Gameplay isnt the most important thing in games.

[Mnementh]

yoscrafty said:

Ka-pi96 said:
But... how it makes you feel is largely because of the gameplay, no? So then gameplay is still the most important...

No. Well sometimes, depends on the game. But a lot of the times it's the interactive and cinematic aspects, not the gameplay. Dating simulators, visual novels and point and click adventures are examples of this. They're still referred to as "games" but those games don't focus much on "playing" so much as engaging the player into their games. The Walking Dead is one of the most touching and brillaintly scripted game of this decade and a lot of people admit to having created deep connections with many of the characters in that game. Topic creator is right, video games are an evovling media and trying to limit creators by saying "You don't play a lot, this is just a movie" puts stupid boundaries. Let developers try different things, like authors and film makers do with their own medium. Instead of having everything solely focused on balanced/fun mechanics and everything is just a point A to point B platformer/shooter, etc.

You dismiss gameplay of some games to reinforce your point. But the truth is: point-and-click-adventures and the telltale games have gameplay and it works in many cases. So the point still stands: without this gameplay (may it be minimalistic or simplicistic) they wouldn't be games. With shit gameplay they would be bad games despite other aspects are working well. So gameplay is defining. Good gameplay alone (mostly) doesn't make a good game, like a good motor alone doesn't make a good car. But bad gameplay ruins an otherwise good game.