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Can long game length make games less fun?

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Joined 2004-08-02

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Okay this post is inspired by my current playthrough of Far Cry 4. After playing Far Cry 3 and loving it last year, I bought Far Cry 4 and started playing it. Far Cry 4 is an enhanced version of Far Cry 3, with some really nice touches like the ability to use grapple hooks and ride elephants. The first 20 or so hours were so much fun, but then, as I looked at the map I realized that I haven’t even explored one third of the map. In comparison, I think Far Cry 3’s map was maybe half the size. After some time after that, I realized I enjoyed Far Cry 3 more, which got me thinking, maybe that was because the map was smaller and a little bit more focused. Far Cry 4 feels intimidating in comparison. I discussed this with a friend of mine who played these 2 games, and he felt the same thing as well. People always argue about short games and how that is a bad thing, so I am wondering if a game being too long can also play against it. I never could get into Skyrim or Oblivion for that very reason, and I rarely can finish a GTA game. So I am wondering what folks think about that?

Also as a side note, I am a game perfectionist. I like to get 100% wherever possible, and collect all hidden collectibles and get all trophies. That might be also why I struggle to enjoy larger games.

     
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I feel you, because when i open maps and see icons all over the huge maps esp in UBI games and redundant stuff like tower climbing , i feel fatigued even before starting to do all those again. Feels like reskin of old design mechanics.
Problem is mainstream has developed fondness with this setup and i dont see Ubi games quitting those.

Witcher3 looks hell of big too, after DA:I i needed break to start some huge openworld
RPG , but here you are. Though W3 won’t be as repetitive still i fear combat will bore me down not to mention lack of multiple characters.

On other hand DyingLight was the best open world in recent memory that does a good job of streamlining the intimidation aspect and making moment to moment progression satisfactory, same for bloodborne. Not to mention Dyinglight has best singlplayer Coop campaign, dropin dropout on fly.
At the end of Dyling light i felt sated yet wanted more.

So the idea is same as i mentioned in AG length thread, give something new to keep us interested, and make things interesting and BIG SIZE does not necessarily mean good game, both Bloodborne and Dyinglight have less area but way more Dense and rich in content and level design.

     
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Yes, a games length can easily ruin a game in my experience. The story can lose interest etc or the mechanics can get overused to the point of not feeling rewarding or fun anymore.

Quite a few games I’ve played recently hit one or both of these things. White Night needed a chapter cut as it became glaringly obvious what was happening in the story, Alien Isolation suffered due to what felt like padding, resulting in the game feeling repetitive too.

     

Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)

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Joined 2011-03-14

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NO!

Well theoretical I suppose it could, but I have never played a game where I thought that the large size in itself was a problem. Mind you most of the games mention here like FarCry, Skyrim and GTA are games I have zero interest in (or quickly lost all interest in) for other reasons.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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Not really, I like big maps and worlds to explore.
Never played FarCry but Skyrim, GTA, Assassins Creed wouldn’t have so much interest if they weren’t so big. In most of these games most stuff is optional, when I feel I’m losing interest in the game I just play the story missions to finish it or stop playing it. Doens’t deny the several good hours I already spent with the game.
But if your a 100% completionist I can see it being annoying.

     
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Depends on the game, but the length CAN be detrimental to your enjoyment and make you quit.

Bethesda is a common offender in this for me. Fallout3 got me hooked till the end, but New Vegas made me quit after 10 hours, and Oblivion made me quit after 30 hours. I refuse to play Skyrim because of this.

On the other hand, I played the entire Baldur’s Gate “Trilogy” at once (clocked around 200!!! hours) and it was only near the very end of the Throne of Bhaal expansion that fatigue started kicking in.

So basically it depends. Completely wide open worlds (like Bethesda so often uses, and the GTA games) probably cause this sooner with me than more linear ones…

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
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I think it depends on why I’m playing the game. There are games that I just play for the world; if I’m playing Skyrim or Assassin’s Creed IV, I’m there to enjoy the place, and so the bigger it is, the more stuff it can entertain me with, the happier I am. I know these games have a main story, and I do get around to doing it at some point, but it’s not why I’m playing them and I don’t care if I don’t see the end of it. I don’t get frustrated or overwhelmed, because I’m not trying to achieve anything—I’m on vacation!

On the other hand, if I’m really interested in the story, then too much padding bothers me a lot. There was that Assassin’s Creed game taking place in Rome (Brotherhood? or was that Revelations?) that had a great plot (with all those crazy Borgias), but I kept losing track of it because it was diluted among an endless stream of assassination contracts, archeological expeditions, services for the local brothel and whatnot. I remember feeling frustrated about it and wishing they’d cut half of the optional stuff. That would have made for a more memorable game.

So yeah, when I hear that The Witcher 3 will have a strong story and a huge world with 300 hours of content, that worries me a bit, because I’m not convinced those two things are actually compatible.

     
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Kurufinwe - 28 April 2015 06:22 PM

On the other hand, if I’m really interested in the story, then too much padding bothers me a lot. There was that Assassin’s Creed game taking place in Rome (Brotherhood? or was that Revelations?) that had a great plot (with all those crazy Borgias), but I kept losing track of it because it was diluted among an endless stream of assassination contracts, archeological expeditions, services for the local brothel and whatnot. I remember feeling frustrated about it and wishing they’d cut half of the optional stuff. That would have made for a more memorable game.
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It was Brotherhood. It’s one of reasons I try to do all the side stuff that I want before tackling the story missions. Breaks to much the pace of the story. I think in AC IV: Black Flag I explored all islands and even got the legendary ships and didn’t even reach half the story missions… (Which doens’t make sense for the story Smile ) Of course a lot of side stuff are locked behind chepters and it’s not available without advancing the story.

But keeping a focused story in a big world is difficult, I think one way to do it is dividing side quests into small storylines. But that also hurts the main story.

     
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I think it does. I loved the gameplay and everything about GTA 4 when I first started playing it, but I’ve never finished the game even though I like it a lot. I get bored in the middle, and then whenever I want to play it I have to start over at the beginning to remember everything and get back in the mood. Kings Bounty, while my favorite, also goes on a bit too long for me.

I love length in adventure games, but in RPGs, it just feels like grinding.

     

Favorite Adventure Games-Lost Crown, Longest Journey, Dark Fall 1&2, Barrow Hill, Black Mirror, Blackwell games, Riven, Myst
Favorite Other Games-Kings Bounty, FTL
Currently Playing-Barrow Hill:The Dark Path
Looking Forward To-Last Crown/Braken Tor

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Joined 2007-01-04

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Yes, excessive length can hurt a game (you get bored doing the same things after a while). What I do is break the game down into parts and take breaks in playing the game.

I’m playing Persona Q this way right now.

     

I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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Joined 2009-11-10

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It’s a common issue for me with RPGs. Since I work and can’t really dedicate much more than 4-5 hours a week to play games, I get bored with games that need over 30 hours of gameplay. Especially since part of this is grinding.

The problem too is that I tend to be a completionist and have a hard time not doing side quests which means that by the time I’m half way through the game I often end up being burned out by the game and just stopping (happened last with Planescape tourment)

     

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