Other than gameplay what matters most to you in a game?

[Godhead]

Storyline, followed by gameplay, music, and graphics.

 

[shadyh8er]

Voice acting and score. Even if just one of those is good, I'll enjoy the game.

I don't think I need to tell you how bad the script in RE5 was, but who cares when you've got boss music like this:

 

[AndrewF022]

Controls for me can make or break a game, bad controls can leave really bad first impressions, Killzone 2 was one title in particular, its a decent enough games but the controls felt so clunky and awkward I couldn't play past the first couple of hours before putting it aside.

Pacing is another thing that is really needed for me, games that just feel all over the joint can be hard to follow and can cause me to lose interest, shooters usually get this one right, it tends to be RPGs that suffer from bad pacing, FFXIII (if you want to call that an RPG) was the most recent game which made me so frustrated I was looking for a fucking 'Fast Forward Bullshit' button.

Lastly as been said before Immersion, and that for me comes primarily by texturing and geometry, nothing kills my immersion more than a really stretched texture, or when a seam is really visible on a character, Fallout New Vegas has had its fair share of this, which is to be expected due to its size I suppose, however it still kills it for me, I don't know, maybe I look at things to closely, checking a small rock in the middle of the wasteland for bad texturing is probably not something the Dev's thought people would be doing haha.

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

Visuals: it has to look nice, clean, crisp and it must have some style. If I can't tell what is what, I'm not wasting my time.

This.

Also, the music is important. If the game has horrible SFX and a headache educing soundtrack then I am not going to play it.

 

[IsaacAmrenZhouTai]

I would probably say story, or music, mainly because I want to really get into the game that I'm playing.

 

[Wolfenbarg]

It will either be story or presentation, which one depends on the game. In a game like Mass Effect or Planescape: Torment, story is absolutely everything to my enjoyment of the game. If it is a game like say... Zelda, some racing game, psychonauts etc, then the presentation matters more than the story to me.

 

[Spawny0908]

Story and characters.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

probably story/characters first for me, as thats why i replay every bioware game nearly a cajillion times (in dog years)

although i've really started to notice..music does have a massive effect on how i treat the game. if it has kick ass music and really gets me goin for the game, i can forgive quite a few things. (no offense fallout. i can't stand that music at all, in any of them. it completely pisses me off and makes me want to go drill a hole in my temple as fast as i possibly can)

so story/characters then music for me. gameplay can be just about anything for the most part, (hell i love turn based combat, so that says something there)

 

[Crmbionicle]

The story is what makes you feel like these things are actually happening. It makes you feel accomplished when you've finished a game and the end of the story rolls together into a beautifully woven tale.

 

[Yeager942]

I know my originality will be shocking, but I honestly gotta say story. I think the immersion video games offer give us an unprecedented new way to explore storylines.

 

[MrhalfAwake]

Hook and pacing.

I need to be able to get glued to game. Very few games do that for me anymore. Some will keep me entertained for a while but sooner or later they always they always drop the ball and dwell on things longer or not long enough or there will be huge patches of nothing fucking happening.

Take Persona's 3 and 4. You'll have this huge quest then all of a sudden it gets put on the back seat so you can go on a stupid field trip or go to club activities. really fuck you persona 3 and 4 I want to summon demons fight monsters and solver mysteries I didn't like the high school shit when I was there I sure as hell don't want to see it now and I especially don't want it to get in the way of the actual narrative and dungeon exploration I don't care how much that kid likes balls it's not funny or entertaining.

 

[Nukey]

Soundtrack and art-direction.

If it isn't stylish, I don't feel the need to pick it up.

 

[Musette]

Video game soundtracks are often what make me initially interested in a game. Apart from that though, I have trouble staying interested in a game that doesn't have a decent plot. Often, the storytelling is what makes me remember a game.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

Story, likable characters, and a good backstory is more important than gameplay to be honest. By "Backstory" I guess I would use Dead Space as an example: not only does it have the audio and visual logs, but it also has the animated comic and the movie, plus Extraction for the Wii. They have an entire universe, religion, and background set up before you even meet Isaac and it makes the game much more interesting if you know the background.

 

[CaptainKoala]

Priorities:
1. Gameplay & Controls
2. Story
3. Characters (Just barely below story)
4. Soundtrack, Sound effects, and Graphics
5. Price

 

[Boom129]

Storyline trumps all, even gameplay, in my book. This is my justification for buying Dirge of Cerberus, Suikoden IV, Xenosaga II, F.E.A.R 2 and a few other games that had many issues, but continued the storyline of previous games that I loved. So, storyline all the way.

Buying Dirge for the story? Shirley can't be serious

 

[Vault101]

I would acctually choose story over gameplay in some cases

eg: sure the new super mario might have great gameplay but its really a shallow experience

 

[Naeo]

Uh...there isn't really anything else to me. Story is nice but not necessary (see Painkiller). Good graphics are nice but not necessary (see Morrowind, which I still love and play on occasion). Characters are also nice but not necessary (see Tetris, with no characters at all). I kinda buy games really only for the gameplay. Everything else is secondary to me- it's nice to have, but you don't need it. Though, I grant, sometimes the story or the graphics or the characters can be so badly done they actually detract from the game's enjoyability, which is highly unfortunate when it happens.

 

[Allison Chainz]

I'm totally into games that allow me to have the freedom to customize my experience down to nitty gritty details. Story is nice, but story alone is only truly enjoyable once. Customization allows me to play a game over and over and over with slight but noticeable variance each time. This is why the original Final Fantasy is still one of my favorite games of all time (not to mention why I enjoy 3,5, and 12 much more than the average person), and also why I enjoy the Sims as much as I do. Add enough customization and I can even make nice with crappy or uninspired gameplay moments just to keep playing around with my creations.

I should say though that there is one MAJOR catch. If the game centers around ONE customizable character, I MUST be able to make that character female. This detail is what keeps me from truly enjoying Saints Row even though Saints Row 2 is one of my favorite games. I have played through Dragon Age countless times, and only finally made a male just so I could see how a romance with Morrigan plays out.

I only have one real requirement for gameplay and that is that it be functional. Even if it functions a bit blandly, if everything has a clear cut way that it works, I can deal with it. Graphics are pretty much the same way. If I can tell what's what, that's good enough for me. Customization trumps all, but it still can't get me to play a game that is absolutely broken gameplay wise.

 

[rhyno435]

Story: Plot structure, character arcs, pacing, motivation.
In order for me to get hooked about a game, I need to know why I should care about my objective.
And music, music is a huge factor in setting emotion in games.

Exactly this. Games like Uncharted, Assassin's Creed II, Heavy Rain. I love all of their stories, and the characters and their growth, as well as their motivations, all great. It doesn't hurt that all of those games have great gameplay too.

Music is important too, and games like Final Fantasy 8 and again, Heavy Rain, have this in spades.

Graphics are pretty important too. Not that they have to be mind-blowing (although that is almost the sole reason I like Crysis so much), but they need to fit the style of game. So I guess it's more the Art style than the actual graphics.