Should video games be about Story, gameplay, characters, music, or all

Since we are gamers on here, I thought it would be wise to bring up this certain discussion. Now I came across a video game rant. Among seeing this video I have thought about it though. Should games be focused only for story, gameplay, graphics, characters, music, or all of the above?

Aside from my usual "gameplay should always take first priority", I'd like to add that people sometimes undervalue simplicity in the area of story and characters. Sometimes, you don't need more motivation than "That guy's an evil bastard. Kill him". That thought came to mind after reading The Top 10 Games With Concise, Yet Wonderful Stories.

edited 12th Jan '11 2:27:56 PM by Cliche

They should be focused on being a fun game. It doesn't matter what a game's strong points are, as long as it has them.

Story and Characters should be combined into one in my opinion.

For me, Gameplay>Visuals  ^*

>Story/Character>Music>Graphics....

edited 12th Jan '11 2:30:06 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

^^That. No point in deliberately focusing on some, that just messes upt he others.

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.

This.

That being said, my personal priorities: Gameplay = Music > Visuals > Story.

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It really depends on what the game is trying to be.

For example, I love Uncharted, and I also can't stop playing Peggle on my iPod. And I also really like the Silent Hill series.

And just there, I named a game that tries to be movie-like, while still being a game; a game that's only a game with no story or anything; and a game series that tries very hard to be immersive and succeeds, arguably at the cost of gameplay.

Since I can enjoy all 3 of those types of games, it really depends on what they're trying to do and if they do a good job of achieving their goal.

It's about execution, really. There's no formula for a perfect game, just a great deal of approaches.

It's not exactly naive. And it can happen. But it's tough. And definetly worthwhile.

Super Dimensionman pretty much hit the nail on the head with his point.

Ideally, I think the story and characters should be tools that lay the foundation for the gameplay. And while gameplay is obviously the most important thing, a poorly written plot and uninteresting characters, as well as bad music, can detract from my enjoyment.

If a game isn't going to bother having a good plot, it probably shouldn't have a plot at all.

Well we still need to know why "X" is trying to "Y"...

Like Mario, even he needs some form of an Excuse Plot to let us know why he's slaughtering armies of turtles and living mushrooms...to save his princess from a chronic kidnapper who doesn't do ANYTHING to or with her...

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

@Bonsai: Yeah. The biggest factor deciding the weight of individual elements is the type of game. Story factors a lot more into the Adventure Game genre. The Rhythm Game genre relies on the music to deliver the experience.

@Xavier: I agree there. A game can benefit from a story, but it has to be well integrated or else it detracts from rather than enhances the experience. Come to think of it, that's one of the reasons why emphasis on story annoys me; not every game needs one, and a bad story is worse than minimal story.

edited 12th Jan '11 3:01:29 PM by Cliche

I agree about a bad story being worse than a minimal story. I used to think cutscenes in games were cool, and would enjoy watching them. But then EVERY frigging game got a story, and I would start skipping the cutscenes, except in games where I actually did find the story interesting or fun.

The issue with a story is that regardless of how good the writer is it may still come across as execrable to a given player. Better make it skippable even if 90% of people like it and back it up with good gameplay, graphics etc.

Gameplay first - you need incentives to not just watch the game on Youtube or something. Sure, there are some games out there with amazing story, characters, music, art, etc., but I just watch them on Youtube and thereby get about 90% of the enjoyment of playing those games.

A game is what its designer wants it to be. Yeah, cop-out.

Ideally, the foundation (what you call "gameplay") should be optimal or at least not detrimental to enjoyment in too many ways. However, a game is a whole, not simply a skeleton structure with shiny grafix and k00l musix optional.

What annoys me about the inane "gameplay vs graphics" debate (as well as the flood of self-important "It is teh gamplay unlike what teh grafix whores says!" replies) is how grossly simplified it is. Yes, no one with two brain cells to rub together would honestly say "Yes, I'd prefer a pretty but unplayable piece of shit over a fun but ugly game". But some might find that above-average production values might make up for flawed game design.

edited 12th Jan '11 5:34:45 PM by Glowsquid

Gameplay first - you need incentives to not just watch the game on Youtube or something.

Much agreed. There's a reason why video game footage isn't taken down for copyright infringement for the most part, but movie footage is. The experience needs to come from playing the game. There needs to be something you can get from playing the game that you can't get from watching it.

I watched Siren: Blood Curse on You Tube and was blown away, and saw the entire thing, from beginning to end, all story, and everything. I bought it anyway, played it to death, and loved it. The experience of playing the game was something that you couldn't get just from watching it, even though there's an emphasis on story.

All games need to be designed with playing in mind. If you want to tell a story, fine, but make it a story best enjoyed through playing.

Persona 3 springs to mind as that kind of game. Interesting story, bland gameplay.

On the other end is a game like Deus Ex, which has a strong narrative, but you're cheating yourself if you just watch someone else play instead of playing it yourself.

A game isn't a game without gameplay. So clearly that's first. Music and graphics are probably second. Story and characters are a distant third, and most of the time aren't needed.

Depends on the game and on the genre.

I love story-heavy and story-light/zero-story games about equally, and I like to think I'm pretty forgiving of doofy storylines as long as they fit the game's mood. If the story and gameplay contradict each other a bit, that's fine and to be expected; if the story and the gameplay run into each other and explode, we got a problem.

Music's very important for setting the mood and filling up my playlist, and graphics should, again, suit the game's mood. Or intentionally not suit it; that's cool, too. HD hyperreallism tends to ping my sense of the Uncanny Valley, though.

Also agreeing with Super Dimensionman's post. Games should be fun, instead of all having to focus on one particular point or another. Just because my favorite games tend to be RPGs doesn't keep me from also enjoying quirky things like Katamari Damacy.

I think it depends on what you're trying to achieve with your game and who's your target audience, after all you can't always please everybody.

A game has many ways to be entertaining, be it by telling an interesting story or having awesome gameplay or beautiful graphics, either way the game just gotta be entertaining.

Take the Ace Attorney series as an example: Gameplay is very simple, but the overall story makes the game very enjoyable.

Focusing on any of those that aren't gameplay, unless you're making a Visual Novel, will fail.

That said, to me it goes: Visuals > Gameplay > Characters > Music > Story

in how "important" they are to my enjoyment.

edited 13th Jan '11 9:45:54 AM by Edmania

If people learned from their mistakes, there wouldn't be this thing called bad habits.

You can have a game without story. (Example: Gran Turismo) You can have a game without music. (Example: Minecraft) You may have a game without characters. BUT you never, ever, ever in the history of ever can have a GAME without GAM Eplay.

What do you get if you burn tomatoes? Ash Ketchump.

.........ALL. Story (which includes characters), Gameplay, Graphics, Music, and Lasting Value...those are the five main things that make up a video game. The best video games have a good balance in all five.