19 replies to this topic

[Fiyaball]

For me, it's a good story all the way. There's a reason why I have way too many RPGs, including a couple worth $100+.

[Haylee]

Sorry but there's no question. Without gameplay you don't have a game, the other elements belong to books, music and paintings, all wonderful, excellent things of course, but a book (or music or a painting) will never be a game and vice-versa.

 

Quoted for truth. If I want to hear good music, I'll listen to an album. If I want a good story, I'll read or watch one. If I want to play a game, I want it to be good and solid, and fun to play. For me, nothing else about it will matter or stick with me if it's not a good game, or engaging and fun within its genre or otherwise.

I generally consider Video Games to be a medium for all 3. Video games are a bit of a passion (A bit being an exageration), and I feel that providing a good balance in each of these aspects is the only way for something to be truly special for me.

 

I think Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest is a good example in my opinion. The gameplay is good sure, but due to the nature of the game being a strategy RPG, I feel that good characters is an important factor in making just about any RPG good. Because of how absolutely atrocious the writing is in Fates in general, not only does the soundtrack suffer, because the more emotional music will just feel empty by how stupid the story is, but the gameplay does as well. With a game like Fire Emblem, players are generally encouraged to use the units they like the most as characters, but how am I suppose to choose which units to use when none of the units are likable? I can choose by their stats, sure, but like, then you're just playing for the sake of beating the game, instead of playing because the game is actually interesting.

 

Not trying to debate with what you're saying, but I'm just trying to give my perspective, because I feel if the other factors of a game are bad, the core gameplay itself can also suffer.

[Orithan]

None of the above make or break a game for me, as all of the above need to be good. A game can have perfectly solid gameplay, but it will suffer if it lacks any of the other good components.

Another major component that isn't covered here is the "Feel" of the game. Anything that happens in the game, especially so if it is an action the player makes, needs immediate feedback to the player; like the sound that plays when Mario jumps in a Mario game. Games that don't do it tend to feel not worth playing because it doesn't feel like a world or a well-polished game.

 

Games that feel like they could have been better, despite the core gameplay being solid:

Most ZC quests, particularly those from the early 2.5 era (before is understandable, 2.10 and before were very primitive) - Lack of game feel. The Darkness Within being a particularly notable example of this, with all of the scripts it had that didn't age.

Metroid: Other M - Horrible story and terrible writing

The Binding of Issac - This game would be good if it weren't for all the edgy themes it had, many of which being common in games originating from Newgrounds

LoZ: Four Swords - While the gameplay was pretty meh, it would be so much more memorable if the soundtrack was better.

Edited by Orithan, 04 June 2017 - 03:57 AM.

[Evan20000]

Purple trees ruin everything.

[thepsynergist]

I'm a bit biased as a composer, but if a game has bad music, it affects me, a lot.