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What is your ideal game length?

J

JackFrost2012

Banned
I used to love lengthy Japanese RPGs, but nowadays, I can't be bothered. I have DQVIII sitting here on my shelf, and I'm never going to start it until I have 80 hours of free time. Meaning: I'm never going to start it, period. Even putting 30-40 hours into a standard-length RPG is hard to swallow; at the rate I'm able to play games these days, that's 2-3 weeks of don't-go-outside "drop your life" gaming.

Nowadays, my ideal game length is 15-20 hours. I also find myself preferring action games and shooters to RPGs--I feel like I'm getting the most out of every minute I put into the game, rather than grinding through gameplay locks until the next "good" part starts up. Up to 30 hours is okay if it's an AAA game. Anything over 30 better have "Final Fantasy" in the title if I'm gonna clear off my schedule.

I'm 26, for what it's worth.

So that's my question to you: what is your ideal game length? why? and finally how old are you, and has your opinion changed as you've gotten older? I'm especially interested in this last piece of data.

Thankee.
 
10 hours to play a game first time through with replay value to keep me playing (action games)


RPGs = 20-30 hours



Long game length doesn't necessarily mean a better game. Would you play a 60 hour game that required you to do fetch quests the entire time or would you rather play a 20 minute game that will give you a blow job?


22 yrs old and yeah my opinion has changed (long game length to shorter game length with replay value or great gameplay to keep me coming back)
 
Typically for an FPS game I prefer around 15 hours. For an RPG no more then 20 hours, I just don't have time to play on and on. Plus I lose interest very fast, so if the game doesn't end within 20 hours I generally just move on while it collects dust.
 
I used to be obsessed with JRPGs but now I can't be bothered to play them anymore without feeling like I'm wasting way to much time in random battles. 10-20 hours max for a single playthrough is ideal. I prefer games that are short with a ton of replay value though, such as Super Smash Bros Melee or Guitar Hero.
 
Just like with a fine piece of music, a great game is as long as it needs to be. "Padding" is what happens when a game lacks a clear direction.
 
sonarrat said:
Just like with a fine piece of music, a great game is as long as it needs to be.
Click to expand...

A good game should be like a girl's miniskirt: long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to keep your interest.
 
ToxicAdam said:
You guys would have more time for games if your weren't on the forums all day.

ZING
Click to expand...

I usually play games while posting anyway. Like right now, I'm playing FFX-2

tsctsc
 
This also depends on how you play. If a 50 hour rpg means over a month of your life then it better be the best thing since sliced bread. But if ia 50 hour rpg means a little over a week, than it just needs to be entertaining.

Wario64 said:
I usually play games while posting anyway. Like right now, I'm playing FFX-2

tsctsc
Click to expand...

heh, yeah I always post while playing games.
 
The longer the better for me, but as long as I can stop playing at any time and pick it up later. Games that have savepoints that are few and far between annoy me. I also hate when MMORPGS have excessively long quests (like raids in WoW). 29 years old here.
 
Depends on the game. If a game is over 30 hours, but is actually packed with content, then I am fine with it. I also don't mind a game that can be beat in 20, but with extra content can take about 50.

It really depends on my mood I guess. I find I can fit time for both. I just won't beat the really long game in a week or two. It could take more like a month or two.

Also, I am 28 and married with a 21 month old son and future gamer.
 
Himuro said:
Some of you guys need manage time better.
Click to expand...

Hey, we're not the ones taking 33 hours to beat MGS3!

I work from 10 AM to 7 PM, 5 days a week. By the time I get home, I'll probably have 3-4 hours of free time. Things like "cooking" and "cleaning" eat away at that, too--I'm lucky to get 3 hours of gaming in a day. And at that rate, a 50 hour RPG would take me about 16 solid days--close to the 2-3 weeks I mentioned above.

This is why I play PSP and DS more, now--sleep mode and portability means I can squeeze it into my commute.
 
Himuro said:
Some of you guys need manage time better.
Click to expand...

Or learn how to play games faster :p


Every new game I get, I'm always rushing through them. MGS3 at 13 hours, RE4 in 13-14 hours, ICO in 5 hours...all in the first play through. Yet I probably spent more than 30 hours on each of those games (except for ICO) cause those games kicked ass
 
JackFrost2012 said:
Hey, we're not the ones taking 33 hours to beat MGS3!
Click to expand...

Eh, if I had to wager the realtime number it took me to finally finish MGS2 let alone MGS3, it would probably be 30 hours first playthrough, but maybe 11 hours logged by the game. Why? Hard mode, no kills, no rations, all dog tags, reset when being seen equals time consuming monsters. MGS3 though is like 20 hours long without trying such things to the extreme, I didn't try with that one!! Maybe Subsistence.

As you can see, I'm not really a rusher though. That being said around 10+ hours is okay by me.
 
Himuro said:
Some of you guys need manage time better.
Click to expand...


I find even with family time I can play any game I want. I work noon - 10:30pm wed - sat with an hour commute. I always play after work since the wife and son are sleeping. On my days off I get to play at night, or sometimes during the day. My son is fascinated with games, but will often play with his toys around me. And no, I do not ignore him. I pause all the time to toss a ball at him.

There is one thing I can't do, and that is raid in games like WoW. In fact, that is why I quit the game. I got to level 60 and couldn't do anything. All too often on raids I did attend, I had to leave cause my son woke up or something happened that pulled me away from the computer. Now I play CoV/CoH, which is nice cause I don't feel the nice to grind everyday for new loot/gold/raids/etc.

Long games just take me longer to beat. I can deal with that.
 
Wario64 said:
Or learn how to play games faster :p


Every new game I get, I'm always rushing through them. MGS3 at 13 hours, RE4 in 13-14 hours, ICO in 5 hours...all in the first play through. Yet I probably spent more than 30 hours on each of those games (except for ICO) cause those games kicked ass
Click to expand...

If I could do that, I would probably finish a lot more games than I do. I'm a real perfectionist, though, to a fault. I stopped playing Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament because there was one level I couldn't figure out how to get 100% completion on. How I managed to beat Metal Gear Solid on Hard mode, I'll never know.
 
I used to be able to cram long gaming sessions a lot when I was in highschool, and thus easily finish my games.

But growing up I find myself doing so much other things as well as coming into more money than I had as kid. This leads to 2 things. First, I bought far more games than I did my previous 2 generations, second I don't seem to have as much time anymore as I grow up and my interests don't tolerate long gaming sessions anymore, now I'm just backlogged like crazy.
 
I'm 23, and it really depends for me. When I played WoW, I really never wanted it to end. When I played Onimusha 3, I really enjoyed the game, but was relieved when I finally finished the game.

I like the fact that I can practically play Morrowind forever, though I would never dream of playing DMC3 forever (despite loving it). Usually, RPGs that let me just live life and wander around I could play forever, but those that always have a dire mission need some finitude to them. Perhaps I'm alone on this, but if I can happily explore dungeons and worlds without any sort of real impending danger, then I'm fine playing the game for an almost infinite amount of time.
 
Himuro said:
Time IS money!
Click to expand...

I beat SOTC in 8 hours and I spent $50CDN on it. I got more enjoyment out of that short game than most 15-20h games. Its not about how long the game is, its about the quality of the experience. That was $50 well spent because I enjoyed the game immensely, I'd rather not labour through 50+h of mundane RPG leveling up just to get my moneys worth, for example.
 
TheTrin said:
I'm 23, and it really depends for me. When I played WoW, I really never wanted it to end. When I played Onimusha 3, I really enjoyed the game, but was relieved when I finally finished the game.

I like the fact that I can practically play Morrowind forever, though I would never dream of playing DMC3 forever (despite loving it). Usually, RPGs that let me just live life and wander around I could play forever, but those that always have a dire mission need some finitude to them. Perhaps I'm alone on this, but if I can happily explore dungeons and worlds without any sort of real impending danger, then I'm fine playing the game for an almost infinite amount of time.
Click to expand...

You just reminded me of how much time I wasted power-leveling my party and materia in Final Fantasy VII. Good God damn, did I go overboard with that one. It was at least three months that I didn't play anything else.
 
Himuro said:
I'm backlogged as well homer. I think I should start rushing through my games more and absorb only certain games (omg FFXII...it's tradition for me to absorb a new FF game. Nothing. Beats. A. New. FF game. I SWEAR.)
Click to expand...

Yeah. I just don't rush certain games at all. Metal Gear or Final Fantasy? Hell no, the full experience for me.
 
stressboy said:
There is one thing I can't do, and that is raid in games like WoW. In fact, that is why I quit the game. I got to level 60 and couldn't do anything. All too often on raids I did attend, I had to leave cause my son woke up or something happened that pulled me away from the computer. Now I play CoV/CoH, which is nice cause I don't feel the nice to grind everyday for new loot/gold/raids/etc.
Click to expand...

I found CoH more time consuming then WoW, considering how much more you have to grind to level up. I never got a character in CoH past 25 because it got so tedious and repetitive just to level up. Also, CoH when I played has task force missions which too just as long (if not longer) as any end game WoW raid, except without the worthwhile rewards and far more tedious.
 
sonarrat said:
You just reminded me of how much time I wasted power-leveling my party and materia in Final Fantasy VII. Good God damn, did I go overboard with that one. It was at least three months that I didn't play anything else.
Click to expand...

I played WoW for two 8 hour sessions once, just to get my mining to 300. I didn't even mine that much after that. It was just for that....wtf?

EDIT: I just realized I could be playing DMC3 right now. Off to do that. :P
 
20 hours, honestly. Wild Arms 4 was almost ideal, length-wise; I got to see just enough scenery and amble through just enough lame cutscene work to feel I got my money's worth, and then I got to move on to the next game.

40+ hours is just too damn long. I only finished DQ8 because I had to for a review, and I really don't wanna repeat the experience. While my life's margins aren't full of crazy woo party fun, I still like to spend those few hours out of work and childrearing in the pursuit of VARIETY.
 
I used to prefer games to be long, but now I prefer them to be dense. I think riddick is what changed my mind. That game was quite short, but I replayed that so many times I've lost count. It had you ALWAYS engaged. Usually if there was some big fetch quest that you found out you had to do, it was over within 10 minutes of finding out about it. The game kept you focused by constantly engaging you and I feel it was better for it.

RPG's are a genre that I think need to be longer though. I can't see an extremely short RPG being paritcularly great.
 
sonarrat said:
You just reminded me of how much time I wasted power-leveling my party and materia in Final Fantasy VII. Good God damn, did I go overboard with that one. It was at least three months that I didn't play anything else.
Click to expand...

Aye tell me about it. I have a old save file backed up on my PS2 memory card of FFVII. I have practically all materia; magic, summons, commands, etc. maxed out and duplicated that I can get my hands at that point in time with every character at level 60+ and all level 3 limit breaks just right before I meet Cid for the first time on the first disc!!!

Ahh, my highschool years.
 
TheTrin said:
I played WoW for two 8 hour sessions once, just to get my mining to 300. I didn't even mine that much after that. It was just for that....wtf?
Click to expand...

Same idea, but a whole different scale. And I wasn't satisfied to just get a set of three Master Magic, Master Command, and Master Summon materia to outfit my entire party - no, I had to start over and do it again three more times! And I might even do it again someday! (Though it might be more rewarding to do it with one of the new RPGs I'm getting, say, Grandia III.)
 
I think something RE3 length is fair. One of RE4's problems for me were its length, parts of it were too long and dragged out. CODE: Veronica was alright, since there's only one slow section in that game.

For RPGs, something the length of Super Mario RPG would do.
 
Pedigree Chum said:
I beat SOTC in 8 hours and I spent $50CDN on it. I got more enjoyment out of that short game than most 15-20h games. Its not about how long the game is, its about the quality of the experience. That was $50 well spent because I enjoyed the game immensely, I'd rather not labour through 50+h of mundane RPG leveling up just to get my moneys worth, for example.
Click to expand...

QFT!
Somewhere around 10hrs of awesome is just right for an action/adventure type game. I just want a fun experience. I couldn't care less about replayability, any more.
 
20 is ok sometimes but I love a good 10 hour or less game. I haven't played SotC but I'm not really interested in it either.
RPGs can go longer but I rarely finish most of them anymore, I usually get playing something else instead.
And yeah opinion changed as I got older, but a lot of thing have just seemed more boring or I have more games to play.
 
15-20 hours is fine now. I find my attention span becoming shorter and shorter with each passing day. I can still do those 40 hour RPGs every so once in a while though (which is a BIG problem this spring with ToP, ToL, Grandia III, and KHII- so hard to choose).
 
The length of a game is almost completely irrelevant to me. What really matters is how much padding it has and how long it can keep me entertained--I'll always take a very short game with zero padding and consistently high entertainment value over a 80-hour monster with a few bits of entertainment and lots of tedious timesinks.

Of course, there are games that have both length and an extremely high quality:crap ratio (like Baldur's Gate 2), but they're a rarity.
 
Age 19, I prefer 20 hour games, but will make time for those that I know will be longer. (i.e. Zelda: Twilight Princess or VP: Silmeria)

Otherwise, I'll take forever in beating a game. Digital Devil Saga, for example, while good, could've been cut at least 20 hours and still have been relatively the same game. As a result, I started it less than a month after it came out, and didn't finish it until the day after DDS2 came out.

Whereas games like Resident Evil 4, Metal Gear Solid 3, Metroid Prime, etc. all took ~ 20 hours to beat, and I loved every second of it. And I finished them quickly (and in the case of RE4 and MGS3, I went back and did it again).
 
depends largley on the genre for me, but anything less than 15 hours on the first time through pisses me off in any genre... i just don't feel like a game is worth paying for if i'm gonna spend less than 15 hours on it... I like my rpg's to be 40 hours at the least, the more the better.. adventure games should clock in around 20 to 25 hours with 18 or so hours being acceptable... just about the only genre that i'm willing to accept below 20 hours are the pure action games, and with them 20 or so hours (like ninja gaiden on the first play through) is better.

I tend to have above average completion times on games anyway, so that works in my favor, but God of war for example, is too short.. even though i loved it, i could have stood another 20 hours of it easily... I have never bothered with shadow of the collosus because of the reported completion times nor any of the earlier metal gear games before the newest one. It's a big issue for me... it basicly comes down to this.. i don't want to buy a game unless it's great, and if it's truly great, i want to play it as long as possible... i don't buy that many games, so i won't the ones i buy to last me a while.

the next elder scrolls game has me salivating, and the length of it is one of the primary reasons.
 
Varies quite a bit from game to game. Most of the ganes that I like are short (around or under 10 hours), but I don't think I like them for that reason.
 
While length should be dictated by the content, I generally like a minimum number of hours for specific types of games. Of course, there's only really two genres that I could really state a number of hours for. For RPGs, I'd prefer at least 30 hours worth of content because I think that's the least number of hours it takes to make a solid story and gameplay work overall for that genre. Action games like DMC3 or MGS3 would be 15-20 min or even ideal in some regards.
 
I'm definitely in the 15-20 hours camp.

I think Resident Evil 4 was a great example of making a game last a long time without getting repetitive by adding variety at every next step.

I mean, the final moments
on the jetski
were just unbelievable. I couldn't believe not only the graphics but how amazing that sequence was.
 
Cheaper games, shorter games. It's the direction the industry needs to go.

As an adult out of college in the working world, I can afford to buy more games, but I have less free time to play them. It leads to a form of gamer's ADD, where if I'm playing something too long, I start to look forward to the other titles languishing on my shelf.

Anything over 20 hours begins to drag on... I used to love JRPG's but can't stand the time committment nowadays. I mainly stick to 2D RPG's and the occasional epic (Final Fantasy).
 
I'm just about to turn 21, in the midst of college and working quite a bit outside of it. I'm all about action RPGs, FPSs and straight up action games because they're the most straightforward and provide the best sense of back-for-my-buck. Kingdom Hearts was the closest I've come to playing an RPG in a few years -- it was good fun, but I'm not sure I could hack a traditional one.
 
I'm 22, besides working, sleeping, eating, traveling (to work) and getting up in the morning I may have like 3-4 hours spare time per day. That time doesn't go to gaming. I play my DS in the train for 3 hours and that's enough for me. I have time in the weekends when I don't feel the need to socialize hehe, but then I'm only going to play the games I was really anticipating. Currently I can only think of Zelda: Twilight Princess. For an RPG (and I only play portable RPGs on GBA,DS,PSP nowadays) I think 15-20 hours is a nice game length.
 
I thought Halo 2 and POP:SOT were perfect lengths (disregarding Halo 2's cut-off story line, just talking about amount of play). I'm 33. 7-10 hours is perfect for me.
 
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