[Hoipolloi]

This old thread inspired me to do a poll:

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

Most of us prefer lousy camerawork, lack of atmosphere and bad inventory (whatever "bad" is supposed to mean here)?

Is he/she right?

If this was a multiple-choice poll, most of us would probably choose all options (and more: story, characters you can identify with, good voicework...). I found it more interesting to ask myself:

* What missing feature turns me off the most, and how important is it to me?
* What usually triggers my interest for a game, what do I care most about?

[River]

The story.

[terhardp]

Personally, I would be a hypocrite if I don't say that the visual appearance of the game isn't crucial. From the holistic standpoint, it's just one of the ingredients of a good game, but this is often the decisive factor when choosing a new game to play. However, if we look at this as the outer vs inner beauty concept, than the atmosphere is the soul of the game, and therefore it should be placed slightly above the other elements in the poll. Therefore, I've placed my vote for the atmosphere. The real truth is: all those things are equally important, however it's a rare thing to see all of them balanced in a particular game.

[zane]

Atmosphere is big for me. It includes how music is used and how well the setting is implemented. A game can have a somewhat lousy story, but if it knocks me off my feet with atmosphere, i'll keep playing it, and remember it.

[millenia]

Yeah, atmosphere is the one thing that keeps me playing. I like good graphics as much as the next person but I still play some 90s games without hesitation. Aged graphics are fine, a bit bulky ones too. Graphics might turn me off if a (fairly) new game has totally rubbish ones.

Camera angles, hotspots, inventory.. Those are user interface issues that bring the game smoothness or the lack of. But it's really just some icing, badly implemented they can frustrate me but I can't imagine them being so bad that it would make otherwise a good game completely unplayable for me.

Then finally like zane said, good atmosphere can even make up the lack of engaging story. So it is important indeed, as the story too clearly overrides graphics or user interface issues.

[7h30n]

Frankly, I play adventure games for the story. Too bad Visual Novels aren't that popular in the west and I don't know a word of Japanese, though I'd really like to live there.

I can stand bad graphics, and even bad gameplay as long there aren't bugs and the story is gripping.

[Ascovel]

None of the available options.

[Pyke]

As an indie developer, this is a really interesting thread.

[Jelena]

Atmosphere is the pivotal ingredient for me.

[smulan]

If the inventory isn't welldesigned I smack the game to pieces. But that's just me I guess.

[diego]

The most important ingredient is a mix of ingredients.

Of course, story and puzzles. But without story, you can still have a decent game (Myst-like games, logical adventures), so i'll go with puzzles because all my all-time favourite adventures include - puzzles. Unless we're talking interactive movies, but they're also one-dimensional if there are no creative puzzles in them.

Puzzles are the aspect that are somehow being dumbed down nowadays, like seen in Back to the Future game. So i think creativity of puzzles is the most important thing for ag recognition.

[colpet]

None of your options.
Personally, I want to have lots to explore and puzzles to keep me engaged.

[aimless]

For me, the most important ingredient is story and I find it next to incredible that it was omitted from that list.

The story drives the game. Well-written characters and dialogue can make even a so-so story move and without those key ingredients, I have no incentive to tax my brain with another puzzle to find out 'what happens next'. There are a number of games on my shelf that probably will never be finished because they bored me.

[Isak]

None of the above - the story/script is the most important. Doesn't matter how good a game look like, if the story isn't good, e.g. the graphic or atmosphere will never add up.

[zane]

It seems easy to say story is most important, but think about this:
if you took your favorite point-and-click adventure, and turned it into a book, would you want to read it? I have the GK1 book, and its pretty terrible. And if you really think about the story in GK1, its predictable, straightforward and not especially great. And yet sins of the fathers is one of my all-time favorite adventure games. It takes the right blend of story, puzzles and atmosphere to make a game brilliant.

[Ascovel]

Originally Posted by zane

It seems easy to say story is most important, but think about this:
if you took your favorite point-and-click adventure, and turned it into a book, would you want to read it? I have the GK1 book, and its pretty terrible. And if you really think about the story in GK1, its predictable, straightforward and not especially great. And yet sins of the fathers is one of my all-time favorite adventure games. It takes the right blend of story, puzzles and atmosphere to make a game brilliant.

I certainly agree about "GK1 The Game" being wonderful and "GK1 The Book" being pretty terrible, but it has nothing to do with the quality of the story and writing in the game. The book has too many things and dialogs taken out straight from the game without taking in account it's a different storytelling medium. This includes silly, overcomplicated ways of solving problems and asking every character about every possible topic. Also, the narration is really bland, as well as there are unnecessary additions to the plot and character interactions (like a sentimental vision of Gabriel's dad in heaven talking to Gabriel in a dream).

I assume the book - in contrast to the game - was prepared in a rush.

[aimless]

"I assume the book - in contrast to the game - was prepared in a rush."

A novelist may be a lousy scriptwriter when it comes to adapting his/her own work for the movies. Maybe Ms. Jensen is just not a book writer. Good point, Ascovel.

[Nafsika]

...story should be an option

[ozzie]

Azrael's Tear is one of my favorite games, and it lives by its atmosphere, so there's my answer.
Yet the question is: what is atmosphere? Isn't it an amalgamation of individual parts, like presentation, gameplay and writing that manage to form a cohesive whole, where everything fits seamlessly together to express one specific mood? I think that's the case. And yes, while the graphics of AT are ugly, the sound primitive as well as badly compressed, and the puzzles are partly too thinly stretched between lots of walking around, all these and other components manage to set the mood.
So, atmosphere consists of many individual pieces that form a successful cooperation with each other. In this light my answer might as well be: all these ingredients are important.

Of course, many important adventure game aspects can't be selected in your poll, like gameplay, puzzles, exploration, writing, story, plot, dialogues or characters.

[Red_Lizard2]

Since story isn't an option, likely atmosphere as it can play a big role for me enjoying a game even the graphics and the other stuff aren't top notch. Graphics do play some role, but a really great story can make me not worry as much about them.

Granted if its just atmosphere without much substance to it, then I'm going to likely hate it,

Puzzles don't matter to me, I love dialog puzzles more so then anything else. Though if the puzzles don't make logical sense (I.E. why the hell am I doing this?) then it drives me crazy, though if other aspects are good enough, I'll ignore it.

Rambling, but I'd probably order it in importance as: Story, Atmosphere, Graphics, Camera/Hot spots, puzzles, inventory