Creating A Standard

I decided to pick up reviewing again after my return because of, what I think, a need for acknowledging well made and developing games so the community can see the reoccurring traits that make a good game. I find that many people don't play through games because of the frequency of badly made games, and I think that's a vicious cycle that won't stop without intervention. The community won't know what a good game is if no one points it out and makes it clear, and there's no way to do that unless you go through games and critique the work being output. So I'm going to try! I started before, and that seemed to do it, but now I want to be a little more organized with it. Here are the categories I'll be using to rate a game:

Gameplay - Here, the most important aspect of a game will be fleshed out. The controls, battle, quests, eventing, mini-quests, puzzles, the different concepts and mechanics that the player has to figure out, these and similar aspects making up the Gameplay category.

Story - The overall storyline, plot events, characters, dialogue... Fiction elements will be critiqued as a main part of RPGs is the story. Everything that involves communicating the story and fiction aspects of the game to the player will fall into this category.

Graphics - A game's visual appeal will go here. It comes down to quality mapping, battlers, sprites, animations, and the overall feel of the game. A game can look rather good in RMVX, and having a solid and smooth set of graphics hooks and keeps the player in the game.

Sound - Audio shouldn't be ignored or seen as less important. Having pleasant and fitting music throughout the game will keep the play in tune with the game without irritating them. Sound effects and other audio elements (and quality) will be noted here as well.

Originality - This is more of a bonus category, but it is still an aspect worth gauging. No one wants to play through a game that is just pieces of old RPGs they've experienced over and over again. As well, using straight from the box RTP graphics and sounds aren't as impressive either. Those who put in extra effort to make their game one of a kind will get points here.

Hopefully after a few reviews, some similarities can be seen between better games and we can have a loose standard that people can look to when deciding to make and demo their games.