The Shrine

Seems to hit off what everybody's been saying here: Today's games are too short

So far, 36.3% think games are "A little short; I wish they'd last longer". If we were to merge those into a 3-scale poll, it would be:

18.62% - Too long
21.31% - Just right
60.07% - Too short

Sounds like a cry for change to me.

Haven't most of us voiced a preference for shorter games? I know I have.

I suspect the demographics of that poll are skewed towards younger gamers.

If a game is long and good, then I prefer it over one that is short and good. Reason being, I can play it for longer, and I feel like I get more value out of it. That's why all of my favourite games are longer high quality ones.

Games these days can't even manage short and good let alone long and good.

It'd appear most people prefer long and bad over short and good though.

I think games are absurdly long! I'm playing MGS3, KH, FFX, and God of War, all of which are 20+ hours - to say nothing of the time it takes to find secrets and etc.

There was like 20% of them that want the 100 hour games. That's crazy talk and shows that it's mostly RPGers that are voting. 20 hours of gameplay for a $60 Cdn game is pretty good. $3 an hour for entertainment is quite cheap, not to mention you can trade the game in and get credit for it

This is the same group of people that worships repeatedly at the altars of Cloud and Sephiroth to exclusion of nearly every other notable character in gaming.

Needless to say, their opinions don't count for all that much.

Actually it's not just RPG people wanting longer games. Heck MMX8 was like 10 hours and it's a Megaman game. The longest RPG I've played in one go was Grandia 1 which is like 60ish hours and it had a great battle system to keep an otherwise pointless game going. There are only 2 games, not counting games with multiplayer aspect, that I've played more than 100 hours. If something takes 100 hours to play even once it better be the most amazing game ever, and since only 1 game can be like that, it's not a good idea.

Don Wang wrote:Actually it's not just RPG people wanting longer games. Heck MMX8 was like 10 hours and it's a Megaman game. The longest RPG I've played in one go was Grandia 1 which is like 60ish hours and it had a great battle system to keep an otherwise pointless game going. There are only 2 games, not counting games with multiplayer aspect, that I've played more than 100 hours. If something takes 100 hours to play even once it better be the most amazing game ever, and since only 1 game can be like that, it's not a good idea.

When I had a games store, I had TONS of people, particularly fringe RPG players, who would look at the back of the box to see what the expect gaming time would be. It's not a coincidence that they splash the "more than xx hours of gameplay" all over the back. That, coupled with the graphics, were probably the two biggest factors I saw, other than licencing and branding, of course. No one ever plays that much, but people feel that if they're spending $60 Cdn on a game, they need to get x number of hours.

Silly, I think. Panzer Saga was a 17 hour game the first time (11 the second) and it's one of the best gaming experiences I ever had. MGS1 was 11, same thing. I for one don't want more than about 30 hours or so in an RPG. I'd rather dump the random battles and fight less frequently but have better battles. Then they can toss in a bit more cinematics and beef up my storylines a bit more.

Since I just beat MGS3, have we ever had an RPG with a MGS-type storyline on a console? I can't remember. If not, we should. I think it would rule as a KOTOR-like battle system with that type of story.

What do you mean by MGS style of story? The story type or the presentation? Anyway plot in console RPG is pointless. They haven't shown any ability to make anything new and recent games are more interested in trying to fool the player as opposed to actually trying to tell a story. It's obvious that being a good story writer doesn't pay off so far as consoles go so we shouldn't expect much. But a RPG doesn't need to have a good story to be good as long as it's presented well. Why is Auron better than the other characters in the same old tired role of 'wise veteran/friend/teacher of the main hero?' Because he's just that much cooler than all the other ones.

Don Wang wrote:What do you mean by MGS style of story? The story type or the presentation? Anyway plot in console RPG is pointless. They haven't shown any ability to make anything new and recent games are more interested in trying to fool the player as opposed to actually trying to tell a story. It's obvious that being a good story writer doesn't pay off so far as consoles go so we shouldn't expect much. But a RPG doesn't need to have a good story to be good as long as it's presented well. Why is Auron better than the other characters in the same old tired role of 'wise veteran/friend/teacher of the main hero?' Because he's just that much cooler than all the other ones.

MGS-style = more about espionage or war or conspiracy, kinda like an action-thriller movie but in an RPG. Hybrid Heaven is the only game I can think of that's anything close. But we've had these fantasy settings (or quasi-fantasy) for a long time and I'd like to see the genre of storyline change a bit.

FF7 seemed like a really long game to me. For some reason, I remember the clock being at 99 hours (max time). This included trying to get some of the extra stuff (not even fighting the weapons, I don't believe).

The only FF game that has ever taken me more than 35 hours to complete is Final Fantasy 9.

Zeus wrote:But we've had these fantasy settings (or quasi-fantasy) for a long time and I'd like to see the genre of storyline change a bit.

That's why I was really hyped about FF7. When going through Midgar, I'm thinking "Hey, cool! Finally, a sci-fi story!" Then I escape from Midgar, and I'm totally disappointed. Fine, it's not exactly medieval times, like the previous six games, but it's sorta like a "present day". In any case, such dreams of seeing a truly sci-fi Final Fantasy was dashed. The sequels past it have been continuing this "present day" attitude (except FF9 and FF11).

I guess that's why I really like the atmosphere of the Xenogears/Xenosaga games, expecially XS, since XG was sorta like a weird cross between FF and XS until near the end.

SineSwiper wrote:

Zeus wrote:But we've had these fantasy settings (or quasi-fantasy) for a long time and I'd like to see the genre of storyline change a bit.

That's why I was really hyped about FF7. When going through Midgar, I'm thinking "Hey, cool! Finally, a sci-fi story!" Then I escape from Midgar, and I'm totally disappointed. Fine, it's not exactly medieval times, like the previous six games, but it's sorta like a "present day". In any case, such dreams of seeing a truly sci-fi Final Fantasy was dashed. The sequels past it have been continuing this "present day" attitude (except FF9 and FF11).

I guess that's why I really like the atmosphere of the Xenogears/Xenosaga games, expecially XS, since XG was sorta like a weird cross between FF and XS until near the end.

I liked the Midgar setting by far the best too; my favourite setting is Industrialized though:

Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy 8 can both be considered Industrial settings (primarilly). Also Shadow Hearts 2 does it best (aside from also being one of the best games on PS2, and the best RPG period, anyone who has played it will likely agree, but I HIGHLY recommend playing the first Shadowhearts, even if it is not nearly as good, it is because the stories are linked).

SH2 would have to be damn near perfect to outdo Nocturne in the PS2 RPG category.