Even Photorealistic Visuals And A Profound Story Cannot Top Creative Gameplay

Haris from eXputer: "A good gameplay system can compensate for below-average narrative/visuals but the vice verse is rarely possible in video games."

[isarai]

LMAO 🤣 bro this is a dumb comparison, like comparing monster hunter to ninja gaiden

[rlow1]

@isarai
Not sure if you read the whole article but the two games shown above are briefly touched on. The article mentions many games and systems. Really driving the point of how important gameplay is. To me the question should be, does anyone really need to be told this? If you been a gamer for even a short bit, you already know gameplay is king.

[H9]

I think yes they do, the age of handholding and going Hollywood have dominated the industry for a when now

[S2Killinit]

What does “going hollywood” mean? Are you saying if it has a good story, its going hollywood?

The whole point is that gameplay is necessary but that isn’t mutually exclusive from a good storyline.

[H9]

Good story? 99% of Hollywood style games, which are cinematic games that have stories and dialogue that would work with the average Hollywood audience, have actually bad stories or unimpressive safe stories, to me it's the exact opposite those Hollywood stories are a low point in game storytelling!

Of Course they aren't mutually exclusive but when you want your game to be a movie instead most of the times you gonna create something that simply doesn't work in game format!

[Armaggedon]

What he means by going hollywood, is presentation. Games focused on presentation have been the meta for awhile now, ever since the last of us dropped. Games with exceptional gameplay have been the outlier

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

If you mean the hoard of cinematic games instead of diverse genres, I would agree with you. Hollywood itself is creatively bankrupt, It's a big surprise when something like Dune, Top Gun or Oppenheimer comes out and wows us.

[jwillj2k4]

Everyone needs to be told this. Otherwise the gaming industry wouldn’t be fapping over stupid shit like ray tracing and reflective puddles.

[DarXyde]

Indeed.

When it comes to actually scoring games though, it's tricky. How much weight should narrative be afforded in reviews? Personally, I think it shouldn't be allowed to hurt a score because the gameplay could be phenomenal. On the other hand, a good story should be rewarded in reviews. Games like Quantic Dream titles rely pretty much entirely on narrative.

Different genres should take them into consideration on a case by case basis, but perhaps the best approach is to rate games on "motivation to keep playing". Whether the game is just fun or the narrative keeps you hooked.

No idea, but I do agree that I much prefer a fun game over a narrative masterpiece. You've got games that balance both beautifully like Naughty Dog titles. I play them and it feels like I'm immersing myself in a great book.

I broadly agree, but I will also say "it depends".

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I'm sure there's leeway for personal tastes, personally I score story/characters pretty highly, I can make do with mediocre gameplay as long as I have a good story/characters, but I might struggle if I have good gameplay and not very good characters or story to go with it.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

The Horizon Games have very stylized realistic graphics. They are not photorealistic, nor was photorealism a visual target for the series.

[H9]

"A good gameplay system can compensate for below-average narrative/visuals but the vice verse is rarely possible in video games" on point, well done

[MeteorPanda]

Isn't horizens combat shoot arrow at part. basic button spam for melee with dodge?

Like the combat isnt why you play horizon, the graphics isnt why you play a hack and slash with customization in ronin either?

[PitbullMonster]

You can break down every game into simple gameplay loops. Isn't Elden Ring just dodge and attack? Isn't Helldivers2 just shoot? Isn't RDR2 just horse riding and shoot?

[phoenixwing]

@pitbull
completely agree. horizon has good gameplay actually and it's fun imo. also when it first came out it was quite a refreshing way to take down bosses when everything was an fps out there with bullet sponges and little else.

[Armaggedon]

Lmao. Good point. All of these games can broken down to a very fundamental level

[nitus10]

The best way to play HZD is to use sneek combat by laying out traps and luring the enemy into them. Personally I found the whistle to be much better than a rock and it is very easy to play the first few hours of HZD on the hardest level and not get attacked although that changes during the "proving".

As for shooting an arrow you have nine different types and three different types of bows. if you select and shoot the wrong arrow you are as good as dead if you are on the hardest difficulty. As an example say you are attacked by Glinthawks it is best to use a fire arrow not a more powerfull one. Of course you could fire a Corruption Arrow but they are useless against a corrupted machine.

Of course there are other weapon types you can use later in the game (eg. machine gun during the "proving") but you still have to be carefull.

[DrDoomer]

Nah, Horizon is an overall better game.

[P_Bomb]

Ronin scored significantly lower on meta. Not just next to Horizon, but also the Niohs which the article name drops. Probably not the best example of a ‘better than’.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

I find the claim throughout this article that good gameplay is the only reason for success ridiculous. How many copies has Rise of the Ronin sold?

[phoenixwing]

i think comparing horizon zero dawn and ronin is stupid since they both play way different from each other and have largely different enemies that they're fighting with different mechanics to them. I'm of the opinion that both are great and i don't really care how either sells i buy both.

[Ironmike]

Not a load I unfortunately was one of them world is boring story g mission are separate from open world voice acting is atrocious clipping pop in and cant even keep a stable 30 never mind 60 it's one team ni jnas weakest game

[mandf]

Trolling

[anast]

Both are solid Sony exclusives. I like both styles. It is not necessary to replace one with the other.

[Ironmike]

Ronins garbage stop with its great its not

[mandf]

Troll

[anast]

Solid game, a ton of fun, it's not a loading screen sim.

[VincentVanBro]

The horizon games dont have a profound story so I’m lost there lol

[lucian229]

games like detroit become human and do it where story and graphics outweigh the gameplay, but those games are soooooo rare

[Ironmike]

Ronin is garbage paid 70 for it I wish could have refunded horizon is on different level

[notachance]

Lol, to the moon barely had a gameplay but it’s one of the few games that amazed me to this day. And let’s face it, visual novel and text adventure like monkey islands are just a bunch of text with graphics and musics but some of them are legendary enough to be written in the history of gaming.

[dmonee]

I played through Elden Ring, and didn’t like the experience at first. I had gotten used to games being narrative driven. For example, Horizon forbidden west, The last of us and etc…. Going back to Elden Ring, I appreciate it more. The game lets you play and explore with minimal interruptions. The narrative is there, but its behind the gameplay and not in front if the gameplay like a game such as Final Fantasy 7 rebirth. Which I also enjoyed. Thats just my two cents

[SyntheticForm]

If you're ever interested in demystifying Elden Ring and want a comprehensive lore breakdown, I encourage you to watch this man's series of videos. Highly entertaining and intelligent.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[dmonee]

Ill do that. Thanks for the link. I realize my opinion had nothing to do with this article lol. I was more thinking of how some games beat you over the head with polished cutscenes, tons of dialogue and constant stoppages of gameplay. I dogged Elden Ring at first because the game didn’t come off as flashy or story driven. Until I explored more and more. There are still tons of things I haven’t experienced in that game. Something has to be said for letting the gamer peel back the story as opposed to shoving it in their face with flashy visuals and scripted sequences

[Shane Kim]

Without playing Ronin, it looks pretty crap. Horizon is the only next gen feeling I've gotten from any game yet.

[DivineHand125]

Since this is a video game, you can expect that in most cases, gamers would appreciate good and fresh gameplay. Nintendo has been able to stay in business all these years by following this rule.

After the gameplay loop has been established, you should add your story to keep the player engaged followed by a great soundtrack to make certain moments of the experience memorable. Many indie games use ambient music in their games and I don't like it. Makes it feel boring. I tend to use my music when playing those games.

[Armaggedon]

Player preference rules all of these things. What are people individually interested in playing? Some like to struggle in souls games. Some like to play just to relax. Some like a good presentation. Player preference rules above any attribute you can list. That may also be the reason why some of these high profile games have made a trend of all releasing on the same day or within the same week, as a test to see what types of games people are more interested in at the time.

[repsahj]

I don't mind both of the points mentioned, as long as the game is not broken and the bugs are minimal.

[Huey_My_D_Long]

HZFW is way more well rounded, where as Ronin only has decent combat...thats it. Not worth 70 I paid for, more like40 or even 30

[Profchaos]

The gameplay is key a beautiful game can be a let down gameplay wise.

Games like mafia 3 comes to mind when it launched I was impre6with it's visuals after 4 hours I got bored of the formula of taking over territories to advance a story that wasn't all that interesting.

[TheEroica]

Gameplay will always be the reason we pick up a controller. Go watch a movie of you want to look at pretty trees. When I game I want to be engaged... Don't care about graphics and other elements. Gameplay is king. Period.