The only reason why I am doing this poll is becaus a buddy of mine and I argue over this all the time. To me, the answere is painfully obvious, but I will not say my answere as of yet, you know, I would not want to sway the votes ;) . Oh, put down your reason to, thanks! Canute out.

I think the story is much more important. Gameplay is important also, but I can't play a game without a decent story no matter how good the gameplay is. I think it comes from being an RPG fan. Gameplay doesn't figure as much in Final Fantasy as story does...

This is such an easy question. It's all of them of course. In a game, music, gameplay, whatever, are all equal when it comes to making a game. Nothing's more important than the others. Even if something is lacking, something else can make up for it. For example, you can have a game with a crappy story, but it's so much fun that you end up having a blast playing it. Does not having a story make the game bad? No, because it's fun.

Not all games require all of the above either. It depends on the genre. RPG fans say story is more important, but story isn't important at all in a platformer like the Mario series. Music isn't important at all in puzzle games like Tetris.

Anyone who says story is important FOR ALL GAMES needs to rethink his/her position. I don't need a story to enjoy Wolf. Heck, it doesn't even have a story. All you do is try to survive in the wild.

In my opinion RPG's need a good story, and Music, and Gameplay. Battle/Racing Game's, Music ,Graphic's and other thing's matter.
But I play mostly RPG's so I go with the Good Story the most ^^.

I agree with Wolf, overall it's the whole package that counts.

I don't think a game needs to excel in one specific area to be a good game.

I think they all matter, but I think gameplay is most important. You don't listen to games, or watch games, or read games, you play games. What is the point if the gameplay sucks, you can get better graphics from a movie, better music from a CD, and a better story from a book. The only thing that makes a games different from a book, movie, tv show, or CD is the gameplay.

All that matters to me is fun factor, if a game isn't fun I don't care how good it sounds or looks. It can be the crappiest piece of crap, but if it's fun I'd buy it.

I'd say how long it is..I mean, i can beat most games in about 2-10 hours, even if they are long RPG's.. Graphics dont matter to me...I mean, i can play N64 and SNES games forever..Good Graphics do help though..And if you exclude all what I just said..Gameplay and Fun Factor"

Yes, that is the point I was trying to get. Of course, I believe you need to have a combination of all of them to have a great game. But the reason why games were invented was for GAMEplay. Back in the day, the games did not have great sound, or great graphics, or any story at all really, but they were still fun.

Well, anyways, thanks for sharing ya's opinions, Canute out.

It's this

Gameplay
Story
Sound
Graphics

That is true about the gameplay. But still... you could give me two games that work the exact same way and I'll still prefer one over the other. I don't think it's just gameplay. I DO watch/read/listen to games.

I watch the animations within the game or shows based on the game.

I read the story while playing, and various books, comics, etc based on the game.

I listen to the music through the game itself or through soundtracks.

And these inspire me to play. Which is just as important, since I'm not a hardcore gamer. There needs to be some other catch for me.

There's so much more than just the gameplay. ;)

Well now we all know that all of them count to be a good game but if I had to choose it would be this:

1. Story
2. Gameplay
3. Graphics
4. Music

and there you have it...

Alright, Canute. You're friend sounds like a genius! He probably favors storyline doesn't he? cuz thats what really matters for me. I'm an RPG guy all the way and RPG's are based on storyline my man, storyline! Gameplay matters the most for, say, fighting games. But, storyline is where its at buddy. and I'm gonna stop now because if I say storyline 3 more times my head will explode. have a nice day.

Tell me Hari, would you ever play an RPG without any battle system at all? What if the story line was the best story line ever, but the only thing you the player did was walk from one room to the other, and that is it. But in between the walking, you got to witness another great storyline scene that was just awesome. Well, it may sound great, but, I do not think you would get much satisfaction out of it. You see, to me, playing games is all about the challenge of beating something. The thing I just described above is similar to watching a movie, which is fine and could be extremely entertaining in itself, but a person really accomplished nothing besides just sitting there.

The point I am trying to make Hari, is that I do not think people would play RPG's if there was no battle system and just story, but people would still play them if there was great battle system and no story, cause they would still take satisfaction out of it, but that is just my opinion, which i regard highly, ha ha.

Oh, and my friend is no genius, trust me. If his brain was half as big as his hair, he would still be half as smart as all the morons out there! Ha, jk. Canute out.

To Canute: Try Shadow of Destiny for PS2. It's a game that is more like watching a movie. There's not much "gameplay", but because you are unraveling a mystery, just running around and doing random stuff is quite fun. My best friend and I spent hours unlocking all 5 endings and 2 special endings. And we STILL haven't found everything in the game.

There it is Canute. A game with almost no real gameplay that this guy says was great, and I believe him. I would play a game with almost no gameplay but I would not play an RPG with crappy story just for the battle system. If I want a battle system I'll play a fighting game. I play RPG's for the story, thats it. Excluding Tales of Symphonia, most battle systems for RPG's are turn based. Why in God's name would I waste my time taking turns with some moron who has 100,000x the HP I do? Because thats the part of the game I want? No, because after him is more storyline and I have to beat him to get it. I will admit that I spent hours on end fighting and losing and fighting and losing and eventually beating Ruby Weapon on FFVII. But I didn't do this for the battle system, I did it because I wanted bragging rights. Lets see you beat him. Anyways, story matters most for me, and thats what this thread is about is it not? Its about my opinion, right? Thats what I thought. Oh and if your friends brain was half the size it is now then he's probably still light years beyond someone who just does their homework, like my friend Mike. jk.

Teehee, I'm a girl.

Shadow of Destiny I just found to be an exception to the gameplay rule. I actually thought it might lose my interest due to lack of button pushing (and playing five+ times). But it didn't, and that really impressed me. It's not the most awesome game ever, but it worked.

My FAVORITE RPG has a good story AND good gameplay (as far as I'm concerned). Star Ocean 2 gave some interesting twists to the story depending on which main character you play as and who you pick up along the way. The battles are "real time" battles and I love that, as I just like pushing buttons. The characters' skills and abilities are very customizable, leading to a party that can spend HOURS leveling up for the final boss and be self-reliant enough to stay in the dungeon without having to head back to a town to restock. Again, a mixure of various good elements is the best.

I wonder how Star Ocean 3 will compare?

Going back to what you said Hari, about the whole bragging rights thing about beating the Ruby Weapon and all, well, that is exactly what I am talking about. Yes, you played the game so you could brag about beating it. And what you desribed there was the gameplay aspect of the game. If you could not get to have any of the bragging writes, like I said before, if there wasn't even a battle system, it simply would not be quite so fullfilling.

But I am not saying the story is not important. It seems to me that the game Shadow of Destiny was more like a movie, put into a game cartridge. Now, I do not have any problem with this, cause I am also a huge movie nut and would probably WATCH the thing if it had a good enough story. But, you guys do have your own opinions, I just do not quite get how some publishers can get away with calling some things games, and not something like cinema or something like that, aw well, what difference does it really make. Canute out.

Warcraft III has a storyline, but no-one much cares about it. Sure, it's a good storyline.

Again, who cares?

I'm one of the few people who played the campaign. Multiplayer games are where it's at in war3.

Unreal Tournament 2004 doesn't even really HAVE a storyline.

On the otherhand, Kotar is based almost completely on the storyline.

Sound is good, needs to be well-placed. Graphics are important to help with the "Feel" of the storyline and the game. Doom 3 would not be much fun if it used the graphics engine of doom 2.

The interface is extremely important. Final Fantasy 7 has an awesome storyline, but I'm not sure if I'll ever play it through.. only like 7% of the way so far... I don't see mindlessly clicking attack in battles as much fun.

Would it really have been so hard to make the battles have strategy?

In war3, I have to decide where to position my units, what to attack with what, I have to move stuff away thats injured, cast spells, surround enemy units, make sure my stuff doesn't get surrounded, focus fire so stuff dies fast, excetera excetera excetera. I know people who could probably beat me with half the units. I can beat many people with half their unit size.

In FF7 I click attack. Again. And again. And maybe heal. AAAAAAAAARGH!

Ok,OK,OK back up, let me get this straight, you are comparing a RTS to one of the best RPG's of all time. That's not right, please don't do that. And play through FF7 before you say more cause 7% is like the pre leaving Midgair and the story get good when you leave Midgair.

why isnt lastibility up there a game would just suck if it were like "you killed the boss now theres nothing alse to do so buy another game"

also gameplay and story are very important as well

Your right yuris, lastability should have been on that list. Some of my favorite games of all time were because i continued to play them for 3-5 years after i first beat them. But, i would say that a game would have to have some really good gameplay for that to happen, so, heh, i guess that puts it back to gameplay for me still. But you are right. Canute out.

Depends on the game in question.

If it's a true RPG then there's really nothing but story. The rules can and are thrown out the window on occasion allowing players to just wing, especially in interpersonal scenes. But even more important than the story are the characters.

When we're talking about video and computer games, graphics are nice so I can see what's happening, but I don't really care beyond that. Yes, if the detail is good and all that then it's a pleasure to watch the game if nothing else.

Sound, well, sound isn't all that important either, but it does enhance the experience of playing but there's some game music I'd kill to get a hold of.

Gameplay, I really don't care about the system behind the game except in the case of a table-top RPG. Sometimes it's important but to honest, I really don't think those times are all that frequent.