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[BusierDonkey]

Depends on the game.

I recently played Deliver us the Moon. I spent about 8.5 hours playing through the game not counting floating around in zero G just looking at stuff. It was a great game which I thoroughly enjoyed and it felt like it ended when it should have.

Vanquish and Bulletstorm are a couple other games that I recently replayed. Both are super short, but packed with great gameplay. Both felt like they ended at the right time and I'll play both again someday.

I've also spent hundreds of hours in games like the Fallout games, The Witcher 3, Breath of the Wild or Xenoblade 1/X/2 where I was kind of sad at the end that I'd done everything.

 

[Compsiox]

More like games should be priced more accurately. Sorry indies I'm not paying 30 dollars for 2 hours of gameplay. If a major title from a publisher has 5 hours of gameplay and costs 60 dollars there will be hell to pay.

 

[skneogaf]

Yeah 8 hours should be minimum, re3 is way too short although it takes the same amount to finish when running through it as re2 which I don't think is that short.

 

[xrnzaaas]

This depends on what kind of games you're playing. I agree that RE3 felt way too short and I'd be pissed if I paid 60 dollars for this game (especially since I don't care about RE Resistance). On the other hand many singleplayer indie games can become boring after 5-6 hours (or even less), becuase they've ran out of good ideas way sooner.

 

[rofif]

Fuck no. Long games are usually tedious. Tlou2 was Samsung but it should be shorter. 20h is really pushing it for single player game if it's not an RPG.
But I am absolutely fine with 2 or 5 hours games. Fire watch, fine home, inside, every call of duty and many more. None would be better if it was longer... Just more tedious and drawn out

 

[mcz117chief]

Halo 3 is like 4 hours and still one of the best singleplayer games ever made. Same for Shadow of the Colossus or ICO (both can be completed in like 3 hours or less).

 

[LazyParrot]

Depends on the price. My rule is $1 per hour of gameplay, so almost all of my big budget game purchases are titles that are either deeply discounted or fairly long to begin with. This basically means that I almost never buy non-indie releases within the first few years of launch, but I'm fine with that. There are so many good older games out there that it would take me decades to run out.

 

[hariseldon]

I like long games. I like short games. I don’t like padded games. Trim the fat.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Well The Order 1886 got a severe backlash being that short, so I vote something else. I think it should be at least 15 hours for AAA without side quests.

 

[Mista]

I wonder what the “I want to play how the developers wants me to play their game” gang is going to say about this. I’m pretty sure they’re fine with even 3 hours since they’re full of shit.

 

[brian0057]

As long as the game's fun all the way through, it can be 20 hours long and I'll still play it.
Then again, I loved Alien: Isolation throughout the entire run so make of that what you will.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

Halo 3 is like 4 hours and still one of the best singleplayer games ever made. Same for Shadow of the Colossus or ICO (both can be completed in like 2 hours or less).

How long is Halo 3? | HowLongToBeat

How long is Halo 3? HowLongToBeat has the answer. Create a backlog, submit your game times and compete with your friends!

howlongtobeat.com

How long is Shadow of the Colossus? | HowLongToBeat

How long is Shadow of the Colossus? HowLongToBeat has the answer. Create a backlog, submit your game times and compete with your friends!

howlongtobeat.com

How long is Ico? | HowLongToBeat

How long is Ico? HowLongToBeat has the answer. Create a backlog, submit your game times and compete with your friends!

howlongtobeat.com

 

[DavidGzz]

I'm good with shorter games. I played RE3 for 60 hours. Loved it. To be honest, with Game Pass, I'd prefer RE3 length games as long as they are fun. There are too many games to get through. I do want a longer game if it isn't compelling enough to play again if I'm spending $60. PS5 games come to mind. Something like TLOU2 was great but with how little I want to replay it, I'm glad it was long.

 

[mcz117chief]

How long is Halo 3? | HowLongToBeat

How long is Halo 3? HowLongToBeat has the answer. Create a backlog, submit your game times and compete with your friends!

howlongtobeat.com

How long is Shadow of the Colossus? | HowLongToBeat

How long is Shadow of the Colossus? HowLongToBeat has the answer. Create a backlog, submit your game times and compete with your friends!

howlongtobeat.com

How long is Ico? | HowLongToBeat

How long is Ico? HowLongToBeat has the answer. Create a backlog, submit your game times and compete with your friends!

howlongtobeat.com

Halo 3 can be finished in 4 hours quite easily. 8 hours is if you scour every little corner of the game and collect all the skulls and even then I can easily do that in about 5 hours. Each mission takes about 20 minutes on average and there are 9 missions, you can do the math yourself.

Shadow of the Colossus is just 16 enemies most of which can be beaten in about 3 to 12 minutes. With all the traveling you can do beat the game in 2 or 3 hours.

And about ICO. Oh look what we have here an official trophy from PS3, what does it say?

 

[Starlight Lotice]

OP needs to play Cuphead and any CAVE shooter.

Both are a few hours long but it takes forever to beat it legitly.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I’d much rather see a larger world. Dark Souls for instance. Create a world that’s big, but if you’re skilled enough you can basically run to each area. In terms of game length, it all depends on the style of game. I want to think Elden Ring will showcase a large world and game length is based upon how well you can adjust to everything.

If a game has good narrative then 15-20 hours isn’t bad at all. Ghost of Tsushima isn’t very long if you just stick to the main quest. The Arkham games were good and they weren’t that long. 14-15 hours let’s you live in that world. I think replaying a game all depends on the player. A lot of games are easier to restart than others. Often times the narrative doesn’t exactly make it that exciting to restart. Sometimes it builds and builds into something greater. RE Remakes were designed very well, but not all games follow that same type of enjoyment.

Something like BioShock and even DMC5 boil down to shorter campaigns, but they’re pretty straightforward in terms of what you can do and what you can accomplish.

 

[magaman]

1 buck a hour.

Bought tomb raider remake and rise of the tomb raider, beated them all under 10 hours with all dlc.

Felt scammed.

Do you feel scammed watching a 2 hour blockbuster movie for $12?

 

[AmuroChan]

I would say no because devs will just find a way around it by adding a bunch of fluff to their games to draw out the length. That was my one big criticism of FFVII Remake. The game would've been much better if they cut all the bloat and fluff and made it a tight 10-12 game. There were too many points in the game where I was forced to do things that were just time waster.

 

[Damigos]

I think that length means nothing. I ve payed 60 for 6 hour games that were awesome and 60 for 30 hour games that sucked.

 

[Jeeves]

I dunno man, there are games meant to be finished in one sitting that I thoroughly enjoy, such as Star Fox 64, Sin & Punishment or Rez. Sometimes it's really satisfying to just sit down for an hour or two and be able to play a game from start to finish in that time.

I understand you're more talking about modern games at full price, but I can't agree with your thread title.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I think 8 hours should be the max length of an SP game. I've had enough filler and bullshit content. Games are overstaying their welcome most of the time.

 

[Handel]

Depends on what the developer can do with those 5 hours and the type of game. Ico is one of the best games of all time and is only 5-6 hours max. Games like RE2R and RE3R are meant to be replayed, and at least with RE2R(haven't played RE3R), the game is very tightly designed and paced offering an amazing experience throughout.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

Halo 3 can be finished in 4 hours quite easily. 8 hours is if you scour every little corner of the game and collect all the skulls and even then I can easily do that in about 5 hours. Each mission takes about 20 minutes on average and there are 9 missions, you can do the math yourself.

Shadow of the Colossus is just 16 enemies most of which can be beaten in about 3 to 12 minutes. With all the traveling you can do beat the game in 2 or 3 hours.

And about ICO. Oh look what we have here an official trophy from PS3, what does it say?

I mean, people CAN beat Fallout New Vegas in 10 minutes. Can isn't a great argument for what typically occurs. When the OP said 8 hour campaigns he didn't mean people speed-running it. And 8 hours was for main story without any extras for Halo 3, I get it, you're amazing at Halo 3 but this is about the average person, not you, Video Game Lord that you are.

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

Some of the best games of all time can be beaten in an hour or two. I lean towards those short usually replay able experiences.

 

[Rikoi]

Halo 3 can be finished in 4 hours quite easily. 8 hours is if you scour every little corner of the game and collect all the skulls and even then I can easily do that in about 5 hours. Each mission takes about 20 minutes on average and there are 9 missions, you can do the math yourself.

Shadow of the Colossus is just 16 enemies most of which can be beaten in about 3 to 12 minutes. With all the traveling you can do beat the game in 2 or 3 hours.

And about ICO. Oh look what we have here an official trophy from PS3, what does it say?

You clearly didn't look at the stats.
Let's look at them.
Halo 3: you say it can be finished in 4 hours, the website even goes deeper and tells you the fastests run was 1,30h.
However world records mean nothing, because the average guy will finish it in 8 hours, the majority of the players.
Shadow of the colossus: fastest run is 2 hours, average 6 hours and half.
ICO: fastest run 2 hours, average 6 hours and half.

 

[mcz117chief]

I mean, people CAN beat Fallout New Vegas in 10 minutes. Can isn't a great argument for what typically occurs. When the OP said 8 hour campaigns he didn't mean people speed-running it. And 8 hours was for main story without any extras for Halo 3, I get it, you're amazing at Halo 3 but this is about the average person, not you, Video Game Lord that you are.

I wasn't speaking about Fallout at all or speedruns or glitch runs, I was talking about normal playthrough. Par time for most missions in Halo 3 is 20/25 minutes and there are 9 missions and if you include all the cutscenes that is around 4 hours. It is not a speed run, it is not a world record time, it is a normal playthrough and I would not call myself "amazing" at Halo 3. Do you honestly think that each mission in Halo 3 is 1 hour long? I can imagine someone "playing" Halo 3 for 8 hours, which includes lunch, supper, toilet breaks, taking the dogs out, changing baby's diaper, getting drinks, chatting with people on the phone and taking a 20 minute break every hour.

You clearly didn't look at the stats.
Let's look at them.
Halo 3: you say it can be finished in 4 hours, the website even goes deeper and tells you the fastests run was 1,30h.
However world records mean nothing, because the average guy will finish it in 8 hours, the majority of the players.
Shadow of the colossus: fastest run is 2 hours, average 6 hours and half.
ICO: fastest run 2 hours, average 6 hours and half.

You clearly didn't read my post. Par time for most missions in Halo 3 is around 20 minutes, like I said before, multiply that by 9 missions and you get the "standard" play time + cutscenes which are pretty short in Halo 3 (definitely less than an hour). ICO in 6 hours is pure bullshit. Even my first run it was around 3. Less than 2 is for an achievement and world record is 1 hour and 28 minutes. The game is very short and very easy once you have played though it a few times.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

I wasn't speaking about Fallout at all or speedruns or glitch runs, I was talking about normal playthrough. Par time for most missions in Halo 3 is 20/25 minutes and there are 9 missions and if you include all the cutscenes that is around 4 hours. It is not a speed run, it is not a world record time, it is a normal playthrough and I would not call myself "amazing" at Halo 3.





You clearly didn't read my post. Par time for most missions in Halo 3 is around 20 minutes, like I said before, multiply that by 9 missions and you get the "standard" play time + cutscenes which are pretty short in Halo 3 (definitely less than an hour). ICO in 6 hours is pure bullshit. Even my first run it was around 3. Less than 2 is for an achievement and world record is 1 hour and 28 minutes. The game is very short and very easy once you have played though it a few times.

How would you explain the discrepancy when it comes to the times shown on Howlongtobeat, then? Also why are you scolding someone for not reading something you only just now said AFTER what they said? BTW par times were added to Halo 3 for MCC as an additional CHALLENGE... it's not a challenge if that's the average amount of time it takes lol.

Oh man, it goes deeper, check out the sorts of advice people give for par times like "play it on easy" or "don't kill any bad guys unless you need to", clearly the way to play the game!

Halo 3 The Ark par time help | Halo: The Master Chief Collection | Forums | Halo - Official Site

www.halowaypoint.com

 

[mcz117chief]

How would you explain the discrepancy when it comes to the times shown on Howlongtobeat, then? Also why are you scolding someone for not reading something you only just now said AFTER what they said? BTW par times were added to Halo 3 for MCC as an additional CHALLENGE... it's not a challenge if that's the average amount of time it takes lol.

What did I said I didn't say before, I am literally just repeating myself here. Each mission in Halo 3 is about 20 minutes, not an HOUR! The discrepancy is that the website is trash or people take a timer, start the game and turn it off once the game is finished without stopping it for anything like breaks, naps, going out etc. There is no way anyone can really spend 8 hours on Halo 3 during a normal playthrough. There just isn't. Unless you play on Legendary and are an average gamer and thus each encounter takes you many many tries to get past.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

What did I said I didn't say before, I am literally just repeating myself here. Each mission in Halo 3 is about 20 minutes, not an HOUR! The discrepancy is that the website is trash or people take a timer, start the game and turn it off once the game is finished without stopping it for anything like breaks, naps, going out etc. There is no way anyone can really spend 8 hours on Halo 3 during a normal playthrough. There just isn't. Unless you play on Legendary and are an average gamer and thus each encounter takes you many many tries to get past.

This guy talks about how the par time on this particular level is impossible on anything but easy and even then he barely makes it, LOL, you're using challenges to gauge how long a NORMAL person takes to beat a level, like this is totally surreal right now.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Halo 3 can be finished in 4 hours quite easily. 8 hours is if you scour every little corner of the game and collect all the skulls and even then I can easily do that in about 5 hours. Each mission takes about 20 minutes on average and there are 9 missions, you can do the math yourself.

Shadow of the Colossus is just 16 enemies most of which can be beaten in about 3 to 12 minutes. With all the traveling you can do beat the game in 2 or 3 hours.

And about ICO. Oh look what we have here an official trophy from PS3, what does it say?

Shadow of the Colossus is a PS2 game, with a remake sold at $30.

 

[mcz117chief]

This guy talks about how the par time on this particular level is impossible on anything but easy and even then he barely makes it, LOL, you're using challenges to gauge how long a NORMAL person takes to beat a level, like this is totally surreal right now.

It still won't take you an hour. 40 minutes at the absolute maximum if you are playing for the first time and that is the longest level in the game. He still got 3 minutes left on the clock which is a lot out of 20.

 

[Frito_Pendejo]

I used to think the same way until my daughter came along. I don’t have much time to play during the week now so I play mostly on the weekends. RE3make was perfect for me and I loved the hell out of it.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

It still won't take you an hour. 40 minutes at the absolute maximum if you are playing for the first time and that is the longest level in the game.

But you're wrong, and the website I linked has close to 2,000 people supplying the data, even among the speed runners one person still took 5 hours, lol.

 

[mcz117chief]

even among the speed runners one person still took 5 hours, lol.

Not my problem he is bad at the game. Nobody is going to play any mission in Halo 3 for an hour unless they are just bad at video games.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

Not my problem he is bad at the game. Nobody is going to play any mission in Halo 3 for an hour unless they are just bad at video games.

Okay, done engaging with you.

 

[Rikoi]

Not my problem he is bad at the game. Nobody is going to play any mission in Halo 3 for an hour unless they are just bad at video games.

A quick search on other forums discussions about completition time will show you that you are wrong.
Now that you don't know what to say anymore you are gonna tell people that they are bad, lol.

Sure man. I'll also go deeper and say that watching guides, asking people how to beat a level, and switching game on easy because you can't beat the shit, all count towards the completition time.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Helllllll no.
For $60 it should be 20+ hours.

 

[mcz117chief]

A quick search on other forums discussions about completition time will show you that you are wrong.
Now that you don't know what to say anymore you are gonna tell people that they are bad, lol.

Sure man. I'll also go deeper and say that watching guides, asking people how to beat a level, and switching game on easy because you can't beat the shit, all count towards the completition time.

I literally just replayed Halo 3 with my friend who never played Halo in his life this Wednesday. We started at around 4:30 pm and were done at 9pm. We watched all the cutscenes, I showed him some of the terminals, skulls and easter eggs. I even took him on a tour outside of a map to show him some stuff Bungie used to save memory on the 360 and even then, as you can see, it took us about 4 and a half hours on normal difficulty. 8 hours on Halo 3 is absolutely ridiculous for any normal start-to-finish playthrough unless you die multiple times during each encounter.

 

[Sakura]

I would agree with you OP. If it is going to be short then it needs to offer some level of replayability to make up for it, for example multiple routes or something.
If you are going to charge full price, then I don't want a one and done 4 hour experience.

 

[Area61]

No matter how good a game is without RPG game most single player experience should be 8-15 hours excluding cutscenes. That way game contents would be more engaging.

 

[anthraticus]

That's what rentals was for.

 

[bellome]

I don't spend my money in vg thinking how long the game will last till the next purchase.

I tend to think about the quality of the enjoyment I will get from that money.

There are a lot of 3 to 5 hours games that are absolute gems, much better value for money than many 20h or more games. Gris is the last I played.

If the game is good I will get it no matter the length.

A weird example of this would be for me No man's sky. An extraordinary experience for the first hours, the other hundred hours the game requires you to play in order to finish it are plain useless. Was the game worth playing no matter it's price? For my experience yes because I had a total blast even for few hours.

 

[rofif]

Some arguments here are stupid af. I don't want inside or pikuniku to be 8 or 15 hours.
The less filler, the better. Grinding is barely a gameplay

 

[Aggressive Carrot]

I play a lot of RPGs because I like long games. I don't play online, so I expect the single player experience to deliver on value. I'm not opposed to shorter games, I just want some replayability to justify my purchase.

 

[vodka-bull]

How long it takes to beat a game is not relevant for my enjoyment of it. If TLO2 were half as long it would've been a way better experience for me. Same goes for so many other games, I hate the fact, that some developers pack in so much content in a game that I literally need 100s of hours to complete them. Putting in 50 hours to Celeste on the other hand wasn't tedious at all.

I guess I like games that can be beaten pretty fast (within 5 hours or so), but offer enough content to keep you playing for an additional 20-30 hours. I also loved Super Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild for the same reason. Could be beaten in a few hours, but offer sooo much content if you choose to play it thoroughly.

 

[Rodolink]

getting those kind of "filler" games for 60$ (in the sense that they are games in between masterpieces like LoU2 ie.) doesnt make sense anymore. even those AAA masterpieces unless you're on the hype train. you can get them half the price after just 6 months.
Death Stranding is already 30€ ie.
so in the end what is most important is that you enjoy the game.
better to have amazing 3 hr game than so so 8+ hr one.

 

[V4skunk]

8 hours for £40-50 = nope.

 

[Kev Kev]

it depends. Journey took 3 or so hours to complete. more if you took your time. but with how incredible of an experience that game was, id have been happy paying $60 for it

i will admit, however, that the complaints about RE3 remake short length is something thats deterred me from buying it, so in that sense youre right.

i dunno im torn. i think it depends on the game and replayability factors

 

[Kenpachii]

Do you feel scammed watching a 2 hour blockbuster movie for $12?

They are not movies they are games. Different medium.

But if we do talk about movies:

I never go to cinema's so yes a movie for 12 bucks is a scam. I never even paid it for any movie in my life always bought them on discount before the stream area or rented them for a buck or two. So again yes.

Then about game time vs money.

Sorry but 2 hours for 12 bucks is laughable when u are used to stuff like this:

Examples:

Divinity 2: Bought for 44 bucks ( got the remake for free because they are awsome like that. )

buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 7 hours.


Conan Unconquered bought for 15 bucks.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 7 hours


Path of exile, its free to play but spended about 200 bucks on it on skins.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 6 hours.



They are billions, paid 25 bucks for it.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 74 hours.


Tree of savior spended about 60 bucks on it.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 50 hours.


Witcher 3, bought it for 6 bucks on a discount.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 8 hours.


Black desert online spend about 300 bucks on it

Buck to hour ratio 1 buck for 10 hours.


Assassin creed origins + dlc paid 32 bucks for it.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 3 hours.


Assassin creed odyssey: Paid 40 euro's for it.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 6 hours.


I can go on and on really, i got lots more games and lots more stores i could post stats from, then we are not even talking about the insane gametime i got on world of warcraft where in total i probably spended about 1-2k on in bucks but got every peny out of it.


Conclusion:

My original statement which u find to cheap, is already far to expensive if you look what i get out of it.

Sorry but anybody buying a 60 buck game for 8 hours of entertainment is laughable. Maybe its fine for sony games or console type of games because u guys are used towards it. For PC centric gamers its not even on the radar price wise.

A good game in my vision needs to take about 100 hours total for 40 bucks, i think that's acceptable. if its lower then that like 50 hours its 20 bucks straight away here at absolute max.

Still if its a good game and interesting i could go up as high as a buck a hour but that's kinda expensive already.

 

[magaman]

They are not movies they are games. Different medium.

But if we do talk about movies:

I never go to cinema's so yes a movie for 12 bucks is a scam. I never even paid it for any movie in my life always bought them on discount before the stream area or rented them for a buck or two. So again yes.

Then about game time vs money.

Sorry but 2 hours for 12 bucks is laughable when u are used to stuff like this:

Examples:

Divinity 2: Bought for 44 bucks ( got the remake for free because they are awsome like that. )

buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 7 hours.


Conan Unconquered bought for 15 bucks.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 7 hours


Path of exile, its free to play but spended about 200 bucks on it on skins.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 6 hours.



They are billions, paid 25 bucks for it.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 74 hours.


Tree of savior spended about 60 bucks on it.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 50 hours.


Witcher 3, bought it for 6 bucks on a discount.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 8 hours.


Black desert online spend about 300 bucks on it

Buck to hour ratio 1 buck for 10 hours.


Assassin creed origins + dlc paid 32 bucks for it.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 3 hours.


Assassin creed odyssey: Paid 40 euro's for it.

Buck to hour ratio: 1 buck for 6 hours.


I can go on and on really, i got lots more games and lots more stores i could post stats from, then we are not even talking about the insane gametime i got on world of warcraft where in total i probably spended about 1-2k on in bucks but got every peny out of it.


Conclusion:

My original statement which u find to cheap, is already far to expensive if you look what i get out of it.

Sorry but anybody buying a 60 buck game for 8 hours of entertainment is laughable. Maybe its fine for sony games or console type of games because u guys are used towards it. For PC centric gamers its not even on the radar price wise.

A good game in my vision needs to take about 100 hours total for 40 bucks, i think that's acceptable. if its lower then that like 50 hours its 20 bucks straight away here at absolute max.

Still if its a good game and interesting i could go up as high as a buck a hour but that's kinda expensive already.

To suggest that a game must meet your arbitrary standard of what constitutes "valuable" ... just silly. Games and movies cost a shit ton to make, and what's valuable to you ($0.10/hr, for example), is not what's valuable to the public at large.

Putting this into perspective, 67% of Americans play videogames in some fashion. Of those people, 13% play less than one hour per week, and just 7% play more than 20 hours.

You are in the vast, vast, vast minority. And I'm grateful for that.