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[R6Rider]

JRPG padding the thread

 

[Robb]

Okami is always the one game that I think of when I see this topic.

Another one off the top of my head would probably be TLoZ: Skyward Sword.

 

[trikster40]

Delete that good in the title, it's even worse with bad or medicore games. To me Days Gone was way too long, the whole military storyline at the end was unnecessary.

I was coming in to say Days Gone as well. Loved the game, but it felt like it was about twice as long as it should have been.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Persona 5. 115 hours is insane. I would have been perfectly satisfied with 60h tops.

 

[Kev Kev]

The final stretch is where the great stuff starts coming out.

I love when the final boss has 4 forms, then someone who was actually controlling the final boss comes out and has 2 more forms, then they get taken over and fuse for 3 more forms.

lol oh come on man. you always have the most piping hot takes on jrpgs. this one just... lol just... i dunno im just gonna post another gif

 

[TLZ]

That's how I felt with Uncharted 3. It just draaaaagged and wouldn't finish.

 

[Billbofet]

Wind Waker runs out of steam BIG at the end. As much as I love that game, I cannot believe I put up with that bullshit at the end.
Uncharted 4 - again, great ending, but dragged so much to get there
God of War 3 had such a dazzling first hour it was all downhill after that. The beginning should have been the ending!!!
Fable 3. I never finished it, but it all felt so samey I just stopped and have no idea how far I got.

 

[Lethal01]

lol oh come on man. you always have the most piping hot takes on jrpgs. this one just... lol just... i dunno im just gonna post another gif

 

[TheDrunkenMerchant]

Dodgeball Academia is the most recent one for me. Amazing game, just went a few hours too long considering the simple (but fun) battle system that you can only do so many times before you start sprinting through areas/fights just for the story.

Also, Life is Strange 1's ending.

 

[CatLady]

Alien Isolation. The game is great but too damn long.

That's the game I was going to say too. It is a great game, but it feels like the last few hours are just tacked on to give it more length.

 

[Chukhopops]

Persona 5. 115 hours is insane. I would have been perfectly satisfied with 60h tops.

Yeah P5 would have been better with one or two arcs plus the entirety of summer removed. Or the « local retard argues with a cat, breaks up group » sub-plot.

Spoiler

I also think TLOU2 could have done without some characters and flashbacks

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

The Mario & Luigi games.

 

[somesang]

Persona 4, right before Winter I was done with the game. Then it finally ended and I wanted so much more.

 

[Fbh]

DQ11 for me. I enjoyed my time with it, but I've been holding off on a replay with the definitive edition just because I now know how long the game is.

I enjoyed DQ11 but the second half really felt stretched out.
Having to go back to all locations and gather up your party again felt unnecessarily slow and killed the momentum. And then the grind for the true final boss was annoying too (thankfully it could be sort of cheesed iby farming metal slimes).

Persona 5. 115 hours is insane. I would have been perfectly satisfied with 60h tops.

Persona 5 is an awesome 60 hours long game trapped in a horribly paced 100+ hours slog that feels like it will never end.
The never ending talking in circles, the dungeons that get increasingly more and more stretched out, having to go through all the repetitive and monotonous mementos areas, etc.

As much as I like the core of the franchise, if the next entry is in the 80+ hours range I probably won't bother playing it.

 

[HellforLeather]

Thats not true OP. A shit game that goes on for way to long is worse.

That said, I hate it when a final boss takes on 4 different forms or there just keeps coming back.

Unpopular opinion: The jeep chase at the end of MGS should have been completely cut from an otherwise stellar ending. You already fought Liquid twice immediately before this (3 times if you count the Hind helo encounter)

 

[Warablo]

The Last of Us II and Alien Isolation say hi.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

Great thread

Yeah, seems like a lot of modern AAA games just drag on for too long. As someone already mentioned in the thread though, game consumers are partly to blame, as there is some sort of perverse association of amount of time relative to the amount of money paid for a game. ("Damn it, I paid $60 for this game, it must be 100 hours long!") So developers pad out the time with repetitive tasks.

Also it seems like many AAA games these days are designed to be the "only" game you play.

 

[Sid Of Bee]

What a coincidence .... I was literally talking to a friend about this the other day....

I love a great 10-hour game. Particularly a single player action adventure game like the Sony cinematic games. Unfortunately most of them go 15 to 20 or more hours. I literally got to like chapter 22 of Uncharted 4 and I was too bored to go on. Just ended up playing another game and never going back. Same thing happened with Ghost of Tsushima. There's too many games I want to play and they don't all need to be giant 100 hour epics. I will gladly pay $60 to $70 for 10 hours of unadulterated fun.

 

[Vandole]

This is why I will defend Lollipop Chainsaw as a great game all day long. It was ridiculously stupid fun, and it knew to keep things brief. After 6 hours, right as you get a little bit tired of it, the game gives you a insane final boss and that's that.

 

[TonyK]

How's the DLC? Should I just stop what I'm doing and go right to the DLC to freshen things up?

I didn't like the DLC neither. But it's because there is no RPG progression after the second act. When you arrive to the third act, if you play in a completionist way, you will have all the abilities and equipment you want (I have the platinum for the game and DLC). So third act and DLC are as big as the first two acts but without progression, what it makes them repetitive and unnecessary. But it's only my opinion, I know people that liked the DLC.

At least the DLC is a lot prettier than the snowy and boring third act. But even that, DLC doesn't match how beautiful look the first two regions, specially the first. If you play in the third region and then fast travel to first region, they seems like done by different art teams. One with talent and passion, the other by the B team.

 

[Duchess]

Also, Life is Strange 1's ending.

Which one?

 

[CleverCaviar]

I'm just playing through AC Odyssey now. I'd previously enjoyed most all of the AC games, I quite liked Origins, but Odyssey feels like a massive slog. It took a while, but I think Ubisoft have put me off AC till I hear they've made radical changes. It's odd, as this irritation with the pacing is making me more critical of other aspects of the game; aspects I've previously put up with to enjoy the historical jaunt.

On a similar note, I think the 2nd island of Far Cry 3 was too much. Ubisoft again...

The size and pacing of RDR2. Not played it yet, but its reputation certainly precedes it.

On the flipside, Titanfall 2 felt just right in many ways, including the length. It reminded me of when games were regularly criticised for only being 6-8 hours in length. Dishonoured never outstayed its welcome, but I think they pack a lot into their levels, unlike what Ubisoft does..

 

[SuperBabyMethod]

The 3 that come to mind are Days Gone (3rd act fell apart narratively and dragged), Alien Isolation (far too long and should have been at least 4 chapters shorter), and as great as it is, Persona 5.

 

[Billbofet]

I have not played a Call of Duty campaign in years, but when I did, I loved that you could finish it in a day or two and then have all that multiplayer to hold you over for a year.
Is it still like that? I'm actually up for committing to my next game, but I don't want an epic, part-time job. I tried to play RDR2 and just shut it off the minute I got to that camp and opened the map. Fuck that.

 

[SteadyEvo]

RDR2 was 20 hours too long. Bought it full priced at launch so I forced my way through. Amazing game and story that should’ve been much shorter.

Infamous Second Son is perfect in terms of length, pacing and overall fun. Bout 10-12 with incentive for a second playthrough. Wish more games were like this.

 

[Hendrick's]

This is almost every game for me now. Sweet spot for SP linear for me is 4 hours. Open world SP maybe 20.

 

[bender]

Just finished RDR2 and the epilogue was such a slog. Seeing It Takes Two in so many game of the year lists makes me question myself to an extent. It felt like every section in that game went on at least twice as long as it should. Props to them for the diversity in environments and mechanics, but boy do I wish that game was six hours long instead of fourteen.

 

[Camreezie]

Most assassins creed and far cry games

 

[Fbh]

Great thread

Yeah, seems like a lot of modern AAA games just drag on for too long. As someone already mentioned in the thread though, game consumers are partly to blame, as there is some sort of perverse association of amount of time relative to the amount of money paid for a game. ("Damn it, I paid $60 for this game, it must be 100 hours long!") So developers pad out the time with repetitive tasks.

Also it seems like many AAA games these days are designed to be the "only" game you play.

From what I've seen for the average player there's definitely some negative bias towards games on the shorter end, like a 7 hours long action adventure game or a 15 hours long RPG (assuming they are $60)

But the sentiment doesn't really seem that strong once you get past the remarkably short stuff. I really don't know if there's a a lot of people that would really be upset about an RPG being 40 hours instead of 60 or an action adventure game being 15-20 instead of 25-30.

Like if you look at trophies only around 30% of people bothered finishing AC Valhalla. And I really have to wonder how many of them would't have preferred a better paced 35-40 hours game instead of a padded out 60 hours one.

 

[MasterCornholio]

Death Stranding ending reminded me of Return of the King. The game takes forever to end.

 

[Bridges]

Death Stranding ending reminded me of Return of the King. The game takes forever to end.

As much as I loved it, I have to agree. There were maybe three times I thought the game was ending and it just keeps going.

 

[Marvel14]

Okami, just went on and on and on

Yep...you think you've beaten the final boss but you're only halfway through. I stopped playing soon after.

 

[Marvel14]

GTA V online seems to be endless. The new contract story (from what I've played so far) is essentially single player DLC online. But it's really fun with some nice payoffs (eg unlocks new and refreshed assassination missions).

Yet the whole thing is varied, optional and flexible enough that it rarely feels like a slog..

 

[JayK47]

Most games I play have this problem. JRPGs are notorious. At some point you are loving the game, but then 20 hours later you just want it to end.

 

[Tg89]

The majority of games these days have this issue. I don't necessarily blame the devs, there's pressure from the average consumer to "get their moneys worth", but yeah...most games that come out aren't good enough to be more than like 10-12 hours.

 

[EverydayBeast]

You could trim the fat off 50% of games.

 

[chriskun]

Yakuza Zero for me, game would have been perfect at 20 hours, which I think is the longest any sort of narrative focused game should be. In the last ten hours and the game is such a slog, I don’t even remember how the plot began at this point.

 

[Flabagast]

I really like it but TLOU2 really feels like a too long game by the end, its not varied enough (notably in terms of story and narrative progression) and ends up being exhausting. I would cut at least 20% of it.

UC4 had the same issue

 

[Oddvintagechap]

I have to idea how Ghost of Tsushima became a thing.

Only “Playstation Exclusive” I didnt finish in continuity. It might have been months since I played it. The gameplay and gameplay scenarios are identical through out the game. This game is going to have MAJOR improvements in its sequel. So many flaws.

 

[GigaBowser]

RE4 is the exception to this rule. I just can't get enough of the longevity. Massive high quality campaign.

 

[93xfan]

Okami, just went on and on and on

I was coming here to say that was an exception. A 3D Zelda like game going on and on can be a really good thing imo

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

Okami, just went on and on and on

Nah, I wanted the game to keep on going...didn't want it to end...that game was magic

 

[Radrigal]

Fuck no. Give me the longest hours. Give me all of the meaningless sidequests. Give me 3 bonus areas and 10 secret secret bosses after defeating the first 2 secret bosses.

 

[Halo is Back]

Eh, most games I feel are fine length-wise. Ubisoft games are way too long but that's mostly because they are filled with repetitive BS. Generally, I would rather a game be longer than shorter, but that mostly depends on how repetitive the content is.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I think that’s a problem even with mediocre or average games as well. A healthy number of games just drag on trying to change their 10 hour game into a 50 hour game and eventually become very repetitive. I think a lot of gamers feel that they get a better game and their money’s worth when the length is excruciatingly long even if the gameplay isn’t particularly compelling or even fun.

That’s probably why I didn’t really mind RE3: Remake’s admittedly short length. I finished it around 4 times and had fun with it despite all the missing stuff. Then again, it could be my gaming style. I buy a lot of games per year and like to experience new games often. I think lengthier games could generally appeal to gamers who rarely buy games or only buy a few per year so they cherish those epic 100 hour games much more than I would.

Developers can’t win I guess. If a game is too short, gamers will complain, so they probably feel like it’s necessary to pad it out with pointless content and busy work. I just finished Astral Chain which took well over 25 hours and I REALLY enjoyed it, yet gamers were online complaining that the game was way too short. Are you serious?

 

[MALpractice311]

I just finished playing Days Gone and, my God, does that game fit this description. It was WAY too long. I really enjoyed my time with it, but that last section in the Southern regions with the religious, militia leader who was obviously going to go crazy and be the villian took far too much time. The game as a whole could've really been like 25% shorter and it would have been just as good. Sometimes in games, just like in movies and television, you just need to hand something over to an editor for pacing issues.

 

[Deerock71]

This is the King of Hyperbolic Titles. At least that game was GOOD. But then Balan Wonderland was actually realized.

 

[Fbh]

This is the King of Hyperbolic Titles. At least that game was GOOD. But then Balan Wonderland was actually realized.

But if the game is bad then it's kinda irrelevant how long and padded out it is. Because unless you are into torturing yourself or wasting time, you should just drop it.
A stretched out good game is worse, because you'll still like it enough to power through the boring padding in order to get to the end. It will give you that "this is good but could have been ever better" feeling.

 

[GigaBowser]

And how about a bad game that just doesn't know when to end?

 

[Alebrije]

Assassin's Creed Odyssey was like a 30 hour game dragged out to 150. One of the worst examples of padding I've ever seen.

Valhalla os worse with its never ending quests....