The cool answer is Gameplay > Graphics, which is true, but we all want sweet graphics too, right?

Edit: Unnecessary censorship.

I chose important.

I want gameplay most of all. I want graphics to use the available hardware to it's fullest capabilities.

graphics = video

gameplay = game

graphics + gameplay = video game

Yes, graphics are important to actual nature of a video game. Gameplay is too.

Why do so many people think that good gameplay means bad graphics and good graphics means bad gameplay ?

The only game that worked like that and I remember is Crysis,which is a very short game which gets boring soon and you find yourself replaying it every time you buy a new processor or graphics card just so you can gaze the environments again.

But that doesn't mean that all games with good graphics have bad gameplay.
I mean look at games like Quake,Goldeneye 007,Zelda Ocarina of Time,Halo,and TESIV:Oblivion.
All those games had so good graphics that when the came out they made people say "wow",and they have amazing gameplay and people play them even today.

Graphics doesn't kill gameplay.
That's what Wii owners where saying back in 2006 and 2007 to defend themselves when xbox360 owners where showing off telling they have better consoles because of better graphics.
But I don't think that games on xbox360 svcked,that's not true.Xbox360 has great games.
And now I see people who are playing on xbox360 and ps3 saying the same things to PC gamers that wii gamers told to ps3 and xbox360 gamers back then...

But the same way games on xbox360 and ps3 have good gameplay regardless that they have better graphics,so games with even better graphics can have equally good or better gameplay.

And personally I want better graphics the same way I want better sound,better way to control,better story,better mechanics...
Evolution should be equal at all aspects of a game.

I don't want Lego-brick-graphics, but it doesn't have to be photo-realistic either. If the gameplay and the story is good, then I could live with how it looked in Oblivion.

I voted Gameplay > Graphics

You shouldn't sacrifice one for the other. People have it in their mind that you have to give up one for the other when you don't. The only thing is whether you use too high of graphics quality in which only a small portion of the player base can use it. That's the only limitation on graphics there should be.

Graphics quality has to be balanced against time-to-implement (the game’s got to ship sometime) and the other draws on system resources (the game’s got to run on multiple platforms) as a result of “gameplay” (by which I mean game design as well as actual mechanics).

I’m willing to bet that almost nothing about game development is as “easy” as we laypeople think.

For me, being immersed in the world is almost as important as gameplay. Graphics are a HUGE part of immersion. Therefor, yes, graphics are a paramount concern.

When gameplay and everything else in the game itself is taken care, then come graphics.
No wait, would that even be possible if the graphics weren't determined?
Doesn't matter, I'd rather have strong gameplay and such, while having outdated graphics.

"All that is gold does not glitter" my friends. Sure, graphics matter to a certain degree. If Skyrim looked like it was on the original X-box I would not be too pleased. Graphics and animation better allow you to become immersed in the game world. Though for me it goes like this: Story>Gameplay>AnimationGameplay and story are very close for me. I loved every second of Dark Messiah because I had fun playing the game, even though the story was awful. Morrowind, to be honest has some pretty rough gameplay, graphics (now days) and animation even for that time. But I continue to love playing it to this day because I love the lore of the Elder Scrolls, and I consider it my favorite game of all time.

/applause

Graphics are extremely important and anyone who doesn't say so is a liar but gameplay is even more important.

This poll needs to have radio-buttons instead of check-boxes how can you make an estimation when someone can check two boxes that go against each-other ?

I find the amount of people trying to be superior in these polls amusing. "I don't care about graphics!" which is why... you're here instead of playing nethack or dwarf fortress? In terms of gameplay those will be a hundred times more complex, no hyperbole, than a graphically competent game until we get something like the Matrix.

Or, we could agree that we all have eyes. That maybe we like look at things that are interesting and pretty, and maybe a video game can provide such things in an interactive way. Maybe we could have our cake and eat it too.

1. Gameplay
2. Story (Main quest and interesting side quests)
3. Graphics

One of my favourite rpg series is Might and magic (except for nr 9).. and anyone who's played that knows that graphics is not one of it's strongpoints.

Maybe I'm biased because my computer is not that good and I play lots of old games, but I really don't care about graphics.

The gameplay and story of Skyrim is what's going to make it great. I just don't see the graphics here keeping up with other big titles (Mass Effect 3) being released at around the same time.

Most games I play are considered 'outdated' by today's standards in terms of graphics. I think that answers your question.

You can't "rank" elements of a game. They all contribute to the same thing, the overall experience. Graphics are very important, muddy textures or low poly models are as sure to de-immerse you as fighting the good fight with your voice, stabbing somebody five dozen times and having no effect other than a slightly lower health bar, or those animations. Video games are a visual medium, you can't say that the visuals don't matter - and talking as if having better graphics actively detracts from the gameplay is strange. Modellers, artists, and graphics programmers are not game designers, the two have no great effect on each other. However, better graphics open up new gameplay possibilities, and worse graphics close them - if textures are larger, you can read words ingame rather than as subtitles, if cloth is animated and physically modeled you could stick it to walls with a well aimed arrow - an arrow you could aim better because of the higher resolution giving you more detail in the distance - detail in the distance possible due to tessellation smoothly scaling detail down to maintain framerate while still providing better detail than static LOD could. Longer lived blood decals look nice, but they can also alert you to previous battles, and damage effects can quickly show you if an enemy has already taken damage.


But no, graphics don't matter, and no matter how bad graphics are, the gameplay will only get better.
Right?

Graphics have reached the state in which they don't really need to improve anymore, artistic style is much more important these days - more focus should be put in the actual contents of the game (gameplay, stories, reactivity, etc). Imo.



:thumbsup:
Same here. Somehow the "oldies" tend to be much more compelling experiences than what the current market offers.

Don't get me wrong: I love gorgeous graphics as much as the next guy. But if the game looks great but only has one weapon, one spin attack and a terrible plot line because of it, then I'm bored out of my mind. Visual appeals grow dull after a while; gameplay and plotline have much more lasting appeal.

From what I've seen, I think the graphics are adequate. I wasn't expecting Crysis anyway.

I think the story, gameplay and the graphics are the most important parts of a game. What all of these three features share, according to me, is atmosphere. And that is really important to me.
Graphics can really help improve the atmosphere a lot. Make the world more believable... more beautiful - a whole new experience.
I'd say it's an equal share of importance though; from story, gameplay and graphics.
Each factor is equally important.

To those who say things like "graphics means nothing", "gameplay over graphics no matter what", "I don't care one tiny bit about graphics"... I doubt you'd enjoy playing Skyrim in 2D

If you still believe you don't care about graphics; see if you honestly couldn't care about the difference of the graphics between these two videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrJ4qySrhak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBxzRh0Prjg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpuAnc8teE0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pogBXwt3qk

If you still, after seeing these videos, honestly think that graphics matters zero, then be my guest.