspect of a video game is lacking. The actual... game.


Thought it was interesting, and glad to see that our poll didn't go the same way as his did.

Here's a link to his, btw. Quirkilicious's poll: What do you tend to value MOST out of a video game?

I think that's silly. You're entitled to your opinion and all, but I don't think environment is a very good thing to base the worth of playing a game on. Would you keep playing Dark Souls if the combat system was KH2 style? If it were a FPS? I dunno. What I just said isn't the question of the thread, but it's something to think about I feel.

Hell yes, I'd play it. I never play FPS games but I LOVE Bioshock to bits because of the environment. It's not innovative in any way. It takes the same basic shooter formula and adds in spells like in TES, yet it's one of my favorite game series ever. The world of Rapture is just so enthralling. And of course, I'd play Dark Souls if it was KH2-isq. I want to see more KH2 like games, anyway xP What makes Journey so special? The serene environment and the art direction. It definitely evokes a reaction from most people that play it. LBP series. It's just a side scroller, really. Yet it's amazingly popular. It's because of the music and art of the game. Imagine playing a game like LBP with a different art style. No one would love that.

I never really said gameplay had to be innovative to be important. It has to be fun above all other things. If you don't enjoy playing a game you aren't going to like the game no matter how gripping the story or art direction or music may be. Innovation is very rare in gaming. You get it once in a while with titles like Halo or Assassin's Creed or even something like Limbo/Journey/and all that.

There are games that aren't exactly "fun" but you play anyway. For instance, most FPS games are the same, repetitive game for the whole thing. You spend 14 hours ducking and shooting, pressing R1 or whatever. It's tedious. But FPS games are popular. But then again, it's relative. I find FPS games boring, so I guess this isn't exactly a valid example. I think a more valid answer would be Demon's Souls. Which doesn't have Bonfires every 15 minutes or so, but instead, one single starting point in the world. You die, you start ALL over. It's frustrating. Super frustrating. You want to throw the controller at the wall and quit. But the game sucks you in and you continue playing.

Final Fantasy X-2 had an awesome job system and battle system. The story blew ass. I'd play X-2 again for the battle system alone, but the entire package of the game is not interesting to me. If XIII-2 was made in a X-2 style battle system I would still love it to pieces.

I have FFX-2 so much. The battle system didn't save it for me.

This seemed relevant.