What do you prefer in a RPG?

[Lord Xehanort]

Storyline! I can usually look past everything except story. I need plot twists, I need betrayal, I need action! My dad is just a ing gun whore. If he sees me reading dialouge boxes he says: "What the are you doing? Where's the ing killing?" "But dad I am playing an RPG. I've told you before that not all games are senseless destruction and poorly designed naked women like Duke Nukem." "I don't wanna hear nothin' bad about the duke. This trout is boring as ! Where's the blood? Where's the guts? Where's the naked women?" *I point to ESRB rating of T* "What the ? Get this in' trout offa my screen."

[Aya Nekoneko]

All 3 matter to me...

I guess storyline is the best because fantastic graphics are only that if it doesn't have a plot to hold it. Also, since RPGs are so heavily based on battle, a good, fun battle system sounds too good to pass up.

But of course, graphics matter to me too. ^^ Just a level below storyline and maybe on par with battle systems.

And good endings. Need good endings.

[Princess]

First it would have to be the storyline, then the characters and then the graphics and music..
Hmmm

[Kossage]

Well, the gameplay should be fun and practical so that one can adapt to it very easily. Then the story has to be good and memorable, and it has to contain interesting plot twists and have a deep message in it if possible.

Characters (heroes, villains, perhaps NPCs too) should be deep and interesting. The hero shouldn't be like "I'm going to save the world for no good reason!" but have some emotional dilemmas or something that gives him/her a good motive to save the world, and risk his/her life in doing so. Characters (both villains and heroes) should develop during the story too.

The villain(s) should be memorable and give a reason to why the protagonist should hate him/her. The villain shouldn't be like "I'm going to destroy/enslave the world for no good reason! Ha ha ha!" but do something more subtle first and then move on to more grandiose schemes like enslaving the world. He/she shouldn't do that just for fun, but for more complex reasons. The story is as good as its villain as Alfred Hitchcock once said, and I agree. The villain must be something you won't forget, like Darth Vader in Star Wars.

Music should also be good, and the themes should suit the events where they're meant, like the battle music should be aggressive, the final boss music should be somewhat epic, town music should be calm, world map theme should be fitting to the world etc. If the music doesn't suit the event where it was meant to be played, it won't work. And there should be recognizable and fitting themes for the hero(es) and for the villain(s).

The game should have varied objectives and optional minigames/sidequests to keep the player interested. The world should have its own history and political/religional differences so that there is a "grey" area between good and evil. Some good guys can, for example, betray you, while some bad guys might join with your forces. And there should be more objectives than "go there and kill all enemies", for example, you could infiltrate an enemy stronghold and steal something there etc. So objectives should have variety so that the player doesn't get bored while playing the game. There must also be some kind of illusion of freedom so that the player doesn't think that he's walking in a tube or something. There should be multiple paths to choose if possible.

Finally, there could be nice graphics if possible although it's not necessary. If the RPG looks magnificent and, for example, the final boss's spells are epic and good-looking, it will really make you feel that this is the fight for the world. An RPG can be good without eye-candy too, but if there is eye-candy, it's always a plus to me, although it's not necessary to have eye-candy for me to like the game.

There might be something that I've missed, but if I notice anything I forgot, I'll write it down.

EDIT: Engrish...

[Deathclaw]

***Storyline! I can usually look past everything except story. I need plot twists, I need betrayal, I need action! My dad is just a ing gun whore. If he sees me reading dialouge boxes he says: "What the are you doing? Where's the ing killing?" "But dad I am playing an RPG. I've told you before that not all games are senseless destruction and poorly designed naked women like Duke Nukem." "I don't wanna hear nothin' bad about the duke. This trout is boring as ! Where's the blood? Where's the guts? Where's the naked women?" *I point to ESRB rating of T* "What the ? Get this in' trout offa my screen."****

My dad and your dad seem to share the same opinion
"Where The $%#@ IS the ACtion? Where are the scantily clad BIT^$EST Son, are you a fruit or something?"

-Of course my dad plays golf games on the Pc so i don't take him too seriosly.

[Jebus]

Story definatly, is the No.1 for me, if theres a good storyline with good characters, I wouldn't care if it was completely linear, or had a crappy battle system.

After that, the music, the music must fit the scenes. I mean, would (SPOILER) Aeris's death have been as sad if it played some up-beat, calliope music?

Everything else is just a plus, I'm perfectly fine playing a text-based rpg, so long as what I stated above is in order.

[Imperia]

Good story line, no plot holes, sticking to the point, sweet sexy heroes, STRONG heroines, and have at least SOME character developement and not just none... That's what I look for.