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What Matters Most - Gameplay or Graphics and why?

    • 9115 posts
    July 12, 2021 3:07 AM PDT

    What Matters Most - Gameplay or Graphics and why? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters

    • 1019 posts
    July 12, 2021 4:41 AM PDT

    A game.  Not even game play.  Look at some of the games out there today.  They aren't even good games, some are 2d pixal games and they have hundreds or thousands of people playing.  People are desperate for a game, not even a good game.

    But if you're going for a graphical mmo, where the character animations are taking the place of text, then you'll need good enough graphics and animations to at least convey what characters or NPC's are doing since it's no longer primarily displayed as text. 

    • 413 posts
    July 12, 2021 4:55 AM PDT

    Gameplay has to be there.  Graphics can only hold you for so long until you loose interest.

    • 724 posts
    July 12, 2021 5:40 AM PDT
    Gameplay
    • 172 posts
    July 12, 2021 6:50 AM PDT

    I think it's worth noting all the EMU severs that pop-up for these older games like EQ, DAoC, SWG, FFXI.

     

    Not that they have 10's of thousands of players and theres probably a lot to be said about notalgia, but at the end of the day, people spin up these servers and players will gravitate towards them because of the gameplay.  Mayhaps not many new player, but people that know what those games are about and know what they want in terms of gameplay.  Because lets be honest, no one is playing P99 or a live TLP server for the graphics.


    I recently (within two weeks) bougth Octopath Traveler, and for those of you who do not know about the game, it is a 2D JRPG/Final Fantasy-esque made by Square Enix.  For what it's worth, i enjoy the story, i enjoy the combat mechanics, i also love JRPG style games.  With that said, the game also looks like it could have been made in 1995.  But what grips me, are not how ground-breaking the graphics are, because they're not ground-breaking, although fairly pleasing in aesthetics.  As i said, i enjoy how the game actually plays, its the same but slightly different than other JRPG's ive played.

     

    With this in mind and for me, aesthetically pleasing graphics are a great for a game's quality of life.  Obviously we dont want to be running through something that looks like Dagger fall running on DOS in 1996 (maybe some of us).  However, if it comes down to graphics or gameplay, i will go with gameplay every single time.  The mechanics of the game are what allow you to interact with the game and make it "fun."  But as i recall a quote from Joppa at some point, how do you quanitfy "fun"?  It's difficult, although ill pick gameplay everytime, there still needs the be a healthy balance between the graphics and good gameplay.  

    • 3852 posts
    July 12, 2021 7:09 AM PDT

    Both.

    Without good gameplay graphics will keep people for a while but they will leave fairly soon. Spreading the word as they go.

    Without good graphics people won't stay long enough to learn how good a game it is. A new game cannot benefit from nostalgia. Other than, in this case, nostalgia for EQ and Vanguard.

    Gameplay is more important. A good game with decent graphics (but not worse than decent) can prosper. Gameplay will keep people for years if they can stand how it looks. Good or even excellent graphics with a merely decent game will not survive long. Enjoyment of graphics wears off a lot faster than enjoyment of a good game.

    • 150 posts
    July 12, 2021 7:47 AM PDT

    Gameplay. I still have an active imagination that can polish the rough edges and find a silver lining around very basic graphics. Gameplay is the horse and graphics the cart. It's an easier time riding in the cart, but at least the horse moves.

    • 33 posts
    July 12, 2021 8:08 AM PDT

    Gameplay. Look at the resurgence of 8-bit styled & roguelike games that are not necessarily graphically taxing. If the core gameplay is fun, the willing suspension of disbelief takes over, and the eye candy makes itself, like Leevolen mentioned above!  I mean Tetris is still a bomb game with blocks falling from the sky. That being said, I am excited about Pantheon being a "classic" MMO with a "modern" engine.  It will be fun  to explore a zone w/ visual settings cranked to the max. But if I'm grouped up, doing a dungeon, I will be turning down those setting if having them cranked to 11 will adversely affect gameplay. 

    • 392 posts
    July 12, 2021 8:34 AM PDT

    Gameplay, I spent my childhood running around pixel art and early 3D games filling in the world around me with my own imagination.

    • 2419 posts
    July 12, 2021 12:07 PM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    What Matters Most - Gameplay or Graphics and why? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters

    Gameplay. 

    It's simple really.  Graphics have a very very limited lifespan. What is seen as amazing graphics today will be seen as outdated in a very few years. What looks amazing the first few times you see it becomes nothing more than a background you ignore after that.  The high resolution textures on the player models, for example.  They look amazing and when you see them on a naked, immobile and T-posed they look great. But when in the game will you ever see a character like that?  You'll be moving around, you'll soon have armor covering all of it. So you'll see it a few times, be impressed and then quickly cover it up and never give a fudge about it ever again.  Alot of work, time and money spent for a very short lifespan.

    Back in the Vanguard days Brad went on and on and on about how beautiful Vanguard looked while rarely, if ever, proclaiming about how the game played.  Sigil Games spent a lot of time, money and effort on (for the time) a good looking world and, in the end, it was terrible gameplay, prolific bugs, terrible networking code that quickly brought that game to an end.

    Graphics have the lowest return on investment and yet so many companies spent far more on that part than what really matters..gameplay.

    Look at Minecraft as an example where gameplay vs graphics is blatantly obvious. Mojang did it right and made $4B from it.

     

     

     

    • 454 posts
    July 12, 2021 12:25 PM PDT

    Gameplay, by a mile.  

    For example:  The graphics we've seen from Terminus are wonderful as they are.

    Gameplay will decide if people will stay, and play for a lengthy time.

    • 627 posts
    July 12, 2021 1:08 PM PDT
    Gameplay > graphics.

    Is graphics are very bad is can be a turn off, if its decently up to date. Gameplay and content are Kings
    • 810 posts
    July 12, 2021 6:37 PM PDT
    Graphics or style helps draw the crowd. It is super important early on for a game but quickly falls off. You want to show off the dark shadowy underdark. You want to show off the climbing through complete darkness towards a faint light. You want to see the magnificent landscape. Graphics sell the game.

    Gameplay keeps people playing. It gets the word of mouth players too. It grows the game, but graphics lower that bar early on. Buggy impossible game? Never recover. Standard mmo? Well everything is the same so may as well play the new or the more polished.
    • 122 posts
    July 12, 2021 6:52 PM PDT

    I've always seen it like this.  The most important thing for each media is as follows.

    Books - Plot

    Movies - Visuals/Plot

    Games - Gameplay

     

    Granted, all of these need a combination of everything but what makes gameplay so important in a game is that it's interactive.  There are plenty of old games that are still fun to play just because of the gameplay, take tetris for example.

    • 159 posts
    July 12, 2021 8:41 PM PDT

    Everyone is talking about drawing the crowd and appealing to others. I'll answer for myself.

     

    Graphics - as far as visual beauty - mean almost nothing to me. The only graphics that matter to me are the graphics that affect the quality of the gameplay.

     

    I don't play MMOs for the graphics, but rather for the community, achievement, character development, and challenge. Gameplay is woven through everything that matters in an MMO.


    This post was edited by Kass at July 12, 2021 8:44 PM PDT
    • 94 posts
    July 13, 2021 10:21 AM PDT

    Gameplay

     

    Understandably for  a lot of people it seems to be Graphics to get them into the game, but Gameplay will keep them.

    • 690 posts
    July 13, 2021 10:57 AM PDT

    Gameplay because it makes the game fun and/or addictive.

    Graphics just make it cooler, which helps if you want to make your game someone's favorite, but not necessary

    • 392 posts
    July 13, 2021 12:46 PM PDT

    I'ma just say it, graphics>gameplay people tend to be shallow console kiddies.

    • 255 posts
    July 13, 2021 3:27 PM PDT

    Gameplay.

     

    EQ hasn't lasted 20+ years on graphics, Maybe 20 years ago it was the graphics as well, but not in the last 15 odd years.

    • 86 posts
    July 13, 2021 4:14 PM PDT

    Both, it's 2021, there's no excuse for either to be lacking at all, this isn't really a discussion.

     

    By that I simply mean, MMO market is heavily over populated atm, if a game company can't produce both it has no way of surviving. target audience 1, want 1, the other 2. Produce both or be swept aside.


    This post was edited by Gaku at July 13, 2021 4:19 PM PDT
    • 9115 posts
    July 13, 2021 5:02 PM PDT

    Gaku said:

    Both, it's 2021, there's no excuse for either to be lacking at all, this isn't really a discussion.

     

    By that I simply mean, MMO market is heavily over populated atm, if a game company can't produce both it has no way of surviving. target audience 1, want 1, the other 2. Produce both or be swept aside.

    This CM question is designed for you to be challenged and only choose one, both would be great and are expected in most games these days but if you could only pick one, what is more important to you, Graphics or Gameplay?

    • 326 posts
    July 13, 2021 7:48 PM PDT

     

    gameplay(content) that is graphically pleasing

    • 256 posts
    July 14, 2021 2:25 AM PDT

    Gameplay will always hold more value than graphics, provided the graphics in question are at least passable.

    You can have a visually pleasing world, but if the gameplay isn't there, you're not going to retain players for long. On the opposite note, if you have fun and engaging gameplay but don't have a visually stunning world, you still have a decent chance of retaining players.

    I feel like you can always update visuals at a later date. However, if the very essence of your game is lacking, then there is no waiting to improve on that. 

    • 810 posts
    July 15, 2021 12:31 AM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    This CM question is designed for you to be challenged and only choose one, both would be great and are expected in most games these days but if you could only pick one, what is more important to you, Graphics or Gameplay?

    Risking the ire... tsk tsk.  What matters most, food or water and why?  The answer is clearly water (gameplay) but you obviously need both.  Without enough water you will clearly die, but once you have enough water though what is more important?  What does enough look like? How high is that bar?

    Or have fun with it, ask people for an example of a game they would compare to polished dung where a company went too far with graphics and let gameplay slip. 

    Or you can try narrowing the question:

    What matters most for advertising?  Graphics, looking cool is a clear seller.

    What matters most for development? Graphics, you need to set the standard and keep it.  Don't try to upgrade or change the core quality in 6 months or a year because it will be far far worse to do then. 

    What matters most for recognition? (AKA free advertising)  Graphics, you want people to recognize the game when they see a clip or a gif.

     

     

    • 888 posts
    July 15, 2021 7:43 AM PDT
    Graphics matters most for initial sales and reactions. Gameplay matters most for continuing subscriptions and maintaining subscriptions.