You have to be capable of making good gameplay first. Which is often the part that EA gets wrong, insted relying on licenses with wordlwide recognition.
I think everyone tries for good gameplay first, whether they are capable or not depends on the skills of the teams making them.
Thats why it's best to make a good quality proof of concept demo before you work full steam ahead, and why you start withy a small team with strong core skills. So that you can adjust the gameplay, which should cover all areas that make the game fun including art.
To be honest, very few indie games have good gameplay, even if they are innovative, the innovation often becomes a gimmick that isn't enough to hold a game together and offer longevity.
With Bioware, more than half of the fun is in the story, Without that you typicaly have furious button mashing, stat building, and nothing to really hold it together.
The story is pretty much everything.
Look at Kotor 1, excellent game because of the story.
Kotor 2 was not that good, and admittedly rushed out the door as all the focus was on Jade Empire. Another fantastic game. But mostly because of the story.
Never Winter Nights was pretty much the same thing, and all relied heartily on graphics to keep the story alive and immerse the player. Whichever way you look at it, The story ultimately ends up being the core motivator of their gameplay.
I think everyone tries for good gameplay first, whether they are capable or not depends on the skills of the teams making them.
Thats why it's best to make a good quality proof of concept demo before you work full steam ahead, and why you start withy a small team with strong core skills. So that you can adjust the gameplay, which should cover all areas that make the game fun including art.
To be honest, very few indie games have good gameplay, even if they are innovative, the innovation often becomes a gimmick that isn't enough to hold a game together and offer longevity.
With Bioware, more than half of the fun is in the story, Without that you typicaly have furious button mashing, stat building, and nothing to really hold it together.
The story is pretty much everything.
Look at Kotor 1, excellent game because of the story.
Kotor 2 was not that good, and admittedly rushed out the door as all the focus was on Jade Empire. Another fantastic game. But mostly because of the story.
Never Winter Nights was pretty much the same thing, and all relied heartily on graphics to keep the story alive and immerse the player. Whichever way you look at it, The story ultimately ends up being the core motivator of their gameplay.