How long do you want games these days to last???

[rkotm]

Edit-title should be "how long do you want games these days to last???"
the former sounded kinda sexual lol.
\Excluding the ever long rpg genre, how long would you like your genre's game to be? To me, no matter how good a game is, i'd like to it to end so i can get on with my life and accomplish other things and beat other games. Are games getting longer? This day and age, a 15+ hour game is typical, minus cutscenes. I'd rather it be 8 hours or so, make it replayable and to the point, and NO BEGINNING TUTORIALS. If i want to know how to play the game, i'd like to have an option in the main menu for this. It would help with the surprise and mystery instead of things being spelled out all the time like a color in the lines experience. Off topic for a second, a real next gen rant. Wario Land Shake It is just ripe for a 6 hour jam through so i can get on with my life. Hows about you?

Action:6-7 hours preferrably
Adventure:10 hours
Sports:lol
Beat em up:4 hours + multiple paths
Shmups:dont play em..
rpg:30 hours or less PLEASE

[WCP]

Edit-title should be "how long do you want games these days to last???"
the former sounded kinda sexual lol.
\Excluding the ever long rpg genre, how long would you like your genre's game to be? To me, no matter how good a game is, i'd like to it to end so i can get on with my life and accomplish other things and beat other games. Are games getting longer? This day and age, a 15+ hour game is typical, minus cutscenes. I'd rather it be 8 hours or so, make it replayable and to the point, and NO BEGINNING TUTORIALS. If i want to know how to play the game, i'd like to have an option in the main menu for this. It would help with the surprise and mystery instead of things being spelled out all the time like a color in the lines experience. Off topic for a second, a real next gen rant. Wario Land Shake It is just ripe for a 6 hour jam through so i can get on with my life. Hows about you?

Action:6-7 hours preferrably
Adventure:10 hours
Sports:lol
Beat em up:4 hours + multiple paths
Shmups:dont play em..
rpg:30 hours or less PLEASE

I remember back in ye good ole' days, people loved it if the games were as long as possible, but as I get older, and my "free" time becomes less and less free, I think the Less is More approach is better. I hate games that make you backtrack thru a bunch of levels to artificially lengthen a game. There is no need for that imo.

On one hand, I haven't bought Limbo because of the length. If it was 5 bucks, I'd probably buy it, but not for anymore than that, consider it's like 3 or 4 hours long. Portal was cool, but it came with all those other games on Orange Box, so it wasn't an issue. I think about 7 to 11 hours is the sweet spot. 7 hours in a really good game can be kinda short, and 11 hours in a middling game can be too long, but I think the happy medium is somewhere in there.

As for games like Fallout, well, that's another story entirely. I'm currently playing Fallout 3, and personally, I'd just like to pack up and move to the wasteland and take up residence there. So, it can be as long as it wants to be, as far as I'm concerned. Still, I bet a very low number of people played Fallout 3 for it's 70+ hours worth of gameplay. Same thing with games like GTA IV, and needing to play FF13 for 20 something hours before it starts to get decent... Or in Red Dead Redemption when the Mexico parts dragged on far too long.


For me, 7 to 11 hours for most single player campaigns, and 25 to 45 hours for RPG's. This way, more people will actually get to finish the game and maybe developers can give the game world twice as much detail if the game is half as short as normal. Just make sure there is another amazing open world game for me to play when I get finished

[jammajup]

I play mainly FPS and limit myself to a few hours each play as i am quite good and can beat them in 7-12 days if i wanted,its a strange world when i limit my play so i do not complete a game too soon,it was never like that gaming pre millenium its almost as if now days so much is spend on graphics and effects they sacrifice playing area and game size.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

FPS, 7-9 hours i think is ideal, any more than that and i begin to lose interest as it becomes repetitive at this point (resistance 1), 7-9 hours is the sweet spot (kz2, cod)


any shorter than 7 hours and i feel like i got jerked out of 60 dollars (homefront, modern warfare 2)

[Aussie2B]

Doesn't really matter, as long as I find it used every second of its time well and that I got my money's worth.

I often look for short games, though, because I don't want every playing experience to be a big commitment. 10-15 hours is enough for me to consider a game "short", but I definitely don't mean that in a disparaging way and will happily play a game even shorter yet. With RPGs, I think 20-25 hours is a good amount. I have played many RPGs that could reasonably keep my attention up to that point, but when I hit 20 or 25, they started to get repetitive and tedious. It takes a great game to keep it up past that, and it's a shame that RPGs that aren't good enough for that length would actually be better games if they had trimmed the fat and paced it better. When I think of RPGs with the best, most exciting pacing, many are in that 20-25 sweet spot, like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG.

[Robocop2]

Not to sound vague but as long as it takes to properly tell me whatever story its trying to. Too many games these days are either cut short in a poor attempt to set up for a sequel or so chock full of filler that it becomes rather boring. I realize that its a common feeling that if its too short its not worth the money it cost but remember 20 years ago games cost more and were much shorter than they are today. Sure one could argue the replayability aspect isn't as high as it used to be but that's a different topic for a different 20 page thread.

[drunkninja]

I'm mostly a fighting, shmup, and RPG guy these days. For fighters, well, I just need the game to hold my attention along with my friends to want to keep coming back to it. Shmups just need to be about 5-7 levels, without taking too long to complete or feeling tedious (this was a problem I had with Dodonpachi DFK 1.5 on 360, the game is 2 loops of 5 levels, with the first loop being ridiculously easy, thus you pretty much had to play through it in order to get to the "real" game, as opposed to the 2nd loop feeling like an achievement like in other Cave games). As for RPGs, anywhere in the 15-30 hour mark is good for me.

[SegaAges]

It could be a one hour game, but if I truly enjoy that 1 hour of game time, I am satisfied. Homefront is a really short game, but I truly enjoyed playing it, so short or no, I feel it was worth it.

I do not think of games in the amount of time it takes to play it, but how fun it is.

I could play a 30-40 hour rpg, and if it is just not fun, it is not worth it.

I could play a 10 hour FPS, but if I am not enjoying it, it is a waste of time.

I would honestly play something that is shorter and more fun than a game with an "ideal" or longer game time that is not near as fun

[PapaStu]

It really depends, but in the end, long enough for a game to not feel stale because it took too long to get to it's point but long enough to tell it's story without cramming all of it into the last 15 minutes and leaving you with a huge WTF type moment when it just ends.

Now i've bought many games that have had a gimmick added to the genre that it is built around that have been cute, but when its the primary point of the game gets distracted by the gimmick I end up frustrated. Prime example (for me) is Bulletstorm. I'm sure it's only 8-9 hours long in total. However the whole having to whip/kick and then do the special kills to earn points draws the game out, and slows your move through the game and the ability to play with other weapons because you're out of points/ammo.

[kupomogli]

I would honestly play something that is shorter and more fun than a game with an "ideal" or longer game time that is not near as fun

This. While I personally wouldn't want to purchase a game that takes only an hour to finish in this day and age, the only thing that's truly worth it is if we get enjoyment out of it no matter how long it is.

Just as long as the game doesn't overstay its welcome. There can be games that are good enough that just feel like they start to drag on, but then there are other games that hit 40+ hours and still just as enjoyable to play. Dragon Warrior 7 is the longest time I've put into a single save file and I didn't get the feeling that I wanted the game to end. Yakuza 4 is my most recently purchased game. It has decent gameplay and is balanced out with a ton of extra content and an amazing storyline, so at 35 hours I'm at the last chapter and going around doing side quests, mastering mini games, etc, with no sign of stopping atleast for another 10 hours.

[The 1 2 P]

Games have to be around 10 hours or more for them to be worth the money to me. There are of course exceptions such as fighting games but if a game is only 4-7 hours than it's not worth the full $60 retail to me.

[maxlords]

I'd really like to see RPGs get a lot shorter. There are no RPGs coming out that can't be condensed somewhat it seems like. Totally artificially lengthened due mostly to grinding anymore.

I also just finished Dead Space 2 and I felt that was about 3-4 hours too long myself.

[hbkprm]

for a shooter 6-9 hours
for a rpg @ least 15 hours

[Oobgarm]

Don't care about length as long as the game is giving me a reason to return to playing it and holding my interest until I finish it. If I come back to it and don't feel bored, then it's worth my money.

I see complaints about Modern Warfare 2, but I felt that I got my money's worth out of it. I had fun playing it and saw it through until the end.

/shrug

[Rickstilwell1]

I hate games that make you backtrack thru a bunch of levels to artificially lengthen a game. There is no need for that imo.

This is what annoys me so much about Wario Land 3. It seems like that is what the whole game is about. Playing every level in the game 4 times each in some weird random order that also makes you have to walk through the map screens countless times. It's enough to drive one nuts! The gameplay is fun, but its just such a weird flow setup.

[Leo_A]

I like them to conclude just as the fun is starting to wear out. I don't have a set number for when that happens. It's different for every game.

I play mainly FPS and limit myself to a few hours each play as i am quite good and can beat them in 7-12 days if i wanted.

What first person shooters are you playing that even come close to approaching the number you've just implied? Assuming just two hours per play for what you described as "a few hours", that's going to be nearly 25 hours for a single player campaign if it takes 12 sessions to play through it.

I'm lucky to get 6-7 hours out of the average fps campaign these days. Usually upwards of 15 is about the best I can hope for (Half-Life 2 comes to mind as taking me right around that much time to finish the first time through).

[Julio III]

I like short games

This year I've mainly been playing shmups. The drawn out ones are 20mins and the better ones are just 10mins. Of course, I end up playing them for hours and hours. Can do the same with a good racing or rhythm game also. Play the same 5 mins of gameplay over and over. Someone earlier mentioned Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu ver1.5. I think it is too long. The last level is pretty much as long as the first 4 combined.

I'm not a fan of long games in general and am often scared to start them. For an action or adventure game I want about 6-8 hours. Anything more is what I call a long game. Any game I've spent 10 hours on is a big commitment. Its like I spent 15 hours on Fallout 3 but am only just on the beginning but thats far longer than I'll play most games. I recently booted up Yakuza 3 to see how far I was since I now have Yakuza 4. I thought I had spent ages on it but it was only 6 hours.

For a platformer I want 3 hours MAX. Someone mentioned not getting Limbo because it was too short. Well, its kinda too long for me. I'll probably never complete it. I want a game I can finish in one evening. With Limbo I played it loads one evening, and realised I was only about halfway through it. Didn't go back to it for months until the other night where I played half an hour and then stopped. Not much intention of going back to it.

Basically, I am a fan of short games that you repeat over and over and over. With long games you tend to repeat the same gameplay elements over and over and over anyway, but less enjoyable then mastering a good game.

[c0ldb33r]

I don't really care as long as the game's good. I hate it when stuff is added just to make a game longer (I'm looking at you, FF X and your cloister of trials!)

Actually, if I had my way games would be cheaper and a lot shorter. I don't have the time to beat most games that I play. If something was just a few hours, then I'd have a fighting chance.

[retro junkie]

I personally don't care how long it takes to run through a game. I only want the game to be fun and enjoyable to play. I want the game to be good enough that I will want to return to it again and again. I like the arcade genre of games. Quick pick up and play, for a moment or for an hour. It fits into my lifestyle. When you are crunching those minutes and want a few minutes of diversion, to clear your mind, I play those type games. RPGs, I love them but I am never able to finish them because of my work schedule which interrupts the discipline of continuous play that they require.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I have no preference for a specific duration. Though, if the game is short, I would like varied replays and/or hidden stuff. Heavy replay value goes so good with a short game, or one that breaks up into short component parts/levels (Katamari is among the best I can think of that fits the last there).

If the game is long, I do not care about multiple endings, split paths, lots of hidden stuff that requires a replay. I'm going to go through it once and get what I get and forget it. Maybe read the extra endings, watch video on the internet... But play again for a 4 minute video and a half our of dialog screen? Naw-uh. Unless it is one of those exceedingly rare exceptions where I can play it for hundreds of hours and never get bored with it. I'm not a big RPG fan, but I used to like the genre far more than I do now. Most of them now days kinda stink because they break all of this really in some way. Most worthlessly padded genre ever.