What makes a game 'good'?

[meatloaf]

For me, I guess that it's a mixture of a whole mess of things. I don't really single anything out.

A game has to have likable characters. If you're playing as someone that you just hate the holy hell out of, then you're probably not going to want to play that one for too long. Seriously, who wants to play a game as Jar-Jar? No, what a good character needs is a fairly neutral personality, maybe a little humor/dark background, and a whole lot of whoop-ass. As long as they don't dress too gaudily or look like a clown, they're pretty good.

The game also has to have a good plot, the 'why am I spending hours on end in this world' element.If you're not driven to stop the bad guy because he's threatening various characters that you've grown attached to, then he'd better be trying to destroy the world, or else it's all pointless grinding over a couple of lousy waffles.

Also, if the world is incredibly creative, like cities built into stalagmites, then you get the whole wonder factor built in as well. It's the towns that really stick out that make a game memorable versus going to generic town after generic town.

I like being able to feel like you're deciding your character's destiny, too. If the game takes place where each and every step is planned out by the maker, then you might as well be watching a movie. For me, at least, games are about immersing yourself in those fictional worlds that we all love so very-very much.

Well, that's all I've got for now. And I haven't even touched on soundtracks or weapons yet
What do you guys think? What makes a game special for you?

[HeroOfHyla]

A game has to have likable characters. If you're playing as someone that you just hate the holy hell out of, then you're probably not going to want to play that one for too long.

Agreed. I didn't like Saint's Row 2 because I couldn't make my character quite what I wanted. I wanted a frail old man who didn't get his hands dirty if he couldn't help it. The closest I could get was some old guy with an accent that sounded Irish. And he pissed me off, getting himself into trouble during cutscenes I had no control over, like breaking a glass bottle on someone's face.

Plot isn't necessarily important to me. I'd like the Need for Speed series even without a plot. All I need is some kind of weak-to-strong progression on the character (car in this case), it doesn't need to be a story.

I like some degree of open-worldness, but I don't want to have total control of the plot. It's a pain not knowing whether you've really "beaten" the game.

I think a game is good if it's challenging, but it's possible to get good at it. The problem with some RPGs is that you always start out weak, no matter how good you are as a player. Games like Zelda get around that problem by making the character not get much stronger over time, only more versatile.

[Darkblade]

I think what makes a game good consists of multiple things, no single thing can make a game good.
Every aspect has to work in harmony with the other aspects.

First of all, you have to have a great central character.
Personally, characters you get to design dont do it for me, since theirs so much you want them to do.
Like, Fable, since you can go in any direction, use multiple weapons and dress them how you want, it means you'll never truely be pleased with the outcome.
While with pre-made characters, you can't change them too much, so its easier to be happy with them.

Has to have a likable graphical look.
Games on the current consoles (Wii/PS3/360) have for the most part, a very gritty look to them, this bores me.
Right now, I'm into the more anime style games, the only game being an exception is Left 4 Dead, its not over the top with the graphics, it fits.
It has a hint of humour with it while it still looks serious.
Also, its easier to get a technically, greater graphical appearance, while on the previous consoles, it was harder, but you could tell for the most part that the designers put their all into it.

The gameplay needs to be interesting.
A lot of games are the same, I'm saying this out of my butt (since the last one I played was on the PS1), but all sports games are the same, its not something you can just change, so theirs only so far you can go without breaking rules of the game.
So theres not any sports game I would consider to be good, just average at best, espeicially if its a realistic game.

Storyline needs to be progressive.
The storyline must be complex, I don't think it needs to be easy to understand straight away as long as it still gets attention. (EX. Metal Gear Solid 2)
It also needs to rap up well, able to end with perhaps a few plot lines unsolved so fans can have something to debate about a few years after the game if released.

Soundtrack needs to be epic.
I'm a lover of Game Soundtracks, I bought the orchastre version of Super Smash Bros Melee and love it.
I like orchatrated music a lot, so its really a plus if its genuine.
But actually, the soundtrack just needs to be catchy, theres a number of tunes in the Persona series that are catchy and not always with the mood of the situation, but whats there really works regardless.

[HeroOfHyla]

I don't even think about music much when I play games nowadays (unless it's a music game like Rock Band), because I tend to play with the sound off most of the time.

Nice-looking graphics are definitely a plus, but I don't think they're hugely important. As long as the player can tell what's happening, it's fine.

[meatloaf]

Here it is, the dark side of video games. I figured you can't have yin without yang, and if you know what you hate and avoid it, you'll end up finding more of what you like. Plus, it's always awesome when you think of a way to keep a forum alive
I'm sorry if I use FFXIII a lot here, it's just that it's one of the games that I've spent the most time with recently. I am a little harsh towards it, but keep in mind that I love it and will cherish it always.

The Dark Side of Games:
I hate linear games. Well, maybe hate is a strong word, since I do enjoy FFXIII to some extent, but I find it aggravating when you are set on a certain path with no other option but to walk down it, fight the monsters that are always going to be at certain points, and end up too weak to defeat the big bad boss at the end, resulting in you having to go back and forth on this line in order to max your level and have a 50/50 chance at victory during round two. FFXIII takes this to a whole new level by not only setting you on a linear path, but by limiting how strong your characters can be during certain stages of the game, and even forcing you to use certain teams during a majority of the game. I find this type of limitations to be very trying to the gamer, leading to very fast burnout rates on the game.

This leads me to my next peeve, which was kind of addressed in my first post: I hate annoying characters. Going back to FFXIII, there are some characters in there that generally piss off everyone that plays the game. Again, refer back to the Jar-Jar effect from my first post. For example, these characters are either trying to fit into a role that they really shouldn't, like that one emo kid trying to be a bad-ass murderer with a boomerang one minute and then all of a sudden is the "voice of reason" for the entire party, or having such an annoying voice that you keep them out of your party just so that you don't have to hear whatever catchphrase they spew out whenever they score a critical hit.

While I'm bashing on FFXIII, I might as well address the soundtrack. Man, they really messed up the music on this one. It's hard to believe that any final fantasy game would ever be able to do it, but here we are. When a slow song is playing during a fight scene, you think, "oh, this must be a dramatic fight." That's understandable, and draws out a good plot line and highlights the significance of key battles. However, when you take that same song, speed it up a bit, and maybe add a very slight variation and play it whenever you feel like it, doing slight remixes every couple of chapters or so, then the music quickly becomes pretty boring. There have been some instances when I would mute the television and play something from my iPod instead (and laugh when it ended up being music from a different final fantasy game... good times). Obviously, this is not good; the music is there to make the game more enjoyable, make even grinding and walking around the world map have some excitement or atmosphere, NOT to scare you away from the game for fear of having a song stuck in your head for all eternity.