How Much Playtime Should Games Have?

[jaybird]

I'm notorious for buying one player games & never finishing them before I get a new one to take my attention away.

I have at least 15 games for new gen consoles that I'm 1-3 hours into right now, and I have doubts that I'll ever finish any of them. I just don't have the time like I did in my younger days to play a game for hours non-stop.

I've heard complaints of short games like the Resident Evil series, but that's my cup of tea for playtime on a one-player game.

Although in saying this, I'm 2 hours into both of the new Gamecube RE games & haven't played either for over a month. But, if I were to finish a game, it would be something that took a small commitment of time like the RE games.

What do you consider the best bang for your buck in regards to a game's playtime?

[GENESISNES]

It depends what you mean by finish. some RPGs mean finish to me:

Beat final boss
Beat all mini-games
Unlock Everything
Finish All extra things(i.e. sphere grid in FFX, enemybook and missles in metroid prime)

I love unlocking things in games that is what makes it fun.

I would say about 50 60 hrs for a non rpg. about 100 for an rpg.

[nesman85]

around 20 hours 1st time through seems to be good to me.

[Tempest]

I wouldn't know, I stick with a game until it's done. I just spent 80 hours beating FF8.

Tempest

[scooterb23]

Simple for me, if I play the game for more than a week after I buy it...it was a good investment...

Recent good investments:
Outlaw Golf - Cube
World Series Baseball - XBox
Tony Hawk 4 - PS2

Recent poor investments (for me):
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - GBA (played twice, got bored...)
F-Zero - GBA (played three times, yawn...)
Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarding - PS2 (played once,hated control scheme)


Unknown Investments:
Ico - PS2
Oddworld - XBox

Got both of those before / at Christmas, haven't even spun them up... :/

[CrazyImpmon]

The game time varies but a good game should have plenety of things to do in it. Games that makes you do very little or nothing for a long time is sure to be a flop.

[deadtech]

I am still stuck in childhood mode: The shorter the game, the better! I have never been able to get in to RPG type games, and even the so-called "action" games nowadays are too long, with too much looking for stuff and/or wandering around.

I like early 8-bit era stuff, a few minutes, and you are done. Ready to play again! :)

-deadtech

[Captain Wrong]

I'm much more interested in replay value than anything else. I could care less how long it takes to finish, if I never want to play the game again, it's kind of worthless to me.

[Starcade]

Non RPG-18-25 hours
RPG 55-65 hours :D

[maxlords]

Personally, if a game is really good, it can take 2 hours to beat and I won't mind. But I'd say on the average for a longer game, 20 is reasonable, 40 for an exceptional RPG with a killer story. The problem is that most RPGs are adding all these side quests and mini games and pointless crap item quests and they get incredibly tedious. I found FF8 for example to be the most boring game EVER! I HATE it when you get dragged down doing all this piddly crap...totally detracts from the story, which IMO is the heart and soul of an RPG. That's why I like games like Suikoden 2, where if you do the side stuff, you get more story. To find all the characters adds just a bit more story with each one you find. That's the only thing that makes it worth doing. And the minigames in Suikoden 2 are part of the story, unlike most games, so it makes them more interesting. In FF style game, the sidequests are mostly unrelated and the minigames serve no function. What's the point? I'd rather see games shorter (arund 20 or less hours) so I actually have time to complete them instead of wandering around trying to figure out what to do for 30 hours and spending another 40 playing.

[EnemyZero]

I think it depends. Personally I dony mind sitting down with genesis or snes or whatever system and playing through Aladdin or Contra or Megaman or something in one sitting , but I do like games that challenge me and take a while, like RPG's last RPG I think I finished was Skies of Arcadia on dreamcast, took me 42 hours ( with work and i was still and school it probably took like a month)

[Achika]

I can usually get through 1-player games in under 10 hours. But then, that ranges from 2 hours (D) to about 10 hours (RE series--most took around 8) If you're thorough in most of these games the first time around, you can still get all the secrets. Having super-deluxe-invincibility mode or playing as a block of Tofu, does not warrant me playing the game over again, with the same story, but maybe a wee bit harder. I'd rather move on to something else.

RPG's need to be granted atleast 20+ hours, since most of these require about 3 hours of NOTHING but leveling up your character.

Maxlords: I'm going to agree with you on FF8 being boring, but for different reasons. To me, the entire thing was devoid of emotion:

"She died"
"WHAT?!?! Oh, ok, let's go"

The best part about that installment was the card game, I think half of my time was devoted to just that.

[Zaxxon]

I am still stuck in childhood mode: The shorter the game, the better! I have never been able to get in to RPG type games, and even the so-called "action" games nowadays are too long, with too much looking for stuff and/or wandering around.

I like early 8-bit era stuff, a few minutes, and you are done. Ready to play again! :)

-deadtech

Amen! I agree completely. I don't like RPG's at all and all these action games I've played recently, Headhunter, Tomb Raider, pad their actual playing time with level after level of forcing you to aimlessly wander around huge levels to find a hidden switch or keycard. I'd rather have shorter games that cost much less $. Game companies waste a lot of money creating all those lame CGI cut scenes I can't skip past fast enough. By the 20th hour of any game, even if it's good, I'm going to be kind of fatigued by it. Just like 4 hour long movies, these long games wear out their welcome by dragging everything out too long.

[Six Switch]

I would say that 9-15 Hours is good for an average1 player game.Unless it is an RPG then I am looking for at least 40 hours. :/

[jaybird]

I think it's become a Catch-22 for me.

When I was younger, I had more time & less money, so I only had a few games to play. So I played those few games to death while longing for something new to play.

Now that I'm older, I have less time & more money so I buy something new before I ever really get started on the older stuff I have. Now I lament that I don't have enough time for all my games.

Ain't life funny?

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Maybe 15-20 for non RPG games
0:30-2 for Fighting games
60-80 RPG games

[Nature Boy]

I like a game coming in at 10 hours. I'd like RPGs way more if they were 10 hours. After 10 hours worth of gameplay I'm itching to try something new.

Mind you a 10 hourish game to me is a game that takes 10 hours to complete if you make it through without dying. With all that extra time figuring stuff out and dying, plus the fact that I only play an hour or two at the most at a time, games last me quite some time. Eternal Darkness took me four months like this.

[Keir]

I voted 5-8 and when I did it was in the lead. Wow did that change!

I agree that RPGs should have more hours, but 80+ hours?!?! Count me out! If I have to spend more than a 1/2 hour levelling up I stop playing.