Gah... it seems the the gaming world has such negative views on some of these terms, but I see them quite differently. I was about to ramble on this for half an hour or so, but I've got only 5 mins left on this comp.
Though, I need to mention a thing about "gameplay". What the hell does it mean these days? Some people take it to mean "fun", some say it means "balance/fairness", some just use it to mean that you could click fast and not have to think. So what do you guys think?
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
gameplay means IMO that the system, physics and the alike allow the user to play the game and enjoy it, but can also be used to describe if the game is actually fun.
gameplay IMHO is on the decrease along with originality, the market is full of extra mega boring games such as "Military Secret Dude Walking Simulator" and other such stimulating titles. All people want is good semi realstic graphics, but they are being palmed off with rubbish/very boring gameplay.
Gameplay is only part of the fun, but bad gameplay can ruin a game with an orignal concept and good music.
I think that a meeting the pre determined set of criteria for a game wont always make it a good game. Its luck usually that makes a game good.
I did actually think about this the a while ago when i bought Zelda the minish cap, it didnt keep my interest for long. I decided to buy Zelda link's awakening because i loved playing it around my friends when i was younger and when i got it i havent stopped playing since.
Now both games are very similar and Minish cap is about 10 times better
graphically
Musically
it bigger (probably)
more to do.
The best Zelda game on GBA is the NES classic, it's the only one that really feels like an adventure.
I don't think we need to define these terms, muz. I think that as long as there is at least one company making games out there that are genuinely good (retro, nintendo etc.) then we don't need to think about it too much. But I think when EA takes over completely we'll need to form a terrorist group, definately.
To me, gameplay is the bones of any game... Gameplay is almost always different, expecially between puzzle games. Depending on the goal of the game, gameplay can be multiable things. Example, Diamond's gameplay is a mix between carefully guilding the ball around multible puzzles, while trying to accomplish the goal of getting the ball to the exit by destroying diamonds. Pac-Man's gameplay is running around a maze trying to eat pellets & avoid getting caught by ghosts. Tetris tests your reflexes in ability to quickly place different shapped pieces at the bottom to create & destroying lines to keep the blocks as close to the bottom as long as you can. Gameplay is weird because any gameplay can be fun, not anyone can enjoy every kind of gameplay.
I used to think that we don't need to define those terms, but I'm not so sure anymore. It seems that too many geniuses out there go about saying "We don't need no stinking storyline or originality!!!! All that mattters is gameplay!!!!"
Though, IMHO, lack of story and originality severely retards the gameplay thing. So, I just want to know what those terms really mean to everyone.
Here are my thoughts anyway:
IMHO, Gameplay = the system of the game. It's what people use to define the game and stuff. Good gameplay to me is a game with fair rules, but doesn't have a "killer tactic that you can use to beat everything else!!!". Age of Empires had good rules, but the RPS system meant that you had to know what troops the enemy were building to win, so it had good gameplay, but it sucked.
Originality = Something new in the game. Doesn't have to be a new genre, just has to be something other than a complete clone. "Slight improvements" like better graphics, 10 FPS faster, BRAND NEW UBER-MINIGUN, etc are worthless, IMHO. Don't know why the veterans love those little improvements so much.
Storyline = The story of the game. Something other than the main quest of 'going around and shooting stuff'. Something that makes the levels not appear to be 'levels', if you know what I mean. That is, something that lets you be immersed in the game.
CRPG = Combat RPG. Point-and-click RPG. Common (modern) RPG. Eg. Diablo, Dungeon Siege, Prince of Qin, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Fallout: BOS, etc, etc, etc. They're fun with a friend, but these days they suck as bad as the common point and click shooter. I don't know who got the idea of labelling it as Computer RPG, but it seems to be catching on with the hardcore community. The shame of labelling the original Fallout games as a CRPG
Teapot:
Thanks to our capitalistic culture, I think the good companies are dying out. Interplay ('by gamers for gamers') died. Microprose got bought out by Atari and now they made X-Com: Enforcer, instead of a good ol' remake of X-Com: Terror From the Deep. Nintendo is the most evil of the companies, but hide behind cute characters. EA sucks even more than it ever did. All we have to look to is Maxis and Take 2.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Gameplay - Both gameplay mechanics and relative quality of these mechanics. A game with enjoyable mechanics may have 'good gameplay,' while one with difficult mechanics may have 'complex gameplay,' which is used in an entirely different context to good/bad gameplay.
Originality - Sense of originality about a game. Not quantitative, rather the 'feeling' that a particular game is somehow different from anything you've played before.
Storyline - Any of a number of narrative methods used to engross players in the meta-story of a game, and therefore the game itself.
Gameplay: How the player plays the game. This includes all the physics, weapons, items, enemies, etc. and how to use/ avoid them.
Originality: This basically asks,"What's so different about this game from all the other games out there?" This part is what sets the game apart from all the others and makes it unique. Unfortunately nowadays, all the possible "original ideas" have either already been taken or they're just platformers combined with pong.
Storyline: The plot of the game. This provides a goal at the end which drives the players to want to beat the game or on a smaller scale, find a key item and see find out what happens next in the story. Most of the time, plots have something to do with saving the world.
CRPG: An RPG in which you mainly control your character using the mouse. An example of this is a certain massively addicting online adventure game called Runescape that prevents you from making games for an entire year! I haven't played enough of this genre to really have a firm opinion though.
I think a big factor in sales is seeing games that are more than the other available games. Bigger worlds, more polygons, characters with more attitude, music with bigger beats.
And pushing the current limits is always a selling point.
Advertisement
Post Reply
