What do you look for most in a video game?

I think we had a similar thread not too long ago, but I wanted to add a little survey here so we can talk about more than just gameplay or story, so please feel free to explain/discuss your choices - rank the following aspects of a game in order of importance to you!

• Atmosphere
• Gameplay
• Story
• Characters
• Challenge
• Music
• Anything else I missed

Story comes above all else
Characters move the story and make it memorable
Challenge can make a game memorable and enjoyable all on its own
Gameplay can sometimes make or break a game, but compared to the rest of it all it's not that important.
Music can be hit or miss. There are some games I play that I keep going just to listen to the music, but others see me muting the sound and playing my own music over it.
Atmosphere? Eh. Whatever.

Gameplay/Story/Characters. If a game does well in one of these aspects I might give it a chance.
Challenge is eh... I don't think it would make me buy a game outright (for example, I might buy dark souls because I like action games, but not cuphead as I don't like side shooters... or whatever you would call it?)
Music is alright, but just a bonus for me. I'm not gonna buy a game just for the music.
Atmosphere... eh? Not a huge fan of atmospheric games...

Story is most important for me. If I like the story I'll keep playing even if everything else sucks, I'm not picky and get into most stories easily.

Challenge is next important, if a game is too hard it's likely to turn me away (e.g. many pokemon rom hacks)

Gameplay is most important for replay value. I'll play through something for the story, but if I like how it plays I'll go through it again (e.g. grand theft auto series, paper mario series) There are games I can't get into at all, but I almost never consider gameplay to be the only reason, and other stuff usually factors in.

Atmosphere is cool if it's there, but if not I'll probably play regardless.

Music doesn't matter at all and sometimes I play things muted. I can't remember most soundtracks either unless it's from a game I've replayed several times.

In the main field, I look for a lot of the same things as others with games.

Gameplay is number one. A game with really fun gameplay and horrible will survive longer than a game with aggravating gameplay and a great story. You can ignore story, you can't ignore gameplay. The original Destiny is a great example of a game with horrible story surviving solely on gameplay.

Story/Atmosphere are number 2. If gameplay keeps a game floating, the world is what can take the title to the stars. A wonderful (or horrible depending on the theme) can make slashing badguys work into a bigger picture lead by interesting people, which makes you want to KEEP slashing badguys, not that you need the persuasion!

These are the two big pillars, but they are supported by many smaller facets.

Some smaller things I have that can tip the scales:

Sandbox gameplay; I love being able to do things my way. Scouting out my options, choosing my approach, and having the world react unexpectedly to my actions.

Map Editor/SDK; I like to create my own things in a game, and when the game has been beaten enough, I like to see what other people create. New playspaces, quests, items, weapons, characters. I love to mod my experience to suit my interests and likes. Hell, I have at least 300 hours in ARMA 3 (probably more) of just using the map editor!

Music; If story turns you boat into a rocket ship, music is the booster rockets that get the game out of the atmosphere.

Equipment Variety/Character Customization; Just like I enjoy approaching things my way, I enjoy having the equipment and look I like. Whether that's a High Speed Low Drag military operator, full of giant armor plates, or in a puffy Renaissance outfit, I like the choice to be up to me!

This one ties into above; Beast Races; Call me what you will, but after playing many a game, being a human is BORING. I play a proud Sangheili in Halo, a Khajiit in skyrim, and even a fox sniper in New Vegas. Sadly this option is rarely a factor in most games, but that looks to be improving with Biomutant and Beyond Good and Evil 2.

So those are some of the things I look for, personally.

For those of you who rank story above gameplay, how do you guys feel about games with excellent stories, but minimal gameplay? In recent years there's been a surge in story-driven games that are just about making choices and doing QTEs, or even games like visual novels, and a lot of people argue they're not really games at all and they're not "fun" to play, even if the stories can be really good. Do you enjoy games like that?

I'd personally also rank story highest for the most part, and as long as I am enjoying the story, I don't mind being along for the ride even if I'm not doing a whole lot.

gameplay: if it plays really garbage or has little to no gameplay to it I'm not even gonna bother to buy it.

Replayability is also a great value to me. I'd like to have a game I can sink a ton of hours into instead of being done with it after 6 hours.

Story isnt that important to me, depending on the genre and game.

If the music is stellar im bound to enjoy it a lot more.

Good characters, a good storyline and mostly good music are what make games enjoyable for me. Nothing else matters that much.

I like visual novels. Maybe not as fun as some other games, but they're not bad.

Exploration possibilities. I have spent hours in games that weren't exactly the greatest just because I felt there was so much to explore. I especially like this element in fantasy words, and it's best when it's in open-world games. This counts as atmosphere I guess. Minecraft doesn't really attract me even though it fits the category, because it doesn't feel like my thing. BotW, on the other hand, is probably a game I should play sometime.

Story comes next, I think, then gameplay and challenge (I rank these together I guess; they can bring each other down). I especially like puzzles, which also make visual novels and the like interesting to me. Music is an extra because I only expect good music from some franchises, it's not exactly a thing I seek out.

If the story is good enough, then yes, gameplay can take a backseat. I don't like it however when a game wants to be known for its story, focuses first and foremost on that, and then throws in bs gameplay things here and there that completely take you out of the story. For instance, navigating a ball through a maze as your character is running through a wooded area to simulate the escape.

I don't care so much for story honestly, because most of my games have some nine+ hours of cutscenes, I'd say it's between gameplay and replay ability or post-game content. A good soundtrack isn't unwanted either.

A good story can certainly help tons, though I've enjoyed plenty of games that don't have much in the way of plot. Great characters help, too. I love having good charactets in games. I admit, some of my favorite games wouldn't be such if they didn't have fantastic characters.

Music can also help. I like listening to game music, and when a piece is great, that makes me very happy.

But the important thing above all else is gameplay. I'll likely enjoy the game to an extent if the gameplay is solid. It doesn't necessarily need to be hard; it just needs to be fun. But it also needs to have something to keep it enthralling; I've played games that were functionally sound, but were boring to play because the game didn't give me any reason to feel much of anything.

If the gameplay is garbage, then sorry, you could have a good story, great graphics and nice music, and I would not see it because I cannot get past the miserable gameplay. This is usually caused by messy level design or awful, awful controls that make it so that it's game of luck if I can even do well enough to get to the next level.

Either the gameplay or story has to be good. However, it's annoying when one of them is bad and you can't ignore it. For example, games that have an interesting story but I have to trudge through shitty gameplay in order to see it (Witcher 2 in my opinion). Or games that might be fun to play but there are a ton of bad unskippable cutscenes and poor writing (Metroid Other M).

Lore is what gets me to remain interested in a game, but the idea of living out the Supreme Power Fantasy is what draws me to most games in the first place. I want the assurance that I can become more powerful than anything in my way, that the hit points I can deliver (especially if I see those numbers on screen) can be measured in a way that gives rise to an in-game ego. I don't tend to err towards highly complicated strategy games, but if the strategy can be rewarded with a sense of enforcing my will (or my blade) over all in my self-defined dominion, then sure, go ahead.

Lore balances this out by giving rhyme and reason to my search for strength. I don't much like the idea of being lord over an undefined blandscape, I like feeling that I'm part of something, that my choices and my gains are customised to the world that I'm in. I don't necessarily have to impact the world, but I want to utilise it, even for shits and giggles.

Her said:

Lore is what gets me to remain interested in a game, but the idea of living out the Supreme Power Fantasy is what draws me to most games in the first place. I want the assurance that I can become more powerful than anything in my way, that the hit points I can deliver (especially if I see those numbers on screen) can be measured in a way that gives rise to an in-game ego. I don't tend to err towards highly complicated strategy games, but if the strategy can be rewarded with a sense of enforcing my will (or my blade) over all in my self-defined dominion, then sure, go ahead.

Lore balances this out by giving rhyme and reason to my search for strength. I don't much like the idea of being lord over an undefined blandscape, I like feeling that I'm part of something, that my choices and my gains are customised to the world that I'm in. I don't necessarily have to impact the world, but I want to utilise it, even for shits and giggles.

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Has it ever been a problem for you if the Supreme Power Fantasy conflicts with lore? For example, I remember having that issue in Skyrim, where I was gaining so much power it literally didn't make sense in the story anymore (ie. I'm the leader of every faction and have the ability to channel the voice of dragons, yet most NPCs don't or only acknowledge parts of my status when addressing my character), and in the end I chose lore over power and split up the roles, titles and abilities into different characters so that it wasn't breaking my immersion.

I always look forward to fun game play in a video game. Yes, story is also important but a lot of games that have deep stories also don't take advantage of the medium very well. I've always found that cutscenes are one of the worst ways to convey a story even if they do have their place. Video games are an interactive medium and as such they allow the player to tell the story- wittingly or not. One of my favorite moments in video games and imo one of the best examples of this is in The Last of Us. I'll put it in spoilers since I really wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone.


So yeah, it is a video game so gameplay > story. But I really love when a game can do both without making it too obvious.

Characters / Atmosphere
Gameplay
Story
Music
Challenge

Pretty much :) Games I get hooked on tend to have a great atmosphere that draws me in, and characters I can really feel for. Bonus if the story is also deep and interesting and preferably unusual and full of plot twists. A great example of this, which perhaps was bad on the "character" part though, is Bioshock. Damn, that atmosphere and crazy fun gameplay.