largest game on PS1

[raptor94k]

My friend and I were just having a discussion about the longest/largest games on the PSX. We were trying to figure out if there were games longer than 4 discs, because I can think of quite a few with 4. A google search turned up Riven, which apparently had 5 discs? I'm not sure if that is true or not however.

Since we are discussing size...how about what is the longest ps1 game? I know to master FFVII you could put in hundreds of hours depending on your definition of mastering a game. But I'm really just curious about average length.

What about both questions on other systems? Actually now that I'm thinking about it...I can't really think of too many multi-disc games on other systems...I guess I have a couple for the 360...

[Tupin]

Many FMV PC adventure games came on like 7 discs, I think.

[Dangerboy]

Riven is 5 discs in the US, and is hands down the largest game file sized wise.

As far as "longest" there's no way to time that. Too much of a game's length is determined on the player experience.

[mobiusclimber]

If you count Arc the Lad Collection as one game it's probably got the most discs. 5 game discs and a soundtrack if I'm not mistaken.

[kupomogli]

If you count Arc the Lad Collection as one game it's probably got the most discs. 5 game discs and a soundtrack if I'm not mistaken.

mobiusclimber is correct about Arc the Lad Collection for the most part. Arc the Lad(1,) Arc the Lad 2(1,) Arc Arena(1,) Arc the Lad 3(2,) and the Making of Arc the Lad.

If you're talking about actual length, then I have to say Dragon Warrior 7, Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together, Brigandine Legend of Forsena, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Xenogears are the longest I think.

With Dragon Warrior 7, you can try and rush through the game and you probably won't get less than 40 hours. However, if you play normally you'll probably get 60 hours before completing the game and there are still tons of sidequests.

Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together is probably the longest out of them all. There is a branching path fairly early in the game and then a second branching path on the Chaos route. The game could take you from the start of the game to the end going through each atleast 50 hours each. That's without doing any of the sidequests.

Brigandine Legend of Forsena and Brigandine Grand Edition you're required to take over all countries to complete the game. I actually don't think the game saves time, I'm sure it doesn't, and really rushing through the game trying to take over all the countries I've probably did it in as little as 10 hours with Norgard(probably less.) However other countries are New Almekia, Esgares Empire, Iscalio, Caerleon, and Leonia. I know for sure that I didn't beat the game in 10 hours my first time playing with Norgard, and I've never beaten it quickly with another country. Playing normally if you're going for finishing it with all countries, I'd probably guess about 100 hours or more.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 4, 5, and 6, are all long games. If you start as a new ruler you're going to be playing a few hours before you have an army well trained enough and sometimes large enough to where you can even attack a neighboring city. After taking over areas and setting delegates, then it moves more quickly, but still a fairly long time to take over the country.

Xenogears has a lot of storyline and fairly large world. Probably took me 40 hours my first time.

However, it's hard to judge length on some of these games as well as games such as fighters, first person shooters, etc.

Bloody Roar 2, Rival Schools, Street Fighter Alpha 3, etc can all be beaten in less than an hour and SFA3 World Tour mode probably takes an hour by itself. However all these games have high replayability.

Depending on how much you enjoy fps games, puzzle games, etc, those have a lot of replayability also.

[mobiusclimber]

In terms of game length, I spent the longest completing Final Fantasy Tactics. Funny tho you can probably rush through the game in 30 hours or less. My first playthru tho I clocked well over 100 hours. And while there was a good deal of leveling, I'd say just doing everything there is to do in the game took 70~80 hours.

[Swamperon]

Tales of Symphonia felt like the longest game ever...

If you count the 3 scenario's of Shining Force III as one game then you're easily looking at game that'll take you between 80 - 120 hours to complete.

[portnoyd]

Many FMV PC adventure games came on like 7 discs, I think.

The Black Dahlia on the PC was 8 discs.

The Japanese Phantasmagoria port for the Saturn called Phantasm which was 8 discs, the most for a console.

[NayusDante]

The problem with disc counting is that when you go over two discs, most of the content is FMV. FF7-9 all could have fit on single discs without the FMV. With modern compression, they could fit on single discs with the FMV. A lot of games that fit on single discs could have fit on cartridges, minus the CD audio.

"Largest" isn't really a valid question, because it has no set definition. "Longest" can be measured in the amount of content, and data can be measured in megabytes, but there's no correlation. Yet another dimension exists in how much freedom the gameplay allows, like an open-world RPG.

I've actually been wondering myself, were there any "open-world RPGs" on PSX? Anything along the lines of The Elder Scrolls? Find that, and you'll probably answer the thread.

[tom]

this is pretty large:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=238976&g2_serialNumber=2

[Rickstilwell1]

Or you could say Diablo's PS1 version. I mean you can re-load your character and start over as many times as you have to with your imported character. It gets very hard in the later levels and I'm sure you'll spend countless hours just loading and saving the game every time you die. Death waits around every corner in Diablo. If you want to try and max your character out, you may even want to play it over and over again after Diablo is destroyed. Even if you kill every enemy on your way down, you will probably find yourself importing your character to a new game.

[ALAKA]

I remember Front Mission 3 being an incredibly long game if you play both scenarios and I just looked at the back cover and it claims over 150 hours of gameplay. Maybe a bit of an over exaggeration on their part, but this game is definitely not a stroll in the park lengthwise.

[kupomogli]

I remember Front Mission 3 being an incredibly long game if you play both scenarios and I just looked at the back cover and it claims over 150 hours of gameplay. Maybe a bit of an over exaggeration on their part, but this game is definitely not a stroll in the park lengthwise.

Yeah. 150 hours is definitely an exaggeration. I think it was 20 hours both Emma and Alisa version so you'll end up with 40 hours after you beat the game the second time. Either that or I'm mistaken and it's 40 hours each, and the time of 40 hours is all I happen to remember.

The only time I've seen the back of the game display over x amount of gameplay hours and it was actually true, was Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together. States over 100 gameplay hours. First time I've finished the game, did a lot of the side quests, including the 100 floor Hell's Gate, I had 80 hours. That was only the chaos path as well, as there was still the law and neutral path that I eventually restarted to go through.

[raptor94k]

"Largest" isn't really a valid question, because it has no set definition. "Longest" can be measured in the amount of content, and data can be measured in megabytes, but there's no correlation.

I meant largest in terms of total size of disc space used, which I would assume directly correlates to the number of discs a game comes with.

As far as the correlation between largest and longest...I enjoy really long, in depth games (which are usually RPGs) with a lot of content and side quests so I thought I would ask out of curiosity, since I assumed that most of the answers in the thread would fit into that category.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

I remember Front Mission 3 being an incredibly long game if you play both scenarios and I just looked at the back cover and it claims over 150 hours of gameplay. Maybe a bit of an over exaggeration on their part, but this game is definitely not a stroll in the park lengthwise.



yea you're right on that, i only put in like around 2 hours into the 2nd scenario before i just gave up, i couldnt see myself putting in another 50 or so hours like i did with the 1st scenario

[mobiusclimber]

I meant largest in terms of total size of disc space used, which I would assume directly correlates to the number of discs a game comes with.

As far as the correlation between largest and longest...I enjoy really long, in depth games (which are usually RPGs) with a lot of content and side quests so I thought I would ask out of curiosity, since I assumed that most of the answers in the thread would fit into that category.

Then if you haven't played it already you really need to play Dragon Warrior VII. They set the game up perfectly in the beginning to let you know it's going to be a LONG game and they're going to let the story and characters develop at their own pace.

Star Ocean is pretty long if you play both characters through and do the side quests.

Both the Suikoden games are also long and full of side quests.

Now I'm wondering what game is the shortest with the largest amount of discs. I'm going to guess and say it's D.

[NayusDante]

The X-Files was 7 discs on PC, and I believe that they cut it down to 4-5 discs for the PSX port. On PC, one disc is about an hour if you do everything you can and know where to go next. There's maybe 3 hours of actual video for the whole game, and I've actually thought about cutting it into one full episode, which would actually be easy to do if you just cut all the footage together and removed the death scenes and extra dialog choices.

[Kitsune Sniper]

The X-Files on the PS1 is 4 CDs, and they apparently removed a lot of stuff.

[NayusDante]

What exactly did they remove? I thought they just reduced the resolution, after I saw some screenshots. You can't tell that the PDA is an Apple Newton anymore because the top and bottom are offscreen.

[Pk116]

The longest game on the PS1, I am guessing, is SaGa Frontier. This game, like Romancing SaGa, can only be finished once you beat it with six different characters. As far as I know, it is the only non-linear RPG on the PS1 other than its sequel.

[j_factor]

The longest game on the PS1, I am guessing, is SaGa Frontier. This game, like Romancing SaGa, can only be finished once you beat it with six different characters. As far as I know, it is the only non-linear RPG on the PS1 other than its sequel.

Actually it's 7 characters, but each can be relatively short. A very large amount of the game being optional, its length varies a lot depending on how you play it. Which is true for quite a few games, so "longest" game is extremely subjective.

[Wraith Storm]

Now I'm wondering what game is the shortest with the largest amount of discs. I'm going to guess and say it's D.


A bit off topic but your comment reminded me of something I have wondered for years... Why is the Playstation version of D, 3 discs, while the Saturn version is only 2?

From what I understand they are the same game. Nothing extra in the Playstation version and nothing less in the Saturn version. I can't see the quality of FMV being so much better in the Playstation version to cause the same game to spill over to a third disc.

[spongerob]

A bit off topic but your comment reminded me of something I have wondered for years... Why is the Playstation version of D, 3 discs, while the Saturn version is only 2?

From what I understand they are the same game. Nothing extra in the Playstation version and nothing less in the Saturn version. I can't see the quality of FMV being so much better in the Playstation version to cause the same game to spill over to a third disc.

Maybe it had something to do with processing power as all other things seem to be equal.

D was so bad, yet as a kid, so fun. It was definitely unique and I loved it, despite the plodding pace.

[kupomogli]

The longest game on the PS1, I am guessing, is SaGa Frontier. This game, like Romancing SaGa, can only be finished once you beat it with six different characters. As far as I know, it is the only non-linear RPG on the PS1 other than its sequel.


Actually it's 7 characters, but each can be relatively short. A very large amount of the game being optional, its length varies a lot depending on how you play it. Which is true for quite a few games, so "longest" game is extremely subjective.

And with Lute you can actually go to the very end of the game from the start. You'll more than likely lose, but still.

Also SaGa Frontier 2 isn't non linear. The game is infact extremely linear as you can't explore at all. Whatever your objective is on said timeline and that's it. You do have a choice as to what timeline you would like to choose, but it's extremely limited as you usually have "this or that" and again you're doing the same objective you're required to do. So yeah. SaGa Frontier 2 is extremely story based and pretty much as linear as the come.

I like SaGa Frontier 2 a lot though. Very good story, music, beautiful water color graphics, and the obviously good gameplay with a new duel system added.

[Pk116]

Actually it's 7 characters, but each can be relatively short. A very large amount of the game being optional, its length varies a lot depending on how you play it. Which is true for quite a few games, so "longest" game is extremely subjective.

Look through the reviews on SaGa Frontier and see why it was not well-received in the West.For most people, it was a hard, confusing, non-linear nightmare. Here are quotes from three reviews on GameFAQs:


"...seeing as every single quest is incredibly convoluted, confusing, and non-linear."

"This might be the most challenging role playing game ever made for a few reasons. ... because of the non linear gameplay refusing to give you a clue as to where to go to next. "

"I am having a lot of problems beating this game, mainly due to the non linearity of the game."

Combine that with seven different characters to beat it with, and you have, in the opinion of someone who has played all but 4 or 5 RPGs on the PS1, the longest game on the system. I do not think it is necessary to say that challenge (e.g. Wizardry) and non-linearity (e.g. Might and Magic) have created some of the longest RPGs of all time. Anyone who finds SaGa Frontier 'relatively short' is an insane gamer with amazing deduction, luck, and skill.

[mobiusclimber]

Anyone who finds SaGa Frontier 'relatively short' is an insane gamer with amazing deduction, luck, and skill.

Or a walkthru. It's what causes games like Myst to be the longest or the shortest game ever made.

[Kitsune Sniper]

What exactly did they remove? I thought they just reduced the resolution, after I saw some screenshots. You can't tell that the PDA is an Apple Newton anymore because the top and bottom are offscreen.

I think you could actually select the way your character talked in general. Paranoid, neutral, and aggressive? I only read about it, I don't know if it's true.

[kupomogli]

Combine that with seven different characters to beat it with, and you have, in the opinion of someone who has played all but 4 or 5 RPGs on the PS1, the longest game on the system. I do not think it is necessary to say that challenge (e.g. Wizardry) and non-linearity (e.g. Might and Magic) have created some of the longest RPGs of all time. Anyone who finds SaGa Frontier 'relatively short' is an insane gamer with amazing deduction, luck, and skill.

SaGa Frontier really isn't hard to figure out. The game is mainly sidequests and most characters don't have much of a story. Lute and Blue's storyline is pretty much made up of only Sidequests, as Blue has to get all magic and Lute can go straight to the end of the game so you might as well do some of the sidequests.

Even the sidequests are fairly limited and are very simple to find out where to go. Ask about rune magic or card magic and you're told what area the rune/card is in. If you happen to go to the back of the same place you can ask about Time and Space magic and you're told you need to learn all the other magic first. There are a couple secret characters like Mesarthim, Time Lord, Kylin, and Sei as well, and those are all easy to get.

It's a good game, but it's not the massive in depth game you're making it out to be.

[Tempest]

Dragon Warrior 7 took me around 80 hours. 80 very BORING hours. Towards the end I just wanted the game to be over already, there was way too much pointless backtracking in that game.

Tempest

[j_factor]

Look through the reviews on SaGa Frontier and see why it was not well-received in the West.For most people, it was a hard, confusing, non-linear nightmare. Here are quotes from three reviews on GameFAQs:


"...seeing as every single quest is incredibly convoluted, confusing, and non-linear."

"This might be the most challenging role playing game ever made for a few reasons. ... because of the non linear gameplay refusing to give you a clue as to where to go to next. "

"I am having a lot of problems beating this game, mainly due to the non linearity of the game."

Combine that with seven different characters to beat it with, and you have, in the opinion of someone who has played all but 4 or 5 RPGs on the PS1, the longest game on the system. I do not think it is necessary to say that challenge (e.g. Wizardry) and non-linearity (e.g. Might and Magic) have created some of the longest RPGs of all time. Anyone who finds SaGa Frontier 'relatively short' is an insane gamer with amazing deduction, luck, and skill.

It's really not that hard. It doesn't hold your hand and force you along a straight line like many Final Fantasy games, but it's not insurmountable. And I did not say Saga Frontier was relatively short overall, I said each character's quest; you made it sound like each character was a full RPG in length, which isn't the case. In total it's a good length, a bit longer than average, but not the longest. I don't know what the longest is but I definitely spent more time with Front Mission 3. But that's another case of "depends how you play" -- although it's quite linear, there's a lot of optional plot stuff. I really took my time with that game and read every email, etc. I imagine you could rush through it and it wouldn't take so long. Final Fantasy Tactics also took me a lot longer but that's because I did a lot of (unnecessary) grinding and optional jobs, just because I liked the game so much. Both Persona games can also potentially be very long depending on how you play them.

I never really understood why Saga Frontier got a bad rap. "Non-linear" is usually considered a positive thing in the eyes of most reviewers (look at reviews of many Western RPGs, or a game like SOTN, or GTA or whatever). It seems Saga Frontier was subject to a double-standard because it's a j-rpg. Or something. Personally it's one of my favorite RPGs.

[Pk116]

We will have to agree to disagree. :) It is one of my favorite RPGs too.

[Kyle15]

A bit off topic but your comment reminded me of something I have wondered for years... Why is the Playstation version of D, 3 discs, while the Saturn version is only 2?

From what I understand they are the same game. Nothing extra in the Playstation version and nothing less in the Saturn version. I can't see the quality of FMV being so much better in the Playstation version to cause the same game to spill over to a third disc.

The video had less compression in the PS1 port. There is also the addition of little clouds spinning around on the same version, among other differences.

I checked both in my disc drive and this is what came up:

Saturn:
474 MB
445 MB

PS1:
611 MB
620 MB
412 MB

Both are the same length as far as gameplay goes. I think the Saturn version loads a bit slower, but I haven't played in a while to confirm.

[spongerob]

It could also have something to do with the Saturn being a headache to program for and the PSX being pretty easy in comparison.

[Wraith Storm]

The video had less compression in the PS1 port. There is also the addition of little clouds spinning around on the same version, among other differences.

I checked both in my disc drive and this is what came up:

Saturn:
474 MB
445 MB

PS1:
611 MB
620 MB
412 MB

Both are the same length as far as gameplay goes. I think the Saturn version loads a bit slower, but I haven't played in a while to confirm.

Ok. So it really is just better quality FMV. It's less compressed therefore requiring more space, hence the third disk. That answers the mystery and thanks for the help.

Now I'm curious just how much better the playstation version looks. I mean, the Saturn version looks fantastic imo. Warp mastered FMV on the Saturn. I just wish the Playstation version of D was not so expensive.

[NayusDante]

I think you could actually select the way your character talked in general. Paranoid, neutral, and aggressive? I only read about it, I don't know if it's true.

Awww, that actually affected gameplay a bit on PC. If you always pick the paranoid options, you start seeing words flicker in the middle of the screen, like "Satan" and "death."

[fishsandwich]

It could also have something to do with the Saturn being a headache to program for and the PSX being pretty easy in comparison.

If this were the case then the Saturn version would be larger, not smaller. Running FMV has very little to do with processing power.

[j_factor]

Ok. So it really is just better quality FMV. It's less compressed therefore requiring more space, hence the third disk. That answers the mystery and thanks for the help.

Now I'm curious just how much better the playstation version looks. I mean, the Saturn version looks fantastic imo. Warp mastered FMV on the Saturn. I just wish the Playstation version of D was not so expensive.

Well, PSX has video compression in hardware, whereas with Saturn it has to be handled with a software codec. So the difference in size could be strictly due to this, and not have a very large difference in quality. Although in general, PSX almost always had less grainy FMVs. But I do agree that D looks very good on the Saturn (I've never directly compared the two versions myself).

[Zthun]

Several years ago, I would have chimed in and said Azure Dreams, but considering that once you figure out how to correctly scale up the tower and use a gold sword with a mirror shield, the game only lasts about 20 hours tops for a normal play through.

You can't put a length on games as far as hours to complete goes. You can estimate but the moment someone decides to do a crazy speed run, then your estimations will probably get blown out of proportions.

[Kyle15]

Ok. So it really is just better quality FMV. It's less compressed therefore requiring more space, hence the third disk. That answers the mystery and thanks for the help.

Now I'm curious just how much better the playstation version looks. I mean, the Saturn version looks fantastic imo. Warp mastered FMV on the Saturn. I just wish the Playstation version of D was not so expensive.

Another support for this guess also lies within the Japanese version's subtitle of "Complete Graphics." It came out about 5 months after the regular Saturn edition, so something had to have been done in that amount of time. Then again, it could be a marketing ploy type of subtitle used to tell the difference between both ports. (The PS1 does have an altered title screen though.)

I'm pretty curious as to how much better it looks as well. Let's see if I can dig-up any screens....

*EDIT*

Saturn gameplay footage and title screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJkFp7VvkFc&feature=related
PS1 gameplay footage and title screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cphDiFk-w

Not the best quality, but it works.

[j_factor]

Maybe it's just because of Youtube, but it looks like the Playstation version (once gameplay starts) is too dark, to the point of things being difficult to see. In the very beginning (post-intro), when Laura's walking across the bridge, you can barely make out that there's a person walking there, and it's not just a pan shot of a bridge. And right after that, seeing the first body, you can't see it very well.

[Kyle15]

Maybe it's just because of Youtube, but it looks like the Playstation version (once gameplay starts) is too dark, to the point of things being difficult to see. In the very beginning (post-intro), when Laura's walking across the bridge, you can barely make out that there's a person walking there, and it's not just a pan shot of a bridge. And right after that, seeing the first body, you can't see it very well.

It's Youtube. Here's a better video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5nyTss1JuI

(The actual footage starts about three minutes in.)

[Tokimemofan]

The Largest (assuming the number of discs) is probably Tokimeki Memorial 2 with 5 discs for the main game and 3 discs for the EVS Addons. It is also a good contender for the longest game considering the genre's focus.