Weekly Topic: What Makes a Game Brilliant, IYO?

Mai Valentine

Mai Valentine

Moderator
What do you think qualifies a game as being brilliant?

I thought of this topic because on one of the LJ communities I'm in, someone posted that Katamari Damacy was brilliant, and someone replied that it was brilliant, but only if your standards for being brilliant were hideously low, and said that if we wanted to see brilliance and genious in a game, we should play Half-Life 2.

Do you agree or disagree with that, and why? Basically, what are some things that you think make a game brilliant or genius, and list some games that you think qualify.

Edit: For next week's topic, I pick Neph. :p
 
Hmm... I don't agree with that at all. KD is an amazing game, but I'm sure Half-Life 2 is also (I'll be finding that one out on the 25th).

As for the topic, I really coudn't tell you what makes a true great game, I only know what I like. I havn't liked a lot of games that were called "Brilliant", like Splinter Cell, and I loved games that know onw thought where any good like Zone Of The Ender's.
 
It's all a matter of personal taste. If someone's obsessed with graphics and cool effects, then they'll think those types of games are brilliant. If someone likes FPS games like Metroid Prime (just kiddin' Link :D) If someone likes FPS games like Halo, they'll think those are brilliant.

If someone's a Star Wars wannabe, they'll like any SW game that ever existed.

Most of what I said probably didn't make sense, but I've been doing homework all day. I apologize.
 
No, that makes perfect sense and it's true. There isn't really a true form of brilliance, because everyone has their own tastes in gaming and their own outlooks on how a game should be. However, there are games that just had no effort put into them at all, so I wont really count those unless they were made how the developers intended them to be made.

My personal opinion is this. What makes a game brilliant to me is simply if I can play it for ages and never want to sell/get rid of it. I'm pretty much all about gameplay and not about graphics. Though they gotta look passable, obviously.

And Link, i'm sure you're going to love Half-Life 2. I played it at my friends house last week, and it blew me away almost literally. I now want to upgrade my pc just so I can have it.  ;)
 
Well I've been thinking about it.

I think a game is brilliant when years down the line, people still look back on it and game developers are still somewhat influenced by it.

In that line of thinking, I guess I could see where the guy would be coming from. I'm not sure how much of a lasting impact Katamari Damacy will have compared to Half-Life 2.

In accordance with my definition, I find the following games to be brilliant:

Legend of Zelda (NES)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
Super Mario 64 (N64)
Half-Life (PC)
Metal Gear Solid (PSone)
Doom (PC)
 
A brilliant game to me, is one that is fun, inventive, original, and places gameplay first. The main problem with most games out today is the fact that they are not actually focused on gameplay...but on wowing ppl with fancy graphics and/or cut scenes. IMHO a brilliant game cannot be defined as one particular genre or game..its all subjective to the one who is stating the opinion.
 
In that line of thinking, I guess I could see where the guy would be coming from. I'm not sure how much of a lasting impact Katamari Damacy will have compared to Half-Life 2.
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Well you see, your not going to see ANY other game like KD, other than the sequals of it. Ever. Game developers are not going to look at that game and say, "Wow, that is a really good game mechanic, let's do a game like that." BUT in my opnion KD is still a brilliant game for all the obvouis reasons.
 
For me, a game is only brilliant when it captures my mind and entertains me fully throughout the game. When I can play a game straight through without any moments of boredom or repetition, than it is brilliant in my book. One game like that that comes to mind is Zelda: OOT. I really think that OOT is the kind of game that other games need to set their standards too, especially today. I am speaking for me only but I have not yet found another game that "captures" me like OOT, FFX was close but even that had it's dull moments of random battling. And on the flip side a game can be brilliant simply for it's replay value and good ol' fun factor. Tetris for the nes comes to mind..... :)
 
LinkTriforceGC said:
Well you see, your not going to see ANY other game like KD, other than the sequals of it. Ever. Game developers are not going to look at that game and say, "Wow, that is a really good game mechanic, let's do a game like that." BUT in my opnion KD is still a brilliant game for all the obvouis reasons.
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Yeah. But the sad thing is, I wish developers would learn from Katamari Damacy - Learn that games don't have to be about graphics or shooting to be a hit with gamers, or that games don't have to have epic storylines and last 100 hours to be worth playing. Actually I think some gamers would be better off if they learned that, too.
 
I agree with Link, but I'd take it one step farther.

Any game that consistently makes you say "wow" is brilliant. Watching my friend play Half-Life 2 made me say "wow" countless times, and left me just itching to play it for myself. KD made me think "that's kind of cool" but aside from the unique concept, it really didn't warrant anything more than recognition of its originality.
 
it's nothing definate. you can say graphics, but you'll still play the old games that pale in comparison to the new. same with music being there but then there are games you love without that, and story, etc
what it comes down to is replayability. if a game is only great one time through, then to me, it's not brilliant.
 
I don't agree with that at all, I have loved severel games and thought of them as brilliant, but had no desire to play through it again. Metriod Prime, Luigi's Mansion, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Max Payne 2 etc. All of those game I consedered to be brilliant, but I don't feel like going through it again.

Just my opnion though.
 
If for some reason Neph is not able to make the next weekly topic, I pick Retro Hero as the back-up. :D

Back on topic...I don't know about replayability being a factor, either. I think Majora's Mask is pretty brilliant, but I don't really go back to it because there's one dungeon/boss that I just can't stand. But everything else about it, including the other dungeons and all of the sidequests, are pretty well designed.
 
Oops, I forgot about last Sundays topic. Guess we'll just switch to next Sunday. I guess Mai should of had a back-up for her back-up. :p
 
Ok you can all start calling me the Post Necromancer now. I keep bumping these old topics. But seriously, I think with all the fresh blood (no pun intended) we have in this forum, there could be some interesting discussions in some of these old topics.
 
Personly for me its

Replayability
Variety of enemies and weapons
gameplay
AI to me AI has to be good in a game other wise it isn't very good
voicework
originality
Decent Animations


My examples of brilliant games:
Left 4 Dead
Half Life 2
Doom3
The Darkness
Dead Rising
Gears of War
Resident Evil 4

I could go on and on but im not going to. They are just my personal views on brilliant games.
 
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