Board 8 > Retro RPGs that are 10 hours-ish?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Looking for a game to be played alongside EVO Search for Eden, but it feels like most RPGs are at least 15ish hours. I'd consider GBA RPGs as well.
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Suikoden 1
Dragon Quest 1
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It might not be what youre looking for, but Dark Sun Shattered Lands on the PC is good and cant be much more than 10 hours. Theres a copy protection check, but then again its an old game and the internet may or may not be able to help with that.
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Undertale?

by retro do you mean literally retro or can it be retro styled?

i've heard that Cosmic Star Heroine, a SNES-styled JRPG, is around 12 hours

https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=44714

Parasite Eve
Cosmic Star Heroine
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Is Illusion of Gaia around this time?
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Earlier Ys games are in the range of 5-10 hours
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Honestly I don't even know how a RPG can have less than 10 hours unless it's going out of the way to be short.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Honestly I don't even know how a RPG can have less than 10 hours unless it's going out of the way to be short.

i mean AAA ones or games made by big studios might not

but indie RPGs do

child of light is also 10 hours ish but it's not retro

actually child of light was from ubisoft so i guess nevermind but i don't think it was by a major in-house team there, or at least, it was a low-priority project for them (and the second half of the game is clearly rushed and missing content)

I can't think of any that are realistically that short. The GBA Mario RPGs maybe?
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You can't get all 108 Stars of Destiny in 10 hours. And if that's not why you're playing Suikoden then what's the point
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Final Fantasy Legend, but it's got unusual mechanics and doesn't explain anything to you. Probably wouldn't recommend.
Maybe the remake versions of Dragon Quest/Warrior I
Parasite Eve
The first three Ys games. The Oath in Felghana remake of III is probably longer though.

Think you'd have to be really rushing or already familiar with the game to get Suikoden I that low.
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Parasite Eve would also not be fun to crank through in 10 hours IIRC. The Empire State Building endgame is worth playing through.
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Maybe the SaGa games would work if you don't want to beat every character path. But I hated Frontier so I don't know.
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I bet the GBC version of Dragon Quest 2 could be done casually in 10 hours if you don't spend too much time lost. NES version needs too much grinding for that to be possible, probably
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10 hours is pretty short. If you are talking around 20 hours though there are a few more like Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, Mother 3, Golden Sun and so on.

Undertale is the best sub 10h RPG though by far.
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Dark Lord and Dark Law: The Meaning of Death are both pretty short.

Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 was like 5 hours long.

Riviera was pretty short, maybe a little over 10? if you fight a lot of practice battles.

Valkyrie Profile : CotP is in the 5-10 hour range for each playthrough (although I'd recommend playing through it 3 times to get all the endings because they actually build off each other unlike a lot of other games with multiple endings)

some of the SaGa games hit under it, although it depends on how much experience you have with the game. SaGa Frontier I'd say the first character you play would be about 15 hours, but after that probably each character playthrough would average out to somewhere in the 5-10 hour range. In Unlimited SaGa, my first playthrough with Laura was like 40 hours because I had trouble with the last boss and didn't know what I could do to fix it, but then my Judy playthrough was like 5-6 hours and Ventus playthrough was 10-12 hours (and my Kurt playthrough was 25 ish I think, because I was trying to see the alternate version of his final boss)

mystery dungeon games tend to have short main storylines (unless you're playing Shiren 3, which never ends ugh) because they're basically just tutorials for the postgame, but it depends on how skilled you are/knowledgeable about the mechanics and if you try to grind a bit to make things easier on yourself and if you are unlucky to hit any major setbacks. Torneko 2's main story took me somewhere in the 5-10 hour range to complete, and it took me about 12 to beat the first pokeymanz one after suffering a few lossses. though it's probably safer to say the shorter ones are more intended to be about 15 hours or so for average players but you could probably do it less if you're good at roguelikes.

though it's not that I'm necessarily recommending some of these just saying it exists.
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Nelson_Mandela posted...

You can't get all 108 Stars of Destiny in 10 hours. And if that's not why you're playing Suikoden then what's the point

Nelson_Mandela posted...

Parasite Eve would also not be fun to crank through in 10 hours IIRC. The Empire State Building endgame is worth playing through.

Agreed.
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Persona 4 Dancing all Night
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Deltarune.
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Void Pyramid
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Xenogears disc 2?
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Nelson_Mandela posted...

I can't think of any that are realistically that short. The GBA Mario RPGs maybe?

Superstar Saga took me about 24 hours.

Peace___Frog posted...

Xenogears disc 2?

Starting on disc 2 would be an experience...
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Koudelka is a short RPG I think. It is a Shadow Hearts prequel if that helps.
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Not sure if they count as action RPGs, but Wonderboy in Monster World, Landstalker, Crusader of Centy and Beyond Oasis are all short but excellent games.
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Undertale
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