Current Events > "This game is only 15 hours long? Not worth it"

(+) Yeah! (+)

CE pls, you guys play games for 2 hours then toss them on the backlog. Cut it out

Person in the early 80s: wow! This game has 5 levels!

Person in 2022: this game only has 100 levels. Lame.....

I've never said that about a game being 15 hours. 5 hours hell yeah though.

I think I look for 5 hour games now since I have less time and too much backlog.

15 hours for a main story mode is alright if the game has proper replayability and/or good multiplayer (or if it's a visual novel)

otherwise lolno

I don't play games for more than 2 hours a day usually so game length doesn't really matter to me anymore unless I can beat it in a single sitting. Unless it's a rogue then fuck that

FL81 posted...

15 hours for a main story mode is alright if the game has proper replayability and/or good multiplayer (or if it's a visual novel)

otherwise lolno

Don't play any survival horror games then cuz that's a good average time for one

Too much longer and it loses some of the tension

Honestly, outside of Indie games, I haven't played a game that short in a loong time. Usually the games I play have been 40+ hours.

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Buy on steam and make it down to $40 with a sale.

Bro its like $30 to watch a movie for 90 minutes

Blue_Inigo posted...

CE pls, you guys play games for 2 hours then toss them on the backlog. Cut it out

Wdym I'm 200 hours in Xenoblade 3

As I've gotten older, I've learned to appreciate short and sweet. Very few games maintain the feeling of being fresh and exciting after the 20+ hour mark. I've developed an extreme intolerance for padding, which is why I can't even really play RPGs anymore like I used to.

10 hour games are NOT worth $60

...this new Resident Evil is SO GOOD!

10 to 12 hours is pretty much the sweet spot for me unless it's a multiplayer game of course.

VideoboysaysCube posted...

As I've gotten older, I've learned to appreciate short and sweet. Very few games maintain the feeling of being fresh and exciting after the 20+ hour mark. I've developed an extreme intolerance for padding, which is why I can't even really play RPGs anymore like I used to.

same

just can't to dedicate to 60+ hour RPG or open world games anymore

VideoboysaysCube posted...

As I've gotten older, I've learned to appreciate short and sweet. Very few games maintain the feeling of being fresh and exciting after the 20+ hour mark. I've developed an extreme intolerance for padding, which is why I can't even really play RPGs anymore like I used to.

I haven't hit that point yet. I'm doing the post-game for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and my save file is over 190 hours. I'm still loving it and I can't wait for more content to be added with the DLC.

I haven't touched it in a few days because I'm doing online school, but the urge to play it is still strong lol

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Don't think it makes sense to divide games up line this tbh

DespondentDeity posted...

Bro its like $30 to watch a movie for 90 minutes

You go to expensive movie theaters.

VideoboysaysCube posted...

As I've gotten older, I've learned to appreciate short and sweet. Very few games maintain the feeling of being fresh and exciting after the 20+ hour mark. I've developed an extreme intolerance for padding, which is why I can't even really play RPGs anymore like I used to.

I recommend Cosmic Star Heroine. Classic JRPG feel with like a 12 hour runtime and like a 26 hour platinum.

working full time i just don't have the patience to spend weeks of my life to beat one single game

give me more resident evils and less open world crap

I want at least one hour per dollar spent.

Irony posted...

I've never said that about a game being 15 hours. 5 hours hell yeah though.

I thought of Firewatch when reading this. Zero replayability but fun game. Short and sweet.

americans dont have any attention span anymore. china stole it. and they did it with tik tok

Payzmaykr posted...

I want at least one hour per dollar spent.

this is fucking nonsense, tbh. I have to wonder what people that say this even do with their lives

there is no other form of entertainment where this would come anywhere close to a reasonable metric for value

A game being under 10 hours is a positive

Garioshi posted...

A game being under 10 hours is a positive

only if it costs under 10 dollars

It's a balance between cost, length and engagement nowadays. A game could be a great, well-polished 80 hour game, but I have to know that I'll be engaged in it for that long. Otherwise I'm wasting money on a game I'm not going to play.

For example, I bought Atelier Escha & Logy a while back for around $30. I loved Ayesha, I was expecting to love Escha & Logy - it was a game I had to put time aside to play. It had a significant time commitment.

Unfortunately, I stopped at a certain point and I haven't picked it up again. It has a lot of content for a fair price - a bit steeper than I like to spend, but fair for what the game offers - but I just wasn't engaged and the time requirement needed to properly enjoy the game didn't gel with me at the time.

Now, A Robot Named Fight was something like $10 when I got it. I've played 100 hours of that game and unlocked everything. The price was fantastic, there was zero time commitment necessary but I was engaged the whole time.

And then there's World of Final Fantasy, which had a high-ish time commitment and a high cost. I loved it - the game was a very polished and in-depth 40 hour experience, and it was worth the $30 price tag. My engagement was proportional to the pricetag and the amount of content in that game.

If I pay $30+ for a game that I'm invested in, but which only has 15 hours of gameplay? Yeah fuck that. I'll consider it at around $20, and for $15 and lower it'll be on my shortlist. But the price has to be proportional to my engagement and the amount of content it offers. It's a balance.

To me, length is mostly Irrelevant. Ive payed 20 bucks for a game like Factorio or Darkest Dungeon, and played them for hundreds of hours. Then pay full price for a 5-10 hour campaign, like say Doom Eternal or Resident Evil, and equally enjoy them all.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

only if it costs under 10 dollars

Gaming is already an absurdly cheap form of entertainment, and I'm willing to pay more for quality. You cannot tell me Resident Evil 2 (2019) is worth less than $10.

Oh yeah, I was also gonna say - honestly, I prefer games that are either shorter and punchier, or I prefer games that require low commitment on my end to jump into and play. I like DanganRonpa and Minecraft for totally opposite reasons.

I'll still find a game that requires a significant commitment on my part to really enjoy, but those are few and far between as I get older. So to a degree, I can sympathize with the sentiment of this topic. I'm planning to go back to Atelier Escha and Logy when I have the time.

That being said, the sentiment of this topic isn't great. If it's a game with a reasonable length that you can see yourself being invested in, that's great. If the price is too steep, and/or you want something more substantial out of the product than those 15 hours? The reaction in the topic title is totally justified.

Garioshi posted...

Gaming is already an absurdly cheap form of entertainment, and I'm willing to pay more for quality. You cannot tell me Resident Evil 2 (2019) is worth less than $10.

theres plenty of quality games that last more than 10 hours for 10 dollars. theres no reason for a $60 game to have a very small playtime. people bring up movies and their price per hour., but movies are vastly more expensive to develop than games. anyways, with the amount of mtx and lootboxes in games nowadays, gaming needs to go in the other direction again and give you a big bang for buck up front when you buy the game

To be honest, I get it. If I'm gonna buy a game I want something that I can sink my teeth into for a while, and 15 hours doesn't cut it.

DespondentDeity posted...

Bro its like $30 to watch a movie for 90 minutes

Yeah, and I typically don't like doing that either. Big part of the reason is how much of a waste it feels like.

ok but the point of a roguelike is for extended gameplay that lasts longer than just 15 hours

MrMallard posted...

If I pay $30+ for a game that I'm invested in, but which only has 15 hours of gameplay? Yeah fuck that. I'll consider it at around $20, and for $15 and lower it'll be on my shortlist. But the price has to be proportional to my engagement and the amount of content it offers. It's a balance.

In 2022, a decent burger is $15

Dont know why so many nerds are so averse to actually financially supporting their hobby. I get that money is tight for a lot of people but thats never the argument people use to justify this attitude. Its always a game isnt worth it unless it meets some arbitrary quota of hours wasted

I think this debate comes down to how much free time you have and how many games you plan on beating in that free time.

For me, there are often 2-3 month periods where there's no games that interest me. So a new game that only lasts 15 hours feels like a waste. I power through it, then I'm back to having to replay older games while I wait for the next new game that I want.

But if that game lasts 1-2 months, then there's less time of "no games" in between releases.

But if you're trying to play dozens of new games, or you have a mile long backlog, then I can see long have being more annoying than enjoyable.

Along with the money thing, if I actually like a game, I don't want to feel like I'm already done with it in just 15 (or fewer) hours. I want to get lost in it and have it become my life (so to speak) for weeks, you know?
/shrug

I'd rather shorter games with more replay value.
Things like unlockable and game modes.
Games that generally just fun to replay every now and then.
Does anyone seriously want to replay a 100+ hour game they've already beaten? I get way too burnt out from from open world games

15 hours is pretty good. Add a new game + mode and thats great bang for buck for entertainment

Ser_Jaker posted...

Does anyone seriously want to replay a 100+ hour game they've already beaten?

if it's new vegas

With some exceptions (looking at you P5R) 15-20 hours is the sweet spot, especially with regards to my attention span and stuff