how long you think a single completionist playtrough will take?

[kryadan]

It should take me a very long time. I will try to find as many quests and items and make my stronghold something to be proud of the first play through.

 

The second play through I will try to get the achievements that will take lots of time (I am really hoping the "auto-save only on hardest mode with perma-death" is not one of them)

[TrueMenace]

I know I myself take longer to beat a game than the average gamer would. I admire the scenery, read a lot of stuff, etc. etc. I also like to play on the hardest difficulty for most games because normal is way too easy for me.

 

Check out this site. http://howlongtobeat.com/

 

Most games I average longer than the games that I've played on this site which tracks game length of every game from every possible platform available. Amazing site. 

 

I expect it'll take me ~100 hours for my first playthrough. Then shorter playtimes for subsequent playthroughs because I know where things are and I won't be admiring the scenery as much hehe

Edited March 10, 2015 by TrueMenace

[cresentdark]

 

 

As silly as you're making it sound, it still balances out. Just as the little blacksmith shop interior is 1 area, so is the entire Skaen dungeon.

 

And this is how the devs measured the IE games.

 

I know they count the areas but it's just something I do lol I think when they eventually make the expansion it could be really close to BG2 depending on how big they make it. I know BG2 is a hard game to measure up to when it comes to scale that game still has the most areas I think other than some of the newer games but I think BG2 was full of content nothing felt to redundant to me.

[gogocactus]

I know I myself take longer to beat a game than the average gamer would. I admire the scenery, read a lot of stuff, etc. etc. I also like to play on the hardest difficulty for most games because normal is way too easy for me.

 

Check out this site. http://howlongtobeat.com/

 

Most games I average longer than the games that I've played on this site which tracks game length of every game from every possible platform available. Amazing site.

 

I expect it'll take me ~100 hours for my first playthrough. Then shorter playtimes for subsequent playthroughs because I know where things are and I won't be admiring the scenery as much hehe

That website makes me wonder whether former interplay / black Isle / whoever has the rights to torment is going to sue Tormentum for copyright infringement.

 

http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=24536

 

Check out the link and read the description xD.

[Hurlshort]

I'm hoping for around 30 hours.  I'm too busy for anything more.

[TrueMenace]

I'm hoping for around 30 hours. I'm too busy for anything more.

Good luck finishing the main quest.

[Kjaamor]

I think probably around 30-40 hours in total.

 

When I first came to the forums, I was greatly concerned that the game wouldn't be long enough. Having completed Wasteland 2, my current concern is that the game will be artificially padded out to increase its length.

[Gromnir]

been here before and the answer(s) is not gonna change.  no matter how long the game is, many folks will say it were too short.  no matter how brief the game is, many folks will claim the game is having a grand duration... if you know how to play crpgs "properly."  only if the game is ridiculous short and underdeveloped will we get any kinda consensus that the game were anemic in scope and application.  only if the game is having unparalleled breadth and depth will we get consensus that the game has substantial duration.  

 

"according to steam, i finished it in 20 hours, and it only took that long because i mistakenly left the game run while i answered a phone call and it stayed on all night ."

 

"it took me 120 hours to finish it, and i skipped at least a third of the quests. i don't know what you people are talking about."

 

is no excuse for not being prepared for the inevitable.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Cantousent]

Actually, while I think the chief complaint tends to be shortness, I can see someone like Hurl being pissed off at the length.  Also, Steam hours are meaningless.  I mean, like the poor bastard with the phone in Grom's post, I habitually leave a game running on Steam while I do things, including leaving the house for the day.  So, it doesn't always tell the story because I will sometimes be really engaged by the game and most of the hours I log will be spent playing it.  Other times, I'll be kind of into the game and play a little and then do something else.

 

If you really want to hit everything, and you really get into the dialogue and whatnot, I can't imagine you'll be disappointed from what I've seen.  Then there's the observation stated above about the fact that how long is enough is going to be subjective.  Nevertheless, there will be a point where the game is certainly plenty long enough by any reasonable standard and chronic complainers will end up trolling fewer and fewer people.

[Valmy]

I think probably around 30-40 hours in total.

 

When I first came to the forums, I was greatly concerned that the game wouldn't be long enough. Having completed Wasteland 2, my current concern is that the game will be artificially padded out to increase its length.

 

There is just no pleasing some people.

 

Why do you think 30-40?

 

 

 

dont be so suprised It could end in 25-30 hours for first playthough.

That would surprise me. In fact, it would shock me.

 

The beta itself took me about 10 hours to do on my first playthru of it, and it's what... 1/10th of the game? (Literally. it's 15 areas out of 150), and even that doesn't take into account the potential time sinks that were intentionally omitted from it (like engaging in conversations with party members; stronghold management, etc)

 

In any case, the devs have already given us a ballpark estimate on just how big the game is. They said it's bigger than BG1 but smaller than BG2. Well? That's a pretty darn big game. BG1 can take 70-80 hours or more for a 1st time completionist run. And again, PoE will be bigger than that.

 

 

This is in line with what I am expecting and it is what Obsidian has been claiming all along so what is the evidence for these presumptions of 20-40 hours?  I mean we are talking about a completionist playthrough where you play as thoroughly as you can.  Do you really think the main plot will take about 15 hours or so?

Edited March 10, 2015 by Valmy

[Valmy]

Actually, while I think the chief complaint tends to be shortness, I can see someone like Hurl being pissed off at the length. 

 

If Hurl gets pissed off by length then why is he doing a completionist playthrough?

[Cantousent]

 

Actually, while I think the chief complaint tends to be shortness, I can see someone like Hurl being pissed off at the length. 

 

If Hurl gets pissed off by length then why is he doing a completionist playthrough?

 

Fair enough.  Plus, I'll let Hurl speak for himself and beg pardon for putting even prospective words in his mouth.

[Emerwyn]

I'll play it in Path of the Damned difficulty and go full completionist, meaning I'll exhaust every conversation, search for every crafting material and hunt down every optional boss/encounter off the beaten path - so I'm quite confident in getting 100+ hours out of my first playthrough. Those 100 hours wouldn't include all the reloading due to the party wiping (which I expect to happen relatively often) so realistically the time spent playing the game will be higher. 

 

I know other people will likely get through the main storyline and be done in 20 hours, just like I know someone who finished Dragon Age: Inquisition in 37 hours in normal mode while it took me around 110 in Nightmare. Well good for them. But I'm the one getting more out of my money.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Emerwyn

[Stun]

I'll....replay it.

 

If it turns out to be half as great as any of the IE games then it won't matter if it's 20 hours long or 200, because "hours" will cease being the measuring stick.

[Kjaamor]

I think probably around 30-40 hours in total.

 

When I first came to the forums, I was greatly concerned that the game wouldn't be long enough. Having completed Wasteland 2, my current concern is that the game will be artificially padded out to increase its length.

 

There is just no pleasing some people.

 

Why do you think 30-40?

 

I think the complaints with Wasteland 2's length were more than justified, and there are definite lessons to learn from it. I completed Wasteland 2, but the last few hours were a repetitive plod with no rewards save that I would soon be able to say "I've completed Wasteland 2" and then never play it again.

 

I pick 30-40 because Obsidian have stated from very early on that this will not be as big as BG2, and in threads where this has been brought up, to my reading their posts carried a certain suggestion that people expecting BG2 size games should calm their expectations a little [Citation Needed]. Although the hub area in the backer beta was just one small, possibly incomplete, area, all of the content within could be breezed through in a relatively short time. There are only a handful of quest hubs in the game, and while the larger ones could potentially be massive, as of now I haven't personally seen any evidence that confirms this.

 

I haven't used a timer for my BG2 playthroughs, but I would be very surprised if my last individual playthrough, including the overwhelming majority of optional side content (Stronghold, Dragons, Kangaxx, etc), topped 50 hours.

[FanOWater]

I am  a completionist and easily distracted by the shiny penny of side quests, so I expect I will be on the longer side of these hour guesses.  Plus, I spend  huge amounts of time buying/selling/sorting and crafting gear typically.  May not be so true when I can't see the characters in such detail like in Skyrim, Dragon Age, etc.,

I expect to easily break 100 hours if I like the game.

[BAdler]

 

^Josh played and "finished" 1 level of the mega dungeon in about 20-30 minutes (Of course, it was only level 3, I think, and the levels will probably get tougher and tougher as you go further down). You're going to have to walk really slowly to get 25-30 hours out of that dungeon  I would guess the dungeon itself is 10-15 hours, tops.

 

ruzen has an excellent point though. Setting the bar/expectation at 100+ hours sounds like setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

Maybe, but you have to admit doing everything you can do in one playthrough and ending up with 25 hours would be very disappointing.

 

 

You won't be disappointed. Trust me.

[Bryy]

I think people in this thread are mistaking playtime for taking it slow.

 

And it's not wrong to play like that. But let's not act like purposefully nitpicking over every detail is a contributing factor to the full playtime. 

[Stun]

But let's not act like purposefully nitpicking over every detail is a contributing factor to the full playtime.

I disagree.

 

One of the reasons why I love the IE games is because of the importance of those little details, which can add hours and hours of playtime....meaningful playtime, even. Like in Planescape torment, when you take the time to click on everything that's interactable, so that you can extract every drop of the world's lore. Or like in Icewind Dale 2, when you spend a half hour at every merchant's shop, inspecting every item, reading every item description, observing every minute stat, to see how it compares with the stuff everyone in your party currently has. Or like in BG, when you meticulously clear the fog of war on every wilderness map to make sure you didn't miss a single thing.

 

This is the stuff that can add hours and hours to a playthrough. You can call them nitpicking if you want, but don't say they don't count. Because they absolutely do. They're what differentiate a game that was created via labor of love from a game that the marketing department slapped together by analyzing metrics.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Stun

[Luckmann]

I think people in this thread are mistaking playtime for taking it slow.

 

And it's not wrong to play like that. But let's not act like purposefully nitpicking over every detail is a contributing factor to the full playtime. 

 

But it is. Beside Stun's above points, the way you play a game can have a profound effect on effective playtime. This makes it extremely hard to gauge the average playtime of a game. You can beat Deus Ex in less than two hours, does that mean that Deus Ex have an effective playtime of ~2 hours? No reasonable person would argue that.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Luckmann

[Mazisky]

I think that the average PoE player will spend a lot of time on dialogues, exploration, sidequests, etc..otherwise why buying this kind of game? 

 

I guess that only a 2% of PoE players will rush through the critical path, so the average time for a playtrough will be pretty high 

[Abel]

I think people in this thread are mistaking playtime for taking it slow.

 

And it's not wrong to play like that. But let's not act like purposefully nitpicking over every detail is a contributing factor to the full playtime. 

 

There are games where you "want to nickpick" on every detail and others where you don't. Imho, the former is a great game, the latter is a dull one. So, these details are really important, like Stun said, and should not be ignored for the sake of evaluating coldly a game lenght. For me, a game lenght is more about the time having fun it takes to finish it, and details like the ones Stun spoke about have to be considered. Great games that can hook you in nickpicking on details deserve this treatment.

[Tartantyco]

9 years. I'm going to go with 9 years.

[Emerwyn]

I think people in this thread are mistaking playtime for taking it slow.

 

And it's not wrong to play like that. But let's not act like purposefully nitpicking over every detail is a contributing factor to the full playtime. 

 

In the other hand, I think you're mistaking PoE with a shooter or a beat'em up game where the sole purpose is to rush to the end and discard it into the "done" pile of dusty games.

 

Anything different from reading every dialogue and carefully taking a decission, soaking yourself into every lore bits of the game (that includes books, monster manual descriptions and journal entries) or thoroughly exploring every corner of the world is denying yourself a very substantial portion of the game's content that was put there to be enjoyed. The essence of DnD was its narrative and storytelling, and PoE may not be DnD, but it tries to capture that same spirit. "Spiritual successor of BG saga" is what PoE has been labelled by fans and media, so go figure.

 

My conclusion is, using the same phrasing, that it's not wrong to play PoE like a God of War game and mash buttons in the easiest difficulty your way through skipping 90% of the content. But let's not act like purposefully nitpicky over the fact that you can ignore all the game stands for to get through the main storyline in 20-30 hours. The title of this thread however is asking about a completionist playthrough.

 

 

I always use Final Fantasy VII for this game length discussion, that pops more often than you'd think related to about every RPG and MMO out there. The consensus is that a completionist first playthrough of FFVII acquiring the Golden Chocobo and beating the three Armas is about 80 hours. Without golden chocobo and beating the Armas, it's about 40-50 hours. But there are some speedrunners that have finished FFVII in under 3 hours after learning every way to save time and stick to what's strictly essential to the main quest-line after dozens of repetitions. So for someone that is new to the game, and wants to do a completionist playthrough, how long will the game last, 80 hours, 40-50 hours, or 3 hours?

Edited March 11, 2015 by Emerwyn

[Mazisky]

Playing PoE just for rushing critical path it is like playing Call of duty for listening to the dialogues.

If you wanna rush the game probably u need to look another genre that suits better for this kind of gameplay behaviour

Edited March 11, 2015 by Mazisky