The average time of an RPG/games in general game completed...your thoughts?

[Ultimacj]

I recently completed my project which is under going testing from several beta testers prior to releasing and it got me thinking.  One of the aspects I wanted to know what their average time was completing the game (aside from the bonus content let's say for purposes of discussion straight up play through without little to none of side stuff).  So far, the average time I've received was between 13-20 hours, granted the lowest was about 10H20M BUT if you account for deaths etc the game doesn't take that into account unless your game or the game your playing uses a check point system and doesn't revert to the last saved checkpoint, so usually add what about 2-5 hours to that given the number of times you've died/what situation you were in.  (Recall the wonderful five minute you-cannot-skip-this-cutscene-no-matter-what Riku scene in Kingdom Hearts I [ugh 5 minutes (I actually TIMED this after about my 10th death) x 10 or more times adds up!]

One friend told me "10 hours is a long time for me or for a game in general".  For me, 10 hours is kinda under par, especially if it's an RPG game since they tend to be the usually the longest of the bunch (in my experience) in games I've played.  For other games, like platforms or action games they take generally 15 hours or less, unless you play the "infamous" CoD games campaign wise those take less than 5 hours if that, and can be finished off in one sitting.  Generally don't like it when a game can be finished in simple sit down unless the experience is unforgettable, which I can't think of any game that really did that to me AND was that short.  If it does, I'll post it here.  Perhaps one of the games that give such an impression was Okage: The Shadow King for the PS2, that game was less than 20 hours long for me, but the storyline was so great and unique that it made up for it in it's game play any shortness.

To quote one my favorite sayings from Stan the Evil King:  "Why should I be afraid of some who-be-hero when her only REAL weapon is her mouth?"

Anyhoo, what's is your average time to complete an RPG (not including extra content if you can avoid it!)

Anyways, what do you think should be the average time to complete an RPG/or any other game(depending to the category).  For now, I'll just list my chart what I feel is the "average" for an RPG.

Under 20 hours:  Below Average

21-35:  About Average

36-40: Above average

40-50:  Pretty long!

51-60:  Rare and unexpected

61+:  Man I need to move onto the next game(drags out) and / or this game is full of awesome sauce!

Longest RPG games I've played:

#1 Persona 3 (Atlus)  Completed time prior to extra stuff : about 101 hours (story is THAT deep).  After bonus:  143 hours

#2 Persona 4 (Atlus):  About 92 hours

#3 Dragon Quest 7 (Enix):  About 86 hours (and I was only level 45 gotta love games that SHARE exp in the party) 

I'd like to also say Final Fantasy Tactics A2 which took a whooping 160 hours that's because I did about everything in that game, it had a LOT of side quests.  Technically this isn't an RPG, it's mostly a RTS game with rpg elements, but I figured I'd throw that one in.

Anyways, your thoughts?

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Oh well I guess I normally spend around 24-60 hours, mostly just because I like to grind in RPGs... I have played some for maybe more than 100 hours too...

 

[Harmill]

My average time tends to be 50-100 hours because I try to be very thorough when I play the game (I hate missing missable items or events) and I like grinding. Last year, I played Xenogears (beat the game at 80 hours), Tales of Graces F (beat the game at 100 hours), Tales of Xillia (beat it at 70ish? I can't remember).

Tales of Graces F is the probably the game that I clocked the most amount of hours on before beating the final boss but I was extremely engaged in its Title system, so I spent a lot of time learning new titles and maxing out as many titles as I could and doing side quests and filling my Item Book.

I'd say that Dragon Warrior VII has the actual longest STORY line for an RPG that I've played. There is a lot of story content in that game, that's for sure.

As for what I think the length of an RPG "should" be - I don't think you should set a standard for game length. I used to think an RPG less than 30 hours was "short" while 40 was average and beyond 40 hours was considered a long game. I no longer hold that view though: a game should be as long as it needs to be to tell its story. I've played more and more RPGs that have useless and annoying padding that seem to only be there to lengthen the main story. If an RPG takes 50 hours on average, but 20 of them is spent on events that could matter less to the overarching plot, I would still prefer the 20 hour RPG where all 20 hours are engaging and meaningful plot development or plot-related dungeons.

Here's a common example of what RPGs like to do to needlessly lengthen its story line:

- Heroes need to find a dragon to take them to the evil villain's sky castle (story-relevant quest)

- Heroes find a dragon tamer, but he won't hand over a dragon for free. He requests that you bring him the legendary Red Stone in exchange for one of his dragons (the story tangent begins here)

- You learn that some idiot Thief has found the legendary Red Stone, and when you find the Thief and request the Stone, he now demands his own item in exchange (now we're going way far away from what the original quest was...)

I would MUCH prefer games streamline the story and just let you find that damn dragon without needing to go on 2 or 3 tangent quests first! 

To clarify, I'm not talking about how much time side quests add on to overall completion time - just how long does it take to complete the story. I'm all for packing in sidequests to an RPG - they are optional after all!

 

[ThatMaestroGuy]

Really, I haven't played as many RPGs as I have side-scrollers/platformers. But the RPGs I DID sit through, I had a good time with. Generally speaking, roughly 20-30 hours before bonus content. And I think that is just grand. Making it too long, I feel, removes some of the replay value of the game...unless it really is a spectacular game. I stand by my belief that 20-30 hours is a good range. Could be a little more. Could be a little less.

 

[senpoRiot]

I guess my average time in playing games is 60 hours.

My playing time in Persona 3 was 120+ hours because I had a lot of playthrough there.

 

[Seacliff]

I kinda get disappointed when RPGs get short, unless it was a VERY good short game. Though either way length does not effect my opinion on a game itself.

I like the 20-50 hour range, that's quite common nowadays. I complete Etrian Odyssey Untold in about 32~ish hours and it felt like a complete game.

I really don't like overly long games with complex stories and hard boss fights though, I want to know what happens next but I get held back every hour or so thanks to an OP boss, I never end up finishing a game like that nowadays.

 

[wallacethepig]

I've logged over 200 hours into Dragon Quest IX. And don't even get me started on Pokemon. Who knows how many hours I've spent playing that, what with all the new games and new saves.

As for an RPG Maker game, 10 hours should be the upper limit for a first game (unless it's a dungeon crawler). Keep in mind that many RPG Maker games don't even have battles. I would say 1-5 hours is a good range for a first game, depending on the style of game you're going for.

Whatever you do, DON'T make useless fetch quests necessary to the game or overpowered bosses that require grinding (unless you have a restart mechanic like EarthBound did). If you have to grind for more than an hour to beat a boss, most people will just toss the game right then and there.

People like different length games; no matter what you won't please everyone. I personally believe short is better because people who enjoy longer games can enjoy those as well. People who like short games tend to not play/finish long games at all, though.

-Wallace

 

[Rieker]

On your first play through i would say 60-70 hours if you don't really know what your doing, or spend time grinding. If you have played a lot of Rpg's, get really lucky, or have played the game before i would say between 20-30 hours is a good length.

 

[Ultimacj]

So 49.95 = if its short but well worth in content aka story etc

OR

49.95 = worth it especailly if its over 30-40 hours in length regardless?

@ Harmill the example you gave sounds more like a side quest but if that's a *main story* then yea that can actually arc off and the player may forget why he/she was there in the first place.  It reminds me of that side quest in Zelda get this, then get that, then get this, exchanging items like crazy until you get ...a boomerang!  Haha.  Course that boomer was overpowered because it could one shot the final boss, so I guess that's worth it

What's the average of an RPG maker game then usually?  I see 10 hours here on the forum.  I've only played one RPG maker game so far and it took me eh about 11 hours.

Dragon Quest 7 was so long, I'm afraid to play 8.  The story was deep but the grinding was a bit over done.  It was one of those few games that I actually put down, picked up a different game, played 7 some more, then played ANOTHER game finished it, then finally, finished off 7.

 

[Dalph]

I dunno about my average time but I played FFX for over 130 hours and it was worth my time, I don't care what people may say or think, to me the game is the 2nd best FF ever, rightly after the VI one.

I also enjoyed that masterpiece called Xenoblade Chronicles and played the hell out of it for more than 110 hours. 

I believe that 30-35 hours is the minimum gameplay lenght that an Rpg game should have, but time isn't everything if you ask me, just play Vagrant Story, it's one of the best and finest games of the old Squaresoft and it's freakin' short too (lasts barely 20 hours).

Regarding RM, I prefer short games (1-2 hours at most), because sadly I don't have much time to play them right now, and I prefer them to be straight and direct to the point.

 

[Ultimacj]

I dunno about my average time but I played FFX for over 130 hours and it was worth my time, I don't care what people may say or think, to me the game is the 2nd best FF ever, rightly

I believe that 30-35 hours is the minimum gameplay lenght that an Rpg game should have, but time isn't everything if you ask me, just play Vagrant Story, it's one of the best and finest games of the old Squaresoft and it's freakin' short too (lasts barely 20 hours).

Took me about 35 hours to beat that game, just hitting the 'average' time slot, course I didn't do all the side stuff.  I hear blitz ball was the "thing" in that game, but I couldn't get into it

Spoiler

However, I will literly agree with you Dalph that X was a fantastic title. I LOVED the story and narration I'm not afraid to say it, but I cried at the ending scene when Yuna tried to embrace Tidus and couldn't. Very rare for me to actually break out in tears, but the story was very touching.

.
I can't say much for the avoid lightining strikes 200 times that was a bit over done.

20 hours?  Don't forget Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, Squares attempt at 'entry level rpg' it was only 5 hours if at all that.

 

[PixelLuchi]

Longest RPG for me was FFXII ( 100+ hours trying to do everything. I suppose trying to find all 80 Rares makes it even longer so...  And I don't care what people say about that game, its world-building is absolutely fantastic and a huge inspiration to me. :\  But 6 is dragging me in as well. ) but the average commercial title is between 40-50 hours, I'm thinking. One of my favourite RPGS was a mere 25 hours or so in length. But really, it doesn't matter how long an RPG is, it's the experience that counts. I'd rather play a 20 hour gem than a 200 hour slogfest.

For RM games, 10-15 hours seems to be the norm. I've yet to see an amazing RM game that pushes the very limits of the maker and becomes a 40 hour long epixy ( epically sexy ) adventure.

 

[Archeia]

My long plays are...

3 years for FFT non-stop....

I replayed FF7 so much I don't know anymore.

217 hours each for Persona 3 and 4. Does not include PSP versions.

60 ish hours playing Knights in the Nightmare.

 

[Ultimacj]

My long plays are...

3 years for FFT non-stop....

I replayed FF7 so much I don't know anymore.

217 hours each for Persona 3 and 4. Does not include PSP versions.

60 ish hours playing Knights in the Nightmare.

3 years...wow!  I hope you have your saved data backed up....now that reminds me longest rpg that took me super long WAS DaggerFall (Elder Scrolls 2)

simply because (game bug?) the game just refused to give the next major quest line for the storyline.  It eventually spitted it out.

I can totally see 217 hours simply because of the new game+1 content and doing ALL the social links.  PSP version of 3 would take you even longer because you have the option to play as a female, and what does that mean? MORE social links haha

SOCIAL RANK UP (10) erm sorry

 

[Omega Weapon]

My games:

FFXII: 130+ hours. Yeah, that is what you get for trying to get all ultimate weapons, do all hunts (including the 50+ million HP Yiazmat), fight every boss, all rare game, and mess up the ZS in your first 10 minutes of actually playing *grumble*.

FFIX: Clocked at 45 hours since last time playing.

DQIX: about 35 hours. Stuck at General Purrvis or whatever he is called.

Pokémon R/S/E. 62 in Ruby, 90 in Sapphire and over 200 in Emerald. Full dex and stuff.

SKYRIM: Including the time I played the cracked version: 210 hours. Legendary Edition bought in retail only: 40 hours. Trying to catch up, guys!

 

[Ultimacj]

Skyrim (i didn't include that in my list since it's a FPS with heavy rpg elements my list included turned based type games): was about 120 hours, did everything but the companions storyline due to a game breaking bug and quest wouldn't initialized.

DQ5: About 30 hours, however, I'm stuck hunting the metal slime.  According to guides, I'm about 20 levels higher than I should be.

Never really got into Pokemon guess when they say "Gotta catch'em all" it's meant literately seeing the game time I see here   I do like Pikachu...in Smash Bros of course because he's super cheap...but anyways

 

[Pern]

If Skyrim counts, I have a couple hundred hours into that. Only a fraction of that is spent doing the quests, though. I jump between characters and playstyles and explore, a bunch of which adds a lot of time.

I like to have my RPGs pretty long, especially if they get me hooked into them. Mass Effect series all together is quite long and amazingly fun. I spent a lot of time playing Star Ocean: Till the End of Time exploring literally everything (especially when you have to get every single nook and cranny to get the 100% map completion.). Plus the minigames and crafting. Probably over 100+ hours in that one. And of course Pokemon and FF series which aren't measurable anymore. My average, however, would have to be on the middle to low end, 20-30, just because most of the (new) RPGs I play now a days are way shorter or I just can't get into them as much as I did before.

 

[EvilEagles]

I love RPGs but I don't really spend a lot of time playing them, except for a select few.

• I think I've spent over 200 hours in Tales of Vesperia, and that's the only game that I've ever spent more than 100 hours on. I've played several other Tales of games (completed none besides Vesperia though lol), and clocked about 30 hours at best.
• Then Ys Origin for about 80 hours. Ys Oath in Felghana for about 50 hours on and off. Ys Seven roughly 40+ hours.
• The only Final Fantasy I've clocked over 40 hours is FFIX. Each of the rest generally only took me no more than 25 hours.

And personally, I do not believe playtime is what an RPG Designer should be aiming for instead of the quality of the content and its replayability. When these two are assured, I (and I believe many people too) will naturally spend more time with a game, and that's where playtime gets the most extension. Games (RM games included) that boast about their "epic length" often fail on this aspect, and I usually lose interests in them pretty quickly.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

I think different styles of games are going to have different lengths. And it also depends on whether the player played a bunch of sidequests or not, etc.

For instance. Metal Gear Solid is about a 10 hour game. Its good at 10 hours. A lot of WRPGs will usually go for about 20-30 if you play the main story through straight. JRPGs can go into the 40-50 to even more range.

And then some games because of postgame or sidequests or just breadth of the open world, can turn from that into 100s of hours for some people. I just think judging a game on length isn't a good way to judge games. Nier isn't a really long game, but I love what it does so much that the length isn't an issue.

That being said, the games I've probably logged the most hours in are (NOT in one playthrough, most of these games I've played through innumerable times):

Phantasy Star Online
Borderlands 2

Final Fantasy Tactics

Dragon Quest IV & IX
Castlevania Symphony of the Night

Persona 3 & 4

Like I said though, most of that is from multiple playthroughs. DQIV for instance, I have played through about once a year since it came out in 1992, meaning I've beaten the game ~20 times.

For games that I've probably spent the most time in one playthrough it would be: Phantasy Star Online (I had a level 200 HuCast), Final Fantasy Tactics (I had a game of WotL where I had every special character + 4 generics, and all of them had mastered every class), Dragon Quest IX (I have a game where everyone has multiple level 99 classes and nearly every class skill maxed out), and Persona 4 (Just... a lot of stuff)

I couldn't give you the exact number of hours I've spent on each one... but yeah.

 

[Ultimacj]

For purposes of discussion I kinda meant the first time playing through and what is your "expected" time that you think you should beat an RPG game/game in general in.  For me if its under 30 hours, depending on the game, that's under par (at least for me but it depends on the game - not including side stuff).  I can't imagine replaying persona 4 that game was LONG and I had too many other games to tackle on

But beyond that my "repeated games" would be Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (20+ times) and F.E.A.R. (10+ times).