B) Often most fond memories of playing games, or awesome moments in games aren't in the end. Those moments that make each game unique appear during your quest to fight the last boss/rescue princess/figure out who the murder is/whatever, not during ending cinematic (but those are most often awesome too)

Like) Icewind Dale 2 - When I was playing games as very young kid (I am 17 now...but still there was time when I was kid)...I think I was 11 years old, but anyways. For some reason the idea I should control party wasn't okay for me (I played mainly single-player games and games where you control just one character...except for X-Com but that doesn't count...so it was pretty new for me).

But to cease this mindless gibberish. I fought through WHOLE game to the final boss with ONE character. I didn't manage to beat the final boss, something happened with computer (I cant remember what) so I lost my save game, and when I wanted to replay Icewind Dale 2 I couldn't find CD...well I still have to finish Icewind Dale 1 :D. So I never saw that ending cinematic (one of the reasons I decided for B)...its journey that matters).I always laughed when they threatened to kill my party members...is this sad or awesome? :( This story I mean.

Dislike)
I don't dislike any of these games...maybe Myst since I only like few adventure games and I never played this one...and there seems to be some kind of hate about it...so I will just join the herd.

A - I have an overwhelming desire to finish games.

Like - Crysis.
I had a lot of fun playing around with suit powers and stuff in the environment. Also, I really loved the "Core" level.

Dislike - Counterstrike.
I have absolutely no interest in playing games in multiplayer.

Story

I'd say 80% of A, and 20% B. Meaning, I don't want to play only sports or puzzle games, but a game has to be a game first and foremost.

If I just want an experience without much of challenge or obstacles, I rather watch a movie. Or I'd play all my games in the easiest difficulty level, using cheats.

From the list, I probably used to like Doom the most, even if today I don't necessarily prefer it to the other games on the list. It had good challenge and good secrets, but no hurry to complete the levels, but searching every corner of the map.

BUT, if I had to choose only one game to a lonely island, I'd pick some multiplayer game (CS or Quake 3), providing there's a broadband internet available on the island. Multiplayer games generally have more replay value than most single-player games, for obvious reasons. If I had to play only against bots, maybe not.

The least I probably like TimeSplitter 1-2 from the list, because as far as I can tell, they just suck as FPS games. I've tried T2 shortly, T1 I have played a lot more on my PS2 (but got bored). I don't think I'll ever finish them. One of my all time favourites, Starcraft (+Brood Wars), has both IMHO:

- terrific single-player gameplay, especially how you have three completely different races which are still nicely balanced. Still looking for a similar RTS gameplay experience elsewhere, yet to play WarWind 1-2 which are also said to have distinctively different races...

- the story and characters are quite captivating too, albeit the first Terran story was a bit boring...

If I had to lose either one in Starcraft, I'd lose the story. I think I'd love the game even without it, but the story made the game even better, just like good graphics or good music do.

I would say B mostly (though a little of both).

I love to play somewhat challenging games with a story that really pulls me in (must have a high overall play time). Sometimes I finish games, just depending on how much I'm into the game or unless I'm stuck. Then I retire the game until I feel like finishing it (such as Silent Hill Homecoming - stuck in the sewers, dying a lot with very little ammo >.< - took me 2 yrs to pick it up and finally finish lol)

Fav games: Elder scroll series (3-5), LA Noire, Fallout series, tons of games from here on GoG, and tons more.

Dislike: Not many I dislike as I make good out of bad games, but I would say games like Civ. Not much of a turn based fan :/

Now that I've read other replies, almost all say they prefer "experience", even if some say at the end they prefer gameplay to story.

I am not sure if some are talking about apples and others oranges. In this poll, I took "experience" to mean mainly the story and presentation, a bit like in a movie. But of course I could say that playing multiplayer game like TeamFortress Classic was sometimes a trance-like experience, even without any story.

So if the question was about "gaming experience" and not the story/presentation, of course I would also select experience over "obstacles". But if it is about movie-like experience in games, I prefer real movies to second-grade "interactive movies", thanks.

Frankly, I didn't understand why e.g. TimeSplitters games were on the list. Are they meant for the "experience/story" people, or "gameplay/obstacle" people?

I picked them as the most disliked game on that list, because at least TimeSplitters 1 gameplay feels quite horrid and boring to me, and so far the "experience" or story hasn't captivated me either. So far I've felt it fails on both categories. :)

On the story/experience area, maybe I've liked something like Grim Fandango the most. It is so far probably the closest case that I've almost decided to use a walthrough just so that I can skip the gameplay, and see the whole story without interruptions (like getting stuck in another puzzle and wondering what am I supposed to do and where to go next).

As a matter of fact, I would have probably preferred if they had made Grim Fandango a movie and not a game in the first place. Same like I liked Kill Bill 1-2 as movies, I don't see why I should have played some boring slash'em-up game just to see the story in those movies.

I've been astounded at the level of hate that GOGers have for Myst since I first started participating in the forums. To me, it's close to adventure game perfection. Then again, it's also one of the few old titles that I DO have some nostalgia goggles about. So perhaps my judgement is flawed.

The statement that is MOST true about me is:

C. I'm fookin' awesome.

But of those two other choices, B

They're on the list since 2, at least, is a game very much about completing challenges and "winning." But if you notice, I changed my initial post, since it seemed that the set list was just confusing everyone (and rightly so).

I think first B when you start playing a new game and everything is new and exciting and you louse yourself but more and more A towards the end when you're bored of killing your 10,000th kobold but you just want to FINISH it goddamit!

Like: PS: T, Outcast and, new to the list, Psychonaughts because they're awesome and immersive and wow!
Dislike: Minecraft because I'm just not independently creative enough to have fun in a sandbox - I need GOAL goddammit!

From my likes you might think I'm going to say that I favor story over gameplay, but no, gameplay is more important for the simple fact that Gameplay can exist in the total absence of story - I've spent countless hours playing games where the only story is 'You're a guy who races cars in races and the more races you win the more races in get to race in"
But decent story let down by broken gameplay is just frustrating and not something I'd play for long - see the PC port of True Crime: Streets of LA arrrg - I keep going on about that one but I just can't get my head around how anyone could be so stupid!
I actually spent a could of hours playing dodgy Sierra made, Myst 'inspired' knock off 'Shivers' Yesterday and enjoyed beating some of the puzzle not sure I'll be playing it again anytime soon though...

I have a lot of both, but I'd rather lean towards B than towards A. I don't waste my time on achievements and usually after I'm done with the single player campaign, I'm done with the game, however, I don't "lose myself" in the game and go exploring without a set goal in mind, so there's always a bit of both attitudes.

A game I like is Starcraft and it's sequel, one of the few that stays on my hard drive for playing with friends, long after the campaign is done and that I've replayed more than once. I very rarely replay games, and even more rarely, finish them a second time, but both SCs have been on the short list of games finished (or almost finished) more than once.

A game I disliked is Prince of Persia. I loved the combat, the setting and the story but I just hate hate hate a checkpoint saving system and replaying mistakes over and over again, specially if it involves miscalculating a jump. Repetition becomes frustrating pretty soon. This is probably why I don't mind replaying missions on an RTS, because you always change something and the outcome is not always the same but trying a jump over and over again demands mouse/keyboard/controller skill and it gets boring fast when you fail at the exact same thing repeatedly.

B. I almost never finish games. I play until I get tired of the game. There are some games like the Baldur's Gate series that I've put hundreds of hours into over multiple games but never beat them.

On the story front, I don't really need one. I actually find games that insist on "THIS IS YOUR STORY AND YOU CANNOT DEVIATE" to be highly annoying. That's why I hate most sandbox GTA like games. I want to play *my* story. In those games they give you the illusion of choice and freedom only to snatch it away for storyline bits.

I think given a game I can craft a better storyline through playing then most game storylines can offer. A great example is with Fallout 3, which will have spoilers so anyone reading who hasn't played it should skip reading. I was playing a good character, but in rapid succession my character had his dog die, his father die, his friend die, and when he tried to go back to the Vault, he saved them but even his childhood sweetheart turned against him. He went into a heavy depressive funk, wandering around angsty and alone. Until he came across Paradise Falls. When my good aligned character saw the Children slaves, something in his brain flipped and he realized he could make a difference in the world. He began by eliminating every single slaver in the compound and freeing the slaves. From then on, he dedicated himself to trying to improve the world with all the sense of purpose he had left with single minded determination, ultimately giving his life to do so.

So, no, I don't need ingame storylines much.

B)
but i do like finishing game so i get the full picture. Do not care about challenges much so i hardly ever play on hard difficulty or try to maximize my score or complete every obstacle.

Um... neither?

I play game to (wait for it) play games, to not be me (not that I don't like being me, it's just being other people for a time is fun too). Now whether that game comes as a relaxing experience game (by which I'm supposing you mean engaging story, characters, setting etc) or a brain burning puzzle game comes from the game itself, not my desire to play it.


Myst; An experience game I really, really hate. I bought the hype about it being a really deep and engaging experience with puzzles to solve. It really isn't. It's a set of backdrops with puzzles that require you to memorise and repeat things, nothing more welcoming or complex then that.

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee; This is a very difficult puzzle game, the puzzle being how to control the world around you to save your fellow Mudokon. It's a game where the puzzles and the experience are one and the same.


Eh, I'm probably not making a lot of sense and I'll be damned if I'm not going to press the post button now!

For me, I prefer games that focus on doing something really well. That means either having extremely good gameplay, or a wonderful story. Of course, a game with both is good, but that is quite rare.

In any case, there are some forms of gameplay I HATE and then there are those that I love. For example, I really enjoyed La-Mulana, which was basically what happened when Zelda, Alucard, and Indiana Jones had a threesome with La-Mulana being the result. I like platformers that are similar to Metroidvanias, so there ya go for what I want in a platforming game. On the other paw, I detest the game "Unepic", which was hard for the wrong reasons - like in Castlevania, when you get hit, you get knocked back. However, you can also get stunlocked on the Very Hard difficulty since there is no invincibility timer, which is pretty stupid - I died plenty of times in both La-Mulana and Unepic, but I blame the latter's gameplay mechanics, not me, for when things went wrong.

...Agah, I started ranting!

Anyways, here is a list of games I love and hate, with notes of which kind they are.



LOVE
La-Mulana - Platformer (Gameplay)
Link to the Past - Puzzler (Gameplay)
Lufia II - RPG & Puzzler (Gameplay)
DOOM - Shooter (Gameplay)

Planescape Torment - RPG (Experience)
Aquria - Platformer (Experience)
Luv-Muv - Visual Novel (Experience)
Phoenix Wright - Visual Novel (Experience)

Grand Historia - RPG (BOTH)


HATE
Unepic - Platformer (Gameplay)
Dragon Age - RPG (Gameplay)
Mario is Missing - Edutainment (Gameplay)
Skyward Sword - RPG (Experience)
Dragon Quest IX -RPG (BOTH)
Morrowind - RPG (BOTH)