Most Important/Crucial Factor in RPG Making

[slaQ]

Just a **** game. All are important. Gameplay included.

It speaks for itself that all elements are really important. But the question was, what's MOST important. And that is in most cases, gameplay.

 

[C-C-C-Cashmere]

Gameplay is far more important than story. The mechanics of your game should tell the story, rather than presenting the storyline in message box format, as a wall of text for your player to consume. Nethack is an example of a game with little to no story, primitive graphics, and minimal sound. However, the gameplay is rich with possibility, with intense replay value, some players even playing the game for 10+ years. In my mind, longevity is important in the arts, and the unique thing about a game is that it can regenerate new possibilities. If you tell a linear story, it will always be the same. But a game with randomness and flexibility can let you create your own story, which is the magic of games.

 

[pladough]

I prefer gameplay, but let's be honest with ourselves... I don't think we'd download and like an rpg maker game unless it looked pretty. XD

 

[RyanA]

I like the story and the music...but...a game isn't a game without gameplay.

 

[Demiurge]

I'm trying to choose between Story and Gameplay.

Probably gameplay just because it's more important for games in general. I mean it's okay to have a FPS game or a fighting game with a bad story but ALL games need good gameplay.

Graphics don't matter (to me at least, minecraft is one of my favorite games) and while music can be a make-or-break factor sometimes, a game can still be rather good without great music.

So for me it's Gameplay>Story>Music>Graphics but only with a teeny tiny difference between each one.

 

[Des]

FUN

 

[Emmych]

@Despain: YUP THAT IS PRETTY MUCH IT.

If your game is fun and people like it, THERE YOU GO, YOUR GAME IS GOOD.

 

[slaQ]

As right as that is, it's kind of an empty thing to say in this topic. Cuz what we're really doing is try to find out which of the elements that make up a game is most important for generating fun.

 

[RyanA]

Good gameplay = fun, doesn't matter if the stories a load of horse manure.

Just look at gears of war!

Edit - Really though, everything is as important as each other, if you want a piece of art and not just something to bang a few quid on and shout profanities while kicking arse, you gotta have a good balance.

 

[PixelLuchi]

This was a tough one to decide. Story/characters or gameplay? I tend to play games that have a mix of both though, but in the end I voted for story, because if I like the characters and the plot, I'll play through your game, and that's where the fun factor is going to come in. Personally, my priorities look like this: Story + Gameplay => Audio => Graphics ( but because I'm a bit of an artist, I like to make things look pretty ^^ ).

If a game can excel in all areas, then I take my hat off to the developer(s).

 

[Chaos17]

Imo, I think the graphics play the first major part in almost every thing in our life (buy a pretty cloth, choose a pretty girl, etc)

So that's the same with rpg. You will usually buy a game because it's look pretty at first sight.

Then come the story and the gameplay. At this stage, the player won't care anymore about graphics.

That will be the most important part after the graphics because it determines whether the player will be bored or not when playing a game.

A good balance between them will be necessary.

Because the fact is if the player prefer a story driven game, he will probably play instead a visual novel or if if prefer gameplay, he will be playing FPS or mmorpgs.

Though there is also cases where tastes matter, not all western rpg players will like j-rpg mostly because of the graphics which are cartoon like. So they think it's childish. W-rpg players usually prefer dark, realistic and mature games where I found them boring as hell because you're usually alone and there isn't enough story part.

 

[RyanA]

Appearances don't matter to me, with everything.

 

[Rehmlok]

Gameplay is king. Hence you 'play' a game. The rest has high importance as well but no matter how good it is, if the gameplay lacks, you got no legs to stand on.

 

[Elements]

Honestly, this whole "X is more important than Y element for a good rpg" mindset feels more like an excuse for laziness in my opinion.

Obviously, Everything has equal importance if you're trying to reach out to most people out there,

Yes it's pretty difficult to pull correctly and time consuming, and that's the reason games are made with development teams, however, and in my opinion, at least outside the professional game making scene, A designer doesn't have to excel at everything, but otherwise, should be at an acceptable level at everything and perhaps really stand out in one particular area.

To further explain this, If you're making a game based on your own preferences and strengths, then you will most likely cater to one specific group of people, i.e if your game revolves around engaging gameplay, your game will receive the most attention from those who value good gameplay and mechanics...however I do not think this is an excuse to completely neglect other areas such as art and music, it is not really "Focusing in one aspect because that's what I like the most" That's just being lazy.

Same goes for graphically inclined people, your game featuring amazing presentation and maps won't justify bad/generic gameplay.

Same goes for music,writing,and so on.

so TL;DR

It's okay to be good in one particular area and focus on that, it isn't okay to neglect everything else because of that.

Regardless of preferences, talents and biases, a game should be at an acceptable level in all areas and perhaps stand out in a particular one.

 

[Rehmlok]

Imo, I think the graphics play the first major part in almost every thing in our life (buy a pretty cloth, choose a pretty girl, etc)

So that's the same with rpg. You will usually buy a game because it's look pretty at first sight.

Not everyone is like that, not at all. There's people who rely on their eyes, others who rely on their hearts, and those who rely on their head. Some on all these, some on two of these... There isn't just that one type of person living this planet, relying on beauty foremost and always for first impression.

I don't buy a game because it looks pretty, I read reviews (which rarely influence my decision) and check out footages of the gameplay (which often influence my decision) before buying. It is my first concern, and never did I buy a game because it was well presented and shiny. I'm sure a lot of gamers out there do that too.

 

[Samven]

Story. Never judge a book by it's cover. Just because an amateur game uses the RTP or has a basic look and feel to it doesn't mean it'll be bad. It's the plot's job to engross you in the game's world. This is also true in the professional world. Games like Xenoblade might not have the same amount of graphical polish as FFXIII or Tales of Vesperia, consoles withstanding, but it was better than both on the narrative front. Seventy hours of pure awesomeness.

I'm not saying I underestimate the power of graphics, far from it. Unique looks and feels can really add to a game's 'verse. I just think that its importance is exaggerated a little bit.

In a very close second, gameplay. A game can have a great plot but if the gameplay sucks then I won't bother with it. It has to be fun to play.

 

[RyanA]

Story. Never judge a book by it's cover. Just because an amateur game uses the RTP or has a basic look and feel to it doesn't mean it'll be bad. It's the plot's job to engross you in the game's world. This is also true in the professional world. Games like Xenoblade might not have the same amount of graphical polish as FFXIII or Tales of Vesperia, consoles withstanding, but it was better than both on the narrative front. Seventy hours of pure awesomeness.

I'm not saying I underestimate the power of graphics, far from it. Unique looks and feels can really add to a game's 'verse. I just think that its importance is exaggerated a little bit.

In a very close second, gameplay. A game can have a great plot but if the gameplay sucks then I won't bother with it. It has to be fun to play.

I thought Xenoblade was better than Chrono Trigger in story and gameplay, and Chrono triggers like my favourite game ever. It's a shame a lot of people do judge books by their covers, and that goes for all things, not just games! 3:

 

[sabao]

I don't understand the point of the question. I believe a game can only be judged as a sum of all its parts, and no single factor takes precedence.

Hanzo Kimura's Valkyrie Stories was a gorgeous thing to look at and played okay, but the writing left a lot to be desired. Script Kitty's Akasha Seal had no gameplay to speak of, but the writing was so engaging, it got nominated for a Misao. Both are polar opposites as far as design philosophy goes but both did spectacularly well for themselves in their time.

 

[The Infamous Bon Bon]

When it comes down to it gameplay is probably the most important factor, but you're not going to satisfy everyone so just make a game that you think is fun and be happy with that.

Gameplay example: Xenoblade was mentioned above as a great game and also by many reviewers, so I bought it (hell I preordered it). I think this game sucks. I tried playing for a couple hours and the gameplay frustrated me, I haven't touched it since.

 

[Cryranos]

I've done a little thinking about this dilemma since I first came across this topic, and I think I can put it this way:

Graphics and story will attract the player to your game, game-play and immersion will keep the player playing, and bad audio may scare the player away.

Also the things you want to ensure that the player will remember are the game-play and story, but if the graphics and audio are very good or bad, they will also remember that, possibly more so than the game-play and the story.