I check the stat screen early on to see what kind of game I’ll be playing. I like to see relationship stats somewhere (ooh, characters are important and I get to make them like or hate me!) I like to see a few interesting moral or personality stats, with room to play a grey, complex, or non-heroic character. Inventories or glossaries can be a good or a bad sign. Powers? Too many sliding bars and stats for attacks and magic make me dubious, but I’ll give them a chance.
A game with three to five stats might be a great game, but it drives me a little mad. All of this room to code stats and show them to me, and I get only a glimpse. Of course, I know it’s possible to go too far the other direction… I should probably edit about fifty back out of my code.