Can games be too long?

[Fleeker]

I'm an RPG'er long games comes with the territory. I've played a ton of 50+ hour games in my life. Plus I've beaten A Link to the Past in every way you can imagine (has to be well over 10 times) and Ocarina of time quite a few.

Is a game to long depends on a few things....first do you like the game, characters, story, mechanics, and things like that. Are you someone that can stay interested in something for hours upon hours.

For me I if a game is good I can replay it again and again and in a game like the Mass Effect series or my current game Dragon Age Origins (first play through)I like the game enough to be curious about what happens if I develop the character this way instead or I have 2 more classes and species to play as and want to see what happens. But not everyone can dedicate months to a game even if they love it.

 

[LCP]

counting as I've spent 1500 hours on tf2, For multiplayer no...

However, if a singleplayer game fais to keep your interest for it's length it's a bad game.

 

[DanielBrown]

It really depends on the game, as many has said.
I prefer it when games last at least 20 hours, which is why I put off buying the Uncharted games for two years. When I finally got the games I did have an amazing time though, in spite of them only being around eight hours long.

 

[Darknacht]

I never got around to playing the original Mass Effect when it first came out. But I bought it recently and absolutely LOVED the first 10 hours or so.

However, I am now about 19 hours in and struggling to keep my interest.

It's not that the game is bad, far from it, but 19 hours is a long time and I'm worried that I'm losing interest in carrying on. There are other games that are starting to catch my eye.

So can games be too long?

19 hours is too long? Wow your attention span is short. I've put hundreds of hours into games like Fallout 1&2, Arcanum, and PS:T. So no if the game is good it can't be too long.

 

[Thetwistedendgame]

Games are never too long. It's just a matter of how quick you get bored. A game should do it's best to be as long as possible without losing it's fun.

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

In my opinion, a video game's single-player mode should only be as long as the story can support. Some stories can only hold out for 10-20 hours, so they should only be 10-20 hours long. Some can last for 50+ hours, so they should be at least 50 hours. A game can be too long if it tries to stretch out 10 hours of story for 20 hours. Of course, it can also be too short, if it tries to compress 50 hours of story into 30 (though this is a much rarer problem).

So, to answer your question: sure, video games can be too long. But what is "too long" for someone can vary from person to person, depending on how they like the story and how immersed they get.

 

[The Geek Lord]

I have a game called Tales of the Abyss. A game that, when you play straight through, is about 50 hours long. If you play all the content, it adds up to 75 hours. Then again considering the game was about $80 it better damn well be 75 hours long.

Then again probably the only reason I was able to play through the whole game was nostalgia forcing me to enjoy the combat. I've heard a lot of people--a lot of people who love the series--complain that the combat can get redundant. And it kinda can.

So yes, a game can be too long, but it's really a matter of opinion. I'm used to redundant combat to the point that I've enjoyed grinding like a ************, fighting the same enemy over and over and over *coughFUCKING NARGACUGA [http://monsterhunter.wikia.com/wiki/Nargacuga]cough* so redundancy doesn't get on my nerves, but it can and will piss off other people. I'd hate to see someone who hates redundant combat with a passion play the Tales series... The shortest one I have is 30 hours long.

 

[Dream_Sequencer]

Yeah its called Metal Gear Solid 4.

A game that is both a game and an interactive movie.

 

[Pingieking]

Yes. I thought Record of Agarest War was too long.
MGS 4 was also a bit long.

 

[OliverTwist72]

A game can be too long if it sucks. If it's a good game it's never long enough

 

[EradiusLore]

no, absolutely not! it all depends on yourself. for instance some people dont have long attention spans so their are games like COD MW and halo for them, then there are people who do and love games so you have stuff like mass effect, oblivion etc.

 

[notimeforlulz]

Homefront was hours too long. Given the quality of the game. Hay-yo

 

[XT inc]

Games can never be too long, only too slow.

It is like how front mission games seem like an abyss of endless content, but a lot of that time is really drudgery. This can be said for a lot of rpgs, and some shooters. If a 60 hour game is 60 hours of content then its fine to be that long, but if they are using artificial game lengthening tactics it becomes boring and you'd wish it would hurry up.

It's like how I am testing lego universe with some friends who really wanted to try it when it went on sale. The game seems longer than it is, but all of the missions involve going to different zones to complete minor objectives.

so how short would the game be if I didn't have to 1. go all the way through a level to get to the quest giver. 2. walk half way back to a launch pad to goto the hub world 3. walk through the hub world to get to the launch pad to the zone I need to be in 4. go through that level to the end of course to get the item 5 go half back to launch pad to hub 6. walk through hub to goto mission givers zone 7. go to the end of the level to turn it in.

You compare that to say being told to go a bit ahead in the same zone get 3 whatever's and its a much shorter game.

 

[chromewarriorXIII]

Games can be too long if it's just mediocre to begin with. If it's a game that you can get really immersed in then I don't think it can be too long.

I wanted even more out of Tales of Symphonia, despite my first playthrough being about 40 hours without doing all the side-quests (did some of them). I'm now on my third playthrough and somewhere between 150 and 200 hours.

230+ hours in Pokemon Crystal, 300+ in LoZ: Wind Waker, 100+ in LoZ: Twilight Princess, ~180 in Oblivion. I like my games as long as possible.

 

[Korten12]

Depends on the game, Half-Life 2 was boring me near the sixth hour mark. :S

It wasn't because of the lack of explosions, I just felt dragged on by the constant very similar environments, boring enemies.

Maybe if it had more story bits to it, I wouldn't have been as bored...

 

[cefm]

Depends - if there is something that continually drives the plot and interest and events forward (you know, story and immersiveness) then theoretically there is no limit. But in reality all that plot-writing is really hard and the middle will inevitably drag on.

Also, you run into the problem of the player forgetting what happened before, where they are, and why they're doing what they're doing (if for instance you're stretching out a 75 hour RPG over months of actual playing n short increments).

I never finished GTA-SanAndreas because it was just too damn big. But I wouldn't say it was too long. I just spent 50+ hours screwing around because that's what the game allowed me to do.

 

[BoredDragon]

I say as long as the elements of the game are either dynamic or interesting enough to support. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion had around 100 hours of gameplay, but it was still fun because of some of the stories and the different ways you could play the game.

 

[Kargathia]

Developer resources (both in terms of money and imagination) are limited. As soon as those resources are spread too thinly over too much game time then it's too long.

Your mileage will vary on when that line is crossed.

 

[Dizeazedkiller]

Absodamnlutely. But that length isn't set in stone. One game could be 12 hours long and be gripping but another could be a mere 3 and have no plot and I'd call it too long.

Portal 2 and 1? Just wanna make sure i'm not seeing references where their aren't any.

OT: And i think that a game's length doesn't matter, as long as its filled out with content. Its like a book. If its too long to read in one go you stop, if you need to take a break you stop, if the tension is just draining you you stop, but by the end of the whole experience you find that you've either enjoyed the whole thing or found the last few chapters agonizingly long and stretched out.

Bsically, how you perceive a games length depends on how enjoyable it is.

 

[Grimbold]

Games can not be too long.
If it is a good game and suitable to your interest, you will play it through and then think "Wow, I really got something for my money." If the game fails in keeping up your interest it is a bad game to you, so why bother playing?
When I realize a game is enlongated artificially with boring missions or recycled scenery, just to steal my time and to conceal that the developers ran out of ideas, time or money halfway, I usually stop playing and watch the storyparts and the ending on youtube.