jp
10-26-2007, 02:41 PM
We may have all already had this discussion, I don't know. If so, eh, we can have it again. :p
At any rate, I was reading on GN earlier today about the director of Capcom or whatever talking about Okami on the Wii. I've been thinking about snagging it when it comes out, it never appealed to me mind you, but then again, its the Wii, and there's really nothing else to play, so might as well ya know (when it comes out mind)? But then I read something that made me stop and go, "Ehhh..."
It went something like this:
"40-60 hours of gameplay"
40-60 hours? What? Isn't this some 3D action game or something? Why the hell is it 40-60 hours? I can't even imagine playing a game that isn't an RPG for 40-60 hours.
But regardless, my question is this: When is a game too long and when is a game too short for most of you? Me, I tend to stick to shmups anyways so I get my 45 minute-1 hour fix here and there, but for next-gen games it really depends on the genre. I know a lot of people complain about Halo 3 being too short, but if you played it on Heroic by yourself it was a good 8-10 hour game. And for me, that seems to be the magical for "action" games I guess. Let me play through the game in 10-20 hours and go about my way. For RPGs, I think 60-70 hours might be good, but even then its a bit excessive, because at that point they just start to drag. Blue Dragon was perfect for me, because it was around 50 or 60 hours to complete, but I do a lot of power-leveling so that was cool. And it has replay with New Game+ and higher difficulties, which is where I think a game's "play time" SHOULD COME FROM! If you make a game good enough, I'll play it again, especially if extras are thrown in. But don't try to make me throw in 100 hours or something into one play through, because more than likely I'm going to get bored halfway through (because there's only so much you can do in most games) and just quit playing. This is what pretty much happened to me with every post-A Link to the Past Zelda game. I mean, unless its something I just pick and play from time to time (i.e. Radiant Silvergun), I don't want to have to sit there for an excessive amount of time playing the same game, because of other shit that is coming out, and I want to play that too.
I know a lot of people complained about Bioshock being too short (go fig). I think its what? 14 hours? Maybe 18? To me thats perfect. I can play through it in a week and be done. Great. Orange Box is probably going to clock in around 20 hours for me (Half-Life 2 took me 10 hours, Episode One took me 3 or so, Portal took me 3, I imagine Episode Two will take 3 or so). And thats cool, Orange Box has been a fun ride and I feel that everything in it was appropriately paced (except for that damn hover craft on the river bit in HL2, that sucked). Or take Halo 3, its 8 hours, but holy shit, how many hours will be spent in multiplayer?
So basically, I think action games are best off around 10-20 hours, RPG's magic number for me would be 40-60 hours, and action adventure titles (Zelda, Kameo, etc.) work in the 20-30 hour time span. And extras do nothing but make me want to put in more time! But at least if there aren't any extras or the extras are weak, I got to see the plot unfold, and didn't get bored and move on. :nod:
At any rate, I was reading on GN earlier today about the director of Capcom or whatever talking about Okami on the Wii. I've been thinking about snagging it when it comes out, it never appealed to me mind you, but then again, its the Wii, and there's really nothing else to play, so might as well ya know (when it comes out mind)? But then I read something that made me stop and go, "Ehhh..."
It went something like this:
"40-60 hours of gameplay"
40-60 hours? What? Isn't this some 3D action game or something? Why the hell is it 40-60 hours? I can't even imagine playing a game that isn't an RPG for 40-60 hours.
But regardless, my question is this: When is a game too long and when is a game too short for most of you? Me, I tend to stick to shmups anyways so I get my 45 minute-1 hour fix here and there, but for next-gen games it really depends on the genre. I know a lot of people complain about Halo 3 being too short, but if you played it on Heroic by yourself it was a good 8-10 hour game. And for me, that seems to be the magical for "action" games I guess. Let me play through the game in 10-20 hours and go about my way. For RPGs, I think 60-70 hours might be good, but even then its a bit excessive, because at that point they just start to drag. Blue Dragon was perfect for me, because it was around 50 or 60 hours to complete, but I do a lot of power-leveling so that was cool. And it has replay with New Game+ and higher difficulties, which is where I think a game's "play time" SHOULD COME FROM! If you make a game good enough, I'll play it again, especially if extras are thrown in. But don't try to make me throw in 100 hours or something into one play through, because more than likely I'm going to get bored halfway through (because there's only so much you can do in most games) and just quit playing. This is what pretty much happened to me with every post-A Link to the Past Zelda game. I mean, unless its something I just pick and play from time to time (i.e. Radiant Silvergun), I don't want to have to sit there for an excessive amount of time playing the same game, because of other shit that is coming out, and I want to play that too.
I know a lot of people complained about Bioshock being too short (go fig). I think its what? 14 hours? Maybe 18? To me thats perfect. I can play through it in a week and be done. Great. Orange Box is probably going to clock in around 20 hours for me (Half-Life 2 took me 10 hours, Episode One took me 3 or so, Portal took me 3, I imagine Episode Two will take 3 or so). And thats cool, Orange Box has been a fun ride and I feel that everything in it was appropriately paced (except for that damn hover craft on the river bit in HL2, that sucked). Or take Halo 3, its 8 hours, but holy shit, how many hours will be spent in multiplayer?
So basically, I think action games are best off around 10-20 hours, RPG's magic number for me would be 40-60 hours, and action adventure titles (Zelda, Kameo, etc.) work in the 20-30 hour time span. And extras do nothing but make me want to put in more time! But at least if there aren't any extras or the extras are weak, I got to see the plot unfold, and didn't get bored and move on. :nod: