Can games be too long?

[Beach_Sided]

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?

 

[MercurySteam]

I played ME2 five times with all the DLC, and now I'm going to play it another three times because of Mass Effect: Genesis.

So uh, I guess it depends on the game and how immersed you get.

 

[Wuggy]

I don't think there's any time limit to games. Meaning, I don't think that one can objectively say like "A over 100 hundred game is too long".

However, I think some games can be too long for their own good. If there's just not enough gameplay and story to fill the time, it becomes dull.

 

[Pearwood]

LittleBigPlanet 2 if you count all the content. It's been claimed that you couldn't play it all in a whole lifetime...

 

[Toaster Hunter]

it depends on the game. Mass Effect was long, but it was to tell a complex, mulit-layered story, so that's acceptable. There is a good reason for the length. Some games are long because of padding, just throwing stuff in just to extend the game play and nothing else. Those I lose interest in.

 

[Jordi]

This should be obvious but I think that making a long game takes a lot of effort to do right. People can get bored if a game gets repetitive (while not intended as such) and does not have gameplay that is very rewarding in its own right. It is hard to keep a longer story engaging throughout. But when it is (and stays) engaging, then more is probably always better.

So it is hard to balance this. Different people have different ideas about how much should happen in how short a timespan, and different levels of tolerance when the game is different from that.

 

[PlasmaFrog]

Just because a game is lengthy doesn't necessarily make it boring or unattractive; However, there is a such thing as a game being painfully long. You know, that kind of thing that drags on forever, and ever, and ever?

Final Fantasy XIII is a perfect example of that. I just wanted the game to end, honestly.

 

[Anachronism]

It depends entirely on the game.

Something like Call of Duty doesn't need to be more than about 10 hours. There's precious little plot to speak of and you're really only playing it for the gameplay itself, which will probably get tiresome after too long.

However, for something like Mass Effect, length is a good thing. I sank 60 hours into my first playthrough of Dragon Age: Origins, and while it was nice to get closure on it at the end, it was a well spent 60 hours, in my opinion. The appeal of the story and the number of sidequests available made me want to keep playing. For games where the NPCs are in the spotlight, such as most BioWare RPGs including the aforementioned two, length is of especial benefit, because the longer you get to spend with the characters, the more they'll get to develop, and consequently the player will get more interested and attached to them.

So, length can be good or bad; it depends entirely on the kind of game you're playing.

 

[demotion1]

Yes they can take too long. Mass Effect for me was just right. It was amazing for the first 10-15 hours and when i started getting bored it was near the climax, so i was still motivated to play. If it took ant more it would be too long for me.

 

[Zhukov]

Yes.

However, it depends on other factors as well. If your game is pure orgasmic bliss, then I guess I wouldn't mind it being 200 hours long. Sadly, games generally aren't that good.

Anyway, some game that, in my humble opinion, outstayed their welcome:

Dragon Age: Origins. I was willing to slog through most of the second act without much trouble. However, the mage tower just went of forever. And the third act was torture. The ending and epilogue made it worth it, but it could still have done with a drastic pruning.

Fallout 3. So much content. Such monotonous gameplay. Not a good mix.

Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. The game starts, has a middle and then ends. And then it keeps going. And gets steadily worse. And then ends again.

 

[Durananrananrananran]

Of course games can be too long. The gameplay can outstay its welcome and get boring, and you want it to end, but there's still several hours to go. It feels terrible when a game feels padded out like that.

But I'd rather have a game that was too long than a game that was too short.

 

[Ashcrexl]

it all depends on how much fun the game is. if its insanely pure fun, it can never be too long. i usually find most games i play dont start to get old until the final act, in which i might as well finish it.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Yes, but it's really determined by your personal enjoyment.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

I don't think so. In theory, a long game should be long to give you more of what you want, giving a compounding pay-off to reward you for playing. Sure you can stop early, but for dedicated people, it means not having to cut the experience short constantly.

A game can be too dragged out though.

For example, a game where you need to kill/collect X enemies/items to proceed, or force you to grind a certain amount of experience (or whatever) is artificially lengthened, so that's not good. It's also cheap design. A game where the story keeps going much longer than expected is where it's done right, like how I'd view Mass Effect.

I guess it depends on WHY the game's long. Artificial length is a problem, actual length is not.

 

[Samwise137]

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.

 

[DEAD34345]

No, it can never be too long, as long as there is enough variety and fun in the game-play to fill it. A game could be 1000 hours long if it swapped around game-play elements all the time to stop it from getting stale, and if it was really well made.

When you say "This game is too long" what you usually actually mean is "I've become bored of this game before reaching the end".

It all comes down to the game's ability to stay fresh and keep you entertained, rather than the length itself.

Edit: Also note that I wasn't trying to imply Mass Effect wasn't well-made enough here, I've completed it about 5 times and even more with the second one. What makes a game entertaining is all down to opinion.

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

Even the most intriguing game can get a bit long winded. Oblivion immediately came to mind when I saw this thread. It seems so padded for sheer length. Most of the games I can think of that were too long are long not because of story but because of all the options so they don?t count. However I can safely say that tales of Vesperia is just a tad too long as far as story goes. Over 70 hours and it was pretty much ALL story? Holy crap man, let it end.

 

[Treaos Serrare]

if the game is good, i want it to last a loong frickin time, i hate when good/decent games are short as hell cause it leaves me wanting more