Ideal length for a videogame?

[shoes23]

Being that I don't have abundent amounts of time to play games anymore, I find myself throwing NES games (that can be beat in an hour or two) into play instead of some newer releases which require upwards of 10 hours to complete. I'm still a devout RPG fan but it is difficult to get into an action/adventure/shooter knowing that its going to require a substantial amount of time to see an ending. I was wondering what the people at DP think the perfect play time for a game is?

[Aussie2B]

However long the game can last before wearing out its welcome. With RPGs, I'm a fan of the 20-30 hours ones, but that's mostly because those that are longer tend to get dull and repetitive after a certain point. Whenever this topic comes up, I always think of Lunar. I enjoy the game greatly for the first 20-25 hours, and then I hate the rest of the game. If they cut out the filler and condensed it, it would be a much better game. Chrono Trigger is an example of one that did it perfectly. Every second is used to its fullest, and when I finish everything with around 20 hours on the clock, I'm completely satisfied. I never get weary of it, nor am I left wanting more. It's a perfect use of gameplay time.

[GobopopRevisited]

10-20 (My Vote) for your modern day, Story Driven Action / Adventure game.
20-50 for a good RPG

[WanganRunner]

Well, it sorta depends on the game. Fighting games pretty much last forever, as do most puzzlers. For Action games (i.e. Mario, Starfox, Metal gear, whatever), I'd say 20 hours.

I like my RPGs LONG. I'd like them to be about 100 hours (which is how long I played FF7 and Xenogears). Exceptions abound of course, like multi-part stuff (i.e. 25 hrs for a dot hack game is just fine).

I've probably put over 1000 hours into the original Unreal Tournament for PC, now that's longevity.

[shoes23]

If you like long RPGs the PS2 boasts a game called Vampire Dark Apocolypse that claims to take 450+ hours to beat. Play it for a brief time and was a dungeon hack/crawl done in Diable-esque style. Possibly the longest game that I have ever heard of.

[shoes23]

If you like long RPGs the PS2 boasts a game called Vampire Dark Apocolypse that claims to take 450+ hours to beat. Play it for a brief time and was a dungeon hack/crawl done in Diable-esque style. Possibly the longest game that I have ever heard of.

[Damon Plus]

For almost every game, about 1-3 hours

For Rpg´s, 40 hours at most.

[PhoeniX]

My favourit games can be beaten in 3-5 hours, some of them less when you get proficient. I like the megaman series which on an average first run-though take me like3-4 hours and less than two when I get good. One of the major reasons I find myself playing NES games over and over again is that many can be realistically beaten in one sitting rather than days of effort; I just have to be in a special mood to want to devote 20+ hours into an RPG or something. Usually I like to sit down and play for an hour or so, but I like the impression of making progress--so short games are more enjoyable IMO. Similairly, games such as FPS's (e.g. HALO /2) can be played for the duration of a match and in that capacity prove quite enjoyable, the sense of being able to sit down during a short break and making progress or finishing something like a match make the most sense in my own videogame playing habits.

[NE146]

I dunno.. how long is Kaboom! :?

[PDorr3]

under 10 hours is fine if the gamr requires a low amount of playtime (Ico), but I prefer my games to be 10-20 hours, this way I can beat the game before becoming bored or I just stop playing it.

[downfall]

I'm torn between 3-5 and 5-10. I voted 3-5, though my ideal would be probably something like 6-7.

I like a game that doesn't take too long to beat the first time through on all the defaul settings, but takes a good 15+ hours to fully master and complete 100%. Games like Contra: Shattered Soldier, Super Monkey Ball, etc. The whole easy to learn, difficult to master type thing.

[Kamisama]

That really depends on the game i think, Shmups = less than 1 Hour, RPG = more than 20 Hours ^^

[NESaholic]

1-2 Hours Puzzle
3-5 Hours Shmups
5-10 Hours Action
10-20 Hours Adventure
20+ Hours RPG's

[PDorr3]

I like my adventure games to be 10-15, thats ideal, rpg's to be 20-30

[whoisKeel]

Yeah, depends on the game/genre.

20+ hours and I don't even want to play it (I don't play RPGs so they might be an exception)...that's not to say I won't put 40 hours into a game that lasts less than an hour (like shooters). I think 10 hours is a good length for modern games, with playability up to 20 or more if you want to find every last secret in the game.

I'd rather play a 10 hour game 3 times than play one for 30 hours. :/


3-5 for Shmups.

Good god man, what shmups are you playing? @_@

[Sniderman]

Hmph. Hard question to answer. No, make that impossible to answer.

Game of Atari 2600 Kaboom! - 5 minutes if I'm lucky.
GTA: Vice City - STILL working on it after a few years.

Shmups vs. RPGs. Atari games that last minutes vs. PS2 games that take days. I can't see how an answer is even possible to formulate. I play until I'm done, I guess. :hmm:

[EnemyZero]

Can't really vote on this one, it totally depends on the type of game....RPG's I depending on how good it is , I can spend 100+ hours easily on.... on Fighting Games I can only take so much..maybe an hour or 2....some games like....lets say streets of rage, not to short but not too long, so you can go through and beat it a million times without stressing out or saving

[PDorr3]

well when it comes to online games I totaly break the barrier, I spent 4500 hours on SOCOM (ps2) and I have about 1200 hours on FFXI, I have played countless other online games like diablo2, starcraft, SOCOM 2, and alot of xbox live games.

[calthaer]

Qualification for my vote:

I believe a game should take 5-10 hours to reach the end (perhaps 10-20 for an RPG), but should have good replay value and multiple endings.

[DynastyLawyer]

Really should put other up. For an action game, I'd say ideal length would be 10 to 15 hours, although that should be of actual gameplay, and not cinematics.

For an RPG game, or for a game that utilizes RPG elements strongly, let's talk 60 hours.

[ManciGames]

5 - 10 for me.

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. You guys have already highlighted most of the reasons why I feel the way I do, but just to recap:

1) Time is valuable - I only have 5 to 10 hours to game per week. I'd like to play more than 4 games a year.

2) Quality vs. Quantity - I'll gladly pay $50 for a 5 hour Action game that is fun from start to finish than for a 20 hour Action game that bores me after 3 hours...

I think this is one reason why I'm retro-gaming more and more. Game designers just can't figure out what to do with 3-D, so they make these long-ass, boring 20 hour action games.

THE FUTURE - For games to advance as a medium, they MUST bring back the 3 to 5 hour top notch experience that a bunch of people can sit through all at once and enjoy. There will always be a place for epic 100 hour RPGs or 25 hour Adventure games, but they have to get the action games back under control. Sonic, Altered Beast, and Mario could be beaten in a couple of hours, but I had more fun with those games than I do with most current day hacks.

[WanganRunner]

well when it comes to online games I totaly break the barrier, I spent 4500 hours on SOCOM (ps2) and I have about 1200 hours on FFXI, I have played countless other online games like diablo2, starcraft, SOCOM 2, and alot of xbox live games.

Holy CRAP!

4500 hrs = 6 1/4 MONTHS of playtime....

Over how long a period did you accrue that? Must be NICE to have that much free time.

[Flack]

well when it comes to online games I totaly break the barrier, I spent 4500 hours on SOCOM (ps2) and I have about 1200 hours on FFXI, I have played countless other online games like diablo2, starcraft, SOCOM 2, and alot of xbox live games.

Holy CRAP!

4500 hrs = 6 1/4 MONTHS of playtime....

Over how long a period did you accrue that? Must be NICE to have that much free time.

That's 24 hours a day. If you assume he only played, say, 8 hours a day, multiple that by three (a year and a half of playing every single day).

[Flack]

Ideal length for a videogame?

6 inches, although sometimes I tell people 8.

[ianoid]

12cm, or in the case of Gamecube, 8cm.

I think that a full price game ($50) should give you more than 20 hours worth of gameplay. That's still $2.50 an hour. Inflation adjusted, it's hard to imagine that we paid that much ($30 in 1980 probably equals $50 now) for so many old school games, given that you couldn't really play most for that long.

[soniko_karuto]

i'd say just like dragon warrior 7, make then so freaking long that your attention span will only cover around the first 50 hours of the game.

[Dr. Morbis]

I dunno.. how long is Kaboom! :?
I like games that can be played for 2 minutes or 2 hours, and keep you coming back for more year after year. Kaboom is the perfect example of this.

Generally if a game will take me longer than 2 hours to "complete", I wont touch it (RPG's excepted). As such I don't play many modern games. I've sat through "tutorials" that have taken longer than a complete game of Contra!

[NintendoMan]

20+. The longer the better for me. Well for the most part with games.

[Dahne]

The longer the better, man.