What Generally Keeps You Invested In Games?

[Skyla Doragono]

Seconding the need for a good story, but the characters need to keep me invested too. The main reason I kept picking up and putting down Tales of the Abyss for years was because the main character was so intolerable in the beginning that I couldn't stand it. Eventually I played through and it got better, but the beginning made me lose interest so quick.

On that note: openings that are not just a wall of text please. Says the SMT fan.