Games for Fun
 

I'm not entirely sure this is the right place for this thread, but this is an idea that's always interested me, and this IS the games subforum. What exactly makes you go, "Man, this game is FUN"? For me, honestly, I don't really care how a game's story is, as long as it's got fun gameplay to it, but I'm wondering if I'm the anomaly here, or if other people share these sentiments?

If it's just enjoyable to play, and/or challanges me in some way. To me, that's fun. Story is usually second, visuals a pretty distant third.

Engaging storyline is DEFINITELY pretty high up there, but isn't the sole definition of "funness" for me. I can overlook a weaker storyline if the gameplay keeps me interested. Ideally. the game would have both, like Ghost Trick and Half-Life 2.

And then there are some games whwre I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA why they are so enjoyable. There's no real reason, for example, why Dynasty Warriors 5 Extreme Legends is fun. Horrible voice acting, horrible AI, nothing but "square square square TRIANGLE square square TRIANGLE TRIANGLE TRIANGLE" as far as gameplay goes... yet somehow it is fun.

Character.

I don't mean like engaging, deep people making up the story (though they can qualify), I mean the quirky, unique bits that make elements of a game memorable. NPCs and PCs who are entertaining. Little background events during cutscenes so that it feels like there's more to the world than just me and the guy I'm speaking with. Weapons and abilities that are interesting, even if they aren't necessarily practical. Insignificant, one-off people or bits of scenery that serve no purpose but to add that extra little bit of life.

I oddly just posted this up in the past couple days: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/U...k_For_In_Games

I'm glad I didn't replace it with Dragon Age II yet.

EDIT: Updated it with the archive link.

Engaging storyline is nice if the Game play is just as engaging. The story is icing on the cake for most games. IF you have a good story but bad game play Ill not play it. Games are for GAME PLAY. (IM LOOKING AT YOU ME1!) games also need a TUTORIAL!(AGAIN FUCK YOU ME1) or like GTA4 multiple tutorials spread as far as we need them. also if I want to break off and do something weird and stupid It should let me or punish me in such a way I laugh after it. halo has tons of ways it keeps players on track while also hiding things in areas past punishment. While Saints row 2 encourages it with mini-games dedicated to you fucking around.

Even if the story is corny as all hell, if it's told in a nice way and has good gameplay i'll like it. I Love a good story with good, big, characters that i can relate to, that i can like and dislike

And i LOVE game that gives me options to customize, change stuff make my own way to play it. A lot of times if a game has a so-so story, as soon as i dominate the gameplay or acquire all features of the game i either rush to the end or stop playing

so i take it you played Crysis 2 and preordered Deus ex
I like games like that as well but im never inclined to replay though them in a different style

It's hard to pin down expect for one crucial fact. Gameplay is crucial to a good game for me, if it doesn't feel fun to play it isn't going to work for me. But if a game is trying hard to tell a story and just can't do it clearly that also ruins the game.

Really, after gameplay, if a game sets out what it means to do it's good for me. If, however, it presents aspects of it poorly it begins to loose points with me. For example I can't stand Braid. I love the game play, the puzzles are fun, and the art is really pretty; but they tried to tell a serious story in such vague, unexplained terms that it pretty well beat it down for me. It then had the nerve to put in the unbearably hard to get secret stars as a way to try and better explain the story with no gameplay hint that they were ever there, and that killed the game for me. Contrast that with Devil Kings, which is essentially a Dynasty warriors rip off. There is no deep story, compelling character, or particularly innovative gameplay. You wreck shit in feudal Japan. That's it. But since that's all it's trying to be, at least in the american version, there just a visceral kind of fun in that. That and the voice of Optimus Prime has a major role, and that's always a plus.

Seriously I shouldn't even need to spoiler it, but whatevs.
 

Proper planning, plain and simple. If I don't have to put up with some pace breaker because the dev team quite obviously thought of it, that makes a game incredibly fun for me. It shows it was made with me (or at least my demographic) in mind. Games that require you to grind or do repetitive tasks can sink whatever fun I was having.

That said, sometimes the most fun I've had in a game was when something happened that the developers didn't see coming. Case in point: playing RE5, in the room with all of the death lasers, specifically the one where one of the side passages has about 8 billion boxes. Didn't really feel like getting snake attacked, so I simply grenaded the lot of them. Eggs everywhere. My partner wanted one, so to save time I grabbed one and tried to hand it to him. Arm went straight through one of the lasers, and of course it killed me. We could NOT stop laughing, especially because they're only about an inch wide, and Shiva could totally have reached over or under but no, straight through.

Story is important, but it doesn't determine if a game is fun for me, only if I feel like playing through all of the single player or not. For example: knowing what I know now, I wouldn't bother with playing through all of Borderlands, at least not the main story (DLC is fantastic).