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  • Subject: Weekly Community Debate: Importance of Graphics, Music, and Story
Subject: Weekly Community Debate: Importance of Graphics, Music, and Story

Man of God. Fan of Bungie. Eater of many Jr. Bacon cheeseburgers.

Last week(our first week) the Community discussed whether Video Games were a form of art or not. Many showed their intellectual side, Shakespeare was quoted, and Deej even dropped by.
This week the Community will debating something else art related:

Which of these three, in order from least to greatest, are most important to the overall gameplay experience of the player: Graphics, Music, and Story.

[Edited on 07.03.2012 6:36 AM PDT]

  • 07.03.2012 6:35 AM PDT
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:)


Posted by: SharkTooth__
This week the Community will debating something else art related:

Which of these three, in order from least to greatest, are most important to the overall gameplay experience of the player: Graphics, Music, and Story.

Says who?

On topic. All of them play an equal part in the immersion.

  • 07.03.2012 6:38 AM PDT

Man of God. Fan of Bungie. Eater of many Jr. Bacon cheeseburgers.

Well says me. You weren't in the first one but everyone seemed to enjoy it so I figured I would keep this going unless people start losing interest.

  • 07.03.2012 6:43 AM PDT

The WorkPLace

Posted by: FALSE R3ALITYx
And Cobravert is absolutely correct.

Posted by: Der Todesengel
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and Cobra."
- Der

All are part of the package, but back when games were just as addictive, but were just scrollers with sound effects you were no less fun and impacting.
Music - probably the least important part of the game for me. Some times it's just annoying noise that disproportionately masks dialogue.

Story - In today's campaigns it's important, but again, not all games need a story to be fun.

Graphics - They are the game.

  • 07.03.2012 6:45 AM PDT

(Gameplay >) Story > Music > Graphics

A good story is vital to a good game, it has to make a player feel like they want to complete the objective of the game (or mission) and feel like it could actually happen.

I had a hard time deciding on an order for music and graphics. Music definitely helps with with setting the mood, and of course good music will do that better. Good graphics help a game with immersion, but they aren't vital, a game could have photo-realistic graphics, but if the gameplay and story suck, I'm not going to play it.

In my opinion gameplay is what makes a game, even if the story, music and graphics are the best of the best, nobody is going to play the game if the gameplay is terrible. In the end gameplay is what keeps people playing a game for years.

[Edited on 07.03.2012 6:51 AM PDT]

  • 07.03.2012 6:48 AM PDT

Man of God. Fan of Bungie. Eater of many Jr. Bacon cheeseburgers.


Posted by: antony X1000
(Gameplay >) Story > Music > Graphics

A good story is vital to a good game, it has to make a player feel like they want to complete the objective of the game (or mission) and feel like it could actually happen.


I agree with you. However, it seems a lot of people don't care for a good in game story because they just want to "get in and play" and "don't care about all that nerd stuff".

  • 07.03.2012 6:58 AM PDT
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Out of the 3, Graphics rank the lowest in my opinion.

Comparing video games to art(minus music), a trend can be observed.

For example(forgive the wikipedia reference), this and Minecraft.

I cannot possibly explain the first, but you can probably see where I'm going with this.

  • 07.03.2012 7:19 AM PDT

Just an average Iowa State University student. Go Cyclones!

Out of these three, story is the most important part for me. A really good story draws you into the game world and makes you a part of it rather than just a bystander. You should want to learn how the story concludes and the characters fare instead of just feeling obligated to finish the game.

Graphics are second, because if the game doesn't have decent graphics, you aren't going to believe that you are part of the game's world. Note that doesn't necessarily mean "photo-realistic". The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is, to me, one of the best looking games ever because they made it in an art style that will only ever look artistic. Whereas the impact of photo-realistic games diminishes with new technology.

Music really varies. Some games, like Halo, have some great songs that really give a boost to the exciting atmosphere. On the other hand, look at something like the Portal series. There's very little music, but that actually promotes a feeling of isolation and a desire for the great dialogue, so it works. Music isn't always necessary.

In the end though, I think overall gameplay is king. Look at Borderlands. Graphics are okay, music is forgettable, story is basically just an excuse to go to new areas. But it's still fun as hell. And in the end, that's what really matters.

[Edited on 07.03.2012 7:51 AM PDT]

  • 07.03.2012 7:51 AM PDT

Check out my Soundcloud account to hear some of my music.
Here's my twitter, in the off-chance you want that too.

Community Joe Interview: defnop552
Bye.

Story> Music> Graphics

Story
Story comes first for me. I like to think of games as almost interactive pseudo-books. Yeah it might look good, but unless there's a marvelous (might be too strong a word) story then it will definitely fall down. A lot of games, and films, get bad reviews when the storytelling is sub par (no character development, plot holes, staleness).

To give you a real life example; What is usually one of the first questions a friend will ask when they're thinking about getting a new game? "What's it about!?". Whether you care heavily about story or if you don't care, it does still matter. There's no escaping it.

This doesn't mean that games without a story can't be great, or even legendary. Pong, Pac-Man and Space Invaders are all legendary games that have (if at all) very little story in them. That didn't stop them from being Hall of Fame material. Sometimes it is fun to just play a game for the sake of having a little fun.

Music
Music definitely comes next. Music can save a little bit of face when you have a terrible game. It helps add to the emotion that the story creates. -Proof-
Character died? That's sad. Add some sad music on top? Tears. Tears everywhere!

However, too much, too often can actually inhibit natural human emotion. That's why you'll find most composers and audio designers saying that "Music should be used sparingly".

Graphics
While it's nice to see pretty things on screen I always though putting too much effort into graphics was counter-intuitive. It's eventually going to be outdated anyway. If you look at a game with amazing graphics now and look at again in 10 years, does it suddenly become a bad game because it looks a little aged? No it doesn't! Or at least I hope you wouldn't think that......I'm starting to ramble now and I apologise for that.

Anyway, that's the end of my view. Some people might agree with me and I'm sure people will disagree with me. But that's the great thing about opinions. Everyone has one! :-)



*I don't mean to be a "Part-Pooper" but shouldn't this be in the flood? *

  • 07.03.2012 9:09 AM PDT
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Posted by: chotato
smart, interesting, seems out of place.


Official fan of Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, (Problem with that?) Halo, and Bungie, also a total gaming junkie.

1. Story

2. Music

3. Graphics

Minecraft has sucky graphics, but is one of the better games out there. Reach had good graphics, but the story sucked, and none of the good music from the OST was in the game. Graphics are little more than a comfort, what really matters is the music and story. A campaign is NOTHING without a good story, and the music adds emotion and depth.

  • 07.03.2012 9:19 AM PDT

Man of God. Fan of Bungie. Eater of many Jr. Bacon cheeseburgers.


Posted by: killing4justice
I guess this is an official thread for debates?


Not official, really. I just did one last Tuesday and people seemed to like it so I figured I would keep it going unless people lost interest.

  • 07.03.2012 9:20 AM PDT
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Destinypedia - The Wiki for Bungie's Destiny
Posted by: DEATHPIMP72
Anyone but Foman. He smells like cheese.

This is off-topic in this forum. The Community Forum is not for threads looking for "the community's opinion" on any and all subject matters. It is for threads directly related to the Bungie Community itself, Bungie Inc. itself, or the Bungie.net website only.

Please feel free to repost in the Flood Forum.

[Edited on 07.03.2012 9:34 AM PDT]

  • 07.03.2012 9:31 AM PDT
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Most people will say gameplay comes first since you're actually playing a video game and not reading a novel or even watching a movie. They are right in many ways.

However, I would say say that Story (at least for me) comes first because I need to be immersed into the fictional world in order to enjoy it.

Followed by gameplay because whatever I'm playing needs to be fun, consistent, and unique.

Music is third on the list but as important as gameplay sometimes because music (like the story) can set the mood; especially that of an environment: think "Perchance to Dream" and level 343 Guilty Spark in Halo 1.

Finally graphics. Ironically this is what I wish to focus on in University yet I am fully aware it is probably the least important feature (yet still very important for standards) in a video game. Having good graphics in a video game, or even a good art style, is important to capture one's imagination.

  • 07.03.2012 9:42 AM PDT