Good games are no different from other art forms in that they are good for you. An aesthetic game mechanic is beautiful. A lot of the game designers' personality goes into the game: Their sense of humor, their view on aspects of the world. We like the books, music or games we like because it feels like meeting soul mates, in a way.
But I think I'm not so much talking about story aspects. Tbh many story-driven games are still on B-movie level. It's all very violent, kill this or kill all that. I can't relate to that, anyway. What I mean is more abstract, the way a game works.
Even in games that I really really love like Zelda the story is not the big thing for me. Zelda games are a thing of beauty, but the actual story is the least important reason for that... (isn't it all the same anyway? 3 goddesses descend and ban the evil Ganon, but he comes back, hero beats him, they seal him, seal breaks, 3 goddesses ask 7 mages for help, hero seals the evil Ganon gaaaa... let's pray they never use voice acting). It's everthing else that is amazing, how they create a world and balance all the details so they feel meaningful.
