How do you prioritise aspects of a video game?

[NightmareFarm]

For me it's Gameplay > Presentation > Story/Characters > Visuals > OST

What about you guys?

[Empire]

Performance of the game- No point playing if it's lagging or your system is pooping it out so hard to get the best
Gameplay - What's the gameplay about and something that I would like as I'm going into the story or what not
Story - Yes the story has to be very intersting to keep myself to keep on playing, I hate bad and boring stories 

[Shagger]

Control and interface

Gameplay

Sound (Never underestimate how important this can be)

Story

Aesthetics and graphics

[Dannyjax]

If the gameplay isn't something that I have interest in, I wouldn't be getting into the game in the first place. 

How good the control is would keep me playing the game as long as possible. 

The visuals/graphics/sounds all would take the last spot for me. 

[Reality vs Adventure]

Scenery/setting

User friendly gameplay

Unique characterization/gear

Story

Innovation/perks/activities

 

 

[killamch89]

1. Story
2. Gameplay Mechanics
3. Graphics/ User Interface

[Withywarlock]

It depends entirely on the circumstances. As much as I agree with AVGN's assessment of one of the Atari consoles ("what's the most important thing about any video game? Well how about being able to f**kin' play it?!"), being able to play it is pointless if it isn't enjoyable. So gameplay (whatever that means these days) and controls, or performance as Empire says, are my number one priority.

Presentation in most games is awful, I don't know why but so many insist on using all four corners of the screen which is really unhelpful in games that require a lot of focus on different aspects (then-World of Warcraft streamer Preach Gaming did some eye-tracking, noticing how much time was lost in total to looking at user interfaces). It's my understanding that fighter aircraft head-up displays (HUDs) are more in the centre and don't get in the way of what they're looking at to help with peripheral vision and clarity of UI elements. Presentation doesn't matter to me so much as customisation of that presentation does; Final Fantasy XIV seems to get this, I don't get why being able to change the UI in most games isn't an option.

Story and characters... in the context of this, these rank quite low. In the context of "versus lore," however, they rank significantly higher. I'd rather have a game with personality over more text-dumps than a goose in a library (looking at you, Pillars of Eternity).

Graphics and soundtrack I can take or leave. As long as the game's most important elements are clear and the art style is consistent, I'm generally fine with the visual aspect of games. As for the audio, a game's soundtrack being so good I want to buy it is always welcome, but I'll hardly notice it considering I don't play games without something else going on in the background.

[Clasher]

Performance our weighs game play then presentation , graphics and other features comes next.

A game might have a really captivating storyline or characters but It would become a pain in the neck to play if it is lagging or slow. Performance is important then I must like the plot and storyline and enjoy the character with it's unique sounds and graphics quality as this would go a long way to determine if I would still continue playing that particular video game or stop after sometime.

[Justin11]

The quality of the gameplay will always come first to me when I'm critically analysing a video game. I wouldn't access the soundtrack, graphics first time, I'll go straight to the gameplay to see what it is before I conclude, if the game is good or dreadful. 

[NightmareFarm]

3 hours ago, Clasher said:

Performance our weighs game play then presentation , graphics and other features comes next.

A game might have a really captivating storyline or characters but It would become a pain in the neck to play if it is lagging or slow. Performance is important then I must like the plot and storyline and enjoy the character with it's unique sounds and graphics quality as this would go a long way to determine if I would still continue playing that particular video game or stop after sometime.

I lump performance in with presentation. I prioritise 60fps(even if it's a shaky uncapped 60fps) over 30fps. However gameplay is what ultimately comes first to me unless the frame rate is like 20fps or below which makes it unplayable. 

[HowHammerYou]

1: Gameplay over everything else. The game needs to be fun to play with no unnecessary parasitic systems interfering with the core gameplay, and realism needs to take a backseat to convenience. I don't care if I parked my horse 20 miles from my current position, make it come when I whistle for it!

2: Offline Playability. The entire game needs to be playable without an internet connection

3: Polish. Kinda related to #2, but if you can't ship your game in a state where it's fully playable right out of the box, don't expect me to buy it.

4: Sound Direction. As long as the music isn't repetitive, characters don't make me want to punch them when I see their mouths open, and the sound of my character's footsteps doesn't annoy me, we're good.

5: Story. Just have a story that makes sense. It doesn't really even have to be that good. A lot of the most "playable" games I've ever played don't even have stories.

6: Graphics/Visuals. This is mostly an obsolete category for judging games today, as with the funding and talent available to today's developers, it's nearly impossible to make a truly bad-looking game unless you really try to.

[Clasher]

15 hours ago, NightmareFarm said:

I lump performance in with presentation. I prioritise 60fps(even if it's a shaky uncapped 60fps) over 30fps. However gameplay is what ultimately comes first to me unless the frame rate is like 20fps or below which makes it unplayable. 

6ofps is way better than 30fps to me as well, that's why game play comes next to game performance. Graphics is important that's even what prompted me to get the Xbox series X because it relays on 4k and suits a 4k screen perfectly.

[Dannyjax]

22 hours ago, HowHammerYou said:

1: Gameplay over everything else. The game needs to be fun to play with no unnecessary parasitic systems interfering with the core gameplay, and realism needs to take a backseat to convenience. I don't care if I parked my horse 20 miles from my current position, make it come when I whistle for it!

2: Offline Playability. The entire game needs to be playable without an internet connection

3: Polish. Kinda related to #2, but if you can't ship your game in a state where it's fully playable right out of the box, don't expect me to buy it.

4: Sound Direction. As long as the music isn't repetitive, characters don't make me want to punch them when I see their mouths open, and the sound of my character's footsteps doesn't annoy me, we're good.

5: Story. Just have a story that makes sense. It doesn't really even have to be that good. A lot of the most "playable" games I've ever played don't even have stories.

6: Graphics/Visuals. This is mostly an obsolete category for judging games today, as with the funding and talent available to today's developers, it's nearly impossible to make a truly bad-looking game unless you really try to.

Take away a solid gameplay from any of my games and there's never going to be any sort of consideration for playing it. It's the basis of all video games that I have to play and it's not something I would want to manage. 

[Heatman]

My first priority is going to be a good gameplay. There wouldn't be any kind of compromise in it. 

Followed up by flawless control. 

Characters and graphics comes up next. 

The last would be sound. 

[Dannyjax]

On 6/16/2022 at 11:44 PM, NightmareFarm said:

I lump performance in with presentation. I prioritise 60fps(even if it's a shaky uncapped 60fps) over 30fps. However gameplay is what ultimately comes first to me unless the frame rate is like 20fps or below which makes it unplayable. 

Playing games with 60fps is always better than playing one's in 30fps. Even if the 60fps is shaky, it's still better than the game's with 30fps. Playing game's on 20fps is always very challenging for me.