The first game that comes to mind for me is the game that sparked my love for video games when I was about 10 years old. Final Fantasy VII.
This entire game is one, very big, story. Each quest, side quest, choice and interaction helps the player understand the story as a whole and if you skip over parts, don’t do all of the side quests, etc. you may miss valuable information and items that help you understand what is happening. I think that characters, character development, and conflict is essential in THIS particular game, however, I’ve played other games that it’s not as essential. I think that for large, RPG-type games like this, it’s essential because without it the gameplay becomes monotonous and boring, not to mention if the player can’t become emotionally invested in the game somehow, they likely won’t care about what happens at the end and therefore not finish playing the game once they get bored.
For this game, the relationships between the characters are what sparked my imagination. As for emotions, we get so much story into these characters and their relationships that we start to really feel for them. When one of the main characters dies in this game, the player is already so invested that it’s devastating. This was the first time a video game actually made me cry.
The world building is key too. Each location has it’s own unique qualities and helps us feel as though we are a part of this universe when we play. Players have their favorite places and least favorite places to go and it makes it that much more engaging. This is also the first game I’ve played that had such an immense and open world for exploring and it makes the game that much more fun and interesting.