Poll: Usually your favourite thing about games in general?

[BNSNightshade]

What is usually the thing you love the most about a new game - it could be centered around your other interests. For instance, I normally am quite interested in the music of a game - I hold a hobby as a musician.
If there's anything else please comment below!

 

[BNSNightshade]

It generally depends on the game.

I'd like to point out that I really like it when a game runs perfectly. As in, little to no hiccups with frame rate, screen tearing, etc. I'll trade great graphics for smooth running anyday. This might ultimately be part of why I really like Modern Warfare 2 - it looked pretty good, though not groundbreaking, and it ran like a champ.

Other things that I like to see in a game are well laid out controls and good level design. Story falls just behind those along with characters, then music, then visuals. I like good visuals, and I'll play a game just to see how pretty it is sometimes, but graphics alone cannot draw me in.

that's quite an interesting concept. I do have to agree that when everything about a game performs well, it is very satisfying.

 

[let's rock]

Depends on the game. Obviously I don't play pong for the characters and storylive, and I don't play mario games for their copy pasted from all other mario games storyline, or doom for the graphics, so it's really the whole experience, but what makes the experience good depends on the game

 

[XMark]

The whole experience - it all needs to work together for the good of the game. And everything should compliment everything else. The music has to match the story and gameplay, the gameplay needs to propel you through the story, the graphics must support the art design and vice versa, and the art design needs to match the tone of the story as well as serve as visual guides for the gameplay.

 

[thiosk]

Theres just a certain feeling when something works, and the dopamine gets released. Its difficult to distill. But, I'll give an example:

The egyptians are coming over the hill marching with a vast phalanx, a thousand spears ready to tear our men asunder, a hoard of chariot on the flanks. My men lie poised on a hill, letting the spears come to me while i rain arrows upon them. But to the east is a thicket of tall grass in which my cavalry can remain hidden: just as their spears begin to reach my men, out burst the cavalry like a thunderclap and smash into their rear. The spears break and run, and the chariot now no longer frighten the men. Collapse the line. Pursue. Exterminate.

that is the kind of stuff that I like in a videogame. Doesn't matter what kind of game it is.

 

[BNSNightshade]

Depends on the game. Obviously I don't play pong for the characters and storylive, and I don't play mario games for their copy pasted from all other mario games storyline, or doom for the graphics, so it's really the whole experience, but what makes the experience good depends on the game

The whole experience - it all needs to work together for the good of the game. And everything should compliment everything else. The music has to match the story and gameplay, the gameplay needs to propel you through the story, the graphics must support the art design and vice versa, and the art design needs to match the tone of the story as well as serve as visual guides for the gameplay.

you both have similar and valid points ^^
it is certainly important that a game doesn't break you out of immersion by ruining the atmosphere with something that doesn't fit - like when a metal guitar riff starts to play when you're trying to play an RPG, just to try and appeal to the demographic more

 

[BNSNightshade]

Theres just a certain feeling when something works, and the dopamine gets released. Its difficult to distill. But, I'll give an example:

The egyptians are coming over the hill marching with a vast phalanx, a thousand spears ready to tear our men asunder, a hoard of chariot on the flanks. My men lie poised on a hill, letting the spears come to me while i rain arrows upon them. But to the east is a thicket of tall grass in which my cavalry can remain hidden: just as their spears begin to reach my men, out burst the cavalry like a thunderclap and smash into their rear. The spears break and run, and the chariot now no longer frighten the men. Collapse the line. Pursue. Exterminate.

that is the kind of stuff that I like in a videogame. Doesn't matter what kind of game it is.

that does sound pretty awesome :L

 

[Sabinfrost]

Well, you missed mine, so here is the post. Immersion. In part, this is the whole experience, but a game can have great gameplay and characters without being really compelling. I need a game to excite me, to make me hunger to pick up the controller and play it. If I'm looking to kill time, I'll jump in a FPS lobby or on WoW, for a single player game to grab my attention it needs to be fully immersive.

 

[Kryzantine]

I prefer atmosphere. The closest thing on that list would probably be music, actually, but I don't want to put that because atmosphere is really a combination of a lot of things. It takes visuals, music, and plot situation to nail down right.

Take the introductory bathosphere ride in Bioshock, for instance. That relies on the contextual situation, the music, the visuals, the character of Andrew Ryan, the dialogue and its contrast to the visuals. All of those things create an atmosphere (or hydrosphere, in this particular case). But that atmosphere is absolutely key for the player. It makes and breaks games. It determines what kind of game it really is. Timesplitters was rather cartoonish with its atmosphere - consequently, the game was meant to be more comedic than other shooters. Metro 2033 had a suffocating atmosphere (quite literally, actually), and consequently, even the gunplay seems heavy. It was an amazing game regardless. On a side note, the game is about 10x as awesome in Russian with English subtitles, which is a menu option that honestly should be default, or at least, the gamer should be provided with a clear choice upon starting a new game concerning the language, a la Lost Odyssey. The Russian simply adds so much to the feel of the game, making it feel like an Eastern European title instead of an odd Western/Eastern cross.

But anyway, my answer goes to atmosphere, and I would love to see a reviewer that puts that as a separate category or rating.

 

[Timedraven 117]

Plot Game play and characters all tie music ha i liked metro 2033 with no music i can manage

 

[thenamelessloser]

Saving and loading. I love being able to save after doing something especially when I have the tendency to keep making the same mistakes again. So, after I get it right I can save it. And go back and do something different with an earlier save as well. Because of saving and loading i feel more FREE than I do in reality. If I make a mistake in real life there is NO taking it back. Seriously, if anything in video games have spoiled me and made me turn back on reality it is the ability to save and load.

 

[micky]

when all of those a blended perfectly it creates an amazing game, but if i had to choose it would be the world itself

 

[TrevHead]

While there is way too many trends in gaming that I hate, there is still much good about gaming. Ill say variety (you just have to know what you like and do the legwork in finding it)

Oh and the internet, it has broadened my horizons as a gamer more than buying whats currently in the top 10 sales charts

As for whats in your poll, ill say gameplay mechanics win out most of the time, ill play a flash game if its a solid game (most arnt though) like VVVVVV.

EDIT: Thats why I love Japanese games (Japanese shmups FTW) as they usually have much tighter gameplay mechanics than western games which put immersion first (like Bioware slowly loosing its WRPG game mechanics). Unfortunaly most casual gamers wont notice because its all hidden and takes a keen eye to notice.

 

[BNSNightshade]

While there is way too many trends in gaming that I hate, there is still much good about gaming. Ill say variety (you just have to know what you like and do the legwork in finding it)

Oh and the internet, it has broadened my horizons as a gamer more than buying whats currently in the top 10 sales charts

As for whats in your poll, ill say gameplay mechanics win out most of the time, ill play a flash game if its a solid game (most arnt though) like VVVVVV.

EDIT: Thats why I love Japanese games (Japanese shmups FTW) as they usually have much tighter gameplay mechanics than western games which put immersion first (like Bioware slowly loosing its WRPG game mechanics). Unfortunaly most casual gamers wont notice because its all hidden and takes a keen eye to notice.

VVVVVV is an awesome game :]

 

[MordinSolus]

The whole thing. I hate shallow characters, boring music, grainy graphics, bland storylines, and not knowing what I'm doing. If one of those exists, I hate the game already.

 

[MCDeltaT]

I used to tell people that I valued story above anything else but realized I was wrong. I love character above all, especially when they have some sort of internal conflict or emotional turmoil to overcome. I think some of my favorite games series (Mass Effect, Final Fantasy) show this .

 

[CleverCover]

Usually, my most favorite games have everything working for them.
A great story, great controls, great music...

But I only go back to the world repeatedly when the characters are awesome.
When the developer made a game with characters you wish could be there in real life, they hit the jackpot. It makes me play over and over again, just to learn all the ins and outs of that person.

Sometimes, I wish more people in RL were as awesome.

 

[Bajinga]

For me, It would have to be character development.
Heavy rain (I know that it is not a great example, but it is the best one off the top of my head) showed this technique, they built up the desperation for saving the child in the characters, this is what kept me going with it. I wanted to know answers to questions that I had. Yes, the storyline had a lot of holes in it, but I was able to dampen that out in order to find out all of the answers.


I mention a little bit about the endings here:

Spoiler

The endings we're unbareable too. I had to look their meaning up to get a full grip on it.

 

[Flour]

Difficulty

I love difficult games, but they have to be somewhat fair. Memorisation to overcome a challenge is acceptable but skill should be the deciding factor in almost every challenge and encounter.