What makes a game for you?

***craig5320*** · Feb 12, 2009, 11:20 AM

Discuss.

**dj_stick** · Feb 12, 2009, 11:28 AM

toss between originality and freshness/replayability, but the second option came out on top - there's no point paying full price for a game you're only going to play once - there's still quite a few games I own i'll bring out every now and then just to re-live the fun

i'm not much of a multi-player person, so it's more about the story and how involved I get in actually playing the character to me, sure graphics help, but a boring game is still a boring game

***craig5320*** · Feb 12, 2009, 11:53 AM

Yea I'm with you on that DJ, As much as I like a game, now we're seeing COD5 and the likes, I'm thinking maybe they need to bring in some fresh ideas, I find myself buying a game, ploughing through it in a week and then playing multiplayer for a few weeks before putting it away, never having the urge to play it again.

I'm all for multiplayer tho, but I still like a good story.

Neshi · Feb 12, 2009, 12:43 PM

I voted other, I don't mind the other options but it isn't a major point for me. A game should hold my interest, it can be as good as sliced bread (although, the swiss unsliced bread is even better) but if it loses me, I don't play it anymore.
I had that with Morrowind, the latest one. I had that with Fallout 3. For some reason or another I am suddenly fed up with it and I won't play it anymore. I can't put my finger on what exactly caused it.. it just is.. :S

Mac Daddy · Feb 12, 2009, 01:41 PM

Out of the choices I chose Originality as it pertains to the storyline and overall feel of the game (Not sure if other would have been better).

Smooth gameplay and depending on the complexity of the graphics the game player shouldn't have to suffer performance loss due to bad coding like Crysis.

Cow_160483 · Feb 12, 2009, 03:32 PM

I love a game that you can play with friends after finishing playing the campaign so i went with Multiplayer Support!! I still play HALO 1 !!!!

Iria · Feb 18, 2009, 03:34 PM

It's not just graphics. If it was I wouldn't love my Wii. It's about fun! And that can be interpreted and conveyed to a player in many ways. I guess, of the choices, originality is the closest.

BlueMak · Feb 18, 2009, 04:05 PM

Originality is one of the things that matter the least to me. Close second the online component. Just because a game is new/different it won't make it appeal to me. It has to have a variety of points. Good graphics is a must in 2009. They don't 'have to push the graphics card to the extreme, but ugly graphics are simply not acceptable. If I am going to look at a screen you will have to make it look good enough.

Interest in the subject, replayability, stability and as much as possible the game managing to draw me out of the real world and into the game's world. I want to feel like I am "there", whatever game it is, not that I am interacting of a piece of software.
So I guess I vote for "other".

zdravkelja · Feb 19, 2009, 07:54 AM

Second option
I was thinkink about originality, but, as dj-stick said, you should play it more than a once.

Callandor · Feb 19, 2009, 08:24 AM

Multiplayer support, but I also like a good story/single player campaign.

comp_ali · Feb 21, 2009, 06:55 AM

Storyline man. The first thing I care about. Then multiplayer then graphics.

lepel · Feb 21, 2009, 12:19 PM

Freshness/Replayability. I list good multiplayer under replayability. If you buy a game, you want to enjoy it for a long period of time.

Killer graphics are only a thing that can make you look forward to a game when it's not out yet. From the moment it's out, the gameplay becomes more important than the graphics.

I also rate originality highly: e.g. I loved the beach levels in HL2 where you had to pass the antlions by making a bridge with the gravity gun with all the rubbish lying around you. Just brilliant.

Customgamer1 · Apr 5, 2009, 08:58 PM

I would all of those choices make a quality game.

I picked MP because without it I just don't really enjoy the game as much.

Lowfat · Apr 6, 2009, 03:42 AM

I have no problem paying for a game even I am only going to play it once through. Example being Dead Space. 10-12 hours of gameplay, never touched it again. However it was one of the best 10-12 hours of gaming I can remember. Well worth it.

vicsrealms · Apr 6, 2009, 05:19 AM

I play most games for the story, so my gaming runs mostly to good story based FPS games (Half Life 2), adventure games (Dreamfall), rpg's, and I am a huge fan of the the GTA series (VC being my favorite). Replayability is nice, and so is originality. Still, considering the # of books I read a week story is my top choice.

papajohn · May 28, 2009, 05:29 PM

Any games that make my jaw dropped with killer graphics!

Buttersthatsme · May 31, 2009, 08:51 AM

Impressive graphics aren't really important at all, what matters is that the developer was able to use an art style that suites the game and that they nail it

. But what is most important is that the player has fun and is always discovering new things in the game each time they pick up and play, you always wan't them to walk away having gained something from the experience.

~Butters~

pigdog · Nov 29, 2009, 06:53 AM

Immersivness. Hard to quantify, but you now it when you find it. So 2 would have to be it for me.

Zian5377 · Dec 17, 2009, 07:23 AM

Call me Old School but I want to see something I haven't seen before in a video game when I spend my hard earned money on it, graphics, online, and replay-ability are nice bonuses but I really just want to go wow...I've never seen that before that's frickin AWESOME!!!!!
You know??

~~RE III - Frankie~~ · Dec 18, 2009, 11:45 AM

A futuristic and vast (interactive) 3rd dimension is always what I look at!

mikede · Jan 15, 2011, 12:41 PM

other any game were you cant bunny hop i will play

blibbax · Jan 15, 2011, 01:04 PM

Holy thread resurrection batman.

Mikede, go play Last Chaos then say that again. You can't bunny hop, but it's still terrible.

Crystallization · Aug 14, 2011, 10:06 AM

Although lately I tend to buy games for their online multi-player support, I'm perfectly content with a game like AoE III single player because of its high replayability.

Dyre Straits · Oct 28, 2011, 12:09 AM

Giving the thread a little more life, again.

Dont' know how or why I missed it the first time around.

But, I had to vote Other.

Great, jaw-dropping graphics do not a great game make, IMHO. Although I'd prefer to see the latest DX features included, some of my favorite games are still using DX 9 and look fantastic.

Action, too, does not get me all excited. Although I might play for a little while, if the game is too busy creating action with no real plot or story, it loses my interest very quickly.

The main reason I play games is for the STORY. And, if there's a good story and plot development, I'll play it again...especially if there are multiple endings for the game. Some examples as of late:

Alpha Protocol (played through three times now)
The Witcher (played through six times and have a 7th one going)

I've even recently played through Syberia and Syberia II again. There's a fantastic story in that series. (I wish they'd do Syberia III and have Kate Walker follow the Mammoths off into the sunset.)

So, give me a decent story/plot over other elements and I'm a happy gamer.

Liqourice · Oct 28, 2011, 12:30 AM

Stunning graphics may be nice and cool to look at but if the game isn't catching, doesn't give something else back, then it doesn't hold for very long.

There's very few games that I would go back to after even a year or two but examples are all the Civilization incarnations, they have a whole lot of the originality even if the principle is the same as the first one. There are also a few old games I played on the Amiga that I still go back for now and then, one of them being the shareware game DeLuxe Galaga. It doesn't have stunning graphics or sound but it's extremelt addictive and fun to play.

The game has to contain something. A good and original storyline or something completely new and inventive that sticks. Just adding more and more realistic graphics isn't the way to catch me.

IvanV · Oct 28, 2011, 01:18 AM

As is with many other sorts of things, a game has to do one thing really well (and not completely suck at everything else, of course) to warrant attention. It almost doesn't matter which category it is, but if a game really sticks out in just one or maybe two of them, even if it also has a weak point or two, it is going to appeal to me much more than another that ticks all boxes, but only to an average level. Examples:

People still play Counter Strike and some still like to do a round or two of ye olde UT '99 every now and then, even though they are graphically obsolete, have no story to speak of etc, but people still enjoy the action.

Just Cause 2: Corny story, no multiplayer, but fun action and decent graphics.

HL2: Good story, memorable moments, nice visual design (but not technological superiority, even on release) make Dr Freeman much more than the main protagonist of just another on rails FPS with a fairly weak multiplayer component.

Mirror's Edge: Poor storytelling, no more than decent graphics, single player only and short, but still original, fun and with a good atmosphere (despite bad storytelling).

Assassin's Creed (part one): Becomes painfully repetitive after about 33% of the game, single player only, game mechanics almost completely lifted from another well established series (PoP), somewhat clumsy controls, but brilliant story, storytelling, artwork and overall presentation, paired with fun gameplay make it one of my favourite games of all times.

Dyre Straits · Oct 30, 2011, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IvanV

...............

Assassin's Creed (part one): Becomes painfully repetitive after about 33% of the game, single player only, game mechanics almost completely lifted from another well established series (PoP), somewhat clumsy controls, but brilliant story, storytelling, artwork and overall presentation, paired with fun gameplay make it one of my favourite games of all times.

Sadly, I tried this game and, due to there being absolutely no subtitles, it's a dead game to me. Someone suggested I just read through a Walk-through and then play AC-2. But, FTR, my older son also loved this game which he played on his 360.

IvanV · Oct 30, 2011, 11:30 AM

That is a sadly dumb omission on their part. There's a decent story recap here. It doesn't have all the details, but it's better than most plot summaries and much shorter than a full walkthrough.

AC2 is pretty brilliant itself. Not every change from AC1 was for the better, but it's not repetitive like the first part and it has some nice minor tweaks to the gameplay. Also, the renaissance Italy is very well recreated. They did awesome work creating Florence and Venice and if you've been there or if you watched documentaries, you'll recognize a lot of the landmarks and the game world in general is very historically accurate (dates, places, characters, events...), which I found really really cool. So, if you have interest in the series, I think that you should give it a go.

View Poll Results: What makes a good game?
Originality	601	20.93%
Freshness/Replayability	892	31.06%
Killer Graphics	562	19.57%
Multiplayer Support	794	27.65%
Other (discuss)	23	0.80%
Voters: 2872. You may not vote on this poll

Feb 12, 2009, 11:20 AM	#1
*craig5320* HH Administrator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 8,271 Rep Power: 428 System Specs	What makes a game for you? Discuss. __________________

Feb 12, 2009, 11:53 AM	Thread Starter #3
*craig5320* HH Administrator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 8,271 Rep Power: 428 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Yea I'm with you on that DJ, As much as I like a game, now we're seeing COD5 and the likes, I'm thinking maybe they need to bring in some fresh ideas, I find myself buying a game, ploughing through it in a week and then playing multiplayer for a few weeks before putting it away, never having the urge to play it again. I'm all for multiplayer tho, but I still like a good story. __________________

Feb 12, 2009, 12:43 PM	#4
Neshi S.N.A.F.U. Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Wellington, NZ Posts: 3,257 Rep Power: 150 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? I voted other, I don't mind the other options but it isn't a major point for me. A game should hold my interest, it can be as good as sliced bread (although, the swiss unsliced bread is even better) but if it loses me, I don't play it anymore. I had that with Morrowind, the latest one. I had that with Fallout 3. For some reason or another I am suddenly fed up with it and I won't play it anymore. I can't put my finger on what exactly caused it.. it just is.. :S __________________ If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live? Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Feb 12, 2009, 01:41 PM	#5
Mac Daddy DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 7,950 Rep Power: 78 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Out of the choices I chose Originality as it pertains to the storyline and overall feel of the game (Not sure if other would have been better). Smooth gameplay and depending on the complexity of the graphics the game player shouldn't have to suffer performance loss due to bad coding like Crysis. __________________ "My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

Feb 12, 2009, 03:32 PM	#6
Cow_160483 HH's only cow moooooo... Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: BOTSWANA Posts: 6,687 Rep Power: 280 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? I love a game that you can play with friends after finishing playing the campaign so i went with Multiplayer Support!! I still play HALO 1 !!!! __________________ Decode! Muhahahahah!

Feb 18, 2009, 03:34 PM	#7
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 87	Re: What makes a game for you? It's not just graphics. If it was I wouldn't love my Wii. It's about fun! And that can be interpreted and conveyed to a player in many ways. I guess, of the choices, originality is the closest.

Feb 18, 2009, 04:05 PM	#8
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,240 Rep Power: 326 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Originality is one of the things that matter the least to me. Close second the online component. Just because a game is new/different it won't make it appeal to me. It has to have a variety of points. Good graphics is a must in 2009. They don't 'have to push the graphics card to the extreme, but ugly graphics are simply not acceptable. If I am going to look at a screen you will have to make it look good enough. Interest in the subject, replayability, stability and as much as possible the game managing to draw me out of the real world and into the game's world. I want to feel like I am "there", whatever game it is, not that I am interacting of a piece of software. So I guess I vote for "other". __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Feb 19, 2009, 07:54 AM	#9
zdravkelja HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Obrenovac Posts: 31 Rep Power: 0	Re: What makes a game for you? Second option I was thinkink about originality, but, as dj-stick said, you should play it more than a once.

Feb 19, 2009, 08:24 AM	#10
Callandor Forged on Dragonmount Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 6,869 Rep Power: 251 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Multiplayer support, but I also like a good story/single player campaign. __________________

Feb 21, 2009, 06:55 AM	#11
comp_ali Sniper Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Egypt Posts: 10,441 Rep Power: 331 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Storyline man. The first thing I care about. Then multiplayer then graphics. __________________

Feb 21, 2009, 12:19 PM	#12
lepel HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Belgium Posts: 552 Rep Power: 39 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Freshness/Replayability. I list good multiplayer under replayability. If you buy a game, you want to enjoy it for a long period of time. Killer graphics are only a thing that can make you look forward to a game when it's not out yet. From the moment it's out, the gameplay becomes more important than the graphics. I also rate originality highly: e.g. I loved the beach levels in HL2 where you had to pass the antlions by making a bridge with the gravity gun with all the rubbish lying around you. Just brilliant.

Apr 5, 2009, 08:58 PM	#13
Customgamer1 Fell off the tech wagon Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 2,273 Rep Power: 72 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? I would all of those choices make a quality game. I picked MP because without it I just don't really enjoy the game as much. __________________ Asus Laptop: 2.5 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gigs DDR 2, Windows 7 64bit! Windows 7 > OSX!

Apr 6, 2009, 03:42 AM	#14
Lowfat Xtreme Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can Posts: 4,251 Rep Power: 99	Re: What makes a game for you? I have no problem paying for a game even I am only going to play it once through. Example being Dead Space. 10-12 hours of gameplay, never touched it again. However it was one of the best 10-12 hours of gaming I can remember. Well worth it. __________________ 27" iMac: i5 750 * 80GB X25-M G1 * 4GB DDR3 * HD4850 Stacker: 2600k * P8P67 Pro * 4GB DDR3 * 80GB ioXtreme * 30GB X25-E * (2) HD6950 * Asus D2 * Enermax Revo85+ HWD: (2) Xeon E5649 * EVGA SR-2 * 6GB DDR3 * 8800GTS * 1000W Antec FT01BW: (2) Xeon E5645 * EVGA SR-2 * 6GB DDR3 * GTS210 * Gigabyte 800W Odin GT Storage: (2) Sans Digital TR8M-B * 29TB

Apr 6, 2009, 05:19 AM	#15
vicsrealms DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Texas, US Posts: 58 Rep Power: 18 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? I play most games for the story, so my gaming runs mostly to good story based FPS games (Half Life 2), adventure games (Dreamfall), rpg's, and I am a huge fan of the the GTA series (VC being my favorite). Replayability is nice, and so is originality. Still, considering the # of books I read a week story is my top choice.

May 28, 2009, 05:29 PM	#16
papajohn DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 0	Re: What makes a game for you? Any games that make my jaw dropped with killer graphics!

May 31, 2009, 08:51 AM	#17
Buttersthatsme DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2009 Location: Australia Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Impressive graphics aren't really important at all, what matters is that the developer was able to use an art style that suites the game and that they nail it . But what is most important is that the player has fun and is always discovering new things in the game each time they pick up and play, you always wan't them to walk away having gained something from the experience. ~Butters~

Nov 29, 2009, 06:53 AM	#18
pigdog HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 471 Rep Power: 55 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Immersivness. Hard to quantify, but you now it when you find it. So 2 would have to be it for me. __________________

Dec 17, 2009, 07:23 AM	#19
Zian5377 HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Portland,Oregon U.S. Posts: 105 Rep Power: 24 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Call me Old School but I want to see something I haven't seen before in a video game when I spend my hard earned money on it, graphics, online, and replay-ability are nice bonuses but I really just want to go wow...I've never seen that before that's frickin AWESOME!!!!! You know?? __________________ _____________ "Good, Bad, I'm the one with the gun.." -Ash Gotta Love Wireless Internet!!

Dec 18, 2009, 11:45 AM	#20
~~RE III - Frankie~~ Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,754 Rep Power: 0	Re: What makes a game for you? A futuristic and vast (interactive) 3rd dimension is always what I look at!

Jan 15, 2011, 12:41 PM	#21
mikede Dunce Hat Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 44 Rep Power: 9 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? other any game were you cant bunny hop i will play

Jan 15, 2011, 01:04 PM	#22
blibbax What does this do? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 3,670 Rep Power: 169 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Holy thread resurrection batman. Mikede, go play Last Chaos then say that again. You can't bunny hop, but it's still terrible. __________________ Donate the spare computing power of your PC to help to cure Alzheimer's, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease and cancer: Fold for HH!

Aug 14, 2011, 10:06 AM	#23
Crystallization HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 44 Rep Power: 32 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Although lately I tend to buy games for their online multi-player support, I'm perfectly content with a game like AoE III single player because of its high replayability. __________________ Check out my art thread or my deviantART gallery.

Oct 28, 2011, 12:30 AM	#25
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,547 Rep Power: 83 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? Stunning graphics may be nice and cool to look at but if the game isn't catching, doesn't give something else back, then it doesn't hold for very long. There's very few games that I would go back to after even a year or two but examples are all the Civilization incarnations, they have a whole lot of the originality even if the principle is the same as the first one. There are also a few old games I played on the Amiga that I still go back for now and then, one of them being the shareware game DeLuxe Galaga. It doesn't have stunning graphics or sound but it's extremelt addictive and fun to play. The game has to contain something. A good and original storyline or something completely new and inventive that sticks. Just adding more and more realistic graphics isn't the way to catch me.

Oct 28, 2011, 01:18 AM	#26
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,646 Rep Power: 280 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? As is with many other sorts of things, a game has to do one thing really well (and not completely suck at everything else, of course) to warrant attention. It almost doesn't matter which category it is, but if a game really sticks out in just one or maybe two of them, even if it also has a weak point or two, it is going to appeal to me much more than another that ticks all boxes, but only to an average level. Examples: People still play Counter Strike and some still like to do a round or two of ye olde UT '99 every now and then, even though they are graphically obsolete, have no story to speak of etc, but people still enjoy the action. Just Cause 2: Corny story, no multiplayer, but fun action and decent graphics. HL2: Good story, memorable moments, nice visual design (but not technological superiority, even on release) make Dr Freeman much more than the main protagonist of just another on rails FPS with a fairly weak multiplayer component. Mirror's Edge: Poor storytelling, no more than decent graphics, single player only and short, but still original, fun and with a good atmosphere (despite bad storytelling). Assassin's Creed (part one): Becomes painfully repetitive after about 33% of the game, single player only, game mechanics almost completely lifted from another well established series (PoP), somewhat clumsy controls, but brilliant story, storytelling, artwork and overall presentation, paired with fun gameplay make it one of my favourite games of all times. __________________ Our Folding@home stats:

Oct 30, 2011, 11:30 AM	#28
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,646 Rep Power: 280 System Specs	Re: What makes a game for you? That is a sadly dumb omission on their part. There's a decent story recap here. It doesn't have all the details, but it's better than most plot summaries and much shorter than a full walkthrough. AC2 is pretty brilliant itself. Not every change from AC1 was for the better, but it's not repetitive like the first part and it has some nice minor tweaks to the gameplay. Also, the renaissance Italy is very well recreated. They did awesome work creating Florence and Venice and if you've been there or if you watched documentaries, you'll recognize a lot of the landmarks and the game world in general is very historically accurate (dates, places, characters, events...), which I found really really cool. So, if you have interest in the series, I think that you should give it a go. __________________ Our Folding@home stats: Last edited by IvanV; Oct 30, 2011 at 11:35 AM.