Gaming What do you look for in your games?

[Magus]

Haven't had this kind of thread pop up in a while. A straight-forward question. Whether it's the story or gameplay, heck it can even be for looking at the pretty graphics, what is it that you're looking for in your games? I'll come back with mine in a bit.

[Pioneer]

i could sum up a hell of a lot of gameplay mechanics but to me its all about this: if I play the game the first few hours (if not more) i shouldn't be able to figure out how the game works exactly. in other words, you should be walking around mesmerized and confused. that for me means theyve done something new and thats what its about for me.

games without "that" can still be good though.

[CaNz]

Replay value.
I refuse to get a game that I will play then put away for the rest of time. Graphics, good story, fun combat or strategic systems are nice... as well as a character I can enjoy playing, but it all comes down to spend days playing through a game (sometimes multiple play-throughs! I guess that correlates with good gameplay, but some games can be fun, but have no replay value in my opinion, (I will never play a God of War or Force Unleashed game again unless its a sequel. they are fun for a while, but repetitive, so when the game is spent... it really feels spent. )

As far as My favorite games have gone, I felt accomplished for beating it, either by length or story (or both). At the end of my favorites, The journey to completion is sometimes my favorite part. Looking back I like to remember how I got to the end, and the fun I had doing it.

[James]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]For me, I think the number one thing is just gameplay. If the game controls are really brilliant and the game mechanics are fun, then everything else isn't too important to me.

I mean, obviously if I'm loving a game...then I want it to be longer so that I can get a lot out of it. But I've played lots of short games that were incredibly impressive and where the shortness was not a negative factor. I guess it depends on the genre as well.

Anything else is generally a bonus.

[/font]

[Nerdsy]

[color=deeppink][i]Unlockables.[/i]

For me, gaming without a goal isn't as fun. It's why I find games like Grand Theft Auto to be a little dull even though it is a brilliant game. Everyone goes on an on about how expansive the world is and how the absolute freedom is invigorating, and I know people who have spent literally hundreds of hours just driving around. I, however, get bored after fifteen minutes or so of dicking around without a reason to do something.

Same with Oblivion. Incredibly immersive world, but all those caves and Aeylid ruins... they felt empty and hollow to me, because so many of them were basically empty and hollow. Exploration doesn't do it for me unless there are things to find... without that major distinguishing element, they all started to run together for me.

Unlockables add that goal for me. I spent just spent several hours in the past week playing Mario Kart trying to unlock everything. Without that, I probably wouldn't have spent a second playing it, simply because I've played all the older versions so damn much that it's really hard to get into it by myself anymore. Hell, I'm still sometimes reluctant to play it with friends.

Of course, they have to be good unlockables too. Gun, I game I absolutely adored when I played it, offered an armored horse upon 100% completion of the game. The horse was super fast and indestructable, but by the time you got it there was absolutely nothing to do. Every so often a group of 4 or 5 Indians would attack, but they were easily dispatched after a few seconds and posed to threat to any horse you might have owned. I unlocked it, but sure enough within 15 minutes of screwing around on that horse I stopped playing and never picked the game up again.[/color]

[Adas]

It's all about the storyline for me.

A game can have amazing graphics or tight contols, but if the story doesn't really grip me then I won't really care enough to finish it. A lot of the older Final Fantasty games were like this for me - IV and VI especially. Even Final Fantasy X had a fantastic storyline. Anyone can make the argument that a turn-based RPG is a turn-based RPG and that's it, that they get boring after a while. But when you have a fantastic storyline unfolding before you and want to know what happens next, well, that's deffinitely what does it for me.

Final Fantasy IV, VI and X, Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto IV - games that I've all beaten, know how they're going to end each time, and yet I'll still go back and play them over and over because I find the storylines so well-written and simply enjoyable.

[ItalyBros_PASTA!]

I'm the same way, storyline, if it doesn't have a good storyline, I just can't seem to keep going, but if the gameplay and the mechanics are amazing, they tend to grip me too. Like Phantasy Star Online, little to no storyline, but the gameplay was so nostalgic of rpgs of the past, yet modern at the same time, I invested a lot of hours into that game, lol! I'm a sucker for rpgs, even more for story-driven ones!!

[Magus]

[quote name='Magus' timestamp='1297020806' post='704721']
Haven't had this kind of thread pop up in a while. A straight-forward question. Whether it's the story or gameplay, heck it can even be for looking at the pretty graphics, what is it that you're looking for in your games? I'll come back with mine in a bit.
[/quote]
Hopefully this computer'll keep working long enough to post this.

Anyway, the first thing I look for is gameplay. I mainly beat em ups/hack n slashers so I need for the controls to feel as tight and comfortable as possible. If they're clunky, less responsive then there's a chance I won't even bother with it. Next would be replayability. That's kind of a strange thing for me to say since I don't particularly care for multiplayer or achievements/unlockables. I have to use games like Ninja Gaiden or Metal Gear Solid here. If you can play an entire game differently than your first playthrough then that's good enough for me in terms of replayability, and besides, you can always use those type of games to take out some frustration. And lastly, graphics. I have to admit that I've been a lot more lenient on games when it came to graphics lately (of course I have otherwise I wouldn't touch the DS at all), but yes, a game also have to look pretty these days for me.

[Sangome]

[color="#9932CC"][font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]Well, gameplay, obviously, first and foremost. What good is it if it's not fun to play?

Story isn't something I usually put a WHOLE lot of stock in [I play the mainstream Mario games for pete's sake], but if it has a good story, then the more the merrier, especially if it's something I don't expect to have a good story [like, ironically, Super Paper Mario]. On the same token, a batch of likable characters is also a plus.

Graphics...a pretty looking game is nice, but it's the farthest thing from my mind when I play a game. I mean, sure, it's good to see what you're doing, and having a current-gen game with graphics of the past would be kind of weird [unless it's an intentional [url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Retraux]retraux[/url] type deal], but otherwise, I don't really care. Graphics hardly make or break how good a game is. [/font][/color] Edited February 13, 2011 by Sangome

[fujyoshi]

I like stuff where I gotta figure something out usually getting those brains working. graphics are always a good catch(and will determine sometimes whether I become attracted to the main character or not). I like a good story too I've been playing tales of the abyss and thats got a pretty good and crazy story so far. In terms 'a figuring stuff out zelda games are good on that. Sometimes I like fighting games although half the time I'm not that good at them. Smash bros is always fun though and alot 'a the street fighter games are good too ;p then again I made a contribution in the soul caliber topic too so yea. Sometimes I check to see if a game is good or not by seeing random videos of gameplay in youtube or something. I used ta do rentals before my local blockbuster went out 'a business and that would be the best help xD

[JCBaggee]

[color=darkred][size=1]I look for something....[i]anything[/i]...that'll allow me to enjoy the game. Seriously! That's all I want, a fun and memorable gameplay experience. [u]God of War[/u] and [u]God of War II[/u] are offensively short, but have fun gameplay mechanics and an amazing story, so I have no regrets buying them. Same for my favorite RPGs; as long as the story is memorable, I can usually deal with a sub-par (mind you, not broken) gameplay interface.

Ultimately, it comes down to being able to play and enjoy the game without becoming too frustrated by a mind-numbing difficulty curve or a boring, dull story. For the money I pay, I just want a game to be fun. That's all I ask for.[/color][/size] Edited June 1, 2011 by JCBaggee