I think we can agree that we all love and enjoy games, but WHY do we like them so much?
Alot of people in all age groups are playing games now, and it looks like only more are going to join the fun. In the current year, gaming covers alot of different genres, and there is something for everybody.
But what keeps bringing in more players?
Alot of people play a certain game because their friends play it, or they got interested because they saw a video on the internet, a review or an article. The community plays a huge role in the enjoyment of a game for most people. There is a saying: No road is too long with a friend by your side. I think a healthy and fun community keeps you imterested, and discussions always make you think about the game, outside of the game. Pokémon Go is a great example for this. The game wasn't deep at all, it was basicly a map with some little interactions, but the social interaction and showing how much fun a walk outside can be made it a great experience for everybody (And made the developer's wallets happy too). Trying new things is always important too, but its not a good idea to just focus on innovation and to try to find the hot new thing. People fear change and would rather prefer the same thing over and over again. "Dont fix what isnt broken" is another saying which alot of game devs and console manufacturers go by, but there are Companies like Nintendo that try to innovate the market. Gimmicky controllers and games plague the company while their competition takes over the market. But change is important to keep a series fresh and to make new experiences.
Personally for me music is extremly important. A boring battle system can easily be forgiven if you have some catchy and great music in the background, and it helps make scenes much more emotional. Touching the player with powerful scenes and getting them to feel the pain and sadness from the character is the greatest thing a game can achieve. But not only negative emotions can come from music, it can cheer the player up, make the boring field a joy to walk over and make the player feel like a badass. A game with no music would be boring and it wouldnt have any personality. When I think about games like Mega Man, Final Fantasy and Persona, I instantly think about the amazing music. Themes like the Mega Man 2 Theme, Aerith's Theme or Burn my Dread are some of my favourites, and I listen to them in the game and outside of the game. I still remember hearing Chrono Triggers soundtrack for the first time. It simply blew me away what they could do with the console. Listening to the soundtrack made me want to go back and replay it multiple times and I kept thinking about the game even after the 5th playthough. I cant really see me grind for hours in ffx if there wouldnt be the amazing battle theme in the background.
Not only Music is important, fun should be at the top. Why should I play a game that isnt fun and that doesnt make me happy? I would be pretty stupid if I would throw away all my time for a game that I dont enjoy. A game also should have alot of replay value and additional challenges that give the player something to do after they finished the game. A great example for this is the 2nd Generation of Pokémon games. Once you finished the Johto Region, you go into the Kanto region where you can see how it changed and what happened after the events of the first gen. This is both fanservice at its best and gives you way more things to do, plus a really strong fight at the end, which makes the ending even better. Current Pokémon games like the Gen 3 remakes dont have anything fun to do after the end of the game. Sure you have stuff like legendary pokemon to catch, but I didnt enjoy that at all. The funny thing is that Gen 3 is my second favourite Geny but I still didnt like ORAS. Fun can be really different depending on what kind of player you are. Some enjoy 5 hour grinds, and some want to stop playing after 1 hour of grinding. Things like farming and grinding shouldnt be in the focus of the game, so that every type of player can get the most enjoyment out of a game. If somebody wants to fight a superboss, which requires you to level up to lv99, they should be able to, but players who just want to play the main story, should be forced to grind to defeat story bosses. This is very hard to balance since making story bosses too easy could quickly make the game boring, though a difficulty setting would take care of that problem. Alot of people complain that the current Pokémon games are way too easy, so they should give them the option to be more challenged in the game with higher level enemies and stuff like that.
The feel of a game is very important as well. If you have a game which just feels so nice that you want to run around for the whole time, you did something right. If the game feels bad it instantly kills the fun for alot of people. Fighting games and platformers should feel good and responsive.
One of my last points I want to mention is discussion. I think its a great idea to hide certain clues in a game to make the fans talk and discuss certain things in a game. This makes the fans stay interested in the series and they have to think alot more about their favourite games. A well written story doesnt shove all the story into your face. The fun comes from puzzling all the different pieces together with the help of friends, to understand the whole story. Some games have blank points so fans can discuss about it, so they keep interested till the next game in the series is released.
Personally I think it all depends on your tastes. Some enjoy music from games and some think its wierd to listen to video game music outside of the game. A good designer can please all the fans without making others unhappy. Sure, there are the crybabies, but that has to be expected. Out of every thing here, Gameplay and Music are the most important thing for me. I would have a ton of fun with a Level editor that has amazing music, but yeah, thats just me. I would like to hear your opinions on what makes a game great, and I would love to discuss it with everybody here. Goodluck to everybody (Damn is this long, this took me like 1-2 hours haha)
Stay safe and have a good night/day
Alot of people in all age groups are playing games now, and it looks like only more are going to join the fun. In the current year, gaming covers alot of different genres, and there is something for everybody.
But what keeps bringing in more players?
Alot of people play a certain game because their friends play it, or they got interested because they saw a video on the internet, a review or an article. The community plays a huge role in the enjoyment of a game for most people. There is a saying: No road is too long with a friend by your side. I think a healthy and fun community keeps you imterested, and discussions always make you think about the game, outside of the game. Pokémon Go is a great example for this. The game wasn't deep at all, it was basicly a map with some little interactions, but the social interaction and showing how much fun a walk outside can be made it a great experience for everybody (And made the developer's wallets happy too). Trying new things is always important too, but its not a good idea to just focus on innovation and to try to find the hot new thing. People fear change and would rather prefer the same thing over and over again. "Dont fix what isnt broken" is another saying which alot of game devs and console manufacturers go by, but there are Companies like Nintendo that try to innovate the market. Gimmicky controllers and games plague the company while their competition takes over the market. But change is important to keep a series fresh and to make new experiences.
Personally for me music is extremly important. A boring battle system can easily be forgiven if you have some catchy and great music in the background, and it helps make scenes much more emotional. Touching the player with powerful scenes and getting them to feel the pain and sadness from the character is the greatest thing a game can achieve. But not only negative emotions can come from music, it can cheer the player up, make the boring field a joy to walk over and make the player feel like a badass. A game with no music would be boring and it wouldnt have any personality. When I think about games like Mega Man, Final Fantasy and Persona, I instantly think about the amazing music. Themes like the Mega Man 2 Theme, Aerith's Theme or Burn my Dread are some of my favourites, and I listen to them in the game and outside of the game. I still remember hearing Chrono Triggers soundtrack for the first time. It simply blew me away what they could do with the console. Listening to the soundtrack made me want to go back and replay it multiple times and I kept thinking about the game even after the 5th playthough. I cant really see me grind for hours in ffx if there wouldnt be the amazing battle theme in the background.
Not only Music is important, fun should be at the top. Why should I play a game that isnt fun and that doesnt make me happy? I would be pretty stupid if I would throw away all my time for a game that I dont enjoy. A game also should have alot of replay value and additional challenges that give the player something to do after they finished the game. A great example for this is the 2nd Generation of Pokémon games. Once you finished the Johto Region, you go into the Kanto region where you can see how it changed and what happened after the events of the first gen. This is both fanservice at its best and gives you way more things to do, plus a really strong fight at the end, which makes the ending even better. Current Pokémon games like the Gen 3 remakes dont have anything fun to do after the end of the game. Sure you have stuff like legendary pokemon to catch, but I didnt enjoy that at all. The funny thing is that Gen 3 is my second favourite Geny but I still didnt like ORAS. Fun can be really different depending on what kind of player you are. Some enjoy 5 hour grinds, and some want to stop playing after 1 hour of grinding. Things like farming and grinding shouldnt be in the focus of the game, so that every type of player can get the most enjoyment out of a game. If somebody wants to fight a superboss, which requires you to level up to lv99, they should be able to, but players who just want to play the main story, should be forced to grind to defeat story bosses. This is very hard to balance since making story bosses too easy could quickly make the game boring, though a difficulty setting would take care of that problem. Alot of people complain that the current Pokémon games are way too easy, so they should give them the option to be more challenged in the game with higher level enemies and stuff like that.
The feel of a game is very important as well. If you have a game which just feels so nice that you want to run around for the whole time, you did something right. If the game feels bad it instantly kills the fun for alot of people. Fighting games and platformers should feel good and responsive.
One of my last points I want to mention is discussion. I think its a great idea to hide certain clues in a game to make the fans talk and discuss certain things in a game. This makes the fans stay interested in the series and they have to think alot more about their favourite games. A well written story doesnt shove all the story into your face. The fun comes from puzzling all the different pieces together with the help of friends, to understand the whole story. Some games have blank points so fans can discuss about it, so they keep interested till the next game in the series is released.
Personally I think it all depends on your tastes. Some enjoy music from games and some think its wierd to listen to video game music outside of the game. A good designer can please all the fans without making others unhappy. Sure, there are the crybabies, but that has to be expected. Out of every thing here, Gameplay and Music are the most important thing for me. I would have a ton of fun with a Level editor that has amazing music, but yeah, thats just me. I would like to hear your opinions on what makes a game great, and I would love to discuss it with everybody here. Goodluck to everybody (Damn is this long, this took me like 1-2 hours haha)
Stay safe and have a good night/day
Last edited by Justinde75,