The re-playability. I don't like games that I buy/download, play through it once, and then think it's boring afterwards. Minecraft for example, getting boring? Just start a new world and it's instantly interesting again.

gameplay ;p
also agree with user above

I could pretty much agree with some of you, Cuztimation is a pretty important factor for me aswell, character,weapons etc, i cant stand these games where you buy a new weapon or armor, but the character uses the same rusty sword and the ugly rags.

Some games doesnt need this, but serious, its 2011, lets get things good, eyecandy is what people want today.

I find the gameplay and graphics the most important. Gameplay because its the main reason someone would buy the game, and graphics so the game looks good. I never pay attention to the story and the backround. Unless it's a Legend of Zelda game, I do not pay attention to the story or backround.

Nowadays the thing i hold in high importance is fresh ideas. Any company can make a cover based shooter, but a new idea takes alot more work and luck to be successful.

Gameplay & controls are all that are needed to make a good game, playability is always the #1 factor. Anything on top of that should be considered a bonus.

That's why there are games that look like they were made by a 2 year old that are better than multi-million commercial graphical showcases. Doesn't matter how nice it looks, sounds, what the plot is etc - if the gameplay or controls suck, they entire game will suck.

I couldn't agree more with you!

There are other things to keep in mind which should be prioritised over supercilious stuff like art & audio, but they are dependant on the genre.

An RPG with a shit story will suck (however having the story force itself on you is just as bad *glares at the FF series*), FPS with poor weapon balance will suck at MP, badly balanced factions in RTS is another. The list goes on.

Regardless, even if those are done to perfection a broken core will ruin it.

These days it's rare to find something on the shelf that isn't broken in some respect, or more annoyingly - a re-skinned sequel designed to rape it's fan's wallet. I'm looking at you CoD, GTA & Halo. But so long as the brainless masses keep buying them it's what we have to put up with.

I can agree with that, at some point understand it, but this is series.
I played every single ff game ever , (without tactics) and most of them is really good, every game series has its up and down, when ffxi was released as an online game it was just straight down ugly, and just horrible!
But even after this, im still so excited when the next is released, i want to know what they've changed, whats new, is it good, what is it.
And that is probably why people keep buying the followers.
take... hmm street fighter wich were released in the late 80's, and its one of the best selling video games ever, and capcom just doesnt stop suprising us with new awesome fighting games wich just seems to evolve.
And thats what people like me keeping in mind, its never to late to redeem yourself or suprise the buyers after a released game.
Just... fuck Stellar Stone and big rigs... they are blacklisted, horrible human beings..

Cod made some good early games, i really enjoyed halo 1 but yeah, look where they ended, mainstream shitgames, they totally killed the s-p fps-games.
I loved the early gta series aswell.
And really, rockstar is topnotch game dev's.

The reason Street Fighter works as a series is because they don't make a new game every year, people get their moneys worth from it & it gave lots of time inbetween for people to master a version. Not including SSF4, but even then they released it retail for the same as DLC would've cost. Capcom at least have the sense to know when not to release something and how to price things accordingly.

Final Fantasy... Well, they're going downhill. Even Square has admitted they're having problems with it. They have a habit of releasing too quickly, generally due to fan pressure. I'm aware that they have a loyal fanbase who will blindly buy the games & enjoy them for what they are. Personally I don't like anything with excessive amounts of FMV, but that's just me. I also don't like the whole random encounters thing, at least let me see what's attacking before it happens, and the characters... Oh god the characters! Sad moody emo & his band of emos set off to defeat the evil moody sad emo! XD

Dear Square - Please make a FF game without any emos, TVM. lol

The reason I pick on things like CoD, Halo & GTA is because they've brought nothing new. After GTA made the jump to 3D it fell into the "same game, different skin" trap. The Red Dead series is pretty much the same, and when they had the audacity to release Undead Nightmare as a full price release it really made me spit nails - it's nothing that couldn't have been done as DLC, so it should've been priced as such.

The Halo series is pure meh. I maintain that the 1st one wouldn't have sold if it hadn't had 6 years of hype prior to it being released, and changing platform twice + delaying it was a dick move. However in comparison to other console FPS at the time it was able to stand on it's own. Now the series relies on it's brand rather than innovation - the most innovative thing it's done was space battles in Reach, something that Epic had in Unreal Tournament years before. Even so, critics fapped claiming it was a 1st in FPS. :/

CoD is the worst offender IMO, as a FPS they're average at best & new ones are churned out just to rake in more cash. The developers don't own the game and are instead hired in to make whatever Activision tells them & it really shows. I seriously don't get why people claim they're the best MP FPS series, obviously none of them have played Quake. ;)

Each to their own etc, but eventually people will get sick of seeing the same things over and over again. So long as people keep buying them though, it means looking at indie companies for something different.

Fuck I'm jaded as hell. Make me some good games people.