What makes a video game great ?

[Zinrius]

in my opinion, I think any game that I can shape with my own tastes is a winner. For example, the Elder Scrolls offers great customization as well as an open and simulated world... it makes my mind float away into the world and having a character tailored to my likings is just epic win.

So summarizing what I just said:

1) Stat customization
2) Appearance customization
3) Open simulation world


How about you guys? I want to hear from you guys, in details if possible, what makes a great video game for you.

[Lord_Mountbatten]

Whilst I of course enjoy gameplay in general, what usually makes a game great in my eyes is story/writing. It doesn't necessarily have to be wholly original either - it can be a done to death setting that has been written really well. In the end, my ever-lasting favourite games have always stood out because of the quality of the story/writing.

[Skunk_Giant]

Agree with Lord. Of course, gameplay is nice too... And soundtrack.

[Pinmissile]

A dedicated and skilled developer with a noble purpose and a great idea.

[aflycon]

Dat soundtrack. Oblivion still stands as the best game I've ever played, of course for a few other reasons too..

I tried to attach a video but nope.avi.

[XDelphi]

Dat soundtrack.

This, is actually the main reason I bought Persona 3 FES
Incidently, I a game doesn't have to have a nice soundtack to interest me. I tend to go for gameplay, and a large amount of stat customisation. I can let the latter slide if the game is actually fun. Story helps, I suppose, but if the game was enjoyable, then I don't mind if the stroy had a few holes in it.
An example of this is Dark Void. Loved playing the game, very fun mechanic. Seamlessly changing form ground to hover to air combat is extremely fun and auxhilarating. There was however, a slight problem. There was no story. I don't mean that in the sense minecraft has no story, I mean the dev team had obviously attempted an epic storyline, sqeezed it down to a 4 hour campaign and cut bits off all over.
For genres, I lean towards open sandbox games, with things that you can just waste your time on, even after completion i.e. Just Cause 2, or RPGs. I think the only RPG that blew me away, and even kept me playing for over 5 years is Final Fantasy 10. As a young kid, I loved the colour and the battles, but growing up I started to understand that the story was extremely indepth, and very sad.
Wow, sorry for the wall of text. Ask me for an opinion of a game, or what makes one, and I go off on a complete tangent ._.

[SneakyPie]

Gameplay first.

Story line second.

Everything else third.

[Jake55778]

Wall of text time:

I don't know if it's the biggest motivator, but for me art direction plays a huge role in the enjoyment of a game. Games like Team Fortress 2, Borderlands, and Shadow of the Colossus are all made so much more memorable through their presentation. Often the core gameplay mechanics of any game are established within the first hour or so, after that the variety of the environments in which you perform those actions are what help keep the game from becoming stale. Games like God of War even tie it into the gameplay design; rewarding players with scenic vistas after particularly harrowing battles.

I think the game that made me realise the value of art direction was Half Life 2. For a long time I cited it as my favourite game of all time, but whenever asked why I always struggled to pin it down exactly. I used to just list "story" as my reasoning, but a lot of Half Life's storytelling doesn't occur though the characters or the srcipted sequences. More often than not they're just telling you to "go here Dr.Freeman" "Save Alyx!" or "This plot maguffin will help us fight the combine!", the real depth to the story comes from the world as you play through it. The designs of the combine, the uniform nature of their architecture, and the many sublte hints in the world design that give some clue as to how people have been forced to live under the combine's rule. There are lots of games in which you fight off alien invaders, but even when the gameplay are overarching story are near identical, few feel as grounded or as real as the Half Life series. The little touches thoughout the world help immerse the player, and make them feel invested in the story.

I think the most simple test for how much art design affects the enjoyment of a game is to imagine the game without any. Remove all the textures and complex geometry and just imagine playing through it as a series of grey cubes in space. The gameplay and diologue might be unchanged, but the experience alters dramatically.


(Note: I'm not talking about graphics here. Graphics are just the means to display good art direction, without the latter they're meaningless. Too Human has far more advanced graphics than say Chrono Trigger, but I know which one I'd rather watch.)

[EricSmarties]

Your message contains too few characters.

[Sti_Jo_Lew]

For me the games I enjoy the most have a lot of customization and/or open-ness for decisions. Also, a game should keep you in the action as much as possible. Games that have long drawn out cutscenes or segments where you can't control the character bore me. I don't mind short cutscenes, but if they last more than a few minutes, then it gets ridiculous.