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Some say gameplay, easily, this is true as if the game has a great storyline then you will be hooked for hours and will not seen sunlight for at least 3 days! Some games screw up here but then we have the sensational games, all great gameplay, so this is obviousley a very big key factor. But how do we know what the gameplay is like, not many playable demos go around for the GC, well none! So what do you rely on to get the information, reviews, clips? Or do you rent the game first, or buy it and take it back? So this is probably in most people's eyes the most important but then the avaliabilit in which we can sample gameplay is low!
Graphics, now i know some people say they do not care about graphics, one word, bull! With the exception of cel shaded we would ll much rather sit there with a new game freshly bought, with the intro playing and sitting there with your mouth open and your controller getting slightly wet, from drooling! Am i not correct, that altough people consider this a less important factor, when you see screenshots of a new game, 80% you comment on the graphics, they consisit of;
" The graphics are awesome!"
to
" The graphics are crap"
Now think back to some of the old games, or new ones with not as good graphics, FF6, it put some people off for some starnge reason but it is true. If the game looks good you are attracted to it, just like women!
Sound, well in my opinion, the least important, if the music sucks, press mute and turn up the speakers and put your favourite CD in your CD player, easily solved, but then again if the soundtrack is good it certainly adds and when in depth playing occurs you need some music to set the scene like the chimes of a fantasy game, the cries of death in a FPS etc. May not be as important as gameplay, but hey, we all like something god to listen to!
Multiplayer, with the exceptions, of Mario, FF, Zelda etc nothing beats a good multiplayer. Tell me that you do not enjoy playing all your mates on a great multiplayer lie Goldeneye or Mario party (Can't wait for 4). I always look for a good multiplayer, so my brother will play with me and so will my mates, as watching a one player can be boring, playing one can get boring, but endless fun can be haved with multiplayers, all agree?
Lifespan, this can connect in with the multiplayer aspect as if there is a good multiplayer then you will play for ages, but some games are over in 4 hours and then you don't touch them again, i find this a lot with one players, and people go on about how they love such and such and play it 20 times, gets too boring, so with a good multiplayer, a good length of time, with maybe playing through twice or three times, is all i ask!
Think about all these facts and then consider which are the ones you think are most important!
Sir Auron
For me it's gameplay and replayabilty!
Well done :)
Call me shallow, but if I don't (personally) like the look of it, I can't play it.
By stylish I tend to mean: colourful and brimming with virtual life.
Only then can I become involved in a game. Which brings me to the second most important thing: immersion.
That's what a good RPG/Adventure game should do anyway. :)
So it is very important to get it right!
For example: Frequency on the PS2 is very challenging, very hard to beat, but enjoyable still after many goes. The licence tests on Gran Turismo are also challenging, but in an annoying kind of way (I keep getting within 0.050 seconds of Gold after a few hundred tries, then it starts to irk). So I prefer Frequency's challenge to GT3's challenge.
In terms of the perfect challenge game, FFX springs to mind. It's a huge game with lots to do, but you know you can beat it by levelling up characters and exploring everywhere, which is what makes RPGs appeal so much to me, especially when levelling up and exploring is as enjoyable as FFX makes it to be.
GTA3, on the other hand, is full of repetitive missions. They get more challenging as they go, but poor targetting controls make it less enjoyable than it should be, and we're back to the irked feeling again.
Sometimes developers get it completely wrong and set learning curves that even Sir Edmund Hilary would balk at, RC Stunt Copter is one such game, but this was down to awkward controls again. If a player invests enough time in learning the controls, then the challenge can be overcome, but the control system should be intuitive from the start, not something that has to be battled against before you can actually battle the game itself.
Overall what defines a good game for me is the ability to play for hours on end and not realise how much time is passing.