Acceptible length for a game?

[Vault101]

I was just wondering on average what do you think is an acceptible time for a game?

Now I know this varys alot on genre and also the player, like me I tend to take longer to finish games and even strech it out long as possible

then you get games a that are real timesinks (RPG's in particular) like fallout where as FFS tend to be shorter

for me I think its at least 20 hours of standard playtime though mabye thats just wishful thinking I'm not sure what the average playtime for a game is

any games you think felt a little too short? for me that was F.E.A.R 2 and Batman arkham asylum

 

[orangebandguy]

Any length, long games should not be padded out with filler crap. And likewise shorter games should not be condensed excitement and then end it suddenly.

You've got to find the right length, a balance of exposition, action and drama.

 

[Salem_Wolf]

Depending on the title, I'd say 10-11 hours isn't bad, as long as it has replayability. If I can't replay the title, then make it 16-18 hours, and make it a damn good quality game.

Action/Adventure: I'd say around 10 hours is the typical length, and that's pretty good, if it has a solid reason for me to replay it, then another 10 hours is great! Especially if it's good fun in multiplayer. (Cited: Uncharted 2, Tron: Evolution, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood which is about 15 hours).

RPG: If it's not 25+ hours, then it'll feel short. But games that allow you to make choices and customize a character and change the story? 20 hours is fine. It's likely I'll be going back for another go to change the story. (Cited: Dragon Age, Alpha Protocol, Mass Effect. All fall in the Action/RPG realm, but still succeed).

 

[Omikron009]

At least 15 hours, and if it's less it had better have a ton of replayability. Even if the game is 15 hours or more, I like to be able to play it again.

 

[Kurai Angelo]

I think you kind of answered your own question. It really does depend on what time of game it is. But I guess if you wanted some sort of benchmark that I would say anything between 10-20 hours.

Unless of course it's an RPG, i want to be able to lose days to a decent RPG lol

 

[likalaruku]

If you can play an RPG for 8-11 hours a day for a month, hurray! Not fond of games that have less than 8 hours of gameplay.

 

[Continuity]

...

I think 7 hours is an established minimum on normal difficulty, though these days games have larger budgets and a larger customer base so they tend to be longer, as you say 20ish hours is becoming a more common minimum.

For an RPG, if you don't take in the sights too much and steam though the quests (all quests not just the main thread) then I think you ought to be expecting at least 40 hours, though to be fair i'd feel cheated at that level and I'd really expect at least 50, with 70 being the target ideal (minimum).

 

[Archangel768]

depends on the game. If it's Final Fantasy then I'd expect at least 40 hours out of it (if it's a main title)
However, if it's a shooter then I'm pleasantly surprised when I hit the 10 hour mark as I did with Uncharted 2.
I find games like some Call of Duty and Halo games like ODST that were around 4-5 hours or so a waste of money if they're at full price
(which call of duty is always at, even modern warfare the original is still at 100$ standard in stores in Australia, then the try to tell you that you're getting it for a good price at 50% off, that's still 50% for it. If the game was cheaper (taking it's age into consideration) i would buy it at
20$. For me, something like modern warfare 2 which took me about 5 hours to get through (approx time from memory) is only worth about 30 - 40$ brand new, unless we're in USA then I'd expect to pay no more than 30$ for it. I don't really play multiplayer much (especially online, i don't really like that much at all) and prefer single player games for the most part so I don't see the value in those games other then the single player side of things.

So it depends on the game (some are from franchises which i have expectations of like Final Fantasy) and what it's price is.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Something along the length of Red dead or Bioshock 1+2 because games like Black Ops doesn't cut it for me with no branching storyline and not being able to do anything different really gripes my intellect.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Quality, not Quantity. If the Quality can match the length, then that's fine. Portal was great and has tons of play value despite being 2 hours long, if that. Fallout 3 was great when it took me 50 hours per playthrough in awesomeness. Fallout New Vegas has recently struck a chord and now I am craving the next time I play it. The Brotherhood of Steel in New Vegas, finding them was one of the greatest things I felt. Them in their T-51b armour demanding things rather than passively telling me made me think about how much power they had compared to the others, and yet they were driven down a hole, like rats.

Calumon: Digimon World goes on foreeever, and it's awesome all the way!

Technically, it does go on forever.

 

[Spectrum_Prez]

For a FPS or action/adventure game, I would want at least 15-16 hours.
For an RPG, at least 40 hours minimum.
For an RTS, at least a 20 hour campaign.

 

[AvsJoe]

The longer, the better, especially if there is little filler, padding, and grinding. I miss the days of 60 - 70 hour games from the PS1 era.

 

[Super Toast]

At least twelve hours.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Games need to have at least ten hours of gameplay in them, any shorter isn't worth the money.

 

[Merkavar]

10 or more hours. more the better.

 

[Lawnmooer]

I like to get at least 24 hours from a game, ideally I'd like to get over 100 hours from a game. Though only a few have actually got over 100 hours from me (WoW, City of Heroes, TF2, Killing Floor... Basically multiplayer games)

Though it is hard to get a good game that takes me long to finish (I managed to do everything in ME2 in about 15 hours when alot of other people spent over 100 hours doing it... Sometimes I'm too efficient for my own enjoyment)

 

[Best of the 3]

For me, a game can be any length it wants to be. If it has replatability then I'll keep comming back to it which will make the length longer then it actually is. If that made any sense to you, congrats because it didn't to me when I read it through. xD

 

[Popadoo]

It depends what kind of gamer you are. I prefer a long game, but not long like Oblivion long, where there's so much to do I get off-track and forget there's a story. Something like Assassin's Creed 2 long, where the story stays at the centre of things, and it isn't padded out to make it longer.
Again, I can't sand games like Oblivion or Fallout. The stories just feel so disjointed and out-of-the-way compared to the side quests and other stuff to do.

 

[Hiikuro]

There is a limit of about 60 hours for me in a game, before I get completely bored of it. That limit is for good games. So that is essentially my maximum attention span for a game, though the limit for less interesting games is far lower.

To guess an ideal length for me, I'd say between 20 and 30 hours of playtime.

 

[Soveru]

At least 20+ hours. Only then do i get a real sense of achievement when I complete the game