Can a game be too long?

[HandsomeZer0]

A game can be too long, but if it has enough depth in the story, intuitive mechanics and addictive gameplay you won't even notice the time fly. Urban reign is a gem for its simplicity and awesome multiplayer (Even though its made by namco *Shudder*)
But an immersive game can be long as long as its fun, like a pokemon game.
But if it just drags then it comes out shit, like FFXIII

 

[Svrhero]

Most sports games I buy, I truly try to play through an entire season, but can't.

I LOVE hockey and really wanted to create my player and get him through his first season, probably quit 20-30 games in.

 

[mik1]

Depends if the game keeps bringing new elements to the table. In most cases a game will give all it can offer or give majority of it and leave you with nothing new to experience making the last part of a game feel more like work. And depending on how much you have to work it may not be worth the ending.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

IN GENERAL TO THREAD:
I've noticed a trend of people wanting something new every so often (say at 20 hours) then others who ***** about FFXIII. It's funny, since those from column A should actually enjoy FFXIII in the sense that it slowly introduces more concepts to you as you progress, so as not to grow stale. Then again - it seems so many dislike that... So what do gamers want? Nobody knows...

The Magpies aren't paying attention to the slight mechanics becoming available over time and certainly aren't utilizing everything in their arsenal to it's full potential, they just move on to see more flashy colors till something shinier comes forth.

 

[TiefBlau]

I don't think I've ever heard someone complain about a game being too long. Too short, god yes, but never too long. (A bit like penis.) So, tell us in your honest opinion, what game(s) would you consider too long?

I personally think a game that is too long would be one with long stretches of game play between story.

Yes, a game can be too long. Anything can be too long.

I mean, sure, if you can keep your gameplay and plot real and refreshing with every additional hour you tack onto a game, I guess that game can stay just as fun and refreshing. But do you seriously believe you would give 60 hours of solid, unique gameplay when you can make a sequel and get 2 games for the same price? The laws of economics apply to games as well. They will give you as much play time as you're willing to pay for with that given price tag. 10-year epic or not, no one's going to buy a 200 dollar game. Except for those idiots that buy collector's edition games.

More often than not, games that offer these "40 hours of original gameplay" offer whatever originality they have spread thinly across ~30 hours of pointless drivel and mediocrity, so you're waiting for the game to get to the fucking point, but it won't because it wants to extract precious game time out of you, and you can't just skip ahead because you might miss out on something interesting in the sea of mindless gruel, so you're actually getting punished for wanting to see a game to its end.

 

[ninetails593]

Considering the 12 hours I just put into Civilization...maybe.

 

[D YellowMadness]

Paper Mario 2: The 2 chapters before last are more than 90% filler & nearly everything optional is a fetch quest.

 

[Solo-Wing]

It really depends for me.

Is it "too long", but with lots of content that you're constantly exploring? Then yeah, that's cool.

Is it "too long" because you spend a lot of time running from Point A to Point B on the map or because it's got lots of boring dialogue? Then no thanks.

This. If a game is too long because it is just samey repetitive shit dragging on forever then yes it is to long.

 

[RuralGamer]

Dragon Age: Origins - five hours less and it would have been good; preferably get rid of 5 hours of repetitive combat. Other than that, the only gripes I could possibly have about it were the dream sequence and the plot-clogging gameplay towards the end with all the excessive politics. I really liked the world they created and the stuff they put in it, but it was way to long for a traditional-style RPG.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

A penis that is too long can cause cervical bruising, one of the single most unpleasant experiences (I am told) that a woman can go through. Also, it can apparently be very uncomfortable. My female friends share too much sometimes.

Anywho.

I think a game could be too long, but I have yet to find one that is too long for me. I was raised on FFIX, so for me a sixty hour game is nothing. I still enjoy shorter games very much, but I've never gotten bored with one.

That said, it's just the old different strokes argument, some people will only play long games, some people prefer short games. If you're someone who plays and likes games with only six hour campaigns but endless replay value or a good multiplayer or whatever, there's nothing wrong with you, and for someone like that a 30 hour Mass Effect-a-thon would probably be boring and samey.

So yes, games can be too long for certain, just like games can be too short for certain people.

 

[ultrachicken]

A game can only be too long if its quality of gameplay isn't good enough to justify continuously coming back to it for long stretches of time.

 

[thedeathscythe]

Too long can be monotonous and repetitive. If the game keeps things fresh, and it's a very long game, then I think it can avoid being too long. Red Dead Redemption does a good job of avoiding being "too long" in my opinion.

 

[alinos]

For as much fun as it is, I would say Just Cause 2 is a little too long. If not long, then big. Way too massive. I believe I've played about 50 hours without even scratching the surface.

it's definetly not too long

it just has a lot to do much like collectiong 1 billion useless collectables it just has one billion destructables

as a game it can be finished rather quickly as story wise theres not alot too it

 

[Jonsbax]

Silent Hill 4: The Room

The story, setting atmosphere etc. were amazing, but the gameplay was shit, so the game being on the short side would have made the bad aspects more tolerable without hurting the things that made the game worth playing. The game also makes you play through most of the areas twice, and feels a bit thinly spread overall.

 

[LiftYourSkinnyFists]

Black Ops' cut scenes made their half an hour long campaign seem like FOREV!

I don't remember cut scenes...


MGS4, HL2, ME2 Oh and ME1 nearly forgot FF

 

[Dys]

A game, much like a penis, can be too long, but it's often something else that is criticized.

Farcry 2 is an example of a game that went too long. It was actually a good game, with some decent mission variation, but it dragged on, after a while the mission choice became irrelevant as all the missions had been done before, and so people hated it for repetition, completely unaware that by the time it became repetitive and tedious, they'd already played more than twice as many as some other 'good' games single player components.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

Final Fantasy 13, my god I tried loving that game, but I just couldnt

Damn ninja'd

I quit like after fifty minutes of cut scenes...and 3 minutes of gameplay--aka the beginning of the game.

I went through to the end, never been so glad to beat a game. It had some really pretty cut scenes though, only good thing about the damn game.

OMG the final fantasy fan base is finally becoming self-aware. Maybe now you can let square forget about final fantasy and let them work on Deus Ex instead of the crappy MMO

Oh dont worry i was never a "Fan" of final fantasy. I mean I sorta liked the games, but they were nothing special.

 

[PureChaos]

i've never had a game that's too long, as long as it's interesting and fun i could keep going and going.

 

[jhlip]

The answer to that question is Elder Scrolls: Oblivion

How is oblivion long? Unless you are a completionist and want "100%" you can just plow through the mainquest since its enemy scaling.

I'm not a completionist and I agree with what you are saying. What I am saying is that the game encourages exploration and side quests over its main quest since the world is so massive. I guess what I am saying is that its one of those games people aren't just going to beat in 10 hours.

 

[Kingsnake661]

I can't really think of a game i considered TOO LONG to play. So long as a game is fun and engaging, i'll play it. If it's not, I stop. I've never been playing a really really good game, and, at some point though, "god, i wish this would end already...". And bad games, well, i stop playing them, and have no idea how long they are in the first place...

Now.. a good game can be too SHORT... i run into that all the time. (It's over already!?!)

My 2 cent.