Games are too long

I feel like the sweet spot for video games is between 10 and 20 hours. That's where I start getting sick of looking at a game and want it to be over so I can move on to another one. Yet it seems that a lot of games that I want to play are taking 50 or 100 hours to complete, which is insane. Who has that much time to burn?

(By the way: http://www.howlongtobeat.com/, a website that does nothing but tell you how to long a game takes to beat. Very useful.)

I used to like to be a completionist in RPGs. I'd play FF4 or whatever and I'd get every treasure chest, I'd get the best equipment for everyone. I might miss some of the stupid randomly-dropped summons or whatever, but I could get very close to 100%ing the game.

Now I pick up Tales of Whateveria and there's no smurfing way. I'd spend the rest of my life looking for everything. I could sit down with a detailed walkthrough and it'd still probably take me 200 hours to fully complete a Tales game. By the time I was halfway done, the next Tales would already be sitting on shelves.

I just finished the story mission of Borderlands 2. I don't know how long it took me to beat that game, probably 50 hours? I was ready for this game to be over sometime around 20 hours ago. Around level 20 I stopped doing side-missions and tried to rush the storyline and it still took me forever. There are dozens of sidequests I never did. There's DLC. There's newgame+, and another newgame+ after that. I'm at level 30 and the cap is apparently 70-something? Too much.

A while ago I picked up the new Tomb Raider. I was sailing along, reached a point in the plot where it looked like things might be starting to wrap up, so I checked a walkthrough to see how close I was to the end. Turns out I was only 1/4th or 1/3rd of the way through the game. Blarfhg.

Maybe if games weren't 100 hours of repetition and padding and level-grinding and procedurally-generated content, they wouldn't cost $60 each. That'd be nice. This is a big reason I like a lot of indie games. $10 or $15 for a game, and 15 hours later you've experienced everything the game has to offer.

In this thread, complain about games that are too long. Or tell me I'm wrong.

Well that's only one subset of games - I play a lot of multiplayer only titles where I'm not just chasing an ending for something I lost interest in.

I see your point about indies. Lately I've been playing FFI origins and it vies for play time against Indies on my Vita, a fight it loses more often than not. I see why I often give up on FFI playthroughs, as that repetitive experience just isn't worth the time sink. Especially not against a shorter indie game that will continue to surprise me with its mechanics all the way through its 10-20 hour experience.

Tomb Raider is 3 hours long. And in your first playthrough probably like a bit more than 10, so during a normal unexperienced walkthrough. Not very long.

My latest long session was Star Ocean with almost 600 hours. And it was fun. I am already missing it.

I dunno, lately I've been playing games that take upwards of 50 hours to complete and I still feel up for more. Although of course this is heavily reliant on the game; if it's repetitive and gets stale, it's a whole different story. But that wasn't the case for me.

In the end, it boils down to just how much you enjoy the game, and for how long you will continue to do so. I wouldn't say 50+ hour games are inherently "too long". And then again... I do have that kind of time to burn ^^

I enjoy games that take between 30 and 80 hours I'd say

It varies on your attention span and how much you like the game.

TF2? I've got over 700 hours clock and I haven't played it since 2011. Probably the same with league of legends. Reason? They are based around Multiplayer and are as engaging as you like them to be. Same thing goes for games like Madden, Call of Duty etc. These games can draw several hundred hours of gameplay as they designed to play in short bursts whenever you want it.

RPGs are slightly different as they are not designed for short bursts. I'm not going to throw on Xenoblade Chronicles or Tales of Xillia on for 20 minutes. I'll throw them on for 2-3 hours at a time, get lost in the story/gameplay and want to continue to find out more and progress with the story/world i've chosen to invest in (or not in the case of some things like Paper Mario 3DS).

I usually end up spending the same sort of time on games in the same sort of period. I played Mario Kart 8 for 25 hours in it's first 10 days and basically finished it with the exception of one part. Honestly, I had enough fun with it that I wanted to play more but I reached a point where there was no objective so it fell to "Grind out coins to get the Gold Glider" or play online. With my current setting, I have no interest in either of these objectives which is why I don't play online multiplayer games anymore. I set out for a goal and stick with it until it's done. RPGs games usually have a goal which is why I can invest so much time into them. It's also why I don't mind playing them for 100+ hours so long as I can stay interested in them.




The joke is I have a lot of time for games. Long RPG games don't bother me that much.

Multiplayer games are different. There are probably multiplayer games I've put many hundreds of hours into. The experience of playing with other people keeps those interesting. After a while it becomes less about the game and more about the people, or about the competition, or the meta-game.

I'm talking about games that tell a story or have an end. Those are the ones I don't want to spend 100 hours on. For one thing, quitting halfway and leaving the story hanging feels crappy.

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Originally Posted by Bolivar

I see your point about indies. Lately I've been playing FFI origins and it vies for play time against Indies on my Vita, a fight it loses more often than not. I see why I often give up on FFI playthroughs, as that repetitive experience just isn't worth the time sink. Especially not against a shorter indie game that will continue to surprise me with its mechanics all the way through its 10-20 hour experience.

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FF1 is guilty of requiring a lot of pointless grinding. The PSP version lets you save/reload anywhere at any time, and adjusts the level scaling and shop prices and whatnot to make the game flow better. It's much more bearable.

I never pay attention to how long a game is to play. If it's enjoyable then I keep playing it. If not then I don't. Simple as that.

If I don't get hundreds of hours out of a game it's a waste of money imo.

It depends on the genre for me. Puzzle games and shooters I find should be shorter. When I played Okami I was surprised how long it was after defeating the second major boss, but it was still enjoyable so I stayed with it.

I agree with you Unne. I feel like a common benchmark of a 'good game' these days is how many hours of content it has, and each sequel attempts to outdo the previous version in terms of shear volume of content. I'd prefer a shorter, focused, polished experience than something with countless busywork required to upgrade your character or get a full picture of the story. The Last of Us was a great example of a game that had a good amount of length (about 15 hours) but also allowed room for players to explore and play how they wish.

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

The Last of Us was a great example of a game that had a good amount of length (about 15 hours) but also allowed room for players to explore and play how they wish.

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The game certainly feels like it's been fifteen hours when you play it. Smurfing runners, smurfing clicks, smurfing survivors...

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

The Last of Us was a great example of a game that had a good amount of length (about 15 hours) but also allowed room for players to explore and play how they wish.

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The game certainly feels like it's been fifteen hours when you play it. Smurfing runners, smurfing clicks, smurfing survivors...

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Felt shorter when I did Survivor mode, where you really need to get rid of those guys but yes, the first time was pretty normal. Like a normal Silent Hill run. 10-15 hours are normal for those games.

My rule of thumb is that a game can be any length it wants as long as there isn't obvious padding to it. Or at least make most or all of the padding optional. That way people who only care about the main portion of a game can have their fun, and people who crave more can have their fill.

For a story based game I'd say that 20 to 30 hours is reasonable. The original Deus Ex took like 60 (granted, I restarted halfway through...) and as much as I adore that game it was really too long.

That said, I do not play many story based games. I play an awful lot of strategy games, and I want hundreds of hours out of those! (And I usually get hundreds of hours out of them, too. Which is fantastic.)

I think Sephex nailed it for me, I'm fine with any length as long as it is engaging and doesn't feel padded. One of the things I actually loved about The Last Story after coming off putting in over a hundred hours into Xenoblade Chronicles was that it was short. Like 20-30 hour range and I did most of everything I could in a first playthrough. It was odd playing a modern JRPG that was the length of the SNES era games but honestly it felt right and I never once got bored or felt the need to over-analyze everything cause I had too much downtime with prolonged cutscenes or fetch quests to give me time to ponder. It just felt right.

Time usually doesn't bother me as long as I am enjoying the experience. I whine about not having much free time but I sometimes find ways to pour 50+ hours into a game I enjoy in the span of a few days. Still, cause I am busy, I do tend to gravitate towards shorter games. I haven't touched AC4 for the sole reason that I just don't have the freaking time to play through it and get my other stuff done. Handhelds are the best for giving me some leeway.

I really do like longer games, but I just don't have the time for them anymore. I'm going through the Shin Megami Tensei games right now (Finished Persona 3 and 4, and i'm currently playing SMT 3 Nocturne), and the 60ish hour length is a bit much for me. Or was it 80 hours for each of the Persona games? I can't remember. 20 hours is about the sweet spot for me anymore.

Poured way over a hundred hours into Xenoblade Chronicles, and still haven't done all the subquests, but I enjoyed every minute of it and want to come back and finish it up someday.

I think you were doing something wrong on Borderlands 2 because you can totally get through it in like 4hrs, excluding side missions and dlc. And thats on the hardest mode.

I love long games, the longer the better and tbh I've been thinking that games have been getting shorter. I was super disappointed when I'm taking my time on a game and it suddenly ends 3hrs in, looking at you CoD. But I've never been one 100%-ing a game, I just beat the main story and try and get the best gear along the way.

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth

My latest long session was Star Ocean with almost 600 hours. And it was fun. I am already missing it.

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W...what?

How do you spend that much time on a Star Ocean game? Or any game?

FFIX full playthrough time: ~100 hours
Total number of FFIX full playthroughs: ~12
Estimated time spent playing FFIX: ~ 1200 hours.

Don't even get me started on Elder Scrolls and such.

Once you know what you're doing a Morrowind full playthrough probably takes 20 hours or so. If you break the game you can speed run it in ten minutes :joker:

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Originally Posted by metagloria

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth

My latest long session was Star Ocean with almost 600 hours. And it was fun. I am already missing it.

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W...what?

How do you spend that much time on a Star Ocean game? Or any game?

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That is nothing. I have spent 1000s of hours on Final Fantasys or Pokémon.

And Star Ocean requires that. It is not only one save game but multiple, though. That is what is needed for the Platinum Trophy. Two with almost 500 hours together and then the rest.

http://www.playstationtrophies.org/f...w-far-you.html

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth

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Originally Posted by metagloria

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth

My latest long session was Star Ocean with almost 600 hours. And it was fun. I am already missing it.

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W...what?

How do you spend that much time on a Star Ocean game? Or any game?

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That is nothing. I have spent 1000s of hours on Final Fantasys or Pokémon.

And Star Ocean requires that. It is not only one save game but multiple, though. That is what is needed for the Platinum Trophy. Two with almost 500 hours together and then the rest.

http://www.playstationtrophies.org/f...w-far-you.html

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Oh, so you're talking about multiple playthroughs, not playing the game once for 600 hours? If so, that makes more sense. I've spent thousands of hours on a few games that way then.

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Originally Posted by metagloria

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth

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Originally Posted by metagloria

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth

My latest long session was Star Ocean with almost 600 hours. And it was fun. I am already missing it.

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W...what?

How do you spend that much time on a Star Ocean game? Or any game?

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That is nothing. I have spent 1000s of hours on Final Fantasys or Pokémon.

And Star Ocean requires that. It is not only one save game but multiple, though. That is what is needed for the Platinum Trophy. Two with almost 500 hours together and then the rest.

http://www.playstationtrophies.org/f...w-far-you.html

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Oh, so you're talking about multiple playthroughs, not playing the game once for 600 hours? If so, that makes more sense. I've spent thousands of hours on a few games that way then.

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It was still all in 5 months and for one and the same purpose. But if we are talking about one save, then Final Fantasy and Pokémon.

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Originally Posted by Dr Unne

A while ago I picked up the new Tomb Raider. I was sailing along, reached a point in the plot where it looked like things might be starting to wrap up, so I checked a walkthrough to see how close I was to the end. Turns out I was only 1/4th or 1/3rd of the way through the game. Blarfhg.

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Yeah, I'm getting to that point with Tomb raider now actually. Whenever I stop playing it, the urge to go back to it lessens each time. There are some enjoyable mechanics in it (I love the bow and arrow) but I think the setting is getting a bit tiresome now.

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Originally Posted by shion

I enjoy games that take between 30 and 80 hours I'd say

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I read that as "between 30 and 80 hours a day"

Hahaha even I don't have that much free time





plus 80 hours in a day is not possible unless I'm a time wizard

In my youth I used to play FF1 over and over because it's the only RPG I owned. Playtime for that was probably in the hundreds of hours. The moral of this story: children are wasting their lives.

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Originally Posted by *Devore*

I think you were doing something wrong on Borderlands 2 because you can totally get through it in like 4hrs, excluding side missions and dlc. And thats on the hardest mode.

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The hardest mode, aka UVHM, after you've already beaten the game twice? I could see that. Much different than an initial playthrough with no gear. HLTB says main story = 30 hours, main story + extras = 50 hours, based on around 500 respondents, which fits my experience.

Borderlands 2 took the better part of 3 days (solid games) for myself, Matt and a friend to play, and we stopped doing the sidequests towards the end because we needed to finish the damn game.

I only get to play games once or twice a week. So the 10 - 20 hour games are a godsend when they're done well. Typically it's just the gimmicky simple games that are that short though. Like, I couldn't get into Bastion or Fez enough for that. And I would have been super happy if I could have beaten Xenoblade Chronicles, or Bravely Default in that time. Sadly I tend to move on once I hit that point regardless, because I start to feel like I'm wasting my time and not enjoying enough games. The time constraint plays a large part I presume, so I tend to quit on some pretty amazing games if they run too long, because I start to feel like I'm missing out on other great titles. I need to just become a bum. I'll set up a TV and console to be powered by a generator ran by peddling a bicycle. I'll just exercise and play video games all day long :3

Borderlands 2 was def a multiplayer game with a single player mode included

I think 10-20 hours is a bit short. my sweet spot is 40-60 hours. Past that, I start feeling pretty burned out, and just want a change of scenery. Elaborate and worthwhile minigames within long games can help alleviate this problem for me. Triple Triad is one example.

Depends on the game, I think. I've clocked up many hundreds of hours in Skyrim and, to a lesser extent, Oblivion, and both games continue offering something new to see, try or explore. The vastness of the game world is part of the appeal, and it rewards the time invested in it.

Sometimes, though, a shorter journey can be equally rewarding, only in a different way. The Last of Us is a good example. It takes handful of hours to complete, at most, but the journey is so engaging, yet draining and harrowing that dragging it on longer would be borderline torturous.

A lot of it comes down replayability. Even a 'short' game can turn into something a lot longer if you keep coming back to it again. If each playthrough only takes a few hours, you might simply not notice when your total playtime is into the dozens, or even hundreds of hours. I'm looking at you, Tekken and Metal Gear Solid series, among others.

I like very large open-world games, or shorter linear games.

Hey, play that Breath of Death game I gave you, it is only 5 or 6 hours long!

Games can take a long time to complete! I was around 7ish when I first started trying to play FFVII, I did not complete it until I was about 10 or 11. So that's around 26297 hours!

But I don't agree, those hours were worth it! :greenie:

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Originally Posted by Spuuky

I like very large open-world games, or shorter linear games.

Hey, play that Breath of Death game I gave you, it is only 5 or 6 hours long!

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It's quickly bubbling up the queue.

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Originally Posted by Big D

Depends on the game, I think. I've clocked up many hundreds of hours in Skyrim and, to a lesser extent, Oblivion, and both games continue offering something new to see, try or explore. The vastness of the game world is part of the appeal, and it rewards the time invested in it.

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I don't mind games like Skyrim where you have the option of either blasting through the main game fairly quickly or taking your time and doing infinity sidequests if you want. I like games where you have that choice.