Are games getting shorter?

[Vince Twelve]

Kinoko, I'm starting to notice that you and I like and play all of the same games.  SOA was brilliant, beautiful, heartfelt, and fun.  The only problem was the insane frequency of random battles while you were exploring the huge world map.  (Though I heard they severely lowered it for the Gamecube version.  I played the original Dreamcast version.)  One thing that game wasn't, though, was short.

I'd also like to jump into the same boat as Helm.  I'm at a point in my life where I just need fun games and don't have time for endless filler.  I want a good story and good gameplay and I don't want it to take up too much of my time or else I may get bored and move on to the next game before I finish.

I DON'T want games to become shorter for budget reasons or because of a rush to get it out when the publisher says so.  But I do want games that are designed specifically to be shorter to target people short on time and with lowered attention spans, like me.

In short: (pun intended) (and with lots of over generalization)

Long games usually are that way because of bad filler.

Short games usually are that way because of budget/publisher issues.

Neither of these options appeal to me.

[Kinoko]

Kinoko, I'm starting to notice that you and I like and play all of the same games.

That's cause we're awesome.

SOA was brilliant, beautiful, heartfelt, and fun.Ã,  The only problem was the insane frequency of random battles while you were exploring the huge world map.Ã,  (Though I heard they severely lowered it for the Gamecube version.Ã,  I played the original Dreamcast version.)Ã,  One thing that game wasn't, though, was short.

Yep, exactly what I think. I originally played the Dreamcast version and HATED the english voice acting as well as getting tired of the constant battles (it took a long time to load the battle scene). I now have the GC version, in Japanese, and it is indeed much better. Fewer random battles, voice acting is good and there are lots of great extra missions built in.

[Mr Jake]

Shorter games aren't always bad.. sometimes stories and repeating gameplay with new graphics gets annoying and boring...


However, extending the Fahrenheit plot a few more hour would of ensured hilarity! (For those who haven't played it (for shame!) its possibly the most cheesy thing I've played for awhile after about half way - altho alot of the cheesy stuff makes sense now that I think back over it)

[jetxl]

I bought Fahrenheit (PC version), and played untill I got frustrated about those stupid button secuences. It feels like a filler to me. However now I finished Fable I feel that I'm drawn to Fahrenheit once more. (The fact that this adventure game got good reviews also makes it a must-have-played)


Seeing the game credits roll is like getting the medals after a historic battle. However, when I just got into the game, I feel empty and sad that the game is already finished.
In Fable I'm now invicible (I got all the spells, powers & skills), but now there arn't any strong enemies left to test out my skills. Sure, there are some quests unfinised, but they have nothing to do with fighting.
I continued to play GTA:SA after I finished the story. But now that I have played most of the sub-missions, I feel that the game can no longer suprise me.
I guess that's why people play WoW, because there is no ending. Blizzard keeps uploading new things (for a price).

[Nikolas]

It actually depends on what you mean on "short"

Well I'm currently playing World of Xeen. Very straight forward (and almost stupid). There are no puzzles (!) but it is a huge world, huge, so even now that I allready know what to do I will spent 3-4 days to finish it again. The same goes to the Wizardy series.

On the other hand, I was astonished to find out that I can finish Dungeon Master in three or four hours! Because it was difficult and had so many puzzles, which kept you from going further I spent weeks trying to finish Dungeon Master.

So it actually is a short game (only 11 levels to explore) but then again when you have never played the game before, well this is a lot.

PS. I do remember having so much trouble playing the original Larry and Police Quest and King's Quest I, cause at the time I could speak English very well (I'm just a little bit better at that now) and I couldn't find the correct command. So I was playing with the car in Police Quest, driving around, putting on the horn, whenever I was on a trafic light, cause I had CGA and I couldn't tell which was the red light and which the green and so on, for weeks and weeks. And I was having so much fun! But again I was like 8-10 years old back then...