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What are the most interesting aspects of your favourite games?

As a gamer who plays games for their stories, characters and lore I can often find a lot of intrigue and interesting aspects in their narratives.

I know I'm not the only one who does this so I want to ask those of you like me which aspects of which games do you find interesting and intriguing?

Even if you know the answers now having played more of the franchise, what were your initial points of interest in some of your favourite games?

Was it the mystery of the Chozo and Phazon in Metroid Prime?

Was it the Halo in Halo?

Etc.

Have fun.
 

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
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Usually the gameplay is the deciding factor in if I play a game, that is to say, how much fun I’d get out of it. Can I fight with other characters or players? (with, not against.) Can I explore at all? That’s usually what interests me the most. For Zelda, it’s definitely the exploration and how much fun it is to go through the world. BotW is designed around that, and ST has the kind of teamwork I love to see. For Monster Hunter, each hunt is different even if you’re fighting the same monster with the same gear. It’s also a ton of fun to hunt with friends. The gameplay really makes those games shine.
 

Quin

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Gameplay first and foremost for 95% of the games I play, A game I'm playing needs to have some sort of gameplay element I enjoy. I can enjoy a visual novel just fine, but those don't feel like a game to me (and imo aren't)
Walking simulators annoy me even if the story is good though.
That said, it certainly isn't the only thing thats important. It depends on the genre, but you need to get a good total package to have an amazing game.
Earthbound for example has subpar/ok gameplay, but the rest make up for it so much its still a great game and that drew me in that franchise. Majoras Mask is one of my favorite Zelda games not because of the gameplay,(even though the mask transformations were awesome) but because of the amazing atmosphere and characters. And the art style for TWW sure helped put it at my NR 1 spot. If It looked Like TP I probably doubt it would be.

So yeah the gameplay has to draw me in unless the other stuff is SO good you just have to experience it, like the Mother series.
 

YIGAhim

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I wish people would stop caring about art and graphics. That is like the lowest thing on my radar.

Story is a must (Except games like Smash), Gameplay is big, music is nice, graphics/art are not important in the slightest, difficulty is liked, ect
 

mαrkαsscoρ

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it always comes down to gameplay, one example I like to use is star fox 64 and star fox assault
even though [in my opinion] assault has the better story,better music,and better graphics, I still prefer 64 b/c the gameplay was what 64 nailed while it's a little shoddy in assault [I do still love assault though]
 

Chameleon

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Story and depth. As time passes I care less about gameplay and more about making me feel something. Maybe I´d be better off watching a movie, but I do find interesting to make the character ´walk´ through the story. Dialogue trees, moral choices, multiple endings, thats what I like in a game. In terms of gameplay it could be an RPG because its common to find those kinds of storytelling in RPGs and the gameplay style helps you think as well.
 
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This thread is basically asking what's fun in games for you though...
"What are the most interesting aspects of your favourite games?". A game being able to totally suspend my disbelief, make me lose track of time and be totally absorbed in that particular game world is a rare and special thing. Very few games do this very well. And it's also very sujective as different things suck different players into each game world. It's that aspect which is fun for me. An aspect that (for me) is so very rare in video games, very few I have played make me feel like that. I don't question whym this music or that story feels out of place or why that hitbox makes gameplay all shonky. The games don't have to be perfect, they just have be good enough to give me a fun experience. Of cause my favourite games excel at this. Only a few games really do this well and it's being successful at this, to which I find fun at games.

That in TLDR form is fun.
I can't be more specific as every one of my favourite games, I like for different, often contradictory reasons. What I hate in one game, might be exact thing I like in another game.
Sure game music I like is a common thread in many of the games I like, but not all of them, a couple of my favourite games only have ambient soundtracks.

What's fun to me in games is the fun itself. Nothing specific but the overall feeling and enjoyment as explained above.

Thanks for the comment and hopefully this explains how I did answer what is fun in video games to me. Slightly different to what was asked in the OP but nonetheless I replied to your point as well.
 

misskitten

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Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay. It has to be live action, I can't get into any game that do any of those indirect, passive types of control scheme. And they need some kind of exploration to them, at least to end up among my favourites. My two favourite franchises are Zelda and Fable, and I mostly love them for the same reasons, though Fable does have more RPG-type aspects to it, like stats (and they have them for pretty much everything, including silly things like longest chicken kick, lol). But the core gameplay has a lot of simillarities, at least to me. Despite being vastly different they also heavily remind me of the other.
 
Mario - Overall Gameplay, Music

Zelda - Overall Gameplay, Story, Lore Beyond the Games, Music

Halo - Music, Story, Lore Beyond the Games, Online Multiplayer

Mario Kart - Overall Gameplay, Online Multiplayer

Super Smash Bros. - Overall Gameplay, Online Multiplayer, Learning the History of Nintendo

Wario Land - Music, Boss Battles, Minigames

Uncharted - Story

League of Legends - Social experience, Online Multiplayer

Fire Emblem - Story
 

Cfrock

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I feel like literally everyone missed the point of this thread, that being what aspects of your favourite game's narrative is most interesting. Spirit did present the thread specifically in relation to story, and even gave examples of the kind of thing she expected in response.

On that topic, my favourite game is Majora's Mask and the most interesting thing about it, narratively, to me, is the tone. How can a game that is entirely about healing a broken world and making things better feels so bleak and hopeless almost all the time?

Termina is in turmoil and Link is doing everything possible to help it. Over and over, fixing peoples' problems, making things right, removing curses. That should feel good, it should feel rewarding. But it doesn't. MM feels like fighting against a heavy current. There's so much going wrong in Termina and you only have three days to fix it all. It's literally impossible. You cannot help everyone. You cannot fix everything. And the things you do fix break again once you turn back time. Two steps forward, three steps back. Even releasing the giants feels hollow. The melancholy Oath to Order, the giants standing so far away, obscured by clouds — they feel as distant and remote as they did before you defeated the boss and freed them.

The game is full to the brim with little moments of hope — Anju and Kafei's reunion, the Deku Princess releasing the monkey, Lulu's eggs hatching, Igos du Ikana's spirit accepting death, Pamela comforting her father — but each and every one of them is reversed when you play the Song of Time. You keep saving these people only to see them in trouble again. As the game goes on, you become more and more aware of how futile your actions are. I remember feeling a sense of pointlessnes the first time I went to the Great Bay because I knew that after all the effort of saving Lulu's eggs they'd only get stolen again, and next time I wouldn't be there to get them back.

That tone so integral to my love of the game. MM isn't about saving the world in the same way Ocarina or Twilight are. MM is about the perseverence and dedication it takes to do great things, and the pure belief that if you just keep fighting on you can succeed. MM doesn't expect you to save the world just because. It beats you down with an overwhelming tone of hopelessness, inviting you to give up, and that forces you to find your own reasons for saving the world, for continuing to fight against the inevitable.

Figuring out why MM made me feel the way it did, despite what I was actually doing, drew me into it so much and made for an engrossing experience unlike anything else I've played. The tone, contrasting so much with the plot, elevated the game to a whole other level for me, and it's been so close to my heart ever since.
 
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I feel like literally everyone missed the point of this thread, that being what aspects of your favourite game's narrative is most interesting. Spirit did present the thread specifically in relation to story, and even gave examples of the kind of thing she expected in response.
I think I agree with you. But that point was not communicated as well to us as it could ahve been. The topic title was very generic. No specifics there. Also her mention of story felt more like just one example, not the framework in which we are to answer the question.

A slightly less open ended question to us would help a lot I think. If she wanted to know what's out favourite sepct of a game's story, then maybe something about story could have been in the topic title. Just a suggestion. Just me with my toastmasters hat on.

Still @Spirit thank you for the topic. Your topics like these are very interesting and I really enjoy answering them. All the varied answers you get are quite interesting to read as well.

I don't really play games for the story primarily, but a good story is a nice bonus. For the best story elements are ones that actually go with the game play, to make the whole package fit well together and help the suspension of disbelief. Point and Click games are my favourites in this regard as they have to have a great story or they flop. They are the only type of game where a very basic demo is not suitable to test the viabiltiy of the concept. As an example, two squares shooting ink on the floor was the test concept to see if the base idea for splatoon would work. For point and click adventure games? They all play the same. You point and click to advance the story. The story has to be amazing. That's why they are one of the most risky types of games to develop. The ones that get it right are amazing. So many highs and lows. You really feel like you are a part of the story and living in that game world. Most often not as a hero or any special. You're more like one of the average citizens and living a part of that world and you have to prove yourself through actions.

what were your initial points of interest in some of your favourite games?
The context of the game and era it's set in. If it's something that interests me I'll look into it and see if it's worth playing.
Master of Orion 2 - The story and posibility that this could be humanity in a few hundred years is really interesting.
Starcraft - I really got into the lore there and I think what hooked me was ol Jim Raynor. His character was done so well. That sold me on the IP.
Diablo - I'm not really into games like this but the whole heaven vs hell thing got the really interested. Heaven and hell here are not physical places even though you travel to them, they are more like embodiments or physical manifistations of the good abd bad aspects of humanity. Manifested as creatures or places both good and bad.
 

Castle

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In general, all my all time favorite games have one thing in common: Environment and Atmosphere.

When I play games, challenge is acceptable. Story is nice. But all things are secondary to aesthetics. I'm a virtual tourists. I enjoy being taken away to fantastic places. Worlds and environments that are fully realized and often uncanny or surreal but otherwise brimming in detail are what fascinate me.

From every corner of Arkham Island and every street, rooftop and building on the streets of Gotham, to the halls, streets, ruins, bunkers and bases of the Capitol Wasteland, to the caverns and starships of Samus' various proving grounds, to the old castles, caverns and vaults of Gransys, to the ruined water logged halls of Rapture, to the vast epic whimsical environs of Bionis, and the distant lands of Hyrule.

In terms of story, I venture that themes are what interest me most. I've yet to really experience a video game story that's superior to any film or literary classic. The episodic antics and characters of The Witcher are interesting enough. The existential themes of Dragon's Dogma are fascinating. The pop-cultural americana retro futuristic dark comedy stylings of Fallout are riveting. The themes of maturity in Ocarina of Time are timeless. I tend to be more interested in video game characters over stories, which make character driven narratives among my favorites. Mass Effect had a great cast of characters. More than that, conceptually Mass Effect was an exceptional modern science fiction with revised future theory that has yet to really manifest itself in popular modern futuristic scifi. Xenoblade Chronicles also has one of my all time favorite video game casts and an exceptional narrative that is integral to the very world of the game itself.
 

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