What makes a quality gaming experience for you? Criteria-

[bananaking21]

pokoko said:

bananaking21 said:
the experience. its not about gameplay or story or what ever. every game sets out to be something different than the other.
for example, to the mood sets out to be a stroy driven game about the love between two people. does it have good graphics? no, its what 16 bit graphics. is the gameplay good ? well no, because there is little to no gameplay? but is the game amazing? yes, because it done what it set out to be.
if the experience is good, then thats what i care about. but if i feel that there is something lacking in the experience, whether its gameplay or story or graphics, then there is a problem

A good post, and true.  That's why I said there are so many variables.

Ico had average level gameplay, very little in the way of story, and characters I knew almost nothing about, yet it was probably the most captivating and compelling experience I've ever had in my gaming life.

There are lots of different right answers to this question.

i dont mean to sound like a condescending A-hole, but i feel that those who say that if a game doesnt have one aspect like gameplay or story or graphics as the good as the best game out there to be missing out on what gaming really is. a lot of games dont need to be fully focused on gameplay to be good. it needs to be desgined in a way that it makes the game immersive. an example is littlebigplanet. a lot of people dismiss it because "the gameplay isnt that good" yet its gameplay does what its supposed. the game is immersive and the gameplay is desgined in a way that creating levels is easy and fun to match the gameplay. and it isnt overly complicated.