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What is it about a game that makes you want to play?


Taak Farst

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Ok, so this thread is what it says on the tin. What exactly attracts your full attention in a video game - is it good story, good combat, or simply a very good-looking gal/guy?

 

I'll start off: What I like in video games is a wide range of possibilities - like the force unleashed added a whole new range of force power. I hate being Over-powered. I love a great story, for example Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect showed a brilliant storyline IMO, and I really like roleplay. I want to see more graphics similar to Mass Effect's because it was really realistic and colorful.

 

Off and Out ;)

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Immersion is the deal sealer for me. :)

 

I want to be involved in the decisions, and I want consequences for those decisions (good or bad). I hate being lead around or 'hand-held' throughout a game like I'm too incompetent to play it, but not enough to fork over the cash for it apparently. ;)

 

First thing I did in Oblivion was disable the "all-knowing" compass.. bleh. Morrowind was much better in that respect where you had better pay attention and not take on too much at once (not everything gets logged in your journal). Journals, great. Journals with every single instruction and step to take to accomplish the goal.. bad.

 

I play a game to 'lose' myself. I want to be something I'm not in the real world (ewww). Thrill me and let me have my escape. Which leads me to the next thing...

 

I also like a decent soundtrack/soundscape. Probably not a stickler for most.. but I grew up in music/audio all my life, and I can really appreciate a game that took as much time developing it's soundtrack as much as they did on eye-candy. There's nothing like being immersed in a game and hearing the subtle nuances be it crickets chirping, frog croaking or that lone wolf call in the background (and hoping that wolf isn't a soon-to-be encounter :lol: ) Top that off with some appropriate kick arse non-dominating scene setting music and yeah, oh hell yeah. :D

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The setting is always a clincher for me. It can be a terrible game, but if it's set in the 18th Century, or the Old West, chances are i'll give it a whirl.

 

That's not to say i'll blindly play anything based on the setting, though. I always do a bit of research into the game itself - and then, if I like what I see, then i'll play it.

 

But yeah, the setting's always been my main thing.

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wiggly tiggly boobz :lol:

 

Nah, thats just half the trueth.

 

Story and good cut scenes that carry the story is what I like to see :p

 

I'm not that picky, I enjoyed what littel story Unreal had and that was true reading the data pads.

 

Ofcourse I prefer the movie cheesynes that bioware present most of the times with its RPGs.

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For most games i play, its a mix of things. The story, the look, and the things you can do. It also helps if the character isn't limited to a single look, at least when talking about clothing(BloodRayne 2, JK;JA, KOTOR, etc).

 

But for any game that has some cool features, but the story doesn't support them like they should, it kinda craps it out for me. Sometimes for what you can do in the game, and how fun it is to do it, the story matters, but not as much when you have fun playing through the story, even if it isn't the best.

 

The music is part of it too. With KOTOR, even as the music is repetitive, that doesn't bother me. But in some cases, the music really doesn't fit the mood. Like there is the background music, but it acts like elevator music, when the player is dealing with a bunch of security guards(Most of the first levels of Enter the Matrix).

 

And for any game that the player can drive or fly something(Not games where driving is the only thing you do), i notice that some developers don't pay much attention to the controls. Such as the driving or the flight level of Enter the Matrix, the controls are manage-able, but horrible. (Using one thumb-stick to control both view and direction? Its a car, not a 747.)

 

Lighting is also something i think important. In most games that put you in a dark or dimly lit area, i know they put a flashlight around somewhere, or spawn you with it. ETM had some levels with horrible lighting, and no means of brightening the area. Doesn't help that for most of these levels, have the same challenge - "its dark, dank, loaded with people who want to shoot or snipe you, and oh yeah, don't fall."

 

But i think that for a game that is really good, and worth the money or possibly the gas to go get it, you should like it after you see a game-play video somewhere.

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wiggly tiggly boobz :lol:

 

Nah, thats just half the trueth.

Sure... :p

 

 

 

What catches my eye first off is the cover of the game. If its eye catching and I like what I see, I move onto the back, where you see the meat of what the game has without actually playing the game or going on youtube to watch poorly recorded videos of your 1337 character. If I like that, I look at what chosen reviewers say about it (the ones I like). Than its youtube time. Than I scour the tubes looking for pics. Than I bye if I like what I see.

 

A game that I want to play has good overall quality, and eye catching. That does, at times, mean what Q wrote. :p

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I love a good art style. A game has to have more than that but often times if it is visually appealing it will make me want to learn more about the game. Prince of Persia and Mirror's Edge are great examples of this from games of 2008. Gameplay is important, but it doesn't always have to give me choice, I am fine with a linear story if that is what is to be expected from the game. With sequels it is often the storyline that intrigues me the most.

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I'm a gameplay/story whore to the point where if a game has both, it's an instant classic for me. If it has one or the other than it's still great, if it has neither then it may as well be Superman 64.

 

I also like a decent soundtrack/soundscape. Probably not a stickler for most.. but I grew up in music/audio all my life, and I can really appreciate a game that took as much time developing it's soundtrack as much as they did on eye-candy.
You need to go here Cz. :xp:
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Story is the most important thing that convinces me to play a game. If it has a great story, I don't care what it looks like or how it plays. If it doesn't, the game needs something else to hook me; like a unique gameplay twist or an interesting graphic style. But my favorites are always the ones with outstanding stories.

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The first thing make me want to play is the story. I've played sins of a solar empire but it can't keep me for long (in fact, i played one map in nearly 24hrs and never play that game again) because it doesn't have a story line like homeworld series, even though Sins has a great gameplay.

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Setting/Immersion/Story: I want to be able to get into the character that I am playing and forget about the real world for a little while. This is why I have a tendency to play certain games over and over again.

 

Game Mechanics: I would much rather play a turn based strategy or RPG game over a real time game.

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Great story.

Ability to role-play.

Ability to pause during fighting so I can adjust things (I do like turn-based games for that reason).

Great story.

Great music.

Decent art/settings.

Great story.

Having my choices mean something at the end of the game.

Great story.

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Depends on my mood. If I'm dead tired and need an adrenaline boost, in which case good, fast paced gameplay is most important (Blood Rayne2, Unreal tournament, Dark Messiah). If not, I put a good, gray story with meaningfull choices, sometimes with unintended consequences first.

 

Imersion being a close second, which, in my case means not turn-based as nothing breaks imerson like seeing your guy wait for his turn before striking, on a similar note, make us press buttons to attack, makes me feel less like a pupeteer. Also, while I'm not entierly comfortable with the FP perspective yet, Dark Messiah proved that it can be pulled off, even in a fantasy setting, it also "locked" you in that view, and, with tiny exceptions alowed you to look where you liked, something that, despite the story and choices being so so, meant I felt that I was the protagonist more than in other games. Gameplay also factors into this since iritation tends to bring you back to the real world in a flash.

 

Good music, art, setting, sounds etc are only needed if they improve the other two.

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Great story.

Ability to role-play.

Ability to pause during fighting so I can adjust things (I do like turn-based games for that reason).

Great story.

Great music.

Decent art/settings.

Great story.

Having my choices mean something at the end of the game.

Great story.

 

You didn't mention if you like a great story or not. :xp:

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Great story.

Ability to role-play.

Ability to pause during fighting so I can adjust things (I do like turn-based games for that reason).

Great story.

Great music.

Decent art/settings.

Great story.

Having my choices mean something at the end of the game.

Great story.

Jolee quips

 

Fix'd

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Gameplay must be important, since it is the core of video games. Great music is a must, as well as an unique art direction.

 

Other than that, anything with a great story, especially when Avellone has laid his hands on it. He is the reincarnate of Midas, y'know.

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Depends on my mood.

That's the big one right there... sure some of you say story or immersion or features, but sometimes in life you don't want any of that and just want some good old fashioned no-thinking all reflex fragging, or some RTS action with heavy artillery and nukes...

 

What's important to me depends greatly on what mood I am in to play... be it RTS, RPG, or FPS.

 

My :twocents:

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-Sandbox play

-Awesome storyline

-Great character customization

-A massive amount of customizable items

-Huge world(s) to explore

-Awesome graphics

-No annoying glitches

-Very easy to mod

-Complex, but not too complex combat/movement controls

-Fast load times

-Streamlined look

-Very diverse amount of things, such as enemies

-Level-up set-up

-Attributes with subattributes

-Tons of skills

-Ability to make and customize your own party, consisting of characters you yourself make and customize

-Ability to own/customize and create your own house/vehicle/starship

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