In all the years I've been playing, I found that music is a sure sign whether a game is good or not.

For example, Final Fantasy I through X are all exceptional games. The music is one of the main reasons why I enjoy them so much. That's what made me play Final Fantasy V again, as I had put it down because of its difficulty level, and that's the only reason why I kept playing Final Fantasy IX. This game was one of the worst ones I've played; I can barely remember the plot! Weren't it for the Chocobo mini-game (Vamo Alla Flamenco and Ukulele de Chocobo) and the Stelazzio quest (to hear Dark City - Treno), I wouldn't have completed the game at all.

Inversely, games like Beyond the Beyond, whose technical features were inferior to late 16-bits game, had such an unmemorable soundtrack that I didn't bother completing the game as the final boss was just too hard. Dragon Warrior, other than being painfully hard to play, didn't have an interesting soundtrack. The music looped too quickly and didn't have much variety (unlike the succeeding episodes).

One exception (great music/terrible game) is Dragon Warrior VI. Despite a very good soundtrack, the gameplay was simply horrible as there was no plot after 1/3 of the game. An inverse exception (terrible music/excellent game) is Civilization I through III. The music was primitive and repetitive, but the game play was awesome.

So, what's the most important feature in a game?

For me it's going to be the gameplay. I do really like the music and graphics, but if a game does not have a good gameplay, then I just wont find the game to be interesting.

Its got to be the gameplay, the reason why it's the gameplay. You cay bypass the graphics and the sound/music (normally if one of these two are bad, then the gameplay is bad). When I post my reviews, the scores all depend on where the gameplay is which will affect the final score.

Gameplay is a big section in the video game community as a whole. It decides pretty much everything about the game. What it will be, how it will play, what it will be about, etc. So, I think gameplay makes a big difference in video games, and is what mainly draws me towards the game.

Game-play for sure, although I do love it when a game has great music to listen to and great visuals (ahem, Earthbound in a nutshell).

I think you should add story onto here. The plot/story is a very important part, and I would have voted for it. Take the "The Walking Dead" video game. That game is nearly all plot, the only gameplay being you clicking some buttons to say different things. Of course, the graphics and sound also add on to the effect, but it's the story that makes the game so popular. 

So instead, i voted for gameplay. Some of the time I play a game muted, and there's next to no difference. That rules out music/sound. Plus, I actually prefer games not to have amazing graphics. Games that have really good graphics make my pc lag a bunch. Unless I'm playing on a console, whereas I like good graphics. That rules graphics out, mostly. I don't care about multiplayer too much, and replay value, whatever. That leaves me with gameplay. I think gameplay is one of the most important parts of video games. Imagine a video game with no controls (exceptions for telltale games ). That would be awful, right? That's why I think gameplay is the most important part (other than story :3) 

Honestly, though, it all really depends on what kind of game you're playing. If you're playing Guitar Hero, for example, music is obviously the most important. If you're playing a game such as The Last Of Us, graphics are the most prominent. If you're playing a puzzle game/platformer, controls/gameplay are the most important. If you're playing COD, multiplayer is most important. Replay value is important in almost any game. This is what I think.

awesome888: Yay earthbound