Rate these 6 game aspects in order of most importance to you
1. Graphics
2. Game play
3. Original game mythology
4. Individual story
5. Sound and music.
6. Humor
Mine :
6
3
4,2
5,1
As seen choices can be on the same level of importance
2. Game play
3. Original game mythology
4. Individual story
5. Sound and music.
6. Humor
Mine :
6
3
4,2
5,1
As seen choices can be on the same level of importance
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2. Game play
3. Original game mythology
4. Individual story
5. Sound and music.
6. Humor
2,4,6
3,5
1
2. Humor
3. Game play
4. Original game mythology
5. Individual story
6. Graphics
2. Humor
3. Sound and music
4. Gameplay
5. Original game mythology
6. Graphics
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
1
5
4
3
6
4. Game play
2. Original game mythology
3. Individual story
5. Sound and music.
1. Humor
MI is humor and if something bugs me about games it is a break in their canon. After that comes the story the game brings with it packed into nice gameplay. Then the technical aspects.
1) Humour - It needs to feel right.
2) Individual Story - Always important to an adventure game of course.
3) Sound and Music - especially music has always been important to MI
4) Gameplay - Significant, but I could take a few rubbish puzzles if 1-3 are excellent.
5) Original Game Mythology - Obviously shouldn't be totally ignored, but don't be slavish.
6) Graphics - I still think this is important, but there are more important things.
2. Individual story - makes the game more of an adventure than a pass time
3. Humour - gotta love the laughs
4. Sound and music - i just love music, sets atmosphere and mood more than graphics
5. Graphics - got to be playable
6. Original game mythology - i don't care where a game comes from if a sequel is good; if that's what you meant.
over9000. Humor - i cannot find the words to describe this.
Now, it's BEST in a game to have all of these things working in harmony. To clearly say that people should focus on "Gameplay, not Graphics" seems pretty foolish to me. On the other hand, I generally don't require realistic sweat on the neck of my space marine.
Gameplay. A cool gameplay mechanic can easily nudge out good story in many cases. The reason I buy Spider-Man games is to jump into the air and swing through New York, because that form of locomotion(even in a game) is simply thrilling and fun. Boom Blox has absolutely NOTHING in terms of story(the "story" mode is...well...). But I play it. Why? It's engaging. It's a visceral experience, that combines puzzle solving with a simple but extremely well-executed motion of tossing a ball. It's the reason Pong and Snake are still fun, it's the reason I play Peggle. These games have simple but well-executed gameplay mechanics that suck you in, despite the fact that the rest of the game is, overall, nothing near a Hollywood production. There are also things like new gameplay mechanics, things that are interesting to do because you've never done them before. Take Portal as an example of this, as well as And Yet It Moves, World of Goo, and Strange Attractors. Games like this, and I know there are a lot more, bring you in because they hand you a new way to interact with a world That's something that's extremely cool when you pick it up and go: "Oh, how does this work?" And you mess with the thing, and you learn how to use it, and it just leads to some extremely satisfying puzzle solving...because the mechanics THEMSELVES are a puzzle.
There's also the fact that games are interactive, and everything else in this list is not exclusive to interaction. Visuals, sound/music, and story all are things in film and television. Visuals and story are in comic books. Stories are in books. The interaction though, is something different entirely.
There's another thing about gameplay that is important. It's not about action precisely. In a turn-based strategy, it's about being able to command all your units the way you want, while also keeping the UI manageable. There's balance to consider, keeping any one strategy from winning out or forcing drawn-out stalemates. In adventure games, the gameplay is all about puzzles. If the puzzles can be zoomed through, it's simply not satisfying. On the other hand, arbitrary difficulty makes the experience frustrating. It's all about logic puzzles.
I'm not even sure what "Original Game Mythology" and "Individual Story" mean, but I'm guessing they're going to end up here on the list. Ever since playing my first text adventure, it's kind of been ingrained in me that games are a storytelling medium. Western RPGs and Adventures seem to do this well. The story shouldn't be the only reason to play, as I've dropped many games with what seemed to be great stories because they were no fun to actually play. That's why this is under Gameplay...if you feel like you're just walking briskly between plot points, you might as well make a movie. If the game between plot points is a pain to play, then the story isn't going to draw me particularly far in.
Humor is a tough one to nail down. I wouldn't play a Sam and Max game without it, for example....but Pong needs no humor. Humor can either be a powerful driving force(like in the majority of Telltale's line-up), or it can be simply be a great aspect of the overall atmosphere(Knights of the Old Republic). Really, humor belongs in "story", in a lot of ways. It's an aspect of storytelling, and you have to treat it on a story by story basis. Sam and Max-style quips in a CSI game would be...odd. And probably a turn-off.
Sound and music I guess is down here because I buy very few games SPECIFICALLY for the music. Rock Band and Guitar Hero are the only exceptions that come to mind. Music is important though, in a lot of ways. For example, it'd be hard for me to be excited about Tales if they didn't have the music guy, because that music was a powerful part of the atmosphere for the original games. And really, really bad music has turned me off to a game as well. Really, there's an overall "atmosphere" category to which this belongs, with atmosphere being quite easily the most important thing. I wouldn't play Pong with harsh music in the background, or if the paddles were replaced with models of penises, no matter HOW fun it was.
I'm sorry if my rant makes no sense.
Humour for example, for me, is also genre specific. If the OP asked "Rate these 6 adventure game aspects in order of most importance to you", humour would be high up on my list.
So would humor.
As seen choices can be on the same level of importance
It doesn't surprise me that someone could think all factors of a product are equally important . Take a masterpiece of art for example,or any design where all elements in a design are crucial to a design. Interesting opinion, never the less, but as far as being a wise guy goes you would loose.
For Me..
3. Original game mythology
4. Individual story
6. Humor 2. Game play
1. Graphics
5. Sound and music.
Sound and music.
Graphics
Original game mythology
I'm not including Humor as that is too specific.
Game play - No good having a great story if the player wants to throw the disk out the window due to game play issues.
Sound and Music
Graphics
Humor - Sometimes I like to play something serious. Humour isn't a prerequsite for me.
Original game mythology - I don't really care too much, just give me a good story!
2-Game play
3-Sound and music
4-Original game mythology
5-Graphics
6-Humour
Not all games require humour. Gameplay and music is almost tied, though. ALMOST. The great soundtracks are almost half the reason I play adventure games.
6,2,4,5,3,1
Monkey Island to me is all about comedy, it just happens to be computer based.
2 Gameplay (includes dialogue, exploration, puzzles)
3 Mythology (original set of characters, general setting)
6 Humor (overrated)
5 Music and sound (atmosphere starts here!)
1 Graphics
Fun game! ^^
1.) Gameplay/puzzle design. Also, a difficult puzzle isn't necessarily a good one. Controls and interface would be included here.
2.) Humour. Basically the writing and characterisations.
3.) Sound and music. Music is vital for setting the scene and sound effects can be just as effective as good dialogue at either building the world or simply raising a laugh.
4.) Individual story. Adventure games should have an interesting and original story and at the very least something that makes you want to know what happens next or where things will go.
5.) Graphics. Specifically the art design and not really fidelity or anything.
6.) Original game mythology. I'm assuming this means the backstory or canon for the game? Well, I'm taking it as meaning that and not an original world or anything, since that comes under story for me.
Anyway this is the least important in my view. I think it's less important to adhere to each and every established plot point across the history of any given IP than it is important to do so within the span of a single game.
That's what I'm trying to say. No need to choose this or that...
Graphics, story, humour, everything's important.
That said, I think the world is more forgiving of dated 2d graphics than dated 3d.
For instance, look at Alone in the dark. MY GOD! It's hideous! Then look at Maniac Mansion, which is seriously blocky and dated but somehow... less cringe worthy. Odd that right?
Graphics have never made a game for me, all the prettiness in the world doesn't make up for a soulless gaming experience. I'd rather have a plain jane with a beautiful story and characterisation than a super model with no real substance heh.
As long as I can make out what's going on, it's all good.
Gameplay is FAR more important to me. Trying to play Space Quest the other day, it wasn't the horrible graphics that bugged me.. it was the bloody interface. The clipping is horrible, having to type "take blah" instead of auto taking something when you search a body (I've been spoiled by modern games haven't I?) and the random deaths that always plagued Sierra's games.. I just... can't be bothered with it.
It's why I couldn't be bothered playing Darkness within either... I HATE event triggers in adventure games. I WANT THE FLASHLIGHT NOW! I don't want to have to walk down a really long dingy corridor then encounter a pitch black room before going ALL THE WAY BACK to pick up that flashlight that so obviously would have been useful for going down a dingy tunnel in the first place!!!
That bugged me more than anything else in that game... so yeah... game play issues, seriously can ruin a game. Look at Fahrenheit. Main criticism is always about the mini games.
Interesting plot, ruined by timed sequences and button mashing.
Now, my list was purely based on the adventure game genre... story naturally isn't essential in dance games (which I love) or in rts games really. The sims has no plot but what you make, but it's absolutely engrossing. Same goes for Pirates! (I just enjoy sailing around being a pirate ok?)
but if it's an adventure game, it needs a plot. Same with an RPG, I expect a story from and rpg and a good combat mechanic. This is why I can't STAND Jrpgs as a genre, the plots are imo crap and the turn based combat mechanic 9/10 of them use destroys the experience for me. It's why I tossed ff7 across the room in disgust all those years ago. I got sick of walking three spaces and having to go through a pokemon style random encounter. I JUST WANTED TO WALK ACROSS A ROOM!!!
Game play is so so important, but there are games where the overall charm leads you to forgive slight issues.
The same however, can't be said for poor plotting. I'll forgive bad voice acting, hell, i'm currently playing Gabriel Knight 2 and that's pretty attrocious at times... but I can't forgive stupid plots. Barrow hill was nearly ruined for me by that silly scene with the cctv camera (those who've played, you know the bit I mean. In my head, the Benny Hill chase music was playing.)
As it was, I enjoyed the game enough, but I still it was a bit dumb and know there are better ways to have done the whole thing.
I suppose my point is, gamers (at least adventure gamers) will forgive a game a lot... so long as it's FUN to play.
Interestingly, in terms of graphics... I've never found myself more engrossed than I was by Baldur's gate 2 and Torment. Dated graphics by today's standards, but the combat in BG2 is fantastic imo and the humour keeps the dungeon bashing from getting stale. The varied quests keep you playing and with torment well... the plot is just riviting and the setting facinating.
NWN couldn't quite drag me in as much. I could forgive the contrived plot, I couldn't forgive the combat or the fact that the main campaign is biased against any class that isn't fighter. It's not fair to give a player the option to play different classes, then bitch slap them for doing so. I take umbrage at that sort of thing.
Thankfully, the expansion packs were a lot better. (sad that)
Though I did find myself cringing every time someone called a tiefling a "half demon". But I think that comes into original mythology or something doesn't it? And it's just because well... i'm a serious geek and mistakes like that irk me lol.
That said, i think original mythos only really counts if we're talking about an ongoing series/franchise. The main reason most people hate EMI is because it messed with the mythology so.. shamefully and did so without the charm of curse. If you're doing a sequel, you damn well better get the mythology and setting correct.
2,3
4,5
6,1