For me it's always a combination of factors with graphics included. A game with poor graphics (taking into account games that are specifically old school or near enough the average of the genre) need very good to phenomenal gameplay/story to compensate. A game with good to very good graphics can get away with only good to very good gameplay/story. Similarly a game with phenomenal graphics can sometimes get away with mediocre gameplay/story (though not poor gameplay/story, the scale I measure is not even across the board).











