Most Important thing in a game?

A game "playing well" is game feel.

too me i really think graphics and gameplay are most important and the way games have transformation ohhh man just wondering like 10 years from now what would games be like i just cant wait

That goes under gameplay

I'm not sure if any single component of a game is enough to carry the full weight. Too much of what makes a game good or bad lies in the interplay between different design elements. I guess if I had to say, I'd go with clarity and consistency of vision.

that's why you have the option to choice several options

I think how a game feels is a very important distinction from gameplay as what you're doing has virtually no bearing on how it feels to do. It's all in the way the game presents itself and how accurately it receive's a player's input.

That this topic has been beaten to death. All those factors affects the enjoyment of the game. Improving any of them would make the game better. Three of items them can be removed from the list and the game would still be a game.

Game play, then level design, then graphics, then music.

THen don't comment... There are three pages that disagree with you

Replay value. Do I still want to play this game after beating it? If so, then it's a good one!

I'm a sucker for good story and characters. A game can be like a good anime. I'm the kind of guy that can really enjoy cut scenes that seem to go on forever.

@lightfighter501:

Scary...... very scary. :0

Nah, not that scary Lulu, i am also one of the "few" who enjoy cutscenes if there is a good story.

@Jacanuk:

Nope...... still scary..... no matter how good tHe story is.

They get a bad rap, but there've been many examples of well-done cutscenes. I find The Last Of Us's cutscenes expertly made. They feel like real scenes from a very good movie, with subtle interactions, actual attention to framing, and thought as to how one shot leads to another. Cutscenes can suck if all they are is drivel that's there to be there, but I think a cutscene of any length imaginable is possible to support as long as the game is right for it and it's right for the game.

@wannabesbb:

Its still a cutscene.....

@Lulu_Lulu: ...yes? Is there something inherently wrong with cutscenes?

@wannabesbb:

I don't know......

You tell me..... is there something wrong with an interactive medium having a non interactive element that does nothing to support that medium ?

@Lulu_Lulu: Not really. Any art is free to incorporate whatever it wants, regardless of how you choose to label its 'medium'. This is where the definition of 'video game' breaks down, as would the definition of anything else. The fact is, many scenes in The Last Of Us wouldn't have been nearly as gripping if they'd been presented with an over the shoulder view, and some moments would have been downright impossible.

People **** around with the camera. People miss shit. A forced perspective is necessary sometimes to tell a story, and if that's what the 'video game' is going for, then the 'video game' is free to do as it pleases. It's possible for the length and frequency of cut scenes to eclipse their welcome, which is an issue all its own, but cut scenes in and of themselves are not intrinsically harmful in any way, shape, or form.

@wannabesbb:

Duh..... anything can be art.....it has no rules or guidelines..... structure or boundries or whatever...... its just art......

Which is why I never said anything about it...... I was talking about a medium...

Art is overrated.

Anyway.... cutscenes were harmful...... anything that doesn't allow you to interact is harmfull.

@Lulu_Lulu: Art is art, and art has a medium. Some art manifests itself in paintings, some in music, some in film, some in writing, and some in games. Art and medium aren't opposites or separate-but-equal, they go hand in hand. But what a medium is is really just a label you place on it to define it. You **** up when you try to detain what the art can be based on what you previously defined it as. We can all call video games video games for the sake of simplicity, but when it comes to conversations like this, the labels break down and you look like an asshole.

@wannabesbb:

Art can be anything therefore its meaningless....... its not a particularly good defense. Art in games is like art anyway else...... it overlaps with the medium but whats good for art is not always good for a medium..... or anything for that matter.......

Cutscenes are nice and pretty...... but they are still non interactive...... ergo not helpfull to the medium...... it may make me look like an asshole but it doesn't make me wrong......

Mass Effect, WAlking Dead, Wolf Among Us, Dragon Age, Final Fantasy, etc

@Lulu_Lulu: Art can be anything and that is my defense. You keep referring to this concept of a 'medium'. Just because something is non-interactive, it doesn't mean it's automatically detrimental to a primarily interactive piece of art. Any mixture of any modes of presentation are free game to anyone making anything. It's all about how they do it.

@wannabesbb:

Well duh ! Thats how Art works..... you can make a similar argument for anything and you wouldn'r be wrong because theres no such thing as wrong art.......

And don't act like a made up the word medium....... you know damn well thats what it is..... its not a "concept" its what it is...... just like music and cinematography. They are mediums..... with their own guidelines and dos and don'ts. But cutscenes don't belong in an interactive medium any more than a difficulty setting belongs in a Novel....... all though that might be a work if art To some people.

@Lulu_Lulu: Mediums are concepts, they serve the purpose of making it easier to refer to a general idea. Like I said above, you can't try to mold them to fit around something fit your definition, then criticize it if it doesn't fit. A cutscene in a video game isn't a weakness any more than ketchup on fries is a weakness. Too much ketchup sucks, and sure, you could eat just fries, but the ketchup tastes fine.

@wannabesbb:

Thats a stupid anology....... ketchup and fries aren't as differen't as Cutscenes and Gameplay.

Make an argunent for Ketchup and Wine then we'l talk.

@Lulu_Lulu: Here's your issue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma

Your argument rests on the assertion that any cutscene in any interactive medium is automatically harmful simply by its being a cutscene. You could say that taking control away from the player at any moment whatsoever in an interactive art form is bad, but you'd be a sensationalist. There's room for art to be half-game and half-movie, or two-thirds game and two-thirds movie. At the risk of sounding like an SJW for video game rights, the games don't have to fit your label. You're free to say that you find cutscenes in video games irritating and restrictive, but trying to say that they have no place in video games is foolish.

@wannabesbb:

Thats because it is....... the purpose of a cutscene is stop you from interacting....... and anything that does the exact oppodite if what Defines a medium is harmfull to that medium...... regardless of how good a work of art it is.

Now I don't care how big of an asshole or a fool it makes anyone sound........ its not wrong..... thats the point.....

Anyway are you saying The Last of Us is not all game ? Do we call it a movie game then ? Partial Game ?

@Lulu_Lulu: I think gameplay overrides cinematography so a movie with gameplay is a game, but a game with cutscenes is a game. The Last Of Us is a game. You call it a game for the sake of conversation.

A cutscene stops you from interacting for the betterment of the game and the story it's trying to tell. It stops you from dicking around with the camera, makes sure you're looking where you need to to understand what you need to.

Watch from 1:47 on. If the player was tasked with driving the car, there would hardly be any place to put the camera where you would also be able to see Joel emote. Much of the bonding between Joel and Ellie that's so essential to TLOU's pull would be lost on us. A forced perspective is sometimes necessary for dramatic effect. TLOU wouldn't be half the game it is without its well-directed cutscenes because without them, it's just a stealth game. Combined, the desperate, scrappy stealth and resource management, and the evidence we're given of Joel and Ellie's bond elevate each other into an iconic experience that could not have been accomplished otherwise.

@wannabesbb:

Yeah.... and that would be the player's fault if they missed out on something...... thats how this medium works..... you don't just get to have all of the agency but non of the blame........ If theres something that you clearly should be pointing the camera but decided not to because you were too memorised by the stunning water affects on the road then what...... are gona tell Neil Druckman its his fault for not taking control away from you ?

@Lulu_Lulu: There's value to an experience that punishes fucking around like that, but there's also value to an experience that takes the best of both the gaming and film world and creates an experience that has both narrative purpose and the benefits of its gameplay sections.

@wannabesbb:

I agree...... it could add value to the experience.......

But thats not what we've been arguing about now is it ?

@Lulu_Lulu: It's not?

@wannabesbb:

I made it clear I was only discussing this from the perspective if whats good for the medium........ you started out with looking at it from the perspective of an Artform then you moved on to looking at it as an Experience....... they are all different things.......

@Lulu_Lulu: If it's good for the experience then it's good for the medium.

@wannabesbb:

Nope..... if its good for the experience then its good for the industry or the community.......

The only thing thats good for the medium are the things that make the medium what it is.

@wannabesbb: oh no. You didn't get the memo? Never argue with Lulu. They're the biggest troll of the site and the more shortsighted.

@Lulu_Lulu: Your definition of 'good for the medium' seems to be to put as many chains on it as possible and restrict what it can ever be.

@wannabesbb:

Isn't that what your cutscenes are doing ?

Using them is putting chains on what this interactive medium can be.

@Lulu_Lulu: I'm capable of appreciating the use of cutscenes and appreciating the non-use of cutscenes. Letting something flourish isn't the same as not letting it breed with something else.

@wannabesbb:

That depends...... from which perspective you use......... Art, Experience, Industry, etc.

@Lulu_Lulu: There's room for games to both mature in presenting themselves in a purely interactive way and for them to breed with other genres. Neither are necessarily harmful to any "art, experience, industry, etc".

I think it's control which of course falls under the gameplay umbrella. If a game has imprecise/laggy/convoluted control input then it being stellar in all other aspects is irrelevant.

@wannabesbb:

Film isn't a genre.

@Lulu_Lulu: Obviously I meant a different word, and that word is 'medium'. Replace 'genre' with 'medium' and read it again.

@wannabesbb:

What would wr call this Hybrid Medium ?

@Lulu_Lulu: Who cares?

@wannabesbb:

I care..... duh...... I don't want to go into a store one day and say reccomend me a good video game only to be given a game movie hybrid........

We already have this a Problem with RPGs.

@Lulu_Lulu: An interesting dilemma.