What things cause you to like a game?

[Skyward]

This thread is inspired, indirectly, from this thread.

What I want to discuss is what aspects of a game cause you to (dis)like a game? There are things like repetition, plot, depth, art, control mechanics, gimicks, and other things that go into a game, but what hooks you in? What makes you wish you rented the game first?


I enjoy some repetition in games, but when it becomes too much a part of the games concept (FFXI or EQ, or most MMOs) I can't play the game very long. Speaking of FFXI, I could never get used to using a controller and macros to control my character. I'm a wizard with a keyboard and mouse, but a controller? I'll play 360 or PS3, or even ROMs if I want to use a controller.

I enjoy games with almost random growth. Many MMOs just were way too grindy to be fun (I never got to the level cap in WoW) because I didn't feel like I was improving. Borderlands was interesting, even if it was boring and repetitive, because it was almost a fun grind. It was about getting better loot (awesome guns, like a mini-rocket launching shotgun or a rocket launcher). The added mechanic of having your ability with guns to improve the more you use it added to the feeling of getting better without relying on loot like WoW does. In WoW I would gain a level and think, boredly, 'Oh yay, I got a talent point...' Or even on levels where the skills you got are ones I would never use: 'Oh Chain Heal? I solo.'

Oblivion's leveling method would have been great for me if it wasn't counter-intuitive to make an effective character. You would have to mod the game to get the maximum amount of growth per level-up without having to micromanage what skills you levelled up. If I wanted to micromanage I would play an RTS. Yuck.


I find that, artistically, I like well-done environments that really set a good mood for the area. Bioshock's underwater city-gone-fucked feel with characters that clicked with the environment was love at first sight. I enjoyed the environments in WoW because they didn't use 'busy' textures and still made it interesting. I LOVED Grizzly Hills in Northrend because it reminded me of northern Minnesota. The music in the background was great too.

FFXI was just yuck in that way, the textures were kind of too simple unless you had a great computer to put everything on max graphics (I didn't) and even then the maps felt flat and synthetic.

City of Heroes had some of my most favorite environments. When I got an HD graphics card and played the game on max graphics I couldn't do anything for a good 10-15 minutes while I stared at how much of the district I could see. Who needs a helicopter in New York when you can fly around Steel Canyon?


Enough of my ramblings (for now ) What kind of things do you folks find awesome/yuck about certain games you've enjoyed or disliked?

 

[The_Liquid_Laser]

I tend to be most attracted to games that try to do something fairly original and manage to make it work in a fun way. Katamari Damacy, Wii Sports, and Rockband are relatively recent examples that have managed to accomplish this. I tend to keep my eye on games that try something fairly different to see if the game is just a novelty or if it really has lasting appeal. Right now I've just started playing Scribblenauts and it seems fun so far, but it's too early for me to tell if it will have lasting appeal at this point.

 

[Feops]

I like immersion. It's a hard thing to pin down, a game has to have a certain charm to it. It has to be stuffed with originality and content, like a book sort of. Good characters help a lot but aren't needed if the world itself is done well.

Fallout 3 is an example of a game that I think was done well, but I didn't enjoy. There were just too many miles of open pointless wasteland, all the characters sort of blurred together in generic angsty wastelanders (myria being an exception). I didn't really care about what I was doing as I ran around.

A number of indie games really shine in this department. They have to really try hard on charm for lack of multi-million dollar animation budgets. Games like Aquaria, The Spirit Engine 2, Iji, Cave Story, etc. Some other games with suitable atmosphere off the top of my head... Dragaon Age, Baldurs's Gate, Metroid, Zelda, Prince of Persia: SoT, Secret of Mana...

 

[JustHer]

I hate when they are too unstructured, and you don't even know where to begin because there are just a million different paths you could take. I also hate it when there's no sense of progress along the way, like how do you know if you're kicking ass or just coasting through?

 

[Skyward]

I hate when they are too unstructured, and you don't even know where to begin because there are just a million different paths you could take. I also hate it when there's no sense of progress along the way, like how do you know if you're kicking ass or just coasting through?

Same, Oblivion felt awkward because I just kind of land somewhere and unless you really stick with dialog and your map, you feel like: '...What do I do now?'

I enjoyed Fallout because there were some characters that stuck out. Myra was my favorite just because she reminded me of all sorts of people I knew IRL. '*Gasp* My very own landmine! Just what Ive always wanted!'

I really enjoyed the Point Lookout DLC for FO3. I enjoy games that really twist your mind without needing really freaky looking things ramming through walls. A dark mood with interesting mini-plots got me snookered in on it.

 

[YaeRRoW]

Skill based games like StarCraft. Or very hard games like Diablo and Deamon's souls. And difficult Puzle games.

 

[Snuggletron]

atmosphere, excitement-value, lots of different elements/things to do (but not in a WoW way where it all just means the same thing in the end). Good plot.

I like *certain* rpgs for atmosphere but I like fps for excitement/fun value. Combining the two seems to be the perfect mix (although I didn't like fallout 3 that much either). I want to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. but I'm not a PC gamer. boohoo.

 

[BlueScreen]

Action, strategy, complexity, adaptability (lots of options), a challenge. For example I liked old FPS games like quake (team fortress) more than new slow ones like counter-strike. I don't have much time for the story line and simulating reality. I just want to be linked in and have good, fast, adaptable game play. Car racing games are very whatever for me. RPGs are somewhat entertaining if I'm playing with friends and can try weird moves. Strategy games I quite like, haven't played any new ones though, used to love C&C over lan, and playing warlords 3, sim city, x-com, etc. I quite like some of the sports games too, though I never owned any.

 

[Kyrielle]

I like immersion. It's a hard thing to pin down, a game has to have a certain charm to it. It has to be stuffed with originality and content, like a book sort of. Good characters help a lot but aren't needed if the world itself is done well.

Fallout 3 is an example of a game that I think was done well, but I didn't enjoy. There were just too many miles of open pointless wasteland, all the characters sort of blurred together in generic angsty wastelanders (myria being an exception). I didn't really care about what I was doing as I ran around.

A number of indie games really shine in this department. They have to really try hard on charm for lack of multi-million dollar animation budgets. Games like Aquaria, The Spirit Engine 2, Iji, Cave Story, etc. Some other games with suitable atmosphere off the top of my head... Dragaon Age, Baldurs's Gate, Metroid, Zelda, Prince of Persia: SoT, Secret of Mana...

What Feops said.

I like my games to be like books (I love that analogy), and I like to be drawn into them. I like to care about the fate of the NPCs (somewhat), and feel like the world could exist on its own as a "reality".

I also need to explore. As long as there's lots of little neat places in the landscape, I'm a happy camper. It's why I have a little trouble enjoying games where the environment is too limited or linear. (One of reasons why I enjoyed FFXII more than FFX. The maps were more open.)

 

[Skyward]

What Feops said.

I like my games to be like books (I love that analogy), and I like to be drawn into them. I like to care about the fate of the NPCs (somewhat), and feel like the world could exist on its own as a "reality".

I also need to explore. As long as there's lots of little neat places in the landscape, I'm a happy camper. It's why I have a little trouble enjoying games where the environment is too limited or linear. (One of reasons why I enjoyed FFXII more than FFX. The maps were more open.)

I enjoyed that about FFXII too, even if I spent most of my time farming to fill out more of the ability grid or whatever you call it. I enjoy 'hobby grinding,' if the grind is -required- to progress (MMOs), it's like a job. City of Heroes had a lot of cool plots and maps in it, and with instanced missions all the time I didn't have to compete with other people often.

Another thing about CoH (City of Heroes) is that the character creator system was really robust. Costume contests happened all the time for that reason since it would be rare to spot someone who looked exactly like someone else. It didn't feel like most MMOs where you look like everyone else, especially once you got to the lategame and got all the gear. I just had a thought, in WoW you start off looking like everyone else of your class, and once you 'beat' the game by getting all the gear in the endgame you, again, look like everyone else.

City of Heroes even felt freer, especially if you got a vertical travel power like Fly, Teleport, or Superjump. Only Aion so far has that kind of freedom, but the art seems frivolous when I look at it.

 

[vince]

gameplay itself is more important than anything.

Other than that :

Quake for the adrenaline rush.
RTS for the satisfaction after thinking through a strat.
A lot of games simply for the multiplayer experience (Team Fortress 2 !!!).
Arcade games for the challenge/addiction to do better.
Fifa for the realism.
Zelda for the involvement and developments along the way.