Actual impact of Video Games

[Xion]

Look what you did, Adarias, you got Helm's panties in a bunch!

Wierd how I don't like any of the games in your top ten, Adarias, except for Flashback (but I think Out of this World/Another World was better). I especially hate Myst.

Never been one for final fantasies. When games get too long I just lose interest. But then with short games I feel cheated.

[ndchristie]

Never played another world.  what's wrong with Myst?

well the thing about flashback is that it wasn't necessarily too short, although it was short, 10 hours sounds like a good estimate (there are cheats for that game? besides level passwords?, it just felt like things really didn't develop much...  The gameplay really wasn't good enough to really call it something you'ld play just for the fun of it once you knew how it went and how to get through the puzzles, which there just weren't enough of (see Myst at the top of the list? ).  The last stage just felt a little too much like the first to be any higher than 8th.  If it had any replay value, the length wouldnt matter, but it doesn't.  Besides, 8th is a good place to be!

A good rpg takes about 25-35 hours, otherwise it risks getting way too long, but a few more hours are alright if the story needs it.  Still, i've never spent more than 47 (original suikoden, it just dragged on and on....i just checked my memory cards since you got me curious). 10 hours is a breeze for a story-driven game.

The way i see it, to have a good story, a videogame needs nearly ten times as much time to tell it as a novel, because the other 90% is spent with playing the game or reminding unattentive players what was happening.  I read the grapes of wrath in 3 hours, and it was fantastic, so that a good game could take 35 hours seems pretty reasonable.

Also, i play very few games that don't offer either good strategy or good story.  I hate all shmups i've ever played, sidescrollers too except sonic (and i guess flashback, it's sidescrolleresque), i don't even like mario or metroid.

another game that should be up there is Homeworld, which managed to have both strategy and storyline.  The only real annoyance was the lack of terrain (it's in space afterall).  Strategy suffers a bit when there's only formation, no plain of battle or obstacles.  Everything is dogfight dogfight dogfight or "let's watch the frigate-line".



Does anybody but me like a good wargame?

[Zero]

About gameplay time, I don't like how RPG's get so detailed and complex. You shouldn't have to make such a complicated game for 100 hours of gameplay. I prefer the simpler, addictive games. With most RPG's, once you're done once, you're done for good. But take for example, Super Smash Bros Melee. I just checked my stats and I've played about 425 hours of it. (I've had the game for about 6 years, so don't go yelling that I have no life.) The point is, simplicity is what keeps games fun. IMO anyway. Look at Pacman, that's been aound for over 25 years now.

On the original topic of the thread, now that it's summer I play video games about an hour a day. Usually it's not that much. But I spend much more time making games.

[ndchristie]

but does anybody ever actually spend 100 hours to beat the game once?  or even half that?

As for me, it really doesn't matter what the game is, once i beat it, i almost never go back more than once, unless it's a strategy game or a party game, so i'd rather get 30 hours out of a game than 2-5, knowing that unless it is stellar or doesn't allow you to save your progress (sonic, flashback) i probably only give it one go.

I played medieval the other day for a couple of hours, and Fil sent me a link to a flash game he did that was way too fast-moving for me.  Like lv9 tetris but you had to build a staircase o.O.  He say's it's easy ^^

[Dusty]

Hmmm, RPG's. I never really got into FF7 like so many others--I haven't even beat it yet. I did enjoy FF8 though, even if I didn't beat it.
Only RPG's I've ever really got into were Kingdom Hearts, Dark Cloud 2, and FFX.
I have about 78 hours in DC2. I have a Island King+43... even though I hate that sword. I can not imagine what the hell was going through their heads when they designed it... out of all the cool designs, to make the strongest one so... ugh. Now I'm going through getting some of the cooler looking swords.
Hmm, FFX, I have an 84 hour file. I spent a lot of time after I beat the game getting the ultimate weapons, making my characters insanely strong and such. Though not to the degree people talk about on forums and stuff. I still can't beat a lot of the monsters in the Calm Arena.
And Kingdom Hearts... only 42 hours, but all level 100 characters(Sephiroth is still a pain in the ass to bear), and all the ultimate weapons.

I really do like the more action-oriented RPG's a lot(don't even get me started on Zelda!), but as for traditional RPG's... I dunno, some appeal and some don't. It seems pretty random for me. I've tried so many RPG's that get high ratings and I never get but a few hours into them and just forget about them. Even FF6 and such don't really do it for me. But I loved FF8 a lot, even though it's like the bane of all FF fans...

I agree about some games being too long. Games should give you your money's worth, but as what I wrote above shows, it should be in the extra's. All those hours I clocked in RPG's was after I beat the game. Let me beat the game and then I'll do stuff I like. Sometimes I'll beat the game, toss it aside and won't come back for a while, but when I do it's for the extra's. 100 hours to just beat a game? I'd get bored with it, especially since it's just beating the game, it's not anything extra, so won't be a lot of varying stuff, especially if it's an RPG.
...I'm pretty sure I have some insane hours on Mario Kart/SSBM/Timesplitters...

[Zero]

Okay, so I exaggerated the 100 hours part, sorry. But my point remains.

[ndchristie]

and yeah i guess i should say complete, not beat.  108 stars of destiny, best weapons, secret levels, etc, should still come in under 50 hours or it isn't worth it.

78 hours....are you just biding time now?  Why not go kick the guy's ass!  There's a whole massive final dungeon waiting for you afterwards.  Like i said though, you can only use max, no monica.  As a note: any game which removes half of its own features during the extended play is shooting itself in the foot, the face, and the testicles, with the same bullet.  I barely scratched the surface of that final dungeon before not caring anymore.

And like i said, i pretty much only play games once in the same way that i only read good books once, although there are some, mostly short-stories or plays, that i reread all the time.  "the chrysanthemums" is imo the best piece of literature i have ever read, and "death of a salesman" is always good no matter how many times i read it.  Some movies too, like "the lion in winter" and "annie hall" and "casablanca" i watch over and again, but most i don't/can't.  Some people like doing the same thing several times, but for me, unless it is beyond good, i just don't.

[Dusty]

I beat Dark Cloud 2. I do all the extra stuff AFTER I beat my games. I'm in Zelmite Mines just leveling up weapons(I've beat that too). And you can use Monica after you get so far into the mines(not that far, I believe).

[ndchristie]

oh really?  perhaps then i should think about actually playing further, i sort of assumed that once gone, she was gone for good.  still, those dungeons seem pretty boring to me, when the only thing you get is more outfits and ridepod bits.

we're OT now but i think that's allowed.

[Darien]

7. Dreamweb

Dreamweb is one of those games I was talking about that I feel are worth my time, not just something as entertainment.  I played it about a year ago and I was really surprised on how different it was from any other game I'd played in terms of atmosphere and moral ambiguity.  I don't know how much of that reaction is just a result of my own ignorance about that era of Western gaming... back then I was only playing Japanese games, and hardly an adventure game.  But it made enough of an impact on me that I consider it one of my favorites even though it may not be the best in terms of gameplay or puzzles.

Replay value and length to complete don't really enter into the equation for a good game for me, I think that so many games would be so much better if they were more compact.  Sort of in writing how you are supposed to hack out everything that is unessential.  Brevity grants you a sort of impact, I think, that you forsake when you are going for long play time (like in a short story).  I know a lot of people see a 50 plus playtime and think of all the hard numbers entertainment, but I think that there's probably 25 hours I shouldn't be spending to get to the core of the game.  I do see why people are concerned when they are shelling out 60 bucks for a game, though.