What makes an enjoyable game experience for you?

Eveyrone has their own tastes, what they think is important, and what they think makes a good game. What makes a good game good? Is it the story, does it have to good graphics? Does it need to be fast paced, or do you like a laid back kind of game? I know personally, it's hard for me to play any game that doesn't have a good story and good dialogue. What about you guys?

 

This is a tough one, because it all boils down to the game I think. I really enjoy CS1.6, which doesn't have anything but really good gameplay.
So gameplay is definitely an important factor. But in order for me to get really into the game, and identify with characters thus enjoying it to an extreme extent, I need a good story and voice acting with great graphics.
Also, I hate games where I need to finish within a certain timelimit, but I want it to be fast paced nonetheless.
Also, I enjoy innovative games, like Portal, where you have to use your head.

 

For me, it's a combination of how the game is, how the graphics are, and how the music is. However, most of it is how the game is, as that's really the most important part.

A game could have awesome graphics and music, but be terrible, while another could have terrible graphics and music, but be good.

 

game play, graphics, Story

 

Gameplay and story. Not necessarily both to be honest because I've played some games that just have an excuse plot but the gameplay really reeled me in and there are others with a good story but somewhat mediocre gameplay.

 

Graphics doesn't really matter to me, unless they're unbearable to look at.
So I like A good interesting story, Lot's of gameplay. Music, and a bit of linearity, so that you can't get lost in a huge place but you can still go off on side paths etc. Also, a good Post-game chapter, FFXIII's post-game is pretty pathetic really.

 

I would say the experience of the gameplay. You know, have a few buddies over, buy some beers, play Wii together, Mario Party, ect.


And also women. Skanky women everywhere.

 

I think for me it boils down to the story and voice actors in the game. Depending on how they deliver their lines will decide if I can really believe that character or not.

 

Well I'm what you consider a jack of all trades when it comes to video games. Everything interests me. But to interest me requires uniqueness. If I play a game that is very similar to GTA then what are they going to do to make it not an exact clone of GTA? What are they going to add to this RPG to make it different? That is what needs to be in all games. Story is a must for a good game. How will the creators get me into this game? Game play is also needed as well. How are they going to let me control my character? Art. The music and the graphics, these are ways to make our sense come into contact with the game. We have no virtual reality so we cannot fully experience the game. So the graphics must define the game as the creator wanted it to and the music must showcase their feelings.

I'm actually lenient though. That is what I expect of the perfect game, but to make a game enjoyable all I need is for it to be fun.

 

I need good graphics unless it's an old game I used to play when I was younger like Lemmings or Dungeon Keeper. I also need an interesting story to keep me interested plus simple menus so I know how to save and where the options are. It ultimately depends on what sort of game I'm after, like if I wanted to play a first person shooter then I wouldn't be that fussed about dialogue while if I was playing a puzzle game I wouldn't be worried about how good the movement is. That's not the best example but I require something that interests me and grabs my attention, I first need a reason to play it.

 

For me it's gameplay, story and length, I want my games to entertain me for extended periods of time not be "You've finished, piss off and buy a new one". I'm not too concerned with graphics cause some of the best games I've played where not too big on graphics. It depends on the game where graphics are needed for it to be good, for something that requires precision you'll want the graphics to be good otherwise you'll feel cheated when you think you got a head shot and you've been shooting a bin.

 

For most games it's fun and exciting gameplay with responsive controlls that don't piss me off. Though when playing RPGs I can forgive a LOT of the story is good, if the gameplay is good I can easily forgive it if it has a great story with compelling characters. It kinda depends on the game, but the most important factors are gameplay and story. However, for it to be among my favourite games there needs to be a combo of great gameplay, great story, compelling characters, a good soundtrack, it doesn't have to have perfect graphics, but a great artstyle can really help the game stand out.

So, uh... My answer is everything?

 

It really depends on the gamer themselves. For me though, I really like the storyline aspect that games can deliver that films and books cannont, with them being interactive and all, as a good storyline's essential. I'm a musician, so a good soundtrack, preferrably live recorded, or if MIDI, at least good samples, is pretty up there for me, but the melody is what is more important than anything, so if it's an 8/16 bit game, it can have bad samples, but if the score's good I'm happy. I really like for the graphics to look nice IF it's a current console game, because there's a fixed benchmark. However, as games like Minecraft have shown, good graphics are not essential. Gamplay has to be workable for me, and if it's great then that's a plus for me, but I don't find it as important as other factors. I don't like it to play itself either.

Also, strangely, I HATE First Person games. I can't play them easily, the only exceptions I've had were the half life seires and portal series, but other first person games just make my brain hurt for some reason, so thrid person plz.

 

An enjoyable game? I guess I've never really thought about it . . .

The story, for one. It has to have a good story that'll keep me guessing until the end, and even then it should sometimes leave me clueless. If it has combat, it needs to be tidy, not so confusing that I don't know right from left - so it needs to be like a . . . messy tidy sorta set up. Since I love music and wish to work for an orchestra that preforms music for a video game, the music of a game is definitely a big deal, even if it's so creepy that I wanna wet myself. I don't really care what the game looks like in terms of graphics because as long as it's fun, the gameplay itself, then it really shouldn't matter.

 

There are certain games that though lack in certain things, make up for it in others, but are succesful both critically and comercially none the less.

Shadow of the Collossus: Widely panned as excellent. It has great graphics for it's era, unique and interesting gameplay, but little story.
Minecraft: Extremely succesful for a gamn still in its Beta. Interesting and open ended gameplay, low graphics and no story to it at all.
Mass Effect: Beautiful graphics for its release, interesting and expanisve story, with fiddly gameplay.

From my analysis, I have no clue what makes a game great. A mix of great developers dedicated to their work. Whayever a great developer judges as good will be something the public I think.

 

The story has to make sense and keep you stuck in that game's universe, even after the credits roll.
The graphics (depending on what platform it's on) have to be at least halfway decent. I'd rather have good gameplay and story than amazing graphics.
Good multiplayer, if it has multiplayer. Plus, the ability to ban some people is good too.
Most of all, good gameplay. A game is screwed if the gameplay sucks.

 

Was gonna write something about good gamplay here, but then I realized that stating a good game needs good gameplay is about as redundant as saying you need air to breathe.

For me, humor can make a big difference. Most games by Platinum Games (formerly Clover Studio) tend to be really good at including humor in their games. They really have a great understanding of the flow of humor and how to do visual gags. It was also very in Nier, maybe mainly because it was a nice break from the otherwise incredibly depressing story.

Speaking of story, I honestly wish games would stop focusing so much on it, 'cause they tend to be pretty generic and boring. I won't deny that there are games with great stories (it's one of the main reason Nier is one of my favorite games), but a lot of games don't really have well-polished stories. This is especially a problem in a lot of JRPGs. I think a lot of games would actually be improved by removing the story elements, or at least drastically cutting down on them. KH2, for example, was just hours upon hours of more or less pointless cutscenes. The Metal Gear Solid series also tends to have cutscenes that are about two or three times as long as they should have been. So overall, less story, unless you get someone competent to write and direct.

On the subject of story: Good characters is always a plus. It just seems to me that there is a trend among western games to make the protagonist as generic tough guy (=boring) as possible, while in eastern games the trend is to make the main character as unlikeable as possible. (This is more or less the reason I haven't tried The World Ends With You.)

I don't really understand a lot of people's ideas about what good graphics are. I've seen people praise GTA 4's graphics, and it's one of the graphically dullest games I've ever seen. The entire game is pretty much a grayscale with some brown (brownscale?). Really? People like that? Same thing goes for a lot of first person shooters, who share the same love for the color brown. On the other hand, I've seen people call Nier's graphics ugly. While I must admit that there are a few areas that do look bad, Nier's visuals overall struck me as pretty nice. I can be very nice looking when it wants to be, and most locations are very interesting (such as an abandoned hotel - now labelled a "temple" - with an enormous tree growing up the middle, and the dream-like, misty Forest of Myth.) I guess it makes most sense to say that the art direction is what's important to me.

Music isn't really too important, I guess. It's kind of rare to see a game with really great music. So it's more of a matter of if the music stands out, then it's bonus points, if not, doesn't matter too much, as most modern games have a way to mute music anyway.