What are the most important aspects of gaming?

[Just a Wario Fan]

I want to undertake a little survey, feel free to participate.

Please order the following things in order of importance, with the first thing on the list being the most important.

Storyline
Characters
Graphics
Controls
Music
Dialogue (if there is any)
Level design
Difficulty
Artwork
Replayability

For me, they are as follows:

1. Controls
2. Level design
3. Difficulty
4. Graphics
5. Characters
6. Replayability
7. Music
8. Dialogue
9. Storyline
10. Artwork

If there are more things you think should be on the list, don't hesitate to include them. Thank you.

 

[CM30]

I want to undertake a little survey, feel free to participate.

Please order the following things in order of importance, with the first thing on the list being the most important.

Storyline
Characters
Graphics
Controls
Music
Dialogue (if there is any)
Level design
Difficulty
Artwork
Replayability

For me, they are as follows:

1. Controls
2. Level design
3. Difficulty
4. Graphics
5. Characters
6. Replayability
7. Music
8. Dialogue
9. Storyline
10. Artwork

If there are more things you think should be on the list, don't hesitate to include them. Thank you.

For me, it's probably like this:

1. Controls (though ideally you'd also split this into 'game engine', since a terrible physics engine is probably the biggest flaw a game can have
2. Level design (otherwise a bad ROM hack wouldn't be bad)
3. Difficulty (SMW Lost Brain shows exactly how important this aspect can be)
4. Characters
5. Length/Replayability (the former is arguably more of a factor here, since a game that's too short/too long is disappointing)
6. Storyline (in an RPG or plot heavy game)
7. Music (bad graphics are annoying, but bad music is painful)
8. Graphics
9. Dialogue (it's basically not important at all if the game isn't story based)
10. Storyline (in a non story based game)
11. Artwork (not sure what you mean, but assuming you mean instruction manual/box art stuff, then it's unimportant

 

[Robin]

1. Controls (Those have to be pin-point perfect, or I'm gonna be seriously pissed off)
2. Level design (What makes a game good, a well designed game's basic necessity)
3. Replayability (I need to feel the need to go back to it, if the replayability is entertaining, I'll play it over and over and ignore other games to play more of this one)
4. Music (I don't care what people say, if the music is bad, the experience goes down the drain. A good music as, in most games I played, given me the right mood and energy to move forward. Nothing beats that epic music playing while defeating the final boss, priceless experience.)
5. Difficulty (I look for balance there, but I don't mind if the game is too easy, all I care is the satisfaction of going through it. If a game is too easy but what you do is satisfying, I'll take it everyday!)
6. Storyline (I'm playing a game, not watching a movie or reading a book. Story counts a lot, but it's not what makes me play a game. You may point out Ace Attourney and Zero Escape, and I reply: I don't "play" those as games, but as a show or a book. In those cases the story is so good I just want to sit through. But that concept doesn't apply to Super Mario Bros or Wario Land. I just want to play the game and go through levels and feel all powerful and stuff...)
7. Dialogue (I never cared about whether the dialogue is bad or not, same concept with storyline, I'll read those once, understand what's going on, and skip them in the future.)
8. Characters (Honestly, make me play as a red block with no animations or personality and I'll still enjoy the game if the first 5 points are the best ever made.)
9. Graphics (Low res, empty spaces, lack of detail. Sure they're awful to look at but please, Atari games are fun and they don't stand well today.)
10. Artwork (I've put this one here, because artstyle is not at all what I look for in a game. I know how to appreciate a good artstyle, but I don't care about it once I play the game.)

 

[MonaWare]

1. Controls
2. Level design
3. Difficulty
4. Graphics
5. Characters
6. Replayability
7. Music
8. Dialogue
9. Storyline
10. Artwork

I feel like "fun factor" should be included, as a game could totally do great in almost every aspect but still just not feel fun. But I dunno, might be too vague a concept for some people, and there are probly some who would just say controls + level design = fun factor.

Also, this list is kinda hard, cuz like not all games are the same : p Video games are super diverse, like in a plain ol shoot em up game most people arent worried about story line, theyre probly just worried about how it controls and junk. While someone playing a big and pretty jrpg probly wants a good story and fun characters they can get behind.

This list is hard for me cuz like, I enjoy many different games, and this list would be different for whatever game im playing at the time : p Ill try to sum up my feelings in one list, but it could totally change depending on what game im playing, haha.

1. Controls. If a game can't control well its unplayable. Could be less important if the game isnt focused on controls as much as a story of some sort, like telltale games.

2 Music. This is a totally subjective thing of course, what one person considers good music, another may not. But have you ever played a game with NO music? It can really take away from the experience. I have once played a game that lacked music in certain places, which actually made the experience better, though.

3 Story line. While there are games where its not as important, I feel a good story can make a good game great. I mean I took the time to learn baten kaitos card based battle system just to see the story. Even games that lack a real story, Ill often make one up myself while I play a game just to give myself a reason to keep going and make the game more personal for me.

Storyline in games can be underrated

4 Characters, you cant have a good story without good characters. Even in games where story is less important, people STILL want good characters. Just look at all those 90s platformer mascots : p

5 Difficulty. I'm totally not one of those people who cry about "video games today being too easy", I don't look at video games as a challenge to overcome and defeated. I have enough challenges to overcome irl, games are my ESCAPE from irl : p
But, if a game is TOO easy, it can totally ruin (star fox adventures). I like a good medium difficulty, enough to get the brain going while playing, but not so much that it causes stress and takes me out of playing. Imagine if reading a book or watching tv did this, I dont know what kind of person wants to be stressed out on their off time : p

6 Dialog. While there are a ton of games where dialog isnt even IN the game, I still think its important. A huge part of ttyd to me is the dialog, like I LOVE the ridiculous stuff the characters in that game go on about. The crime solving penguin on the train portion of the game is one of my favorite parts of the game : p A game doesn't have to have dialog, but if it does, it can really make a game special.

7 Level Design. Depending on the game, this may or may not be important. If im playing skyrim, while the overworld may be important to me, im not gonna be as concerned about something like level design. Someone could make the argument that a dungeon heavy game like zelda needs good level design, and while I appreciate a good dungeon, ive also had a ton of fun with simple randomly generated dungeon games like Shiren the Wanderer. I apreciate well designed levels, but they arent the most important thing in a game if the factors above are done well, imo. Id rather play a game with a great story and cast like Shiren the Wanderer than a game with fun levels but bad music, bad controls, no relatable characters or story to get behind, and zero dialog ANY day ever : p

8 Artwork. I dunno if artwork means like case cover art, or in game art. And doing this list I suddenly feel I should have placed this higher, now. Haha. But I love the artwork of a game. I dont think it can necessarily make or break a game, but good artwork can make a game special.

9 Replayability. I hear people bring this one up alot. I think replayability can be totally cool, and in some games its important. Like, I sometimes play daytona usa for dreamcast. Arcade racing is pretty much the entirety of the game, so it has to be enjoyable enough to keep playing after the first few races, sure. BUT, ive never really had a game where I played it one time, and then never felt the desire to try it again. I dunno, I feel most games, if good, are replayable, so I don't really think too much on whether or not a game is "replayable" : p

10. Graphics. If I can see and make out and understand everything im looking at, then the developers did a good job with the graphics : p Honestly I feel like we could have stopped making consoles at the gamecube era and we would be just fine, haha. I even enjoy most original playstation games just fine, unbothered by the old graphics. Dunno why people STILL care about this these days : p

 

[Magma]

I want to undertake a little survey, feel free to participate.

Please order the following things in order of importance, with the first thing on the list being the most important.

Storyline
Characters
Graphics
Controls
Music
Dialogue (if there is any)
Level design
Difficulty
Artwork
Replayability

For me, they are as follows:

1. Controls
2. Level design
3. Difficulty
4. Graphics
5. Characters
6. Replayability
7. Music
8. Dialogue
9. Storyline
10. Artwork

If there are more things you think should be on the list, don't hesitate to include them. Thank you.

The importance of these variables vary too much when it comes to the kinds of games I play for me to be able to rank them so I'll just describe each and what it means for me.

Storyline:
Depends on the game though I'll admit it's not too hard for me to get sucked into even the cheesiest of stories if the characters are interesting enough.

Characters:
I'd say this is pretty important to me tbh. Good or at least interest characters can help keep my interest as well as keep me coming for more.

Controls:
Depends on the game. Obviously bad controls can ruin a game but there are games where the controls don't really matter (RPGs, Visual Novels etc.)

Music:
I think every game that I would consider a "favorite" has some catchy tunes.

Dialogue:

Definitely important for certain types of games.

Level design:
If it's a platformer I guess it's important.

Difficulty:
Depends on the game though I'm generally not the type who enjoy games that try to be as hard as possible as their main point. Likewise, games that are too easy tend to just bore me (Kirby's Epic Yarn).

Artwork:
I'll be the first person to say it's important aye.

Replayability:
Depends on the game

Graphics:
Not that important though I do like to sometimes play PC games on the highest possible settings just to see how far I can push my PC(which isn't very far).

 

[Just a Wario Fan]

11. Artwork (not sure what you mean, but assuming you mean instruction manual/box art stuff, then it's unimportant

@CM30 That's exactly what I mean. In-game artwork also counts.

 

[Garbon]

I'm a simple man. All I'm looking for is gameplay first, story second, and graphics third.

 

[Metal]

Think most people have already wrote what they would think and to really expand upon some of these traits in games, well especially now. artwork, graphics definitely is a big one. Having wonderful artwork for a game would definitely bring more artistic style minds to enjoy it if its appealing. At least for myself games that do have beautiful art. Guess as an artist myself just seeing something visually appealing will have it's effects.

Games like that I can definitely say would be ones that have a more Japanese style to them especially Okami and Muramasa the demon blade.
It just captures that imagination of mythology and gaming.

Spoiler: Okami art

Spoiler: Muramasa the demon blade art

@MonaWare @Magma To expand upon characters and how they interact with other characters is just as important. It's cool to have a silent protagonist for certain games though usually an engaging main character or sets of characters is what's going to draw people to also wanting to enjoy the game. Some of my favorite games in the rpg section and not just that action adventure have had engaging characters.

The entire world of Xenoblade where you're just a country bumpkin having to explore the titan's was incredibly satisfying as well as amazing, not to mention the quotes from that game were addicting as hell. Got the feeling that their story and lives did matter in the game they kind of had too especially for more bigger games as well.


For challenging games I would definitely say certain games can have an unfair difficulty spike especially more of the 16-bit era like Toy Story and even further with stuff like Battle Toads. A good challenging game that keeps with the players pace is efficient at least for me something like the EWJ series had both quirky characters you can like as well as it being challenging.

Spoiler: eat pant

Though it is true each game is different depending so a good balance would be to aim for something similar to have a more balanced level design as well as challenging segments and moments, like some of the various usages of DLC in MM9 and MM10.

 

[The 3rd Wario Brother]

What i look for in games are pretty simple so i won't go into too much detail but for me it varies between genres.
For example in a platformer i just want fun game play with good enough graphics for me to know whats what and not get a headache. For RPGs i want a compelling story and likeable characters to keep me invested. etc. etc.

 

[Koopaul]

I would place "original gamepay concept" as #1.

The thing that was so amazing about Breaht of the Wild was the concept of being able to go anywhere and have the freedom to progress in any way. A core mechanic of a game can be so brilliant that even if it doesn't have polished controls it will still be seen as amazing.

2. Is controls. You have a great idea for a game but it needs to feel fun too. That's where controls come into play.

3. Pacing. How long do levels last? How long is the tutorial? How long is the game in general and how fast does the gameplay feel. Is it rushed? Is it dragged out? Pacing is something that is rarely mentioned but is very important.

4. Level design... Or environmental design. You're actions in the game need to have a symbiotic relationship with the core mechanics and controls.

5. Visual design. Not just to be pretty, but to convey to the player what they need to do and why they want to do it. An enemy covered in spikes that you can't jump on is a far better designed enemy than something awesome looking but you have no idea how to fight. This applies for environments, characters, and objects.

6. Sounds. Like what I said above but with sound effects or jingles. These often get overlooked but have you noticed how getting shot by someone in Star Fox sounds distressing while shooting someone else sounds pleasant and rewarding? There is a lot of psychology going on in sound design.

7. Music. Pretty obvious. But a good song can perfectly set the mood for a player. Maybe even better than something visual.

8. Art syle and graphics. Enough said.

9. Characters. Now we are getting into things that don't really impact the feel of the game itself but add to the lasting impression. A well designed character may endear people to play a game they never would have cared to or want to continue to see more of.

10. Like the above but with plot.

Where does replayability fall here? Well the way I see it, if you do a good enough job with the above, your game will certainly be played over and over again.