Too Short? Too Long?

CiDeRmAn

As suggested in the thread title,

Which games did you find were just too short, games that once you were really getting into the swing of things the damn thing ended?

And, conversely, which games overstayed their welcome, offering early promise, lots of fun, then turned into a yawn fest that ultimately got turned off and/or traded in?

ghostchant

Not exactly a retro-themed comment here, but there are so many games in the current generation that are just too long for me to even bother starting. I normally play one or two games of 'long' length in a year, don't have the time for any more. Of course then something like Portal comes along that seems like just the perfect length for what it was (maybe a tiny bit too short mind). Am a bit worried as to how long the sequel will be.

Atavan-Halen

Not a retro game but Mirrors Edge. Was really enjoying it and having fun when, bam! ending!

The only thing left then was to play through on hard.

Games with multiple discs just put me off. Lost Oddyssey just scares me with it's 4 discs

landsleaving

Another couple of non-retro games:

FFXIII was far too long, which is a bit strange for a final fantasy game I suppose. The battle system was fun, but there's far too much of it and the battles themselves can really drag. When the story is put off for a few hours of just running down another boring mechanical corridor constantly, things really drag. There's no substance to the game really, so it wears thin. Should have been about 20 hours max, I'd have loved it then.

Red Dead Redemption is the same, just turns into repetition of the same missions after a while, and all the cool random stuff starts repeating istelf too, so it gets boring.

As for too short, not much comes to mind. I'd probably have played a fair bit more of Resident Evil 4, but its not even that short.

Jade Empire actually felt really really short, I think it only took about 10-12 hours to finish, could have just been a very quick 20-30 hours though But I definitely wanted more at the end and thought it was a somewhat sudden conclusion.

Retr0gamer

Legend of Dragoon was 60 hours too long. I beat it in less than 60 hours. Can't believe I wasted some of my life on that piece of ****.

Persona 4 despite being 80 hours long I thought was too short. It was fantastic but I wanted the full 120 hour experience of Persona 3

A lot of RPGs just turn into a series of fetch quests that really could and should be cut down especially if the battle system is bland like in the case of FFVII. That game really did go tits up well before the halfway mark and could have done with a shorter more focused development.

I got a little wearisome of Fallout 3 towards the end.

o1s1n

The one thing that gets a bit iffy towards the end of Fallout 3 is the combat. Nobody really poses a threat. Was nice that they made the Point Lookout enemies a good bit tougher.

They also just dumbed the combat down too much. I would have rathered no real time FPS fighting and a more interesting VATS turn based system. They were a bit too conservative in that regard.

Apart from that, I'd happily continue playing it forever (If they made more add ons that is!).

ghostchant

Fallout 3 is the only 'huge' game I've played this year, couple more DLC add-ons to do and plenty more side-quests still, but the feeling of being a demi-god is definitely there. Deathclaws and reavers are the only things left that I feel the need to watch out for, and even the deathclaws aren't that intimidating.

landsleaving

I felt invinceible until I got to the Broken Steel DLC, I'm completely stuck now, in a tunnel being ripped to shreds by some sort of super ghouls. Still not even close to being bored of it.

CiDeRmAn

I paused Fallout 3 for a few months after finishing the main campaign, have the game of the year edition so all the DLC is there, must open her up again.

The Uncharted games always seemed too short.
Quake should have been twice as long, Final Doom on the PS was way too short, I breezed through it with no problems.
I even finished a mates copy some years later absent mindedly playing a level while he was gone to the toilet, then up came the end credits!

Rage Racer was pitched perfectly, a beautiful racer, full of characterful tracks, nice car progression, my fave of the series.
Ridge Racer Revolution was too short, Ridge Racer itself had an excuse, it was an arcade conversion, but RRR was way to small.

johnny_ultimate

Okami I always thought was too long. A few too many false endings, bookended by crazy long cutscenes. Great game, but towards the end I just couldn't muster up the same enthusiasm I had for it at first.

Many open world games - like GTA or Red Dead - also ultimately seem a bit too long when you just want to unlock the rest of the map.

o1s1n

No matter how hard I try, I cannot get into Okami. Does it take really long to get going? I'm only a couple of hours in but keep turning it off in bordom. Which is a shame as I can see the potential - I'm just not arsed.

Retr0gamer

Get past the first dungeon, you should be hooked by then. It's as good as any 3D zelda game.... although, you did say you thought 3D zelda was overrated.

pdbhp

Well there's 2 titles both new and on Xbox360 the first is Halo ODST I bought the game at 11am and it was back in the shop completed by 6pm never have I trashed a game so easily. Second is Resident Evil 5, thought it's a fun game if not a tad frustrating at times it's also a stupidly short game.

As for long games FFIII on DS would not end for me never even bothered completing it due to repitition and boredom.

K.O.Kiki

Okami I thought was interesting -- I played it in almost-perfect 1 or 2hr blocks between saves, and it took me 60hrs~ish (lots of animal feeding and sidequests). I'd say it was just a tiny bit too long, but I didn't notice at all.

I think Beyond Good & Evil was the perfect length.
Sands of Time was short-ish, but I loved it.
Ico packs more into 4-5hrs than FFIX did into 80. (I hate FFVII and won't go past disc 1)
Shadow of the Colossus has a strange pacing to it.
Never understood the hate for boating in Wind Waker, it's relaxing

justbrian

Resident evil C.V.X.. Too long because of all the go to this area, go forward, return to first area, go to another area, return to first area again. Wash and repeat. All Resi games have some return to already visited areas that's part ot the puzzle fun, but CVX took it to the extreme. Making a 3 hour game seem like 10.

CiDeRmAn

I find most games with a central hub area to be boring, always seems like a cheap way to reuse assets instead of adding "non-linear-ness" to a game.
Give me a nice linear, a to b, fps and I'm happy, none of this sandbox, over-rated sh1te!
Only exceptions for me have been the Metroid games, both 2D and Prime series and also the GTA series.
Red Dead Redemption is great so far, although I think I may have had more fun in the shorter Red Dead Revolver back in the day.

monkeyfudge

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Get past the first dungeon, you should be hooked by then. It's as good as any 3D zelda game.... although, you did say you thought 3D zelda was overrated.

I just gave up in frustration very early in the game.

I could not draw for sh*t with the Wiimote.

L1m1tless

I remember when I was a kid (5-6) Playing super mario brothers on the nes. I got to level 1-4 and I thought that it was the last level and the princess was moments away. little did I know what i was in store for.....