What helps an RPG the most?

[Starrodkirby86]

Another discussion poll by me! This is purely for debating, and because this forum is dead with the exception of the Weird Class Names. So as a desperate attempt, I'm making random items of crapfoolshardy to see what the crowd is dealing with. Now, what benefits the game the most? I'll be stating my individual terms here:

• The storyline of a game is very helpful. Just not having motivation to what happens next is boring and the player doesn't want to continue. Then again, something confusing would prove to be even worse or just that same level, having something the player cannot comprehend. If the story is good, the player can imagine the rest and they probably won't mind the rest (Maybe with an exception of something annoying within). Yet there are many games that do well without a good story.


• Graphics are the recent modern trend. Having consistency is the nature of graphics and is pure optimization. If you used Namamura, you better stick with that so much. I'm not just stopping there though, consistency is just a pet peeve and is only serious when you're dealing with the big leagues. Now, real graphics, the better it looks the more appealing it is towards the player. They can play it especially for graphics. But they don't mean everything.


• Gameplay is Miyamoto's strong point. They can also decide if they make or break a game. A game with an annoying battle system won't be praised by any and the player won't try to continue forth. But if the game is addicting and fun, who cares if the rest sucks? Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda can prove this, but those are primitive and obsoleted games nowadays.


• Audio makes an atmosphere of a game come alive. It benefits EVERY category, yet it proves to be essential in itself. Many rhythm games demand on it obviously, but you don't see many rhythmical RPGs (With the exception of Mother 3). Having sound/audio makes you feel less empty inside anyway...A beautiful song would benefit a game even more and get the player jammin'.


• Obviously, having a combination of all of them is the best choice. But it may not always. You can't be very balanced easily, and there still needs to be a strong point out of all of these. Rather, as everything even gets balanced, something will still be in the lead. And the player would still not balance out around anyway. But I kept this choice, just to see what happens.

Enjoy, have fun polling and discuss.

[Phasedscar]

I picked gameplay only because some games don't have a great story but are a blast to play.  Earthbound is a chief example of this.  It's story was actually fairly weak, but the game was so much fun that it made it a great game.

However I think story comes as a close second.  Story drives an RPG, it's what gives you motive.  Without the motive a game will often fall flat.

Graphics however, are absolutely despised by me as a selling point.  (sounds weird I know, since I work on so many graphics oriented things)  however I do enjoy a nice looking bit of scenery or some nice art styles.  But in the end a crappy game is a crappy game, regardless of how pretty everything else is.

[Blizzard]

I voted for the last. It wasn't out of the reason that a combination does it but that they separately can be awesome as well. Take Zelda for example. It's a game with a pretty poor story and almost the same plot over and over. Yet still the game is highly addictive and popular.

When you take older games into account that had bad graphics, I still like playing them because of all the other factors: Story, music, gameplay. i.e. Secret of Mana. True, during its time it had a fairly good graphics, but I still prefer it over the sequel Legend of Mana because of the interesting story, great music (I love the boss battle music) and great gameplay that keeps you entertained for hours and hours (leveling up weapons is so time-consuming xD).

But that doesn't mean that I don't care about graphics. I find that FFIX had very nice graphics during its time and I liked them a lot. I mean it's pretty cool to see your hero carry a kick-ass weapon that is well made and detailed. ^_^ Another example of this would be Oblivion. Even though the game lacked a certain degree of something unlike its prequel Morrowind, I enjoyed playing it (almost 120 hours!!!) due to its graphics. It was really stunning. I found myself a coupl of time just watching at some trees in the wind and the moutain panorama in the background for a moment just because it looked so great or watching up one of those towers on the other side and being speechless of their height.

And the last would be gameplay. I'm not sure if you can call Chaos Legion an RPG, but the gameplay definitely kept me going. The graphics are pretty good, too. Even though the game lacks some touch of reality sometimes (Sieg looks like he's floating over the floor instead of running -_- ), I loved the music and gameplay. The story could have been much better as well, yet it is one of my favorite games which I have played through many times so far.

As Phasedscar already said, graphics sell well. I find that disappointing because the makes start concentrating more on graphics than anything else which makes games dull and repetetive. =/ I think that not all aspects need to be covered at once. But in that case one should concentrate on the other aspects much more. If all games had a bad story and everything else very well, I would have stopped playing RPGs soon after I started.

[computerwizoo7]

If your game don't have a good story then you can throw it in the garbage!

[Starrodkirby86]

Hwar har, thanks for your reply computerwiz  . Obviously, yes story is something that can't be taken lightly. I see far too many projects with completely idiotic stories that are really...just plain out bad. I guess that's a good thing to do when you come out with your story, and it is a motivator. You know what, I think I'm a bit motivated to continue on my story. Thanks wiz, a useless power-up for you.

[Blizzard]

I played Dark Eternal and the game was really too hard. But I wanted to know how the story goes on so I hacked my savegame and made my characters level 99 so I coudl continue playing. I agree, story is a great motivator.

[TheHackMan]

I would have to say its a combination of everything you listed except for graphics. If it has an addicting storyline plus a really great and interactive gameplay plus some decent music then I could care less what the graphics looked like. I have played some games with really amazing graphics but the storyline sucked ass and and gameplay was pretty bleh so the game stuck overall. Its whats behind the game that makes it a great game, sure 3D graphics are nice to have and look at but if there isn't a good backing to a game then there is no point to the game at all.

[Blizzard]

Oblivion was a bit like that. Only the gameplay was fun. But after 120 hours you wish that you never ever even hear the name Oblivion. -_- I still can't believe I played it 118 hours. But it WAS a very boring spring so it's kind of reasonable. And I did almost all the side quests during that time.

[Diokatsu]

I think the main draw of oblivion was the add-ons people made. Or at least thats what made morrowind so epic. The user created content was like constant refreshment in the game :\

[winkio]

It's a close tie between gameplay and storylines for me.  But really good gameplay outweighs even the worst storyline.  For me at least.

After that, music, then graphics.  Repetitive music sucks the buttocks.  Graphics I can get over, but music drives me crazy!

As for the best example of all combined, I would point to Guild Wars.  Serious gameplay and storyline, decent music, and great graphics.

[Blizzard]

It all depends with me. Chaos Legion's story wasn't anything special (except for a very nice plot twist at the end), but I liked the gameplay so much that it's one of my favorite games. ^_^

[Diokatsu]

Combination is obviously the best but it's hard to find a good game all around. I'd vote Portal as one but it was a short game to be honest from a storyline stand point. And it wasn't a very complex storyline to boot.

[Blizzard]

True, Portal was great. But it wasn't so much the gameplay (which was also very good) but the humor. Where do you add humor in those categories? O.o; I'd personally add it in story because it's plot and that is part of story after all.

[Diokatsu]

Yeah, but it was the humor that drew a crowd, but the gameplay kept you on.

[Starrodkirby86]

Personally, humor is a story factor. It is derived from ideas, and it kind of keeps the story going on. After all, EarthBound had a nugget full of humor and a great storyline with your run-of-the-mill Dragon Warrior like Gameplay. If it weren't for the witty dialogue, I'm sure there would be no legion of EarthBound fanboys/girls as there is now.