Game Length

[DGwar]

Rpg's in general are starting to get shorter. Oblivion is going to be my best friend when it comes out.(and i''l probably get fired for being late or not showing up for work) The Elder Scrolls series has always had something good going on but IV has everything good going on. Come on obsidian you can step it up on the next gen and blow us away. Don't set a release date untill you are finished with the game!!

[Gabrielle]

In my opinion, longer is always better.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't you know it.

[Gromnir]

two games that gots equal quality, one of which is 60 hours and the other is 40. which is better?

 

most every designer and developer tells us that they likes shorter games... but then they admit that the resources it takes to make 3d games nowadays results in Big Games being impossible to develop.

 

*shrug*

 

games is getting shorter... and we suspect that in the future it is even gonna get more expensive for developers to keep up with cutting edge tech, so games will probably become even less long. as long as publishers believe that they has to make games that look as good as they can make'em, the games will get shorter and shorter.

 

is Gromnir wrong? we hope so.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gromnir]

btw, one thing Gromnir cannot stand is developer bs... as if we ain't been listening for the past decade or so. am not talking 'bout josh, but developers 5 years ago told us that gamers didn't want 80 hour games... gamers wanted 40 hours. so now, 5 years later when Gromnir says, "where are the 40 hour games," developers tell us that gamers really want 20 hour games.

 

bs... we call bs.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Calax]

I prefer games that are paced well not longer not shorter. If a game is paced correctly then people will be happy to replay it over and over.

[Child of Flame]

I want a two hour game with an infinite amount of replayability.

 

Is this possible?

[Hurlshort]

I want a two hour game with an infinite amount of replayability.

 

It's called Sid Meier's Pirates. Unfortunately despite high reviews, I don't think it's selling well.

 

I just don't care about a game being lengthy. I want a good story. Most games do not have good stories. They have mediocre plots. Instead of worrying about length, I'd rather they know how to use it. This is getting dirty...I'm stopping now

[Child of Flame]

Is Pirates! actually any good? I heard it kind of sort of sucked via word of mouth, despite the high reviews.

[Archmonarch]

I finished Fahrenheit yesterday. Its fairly short (6-7 hours) but highly enjoyable and fairly original. I too tend to focus on the story moreso than any other aspect, but I do regret when a good game is shorter than I would like.

[Ellester]

I

[Plano Skywalker]

Is Pirates! actually any good?  I heard it kind of sort of sucked via word of mouth, despite the high reviews.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I haven't played the Xbox version yet but I have played the older versions on both Amiga and PC.

 

Basically, it is a sandbox game. It is very non-linear. If you want, you can follow the storyline. Or, you can sail around looking for the Treasure Fleet or the Silver Train. Or, you can be a simple pirate and collect alot of cash. Or, you can be a pirate hunter. Or, you can run errands for various governors and increase rank. Or, you can specialize in invading towns, etc.

 

But like Morrowind, it does not slap you up side the head with the story. It is a very openended, customizable adventure game.

 

There is, however, a time constraint. After you reach about 35-40 years of age, the game tries to retire you. You can resist at first, but, depending on your character's health, you are eventually forced into retirement. The object of the game, really, is to see how well you retire, based on treasure and rank that you have accumulated.

 

I like it.

[Hurlshort]

Pirates was a lot of fun. You definitely have to dig the pirating lifestyle. It's a light adventure and it's definitely replayable. I only played the PC version. Also, if you played the old Pirates, it really is the same game with new technology. That's not a bad thing in my eyes. I wish they'd do that for Xcom as well.

 

I've never played a game in it's entirety and felt it was a waste of money, but I don't have a great attention span. I only feel like I wasted my money when a game fails to hold my interest.

 

I'm glad to hear Fareinhiet was good. It's an adventure game, so you're pretty much guaranteed a shorter game.

[Archmonarch]

I'm glad to hear Fareinhiet was good.  It's an adventure game, so you're pretty much guaranteed a shorter game.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Maneuvering can sometimes be awkward. But otherwise the control are fairly natural. I particularly like the action system handled in this game. Basically, the words 'Get Ready!' appear on screen and then two circles (corresponding to the left and right thumbsticks) divided into four parts each come up. A section will light up and you have to push the appropriate thumbstick in the correct direction. It measures your accuracy and speed and decides whether you succed or fail. Theres also alternately pushing the left and right triggers to complete some threshold tasks, but it gets somewhat tiring after a while.

 

A word of advice: Try to succeed on everything. It makes a difference in possible responses.

 

Also, when the main character (Lucas Kane) starts getting his special abilities, the action scenes are, to put it simply, awesome.

 

From what I can tell, there are two endings: a good one and a bad one.

[J.E. Sawyer]

I want a two hour game with an infinite amount of replayability. 

 

Is this possible?

Not quite infinite replayability, but the original Way of the Samurai has an awful lot and is very short.

[Archmonarch]

A slight reminder: It is now September. Perhaps time to update your sig?

[mkreku]

Not quite infinite replayability, but the original Way of the Samurai has an awful lot and is very short.

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I reviewed a game called Way of the Samurai 2 a while back. It is an extremely short game with a very messed up save system. But it plays almost like a RPG, with several different routes throughout the game and (I think) several different endings and solutions to most problems. Since it is so short, you basically have to replay it several times to get any value out of it. I think it was intentionally designed that way too, as it's impossible to see everything in one run-through. I must say I didn't like it at all, even though the samurai fighting sequences were pretty neat.

[GhostofAnakin]

I finished Fahrenheit yesterday.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I want that game. I think that'll be my next purchase whenever I get off my lazy butt and get to a store.

[alanschu]

I

[Reveilled]

Another good sandbox-on-a-ship game is Uncharted Waters 2 for the SNES. Just get yourself an emulator. It can't quite be completed in two hours, but the stories are more or less peripheral (with the exception of two characters who have intertwined plots), and you have the option of being a trader, a pirate, or an explorer (or all three). A wholly enjoyable game that you can play for as long as you like (simply by not going to whichever port is your final port of call in the plot, thus never reching the end of the game).

 

Extremely highly recommended.

[Calax]

Pirates was a lot of fun.  You definitely have to dig the pirating lifestyle.  It's a light adventure and it's definitely replayable.  I only played the PC version.  Also, if you played the old Pirates, it really is the same game with new technology.  That's not a bad thing in my eyes.  I wish they'd do that for Xcom as well.

 

I've never played a game in it's entirety and felt it was a waste of money, but I don't have a great attention span.  I only feel like I wasted my money when a game fails to hold my interest.

 

I'm glad to hear Fareinhiet was good.  It's an adventure game, so you're pretty much guaranteed a shorter game.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pirates seems kinda like Morrowind. More people have modded it than have actually played the origional. But it felt kinda rushed in the basic storyline. If they had either made it more a sandbox game without a storyline or if they had made it more a set of missions than sandbox it wouldn't have faltered. they tired to splice the two into a single game and did a fairly good job, just not good enough to capture the attn of most of the public. and some of the Romance minigames are HARD!

[alanschu]

I liked Pirates.

 

It's also neat that you age and you can see that it actually makes you move a little slower at times.

[SteveThaiBinh]

Europa 1400: The Guild is a good open-ended game like Pirates!, more of a strategy than combat emphasis, though.

 

I once bought a game called Eric the Unready and finished it in about five hours - this was back in the days of Ultima when games were supposed to be much longer. I was so angry I called the company and they agreed to replace it with another title for free . Would that happen nowadays?

 

Movie DVDs have to have the length of the movie recorded on the back of the box. While the length of games is more subjective, I think I've seen some that put a '40+ hours of gameplay' on the box with other features. Perhaps it should become compulsory. Maybe ESRB or ELSPA could do it?

[mkreku]

Movie DVDs have to have the length of the movie recorded on the back of the box.  While the length of games is more subjective, I think I've seen some that put a '40+ hours of gameplay' on the box with other features.  Perhaps it should become compulsory.  Maybe ESRB or ELSPA could do it?

Talk about impossible mission. I mean, I've seen people claim to have played KotOR for 60 hours! I did everything there was to do in the game and it still only took me just under 30 hours to complete. My cousin (who admittedly probably skipped a lot of side-quests) completed Jade empire in around 13 hours, while some people claim it's a 30+ hours long game. I would love to see it put in a system that worked, but it's too subjective to ever work.

[GhostofAnakin]

Movie DVDs have to have the length of the movie recorded on the back of the box.  While the length of games is more subjective, I think I've seen some that put a '40+ hours of gameplay' on the box with other features.  Perhaps it should become compulsory.  Maybe ESRB or ELSPA could do it?

Talk about impossible mission. I mean, I've seen people claim to have played KotOR for 60 hours! I did everything there was to do in the game and it still only took me just under 30 hours to complete. My cousin (who admittedly probably skipped a lot of side-quests) completed Jade empire in around 13 hours, while some people claim it's a 30+ hours long game. I would love to see it put in a system that worked, but it's too subjective to ever work.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, I don't see how that would be possible. Movies are a certain standard length because the scenes play at a given speed, with the enduser unable to do anything about it, except when they pause or fastforward. In that case, it's much like someone rushing through a 30 hour game and finishing it in 15. If you fastforward through the movie you can finish the movie in 15 minutes, but that doesn't mean what is written on the box is incorrect about 93 minutes long.

 

There's too much reliance on each individual gamer's pacing that you can't really account for in dictating that if a game says 30 hours, it has to be exactly 30 hours long since people play the games at a different pace.

[SteveThaiBinh]

I agree with all the points you've made. I don't know how you would make such a system work. On the other hand, consumers need information about the product that they're buying. Even today, if I had bought Kotor 2 and found that it took me four hours to complete, I would have felt more than disappointed - I would have felt conned, and demanded my money back. Whether or not I would have had any legal right to do so (probably not), it's an unhappy situation both for me and for the publisher, as I will discourage my friends from buying the game. If the convention that a game has 30-40 hours of gameplay is breaking down (if it ever really existed), is it sufficient to rely on magazine reviews to inform the consumer that they're getting so much less for the same price?