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Decline Cannot into long games no more

Falksi

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Witcher 3's bloat is largely in it's Open World. An absolute ton of copy-paste nothing, which serves just to make you run from one point to the other.

Visually lush, it matters little because you know that whatever you're running through or over there'll be nothing of value along the way.

Witcher 3 would be a far better game if you took its storyline and bigger sidequests and shrunk them down into a handful of sequential "open areas" nowhere near as big, similar to Witcher 2.

Totally agree. The area which works best in TW3's main game is Skellig, because that's the closest they come to doing just that (expansions too).

The massive open world is total bullshit, and pointlessly shoehorned in to the game just to tick that box and be sold to the mongs as "open world"
 
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Azdul

Magister
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For me, the ideal length of the game is ≤15 hours. 20-30 hours is acceptable if the game is good. I do not get the obsession with long games.
I'm totally obsessed with long games.

If gameplay systems do not fall apart after 30 hours, it means that design is solid, and it is worthwhile to invest my time.

XCom : The Long War, World of Baldur's Gate mod, World of Xeen etc. - there have enough content to pick from that I can really play them my way, advancing main storyline as fast or as slow as I feel like, creating my own adventure.

BTW. I've never played modern EA / Ubisoft open world Collect-A-Thons with microtransactions - I don't have time for them.
 
Joined
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But then,that goes back to a philosophical question: if your goal when starting a new long game is to finish as quickly as possible because you get bored fast with repetition...then,why you even play long games ?

I wish I could answer that question,since i suffer from the same thing.

For me, the ideal length of the game is ≤15 hours. 20-30 hours is acceptable if the game is good. I do not get the obsession with long games.
I'm totally obsessed with long games.

If gameplay systems do not fall apart after 30 hours, it means that design is solid, and it is worthwhile to invest my time.

Even if a game keeps its gameplay fresh,you can still get bored by listening to the same soundtrack,looking at the same visuals\art-style,navigating the same menus,tired of the same characters\story\setting...repetition doesn't come around just by gameplay.Anyway,i think the human brain is just addicted to consume new shit and when we get stagnant,we tend to become burned out.
 

DalekFlay

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Even if a game keeps its gameplay fresh,you can still get bored by listening to the same soundtrack,looking at the same visuals\art-style,navigating the same menus,tired of the same characters\story\setting...repetition doesn't come around just by gameplay.Anyway,i think the human brain is just addicted to consume new shit and when we get stagnant,we tend to become burned out.

Everyone will burn out eventually on something, but it can take a long ass time if you're really into what you're playing. Some people play DotA 2 for like 1,000 hours or whatever. I played Hitman 2 for 200 hours last year. If some of you are literally incapable of that then fair enough, but I continue to believe it's much more about how actually in love you are with what you're playing.
 

Zombra

An iron rock in the river of blood and evil
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But then,that goes back to a philosophical question: if your goal when starting a new long game is to finish as quickly as possible because you get bored fast with repetition...then,why you even play long games ?
What DalekFlay said. No one starts a long game because they hate it and want to get it over with. We want to fall in love, and when we do fall in love we want the magic to last for years.
It's true that in most cases the magic wears off, and at that point we hope for a swift and graceful exit (i.e. a proper ending). But sometimes ... sometimes ...
 
Joined
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Three years after starting this thread I've reached a conclusion, play ONE long, open world geam a YEAR. They're sucking your brain and leaving mentally exhausted, fuck that shit and choose tight, quality experience.
 

StaticSpine

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Three years after starting this thread I've reached a conclusion, play ONE long, open world geam a YEAR. They're sucking your brain and leaving mentally exhausted, fuck that shit and choose tight, quality experience.
I've been reminiscing about this. Back in my school/university years, I didn't have internet and my only way of getting information was through game magazines. So I chose carefully and followed closely the 2-3 most anticipated new games every year, bought and finish them. In my spare time, I enjoyed replaying Fallouts, Arcanum, etc.

When I got Steam, the first sale ruined everything. I started buying stuff because it was cheap, not because I really wanted to play it. And after that > backlogs > guilt > slogging through games without joy, because I've bought them. Plus I got married, and my wife wanted a console, so we bought PS3 (and PS4 afterwards) with PS Plus, which generated new backlog positions and so on...

I've been struggling with this for several years. Now I get back to the old mentality. I only buy what I really want to play, do not finish games I don't enjoy and remove them from the library, do not touch the console unless there are games I really want to play (for PS4 only Persona 5 and Bloodborne). Feeling good now, even playing long games, because I do not feel that backlog pressure. And also getting back to classics from time to time.
 

Ash

Arcane
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Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,230
IIT: people that play shit games so aren't excited about the few hours of entertainment they'll allot themselves after work regardless of game length, autists and those otherwise deficient of attention span, and those suffering general brain rot, possibly age-related.

Game length shouldn't be a factor at all, good quality entertainment is just that. There's something wrong with your mindset or the games you're playing; you have shit taste, scrub those tastebuds clean.
 

pakoito

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Update 3 years later.

Game length shouldn't be a factor at all, good quality entertainment is just that. There's something wrong with your mindset or the games you're playing;
This is pretty much it. I've binged games for tens to hundreds of hours effortlessly, it just took a while to figure out that if I'm not enjoying a game I should stop forcing myself to finish it. Once you're free of that burden you jump from game to game until one of them hooks you.

Mind you, it's also more expensive as many purchases will just sit in your account. If you're lucky you'll stop in time for a refund :D
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 24, 2019
Messages
694
Three years after starting this thread I've reached a conclusion, play ONE long, open world geam a YEAR. They're sucking your brain and leaving mentally exhausted, fuck that shit and choose tight, quality experience.

I was having the same problem as you, after 3 years playing long RPGs, i switched for short and old action games and i had a blast, i beat a lot of short games. but lately i'm getting burned out of short action games too and i think i'll go back to RPGs/Strategy games again.

Too much of one thing is never good.
 

Gamezor

Learned
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Update 3 years later.

Game length shouldn't be a factor at all, good quality entertainment is just that. There's something wrong with your mindset or the games you're playing;
This is pretty much it. I've binged games for tens to hundreds of hours effortlessly, it just took a while to figure out that if I'm not enjoying a game I should stop forcing myself to finish it. Once you're free of that burden you jump from game to game until one of them hooks you.

Mind you, it's also more expensive as many purchases will just sit in your account. If you're lucky you'll realise in time for a refund :D

I sometimes worry this approach will cause you to miss out on something you might have happily put 100 hours into if you'd given it more of a chance. I'm not saying keep playing a boring game, but sometimes it is worth pushing past the initial "learn new mechanics" issue.
 

pakoito

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This isn't the late 90s anymore! There's so much good stuff out there that it's okay to miss out and not experience everything, or experience it a decade later. You're even allow to interleave some trash or comfort games in the middle as long as you're enjoying.
 

Zombra

An iron rock in the river of blood and evil
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Make the Codex Great Again! RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I sometimes worry this approach will cause you to miss out on something you might have happily put 100 hours into if you'd given it more of a chance.
The days where one can expect to hear about, play, and finish every good game that exists are long gone. It's like expecting to hear every good album ever made, or eat at every good restaurant. Fear Of Missing Out will only lead to decision paralysis and, ultimately, you'll miss out more that way.

Love the game you're with.
 

Gamezor

Learned
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I sometimes worry this approach will cause you to miss out on something you might have happily put 100 hours into if you'd given it more of a chance.
The days where one can expect to hear about, play, and finish every good game that exists are long gone. It's like expecting to hear every good album ever made, or eat at every good restaurant. Fear Of Missing Out will only lead to decision paralysis and, ultimately, you'll miss out more that way.

Love the game you're with.

THEN WHAT DO I PLAY???
 

Gamezor

Learned
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Messages
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I'm just going to start by going through gog galaxy and hiding everything I know in my heart I'm either never playing or never coming back to. Then picking like a top 5 of stuff to try next.
 

laclongquan

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Searching for my kidnapped sister
Or you come to an age where you have expectations for a game, even a long game. SO playing long without fun is impossible for you.

Me, I know this for quite a while. take an example: Icewind Dale 2.

I want some tactical game in fantasy setting, thus it is the pick

I want some battles with tactical choices. Then I need to feel my brain engaged and active. Thus each map of IWD2 can be a pretty long and engaging session. Hell, two, three sessions.

Then oh no, my brain cant handle that on long sessions. Thus I played it at 30-45 minutes one then stop. For that days.

Thus I drag that game out for months. Of course, since I lengthen it by playing hardest diff THEN HoF mode, so it's like two games back to back.

Some day my brain just cant handle the exhaustion so I dont even start that game up.
 

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,230
Or you come to an age where you have expectations for a game, even a long game. SO playing long without fun is impossible for you.


Me, I know this for quite a while. take an example: Icewind Dale 2.

I want some tactical game in fantasy setting, thus it is the pick

I want some battles with tactical choices. Then I need to feel my brain engaged and active. Thus each map of IWD2 can be a pretty long and engaging session. Hell, two, three sessions.

Then oh no, my brain cant handle that on long sessions. Thus I played it at 30-45 minutes one then stop. For that days.

Thus I drag that game out for months. Of course, since I lengthen it by playing hardest diff THEN HoF mode, so it's like two games back to back.

Some day my brain just cant handle the exhaustion so I dont even start that game up.

A fascinating specimen and chance to study brain rot!

It sounds like you're playing games that are shit or you don't personally find entertaining, then wondering why it is not holding your attention. :|
 

Azdul

Magister
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Langley, Virginia
When I got Steam, the first sale ruined everything. I started buying stuff because it was cheap, not because I really wanted to play it. And after that > backlogs > guilt > slogging through games without joy, because I've bought them. Plus I got married, and my wife wanted a console, so we bought PS3 (and PS4 afterwards) with PS Plus, which generated new backlog positions and so on...
I feel like some publishers pressure you into playing them when they're 'at their prime' - and at the full price. Destiny 2 made it harder for late-comers to experience older content. Some GTA games removed part of soundtrack, older MMOs become devoid of players. EA and Sony shut down servers for older multiplayer games. GamePass will make it even worse - with games leaving the service after few months. Latest stupid stunt is Nintendo removing Mario game from digital store in order to force people to buy it earlier.

The way to fight it is to switch to open hardware and software platforms. Games do not have to age like milk - they may age like wine. And then having too many games will become like having too many classic tomes in your private book library - source of pride and joy, not of guilt.
 

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