Immersion in Video Games

[Vampyr]

All of them. The interface should be intuitive and easy to learn to the point where you don't really have to think about how you're going to manage or manipulate something in the game.

The visuals and graphics don't need to be realistic, but they need to be pretty and artistic. The music doesn't need to be groundbreaking, but it should set the mood.

And of course the gameplay has to be good, otherwise it doesn't even matter how immersive the rest of the game is, if the gameplay is bad no one will play it.

[BreakABone]

Originally Posted by Vampyr

All of them. The interface should be intuitive and easy to learn to the point where you don't really have to think about how you're going to manage or manipulate something in the game.

The visuals and graphics don't need to be realistic, but they need to be pretty and artistic. The music doesn't need to be groundbreaking, but it should set the mood.

And of course the gameplay has to be good, otherwise it doesn't even matter how immersive the rest of the game is, if the gameplay is bad no one will play it.

I might which would you weigh more, I mean sure ideally an awesome game is when the complete package came together, but which is most important to the whole experience.

[DeathsHand]

Originally Posted by Vampyr

And of course the gameplay has to be good, otherwise it doesn't even matter how immersive the rest of the game is, if the gameplay is bad no one will play it.

Try to find a Silent Hill fan who ever thought the series had good gameplay...
Hells, I thought SH4 was a step above SH3 despite the fact that it's gameplay took about two big steps back.

I would say the most important thing for me would be a well constructed WORLD...
And I don't necessarily mean it has to have a gigantic area that you can explore willy-nilly, I just mean a world that feels like it's been lived in, has a story behind it, is well designed (artistically and functionally), etc...

I don't mind cutscenes, but finding a way to incorporate them into a gameplay experience (HL2 would be the only example I can think of off the top of my head) certainly doesn't hurt...
And as a side note, I curse whoever came up with QTEs...

[Typhoid]

I think it's a combination of storyline and graphics.

I mean, this isn't 92 anymore. You can't really get by on just a good storyline alone anymore.

If a game now has a great storyline, and sub-par graphics - it won't feel amazing, it'll just feel nostalgic.

For some reason (maybe because I'm re-playing it) Final Fantasy 12 really gets me. The game feels massive, the world big - and the story - while not amazing isn't bad. The cutscenes are pretty beautifully well done aswell.

Also the fact that the "main" character isn't really the leader of the group you're in makes it feel a little better to me.

I will say though, CoD4 is by far the best shooter single player campaign I've ever played.

[TheGame]

To me the best and most timeless games to me are the ones that try for their own art style opposed to trying to look realistic. It kinda gives more life to the game when it doesn't try to mimic reality. Wind waker for example can be played side by side with any game now, and even seem more polished because it tried for its own art style instead of trying to push too much towards looking realistic.

But.. for me personally.. I'm a sucker for a good storyline. (I know that wasn't one of your options) It doesn't matter how good or bad a game is, if it has a good story line, then I'm very likely to force my way through it regardless of how the gameplay works. I've never been into those shoot em up games where you don't really have any purpose behind your actions other then getting random orders.

This is why I love MGS so much, its a perfect example of good story telling in a video game. Its a great story presented in a manner in which you really can connect with the main characters. It just happens to have awesome graphics and solid gameplay. I'm so sold on the story line alone that the only way the gameplay or interface would have stopped me from beating it is if it was extremely hard and riddled with near impossible parts.

So yeah, to sum it up.. what works best for me is games that are story driven.