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Poll - Length

JuMeSynJuMeSyn Code: KirinAdministrators
in Latest Updates
What's your preferred RPG length?
Under 5 hours
5 to 10 hours
10 to 20 hours
20 to 40 hours
40 to 80 hours
More than 80 hours
It's not what he's eating, but what's eating him that makes it ... sort of interesting.

Comments

  • smacdsmacd Full Members
    edited March 16
    deleted.
  • Lord GolbezLord Golbez Member Full Members
    edited December 2016
    Yeah, I agree. I lean more toward the 40 end of it, but I wouldn't want most RPGs to go into the 80s these days (I enjoy 80+ hours for truly great games that don't come out every year though, like Persona). Especially since I take my sweet time with RPGs, which means if the estimate is 80, I'm probably logging over 100 by the end. Whereas if the estimate is 30-40, I'm likely logging 40-50+, which is pretty ideal...and still maybe too much except for a couple or few games a year. 10-20, on the other hand runs the risk of being too underwhelming in scope, but can actually be great if it's really tightly made with little to nothing superfluous. Less than 5 hours is not good for RPG format, but can be a good, fun, cheap indie game length. 5-10 is also pushing it on acceptable length, but you could probably do a decent action rpg in that length (and I'd probably take 8-15 hours, so not terrible).
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  • TheAnimeManTheAnimeMan Member Full Members
    20 - 40 is what I like. I don't mind longer and some games I will push way longer (DQ7 most recently). But games that taught long hour completions is cause
    A. It's mostly extra stuff to do and not actually main line content.
    or B. Really badly designed and needs those extra hours to play
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  • DarkRPGMasterDarkRPGMaster A Witness to Destruction Moderators
    20-40. I don't have as much time as I used to for pulling the longer gaming hours anymore, and I have a feeling it's the same for a lot of us.
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  • flamethrowerflamethrower Member Full Members
    It's about having a decent-length adventure without padding.
    It is decidedly NOT about having an average play time / finish time that's over or under a certain number. Aside from cost efficiency.

    Okami has padding because you can't skip or fast-forward the dialogue but hopefully you get the idea.
    It's a trope in Dragon Quest games to have a hard last boss the requires grinding; this I consider padding.

    For example, the recent Final Fantasy game World of Final Fantasy would have been better if they rebalanced such that enemies give more exp for defeating them. To the point that I'm sure if the grinding was balanced better it would have received a higher score. When players need to grind it's a sign of poor game balance. How much more I don't know, I'm not a game designer.
  • smacdsmacd Full Members
    edited March 16
    deleted.
  • Lord GolbezLord Golbez Member Full Members
    smacd wrote: »
    The grinding/padding factor is definitely an important caveat. I used to enjoy grinding, but mostly because I like being overpowered and I had the time to do it. But today, I find it insulting as a gamer if I buy a game that is 20 hours of story and 60 hours of grinding or other types of pointless padding that is more required than not.

    That said, I do find myself less opposed to longer games that fall into the category where its 60+ hours because its 60+ hours of plot (with optional but not necessary grinding), such as Dragon Quest 7, or because the game itself is so well realized that I can choose to spend 200 hours in the game and still have interesting things to do or explore, such as TES/Bethesda-Fallout.

    I haven't finished DQ7 yet, but it doesn't seem to have what I'd call 60+ hours of plot per se. It may not require grinding, but I wouldn't equate repetitive fighting of the same monsters while navigating dungeons "plot." I'd tend to agree that the length in DQ7 feels pretty worthwhile with some caveats, such as too much limitation on warping magic that makes for a lot of wasted walking time.

    The Tea and Biscuits Brigade offers you tea and biscuits.
  • smacdsmacd Full Members
    edited March 16
    deleted.
  • watcherwatcher Veteran RPGamer Full Members
    20-40 is best in general. It's a rare game that can pull off 60+ without being a slog.

    As an aside, I feel like many design choices these days are intentionally done to fluff the "XX hours of content" tag on the box without providing any value to the player. Particularly, in modern JRPGs they have all these boring travel/connector zones that took the place of the old "world map" that you get forced to run through multiple times, between all the places with actual content.
  • Strawberry EggsStrawberry Eggs Familiar Change Administrators
    edited December 2016
    Considering that I have the uncanny ability to stretch a game to unnecessary lengths, it really doesn't matter how long a game is suppose to take.I probably spend on average of 70 hours on a any given RPG, and can and will spend 100 hours or more on something.
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  • scorpio_7scorpio_7 Tactics Ogre, I choose u! Full Members
    edited December 2016
    For me an RPG should be no less than 40 hours. Now I say that with side-quests in mind. The main story could be about 20hours, but there should be enough content in the game for those who wish to go beyond the main story - whether that is simply exploring an open world like in Fallout - or with numerous side stories/bounties/tasks that can be done along the way.

    I always feel like a 20 hour or less RPG is just not enough to warrant my investment or interest.

    It is very clear in this poll that the vast majority of players still want longer RPG's.
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  • MacstormMacstorm Ysy St. Administrators
    I like your suggestion that the main story can be shorter, but optional content can add up to more.
    "The universe is already mad. Anything else would be redundant."
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  • The Last PaladinThe Last Paladin Member Full Members
    60 Hours seems to be the hotspot for me as the bare minimum. I do tend to like it to be longer, but lately, I been feeling the fatigue with games like Xenoblade Chronicle X (which is ridiculously too grindy to me) to the point that I been putting off other big open world RPG games like Witcher 3.
  • JuMeSynJuMeSyn Code: Kirin Administrators
    Time for results!

    40 to 80 hours 876 42.63%
    20 to 40 hours 608 29.59%
    More than 80 hours 493 23.99%
    10 to 20 hours 59 2.87%
    Under 5 hours 11 0.54%
    5 to 10 hours 8 0.39%
    Total Votes 2055
    It's not what he's eating, but what's eating him that makes it ... sort of interesting.
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