RPGs are too long

[ArchAngel]

60 hours is a very long time for one video game. For comparison, it would take about 60 hours to read the entire Harry Potter series and only 26 hours to read LOTR. Most players are not going to complete a 60-hour game before they either get bored, or the game mechanics collapse under their own bloat.

Only for the bad ones.

 

[KK1001]

20 to 40 hours of solid, engaging, and coherent content - ideally followed up by a rather large of expansion(s) of 15 hours that meaningfully expands upon the narrative and gameplay - is the gold standard for RPGs.

 

[Freddie]

For me it's about quest design and quality of content. I do have issues even starting some games because I have only so much time for games and if title looks like quest design is sort of modular. If I don't need to remember every detail from the beginning to enjoy the game, or which NPC I wanted to recruit but couldn't at the moment, etc. it's okay if I can get back to it again week or sometimes months later. Otherwise I may leave it. This is not to say what cRPG's should be, but that is nice to have options.

That said overall quantity can't replace quality. What comes to cRPG's there are few things maybe worth consideration.

Trash mobs might ended up being part of tropes because of accident. Way back, some folks in SSI really didn't knew what they were dealing with and simply started adding them because they didn't understood what was the real function of monsters in earlier Gold Box games. I think some studios are fully aware that trash mobs are questionable at least, but I can see the temptation of adding repeating tasks without real challenge, grinding to give (false) sense of progress to player and make game longer by using the same mechanic, artificially. Or to put it short: There are studios that exploit the trope.

Games are one format of media among others. Books, films or say, music albums aren't judged only according to how long these works are. Of course people don't want to pay price of novel for short story, or buy price of feature film to see 5 minute short and aren't willing to purchase CD singles for the same cost as albums and games shouldn't be different.
But there are also games that don't have interesting content for 60+ hours. The Lord of the Rings (novels) take a while to read, but they are something that even an adult can read. Lot's of fiction I have tried, don't have that quality. Taste of music is subjective and so what constitutes a good album. But there is interesting anecdote regarding Ricky Martin's 1999 album. There were people calling on radio stations asking if that album really hadn't any other playable songs than 'Livin' la Vida Loca'. Nope, despite all the requests and effort, no was the answer and people who bought the album, well they get the full album to enjoy, technically. For purpose of entertainment, in practice they got a CD single. Films, what about the length if content is something like 'Ass' from Idiocracy?

Games should be held to same standards as other media. Epics have their audience (Fallout: NV for example), modular approach is also very well tested (Shadowrun games for example).

 

[No Great Name]

It took me nearly 60 hours to reach the ending in Might and Magic Book I and loved every minute of it.

 

[Lurker47]

RPG's are too short.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Good, satisfying system development takes a long time.
Deep immersion in a storyline/characters/setting takes a long time.
Feeling like C&C has real, lasting effect on the experience takes a long time.

 

[Mustawd]

60 hours is a very long time for one video game

Completely agree.

RPG's are too short.

Disagree

EDIT: For me the issue becomes that many times the game's content just becomes stale after a while. For me it's usually the 30-40 hour mark.

 

[Micormic]

Long RPGs are good unless i lose my savefiles, then long RPGs suck.

What about diablo 2 hardcore (or other longer rogue-likes) where you can play 40+ hours on a character and then it dies and it gets deleted? That was a ton of fun.

Why would anyone play diablo 2 for 40 hours?

 

[Sigourn]

Good games don't feel long.

This. I played 57 hours of The Witcher 1 IIRC, and I still felt it ended too soon.

 

[Micormic]

Good games don't feel long.

This. I played 57 hours of The Witcher 1 IIRC, and I still felt it ended too soon.

If you have Deux ex 1 finished and DX: HR on your list. You planning on playing invisible war too?

 

[Sigourn]

If you have Deux ex 1 finished and DX: HR on your list. You planning on playing invisible war too?

To be honest it's not a bad idea, because DX: HR didn't run great on my computer.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Long RPGs are good unless i lose my savefiles, then long RPGs suck.

Happened to me recently when my 5 months old ssd drive died. These fuckers were suppose to be immortal,at least within the guarantee range...

And what's with those modern games that keep savegames on your system drive instead of the precise game directory? I keep most of my games on a separate hdd, but when my system sdd died, I still lost lots of saves for newer games.

 

[Reinhardt]

I could use some long rpg right now.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I could use some long rpg right now.

Ok. What kind of rpgs do you prefer?
And what rpgs have you completed so far?

Maybe we can salvage this thread and turn it into something useful

 

[Reinhardt]

What kind of rpgs do you prefer?

Good and long. Or even mediocre, but long. Or even shitty, but long. And turn based.

 

[tomekumb]

What kind of rpgs do you prefer?

Good and long. Or even mediocre, but long. Or even shitty, but long. And turn based.

Play Divinity Original Sin 2 then. It fits your description perfectly.

 

[Theldaran]

What kind of rpgs do you prefer?

Good and long. Or even mediocre, but long. Or even shitty, but long. And turn based.

Play Divinity Original Sin 2 then. It fits your description perfectly.

Good, mediocre or shitty, then?

 

[Reinhardt]

And long and turn based.

 

[Theldaran]

And long and turn based.

I did get that part...

 

[ScrotumBroth]

Good games don't feel long.

Discussion should have ended here.

 

[tomekumb]

What kind of rpgs do you prefer?

Good and long. Or even mediocre, but long. Or even shitty, but long. And turn based.

Play Divinity Original Sin 2 then. It fits your description perfectly.

Good, mediocre or shitty, then?

Definitely mediocre, very long and pretty much boring.

 

[DalekFlay]

As many said it's more about having the quality content to make that long ass journey worth it. I'm on my second try with Pillars of Eternity right now and it's rough because I think the content is kind of bland (sorry Obsidian, I still love you). I don't have that issue with Baldur's Gate 2 though, obviously. It all depends. Also anything less linear than that is basically only as long as you make it.

 

[Kruno]

Damn right they are!