What makes a game good?

[chronoman]

I have always wondered what makes a game go from good to great. Is it the people? The story? The minigames, graphics, features, music, gameplay? I have never been able to figure out a perfect game. I know a great game must posses all of these features but how can you make it perfect? How can it become something that there is nothing to hate? I understand opinions may differ but I want to hear what you think makes a great game.

[DragonBlaze]

A prefect game doesn't need to excell in one catagory such as the gameplay or the story, it needs to be balanced in all of the catagories.

I see a lot of time people think that since they have a great story, their game will be great, but this is not the case. A game needs great maps, grapics, and music to bring the story to life, and great gameplay to connect the player with the game.

Instead of trying to make one aspect of the game perfect to make a perfect game, you need to make all aspects perfect.

[Scarface Larry]

I think that a perfect game needs a entralling story that makes the player really think about it's subject matter. It needs characters that a player can relate to, when a tragic event happens in a game, a good story char combination will make the player sad too.

Characters also need to be unique, different in many ways, such as the quiet reserved character can be very cliched, but with some work it can be a deep character who always has that air of mystery around himher. Backstories are also important, how did the character get this way? Why are they doing what they are? Where did they come from? If you can answer these questions well, and add more, you've got a pretty good background. Another thing for Characters is graphics, usually I don't care about graphics, but the way a character looks can add alot to how they feel. Eyes are generally used, red for evil, blue for hopeful, and so on. Hair can be important too, if a character has scraggily disheveled hair, you could tell that something may have happened, or they may seem sort of creepy or sometimes scary. Color of hair is good too, most heroes have blond, red, or brownblack hair, while villans usually have silver, or jet black hair, we usually identify characters by this. If they have distinguishing features on they're faces like scars, we guess that something happened to cause that.

Maps are also important, if a map is blocky and you can almost instantly think that the map is a generic peice of junk, then you've got a bad map. However, if the map makes you feel like it could be a real place, then you've got a good map.

Music is very important too, music can really set the mood. Brass instruments can give either a feeling of heroics, royalty or maybe even evil. Drums can give the sense of tension, by giving a heartbeat like sound, or give a energetic beat that can lighten the mood. The guitar can give a nice village theme, very country-ish, or a hard rock theme for a fight, or maybe a hero's theme. If you combine instruments well, and you can actually listen to the music a few times over, and you feel that you've set the mood, then that's what your looking for.

Of course we all know how important Gameplay is, well-balanced battles with normal enemies easy or a small challenge, and bosses who make you give everything your characters can give, and then some, is what most players are looking for. A good game can keep the challenge to a good level, and make it so that it's not horribly easy or impossibly hard. Minigames always improve the experiance, although sometimes they can just be annoying and boring. Sometimes you get a game that really brakes the mold, like Katamari Damacy, name one game that involved rolling a ball and was as fun as that. Or you get games that balance everything well, with a neat twist thrown in to keep you exited.

Like dragonblaze said,  

Instead of trying to make one aspect of the game perfect to make a perfect game, you need to make all aspects perfect.

[neb87]

You need to keep the player wanting more and more untill you have a perfect ending, and then have great replay value so you can play it again and agian

[MrMister]

Fudge story right in the fudging eye. No One Can Stop Mr. Domino. Perfect game, no story. Deal with it you queens.

[FFL2and3rocks]

The most important part is the gameplay, the way I see it. I've seen a lot of people who only think the story matters... but if I played a game with an awesome story, but the game was boring as hell, I'd quit playing it.

Replay value is another great thing to have, as well as extra stuff to do once you beat it.

[Scarface Larry]

Originally posted by MrMister
Fudge story right in the fudging eye. No One Can Stop Mr. Domino. Perfect game, no story. Deal with it you queens.

Noone has EVER said something so true. Mr.Domino is the greatest game ever. Mr.Pants takes up the rear   :p

[shadus]

*Trys to take notes but is to lazy to do so.*

[Drace]

A perfect game is a game with a story that lives. Matching music and scenarios and maps. Drama throughout the game, yet comedy in between. It should should make you cry, laugh, feel joy and yet feel sorrow. It's gameplay should be good, making sure you get enough things to do. The bosses should be great and the music should fit every scene. This is why I, Drace Phoenix, call out Metal Gear Solid as the best game on PS1, best story overall, best graphics for it's time and best characters overall.

[MrMister]

Originally posted by shadus
*Trys to take notes but is to lazy to do so.*

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[auron xxl]

Well, if i buy a game, then it must have a good Story! It should also make fun to play! Thats my minimum of request. About Graphic? I think, a good game doesnīt nececcarely needs good graphics! I will play a game as long as i think itīs interesting  

[CheapAlert]

My silly four game rules, even though they apply more strictly for first person shooters:

1. Don't focus the entire game on one or two hyped gimmicks. Half-Life 2 became nothing more than a tech-demo when over 50% of the game involved using only the gravity gun to toss environmental objects at enemies. The other 50% of the game was spent on water-based travel, only really created to show off the engine's usage of pixel shader reflections, which are actually badly implemented as it can only apply to flat planar surfaces at a fixed water level.

2. Don't ever make the player "work" to advance through the game, only allow the extra effort for the extras say like finding easter eggs in secret places, fetching all the ammo, weapons, treasures and health in the area. Serious Sam was a big criminal violator of #2. "Working" reduces overall replayability of the game.
 
3. Don't imitate the current popular games and be a "clone". You'll be quickly forgotten, because why bother with the latest Rainbow Six game while alot of people are playing Counter-Strike? One reason Duke3D stood out from the rest is the innovative weaponry (a shrinker is still yet to be seen in any other game) and the humor and character packed onto it.

4. People will not play your game if you stick StarForce or SecuROM in it. Perhaps malicious evil copy protection schemes in most recent PC games are the reason consoles are getting a bigger sales lead than usual.

my .2c

[DragonBlaze]

Those are very good rules CheapAlert

As for the story aspect of games, the only games where it REALLY matters is RPG games. I beleive the primary goal of any RPG game should be to tell a story, if you're just looking for action or gameplay, a first person shooter or an action game would be the game to get. And even so, having a good story in an action or shooter game won't hurt the game at all and will most likely make them more enjoyable to play.

Even though I think the primary thing in an rpg game should be the story, I still think all aspects of such a game should be taken into consideration as I have stated before.

[Leon_1990]

my three qualities were discovered after I played Wild ARMS and FF7....

GAMEPLAY, STORYLINE and CHARACTERS
....unfortunately, nowadays, VISUALS must be added into the mix, not necessarily a bad thing, but allowing Visual development to take place of my 3 stated points, ALWAYS results in a bad game.

[Kijuki_Magazaki]

gameplay, story, music for the moods, and if there's voice acting, it has to be hella of a good