What matters most to you in a game?

[Momiji]

As the title says, what matters most to you in a game? Is it a deep interesting storyline? Is it fantastic gameplay? Is it the quality of the graphics? Or do you like games for their difficulty?

For me, I'd have to say gameplay. The game could have a boring storyline and 2-D graphics (actually, I'd encourage it. I don't really care much for games that focus on graphics.), but if the game is fun, I'm hooked.

[Lionx]

Gameplay, its what keeps you going back again and again. If its not fun to go through the game there is less likelyhood for you to play it again, ie: Xenosaga gameplay, great story, crappy way to do it.

[Rocket Edge]

Gameplay, its what keeps you going back again and again. If its not fun to go through the game there is less likelyhood for you to play it again.

Yep. However the greatest asset to a great computer game to me is its ability to make it nostalgic.

[Bahamut2000X]

While I think every game needs a level of each, it's story hands down followed by game play. If the game is uninteresting and cliche then who cares if it has the best game play if it's story rots your brain to think about.

As for graphics I consider that a dead last if it's even on the list altogether. As long as the graphics don't clash or look messy then who cares if it's polygons or pixels?

[Tavrobel]

Gameplay comes first. Always. Otherwise, it wouldn't be very much of a game, now would it? Difficulty falls under this category; a game has to have balance between its hard and difficult parts. If it's hard, they have to give us the means to beat it, then let us bang our heads while we figure it out.

Story comes second. Graphics is dead last. Shiny objects are not the best objects.

However, I've found that for FFs, plot comes first. Mostly because for every game after FFVI, I've been expecting what is basically a visual novel; interaction for the sake of the plot, not because it provides anything new or revolutionary.

[Rostum]

I believe there needs to be a nice balance of each aspect, including graphics. It's quite sad that most of today's games are sold on graphics alone (and it's even sadder that in some of my lectures, a few other students actually thought graphics were the only thing that mattered in a game).

In my own opinion, I would say gameplay comes first. Then it'll be a mixture between story/character development (depends on the type of game, however) and soundtrack. Without a soundtrack, a lot of games lose their immersive aspects.

On another point. When we talk about the graphical aspect of a game, I am really not a huge fan of hyper-realism, thought it can be impressive at times. I am more of a sucker for really stylised art direction in games, and prefer something that is a bit more quirky.

I would say even the Myst games, although have a huge sense of realism in their art direction, still have a majestic and mysterious feel, which is a huge reason why I love those games (not to mention the soundtracks, puzzles, story lines and world presence).

On another point. For a game to be a game, it needs to have challenging and competitive aspects. This is even true for role playing games, imo. Otherwise you'd rather be watching a movie or reading a book.

Simple answer: Gameplay.

[Bolivar]

I don't think there's any set formula for deciding a good game - you either like it or you don't.

For example, I'm a huge RPG fan, but storyline is hardly necessary for a good game. Counter-Strike has absolutely no story whatsoever, yet it's one of my favorite PC games.

The same holds true for gameplay. The battle system in FFIV is actually pretty unoriginal and alot of the time boring, yet it had a great jRPG story for the SNES era.

For a game to be really great it has to have all of the 4 poll choices, including graphics. While graphics alone is never a good way to rate a game other than on aesthetics, it reinforces all other aspects, to drive home story and gameplay in ways that games with lesser graphical focus simply can't. Music I feel works in the same way.

[Markus. D]

A collection of things for sure.

Overall I want it to be polished.

But most of all! I want the gameplay to be fun ;D

[Ashi]

Gameplay/Battle system is what matters to me the most, usually. In some other cases I might be interested in the world or curious about the story (very rare unless its a visual novel type like the Ace Attorney series).

[Vyk]

Gameplay. Depending on the game storyline, character development, and soundtrack. Overall atmosphere. But excellent gameplay can carry a really crappy storyline most of the time. So a lot of that is irrelevant. If the gameplay isn't there, the game isn't there

[Dreddz]

Obviously gameplay. Although Ill make an exception in an RPG game if everything else is done right.

[El Bandito]

Honestly all of those four choices are important (and I'd pick gameplay as the most limited to them), but for me, the most important thing in a game is its replayability.

Take Bioshock. One of the best games I've ever played in all those categories, but I experienced it as much as I could in the 12 or so hours I logged from renting it.

It's the rare game that you find yourself continually playing for months or even years like a Smash or Final Fantasy or GTA that really take the cake.

[Jessweeee♪]

1. Storyline
2. Music
3. Gameplay
4. Replay Value
5. Difficulty
6. Camera Angles and Control

[Loony BoB]

Scorched Earth

Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 1/10
Story: I don't think it has one.

And that's why so many people played Scorched Earth, Tank Wars, and other variations. Remember the monkeys that stood on buildings and threw bananas at each other? Same thing.

Graphics and story are a bonus. Of course, an RPG with no story is generally crap, so it can differ from genre to genre.

[JKTrix]

For the majority of games, I rank it as such:
-Gameplay
-Challenge
-Graphics
-Story

While Story is the lowest ranked on my list, if a game's story is exceptional it would allow me to overlook most flaws in gameplay, or challenge, or graphics (provided those aspects don't fail on their own). Like the game Yakuza. Gameplay is pretty clunky, but the graphics are nice and the story is great.

Like some people have said already, RPGs and Visual Novels like Phoenix Wright focus more on telling the story and aren't very concerned with "Fantastic Gameplay". I can generally accept that, though I tend not to play the more traditional RPGs for very long before turning to something else.