Atmosphere > Gameplay
Always.
Pic related.
Everyone cares about atmosphere. It's the draw.
Depends on the genre.
>>340806771
No, always.
Gameplay>Everything
>>340806365
atmosphere is the draw but it's the gameplay that keeps people playing.
So if you're a publisher, then atmosphere is the focus, because that's what gets sales. Who cares if people aren't playing your game a couple of weeks later as long as they buy the game full price on release.
>>340806365
Agreed.
>>340806365
What gam is this and should I play it?
>>340809675
Silent Hill 3.
Yes, but avoid the remake.
>>340806365
2>3
>>340809553
No, you can endure the worst possible gameplay if the atmosphere is good. In fact atmosphere pushes you to beat the game DESPITE the gameplay.
>>340809876
No, 3 is the technological marvel. And has better puzzles.
>>340809987
>>340809553
forgot to illustrate my point
>>340809987
But 2 has better atmosphere
>>340806365
Gameplay is and will always be the number one most important thing, if it isnt important we'd just have indie shit narratives and tell tale games, walking simulators
>>340808226
no, Depends on the genre.
>>340810087
I can agree that 2 has less retarded story than 1 and 3 but in terms of assets, sound design and pacing 3 is superior.
>>340810093
That's not true at all, indie attempts at 'feels' like That Dragon Cancer or Her Story or Gone Home have zilch atmosphere.
Compare it to Yume Nikki, a game with similar amount of gameplay depth.
I wouldn't say atmosphere is more important than gameplay, but I can forgive a lack of gameplay if the game gives me great atmosphere and excellent scene execution.
>>340809987
But the opposite is also true, a game could have terrible atmosphere but if the gameplay is amazing then you just won't pay attention that much and focus more on the interactive elements.
If a game has a good atmosphere but isn't fun to play, there's not much stopping you from just watching a playthrough online. You have to 'endure' less that way.
>>340806365
I know what you mean
>>340810421
eg destiny. its the first game ive ever played where i stopped paying attention to the story ,i got to the last boss and didnt even realize it
>>340810421
Example?
When it comes to its core gameplay, it's a subpar military shooter.
When it comes to its atmosphere...
>>340806365
I enjoy Silent Hill series gameplay
>>340812762
What gameplay? You literally have to run away from it.
>>340811618
EDF
There's no cohesion or sense of real plot, just shit happens, blow it up and it's fulfilling and enjoyable because of it.
>>340813475
Nonsense, the whole point of it is how charming and over the top the alien invasion is.
>>340811814
subpar? The shooting is great in STALKER. really tense firefights
>>340813760
i stayed for the wacky gameplay
it was a parody of old 50 b movies and what not and the gameplay did a pretty good job reflecting that
>>340814028
but what you call wacky is the atmosphere, the gameplay is just the shooting, running and jumping mechanic.
>>340813995
Yeah you're right I was being too harsh
>>340814137
its all the different stuff that are combined with teh gameplay
if you didnt run shoot or jump then you wouldnt really have anywhere near as much wackiness
a lot of people dont seem to realize that gameplay and atomsphere go hand in hand
>>340806365
>>340814337
>a lot of people dont seem to realize that gameplay and atomsphere go hand in hand
But you have examples in this thread showing that many games get praised despite the gameplay.
>>340814447
I havent posted any game
just saying that without gameplay atomsphere would be shit
Umihara Kawase. Granted, it has a surreal atmosphere but not necessarily in a good way. If anything, it's more likely to offput players, or it would if the arcadey physics platforming gameplay wasn't so ace.
I do agree that atmosphere is important - I put it just below gameplay myself - but I can't say it's always the most important. It's gotten me through games like Remember Me, Bioshock, and like suggested the classic Silent Hill games, but I'll take a game with well executed mechanics and design first and foremost, like Bayonetta which has a fun but VERY garish atmosphere but top tier action gameplay. The draw of atmosphere is a close second. Most great games honestly have both to a considerable extent.
>>340810458
This game deserved to be so much better than it was. Still competent but man, what could've been.
>>340814951
Gameplay is inherently inferior to atmosphere because it can create it; vice versa is not possible.
>>340815261
that doesnt make any sense
a game can be good with bad atomsphere and great gameplay
but no the other way around
if that were the case gone home would be the best game in the world
>>340815261
How does either one create the other? They certainly impact one another's appeals but atmosphere does not create gameplay or vice versa; a good, well-executed experience does combine the two to compliment one another. Hell, Silent Hill does this - its subpar combat gameplay suggests that you shouldn't engage in combat if not necessary. You can, but prepare to wrangle with awkward animations and timing if you do. The gameplay is compliant with the atmosphere, but not created by it. Shaped, maybe, but not created.
>>340806365
Man I just realized I look like a boyish version of heather. I should cosplay her someday
>>340815731
If you think Gone Home has great atmosphere or any atmosphere you're a fucking retard.
>>340815761
Swift, fluent movesets can draw you into the game more creating atmosphere.
>>340815929
Whats your definition of atmosphere
>>340815929
GH does have atmosphere. It's entirely aesthetic, but the state of the house tells the story of a family, the creaky floorboards and thunder outside creates a mild sense of unease in such a big, empty house, and stuff like the riot grrl music does add character. As for the movement bit, I'd say that pertains more to engaging player focus than atmosphere - to me the latter is more like embellishing world design with stuff like lore, sound design, and artstyles that suggest the mood and direction that a world takes. Gone Home, despite being a shitty game, does that in spades.
>>340816049
Too complex to be bothered writing several paragraphs about it but in short - a conflux of various cohesive yet separate elements (art design, map direction, signposting, pacing - this alone deserves a longform essay - aural and visual cues, AI interaction with itself) overall mise-en-scene achieved through said means and a defining 'hand' the game developer has in creating said term.
For example, MGS games had one important aspect of atmosphere denied to them in part 5 as opposed to 1-4, namely the way combat and exposition was paced, through codec calls, how the game was 'broken' for the player and how those chunks got removed in favor of a more 'focused' experience. How endless reshuffling of assets failed to hide lack of coherence previous games exhibited resulting in a rather flat and empty experience.
>>340816365
That is bush league stuff, it does have all that but it's done in such unimaginative, hollow way, like when Eidos Montreal took pride in hitting every possible cyberpunk cliche in Human Revolution.
>>340812960
The clunky combat. Do you even survival horror? It's better than having option to fight
>>340810458
>>340815229
Madness Returns was flawed, but I'm sad they never got to make a sequel.
The art design was top tier, and there's always potential for the colorful setting juxtaposed against the twisted backstory.
>>340816846
>juxtaposed against
that's not how juxtaposing works
>>340816507
Eh, the one thing I really did like about Gone Hone was that it used its environment to tell the meat of its story. Even if said story was hit or miss depending on the character in question, I appreciated that you got to see it unfold without really losing player control at any moment. Between the intro and ending, it never forces the player into cutscenes. Even when Sam has her monologues (which, coincidentally enough, breaks its mood more than anything else - I would've cut those if it were up to me) you can still wander about while listening to it. I'd love for more games with, well, gameplay to do that instead of forcing exposition dumps on the player. If nothing else I'll concede that was an interesting design choice. The rest of it...eh. I think I get what you're saying in that GH lacks in the gameplay end of the part of atmosphere, but its story element has better execution than the quality of the story itself.
>>340817456
What I'm saying is that Gone Home lacks the skill to pull off everything it sets to do. Granted, it's hard to argument against the abstract notion that is skill but my point is that it is done textbook-style: it's not that they don't know what they set out to do, and it's not like they didn't prearrange the whole setup and execution, it's just that everything seems so pedestrian and trite.
In fact, it is the definition of schlock - succumbing to agenda pushed for whatever tokenism the age dictates. It's like making a game about impact of slavery and thinking your work is done because you put some chained blacks in the foreground.
>>340817982
Ah. Yeah, I can agree with that.
>>340816846
>half a decade since Alice Madness Reuturns
>female vidya characters still have short dyke cuts or stiff pony tails to avoid having to deal with advanced hair physics
WHY??
>>340818728
devolution, anon
few years ago sequels looked exactly the same as the previous game
now they look worse.
it gets worse every year, most big games are just disguised slot machines to get children into gambling (cs:go, tf2, overwatch, hearthstone, now gwent etc) and valve, blizz, cdprojekt... should really be targeted by governments.
