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Name one game that's great but too long, one game that felt too short, and one that felt like the perfect length

DeathPeak

DeathPeak

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,989
Too Short: Metal Gear Solid V. It was already more light on the narrative than previous entries, but recycling missions and clearly missing a chunk of the story makes the game feel way too short. Another one I would say is Arkham City. Although, I played it at a time when I wouldn't really do side missions/play a lot of sandbox or open-world games. I focused on the main campaign and remember being really disappointed when it was over so quickly.

Too long: A lot of first person games for me. Dishonored and even Doom 2016. Great games, but they cut have cut a couple of hours and I would have still be satisfied. Under 10 hours is my preferred first-person game length.

Perfect: Super Metroid. Never a full moment. Just the right length where if I want to play through a whole game in one sitting I can or if I want to just relax, I can take my time with it and still finish it in a few short bursts. Metal Gear Solid if I want to play a game rather than watch an action movie for a few hours. Chrono Trigger if I want to play an RPG and save the world.
 
nachum00

nachum00

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,406
DeathPeak said:
Too Short: Metal Gear Solid V. It was already more light on the narrative than previous entries, but recycling missions and clearly missing a chunk of the story makes the game feel way too short. Another one I would say is Arkham City. Although, I played it at a time when I wouldn't really do side missions/play a lot of sandbox or open-world games. I focused on the main campaign and remember being really disappointed when it was over so quickly.
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What? One of MGS5s biggest problems is that it was like 40 hours too long. If it ended after the first 15 or 20 hours I probably would have liked it. But it doesn't stop and you keep revisiting the same locations doing slightly different things for 40 more hours. As it stands now I think it's a bad game and the worst in the franchise.
 
Cloud-Hidden

Cloud-Hidden

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,987
Secretly taking notes ITT so I can find more perfectly-paced games. As a going-on-32-year-old who works a lot I find myself rarely motivated enough to finish games these days. It's always an achievement when I do, and it's always a great feeling with I find a game that respects my time and gives me my money's worth.
 

Deleted member 18400

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,585
Too Long: Divinity Original Sin (I never managed to finish it)
Too Short: The Order 18whatever ( dope game, beat it in like 4 hours)
 

Deleted member 18379

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,165
Too long? Umm not sure. Maybe RE7. Not because I was tired of playing it, but by the boat section and mine section. That's like an hour and a half of slow plodding boredom. Either fill that time with something more compelling or shorten it so as it doesn't detract from everything else. The game lost any sense of urgency by that point.

Too short.. The last time I experienced that feeling was with the first Overcooked. We burned through that game and were left needing more. Thankfully Overcooked 2 is stuffed with content.

Just right would have to be REmake 2. First time through was around 7 to 8 hours. Second time was about 4. I eventually got it down to about 90 minutes or so. That's good. It's a game where it's as long or short as you want it to be. Do you want to run through only grabbing essentials and avoid monsters, or are you the type to solve every puzzle, get every item and kill every threat. Wonderful game design and thankfully it never runs out of steam like RE7.
 
MaverickHunterAsh

MaverickHunterAsh

Good Vibes Gaming
Verified
Oct 24, 2017
1,392
Los Angeles, CA.
Great but too long... Mario & Luigi: Dream Team.
Great but felt too short... Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
Just right... Okami.

No, that last one isn't a typo. Okami is a proper epic and more than earns/justifies its length, especially by the time you reach the actual end, which wouldn't be as tremendously satisfying as it is if the journey to get there hadn't literally taken you all across Nippon.
 
DeathPeak

DeathPeak

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,989
nachum00 said:
What? One of MGS5s biggest problems is that it was like 40 hours too long. If it ended after the first 15 or 20 hours I probably would have liked it. But it doesn't stop and you keep revisiting the same locations doing slightly different things for 40 more hours. As it stands now I think it's a bad game and the worst in the franchise.
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The funny thing is, it's both. Story wise it's too short. Content wise, it overstays it's welcome because of the recycled missions in the second act. I chose "too short" in this case because I enjoy the ridiculous narrative of MGS and for being the last in the series, I wanted more.
 
Version 3.0

Version 3.0

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,160
Too long: Hollow Knight. It's amazing, but I still think it'd be even better with some trimming.
Too short: Portal. My first playthrough couldn't have taken much longer than an hour. Way, way too short.
Just right: all 3 Metroid Prime games. Yes, even with the much-maligned backtracking. I like the backtracking. I want an excuse to go back through areas while fully powered up.
 
nachum00

nachum00

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,406
DeathPeak said:
The funny thing is, it's both. Story wise it's too short. Content wise, it overstays it's welcome because of the recycled missions in the second act. I chose "too short" in this case because I enjoy the ridiculous narrative of MGS and for being the last in the series, I wanted more.
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You see my way of thinking is that if they made it only 20 hours long they could have actually finished the story.
 
JoJoBae

JoJoBae

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,492
Layton, UT
A lot of games I would personally call too long are just because of bad pacing. Like...

Too Long: Persona 5
Just Right: Persona 4 Golden

They both took me 100 hours but one dragged SO MUCH more compared to the other.

Too Short: Riddick - Escape From Butcher Bay
 

Espeix

Member
Dec 5, 2018
131
Great but too long: Alien Isolation. Still one of my favourite games though.
Too short: The original Resident Evil 3. Still amazing.
Perfect Length: The Last of Us.
 
blacklotus

blacklotus

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,025
Jessie said:
Too Short — Man of Medan. I love Supermassive Games but their output after Until Dawn has been less than satisfactory. It feels like they're a party game company now, rather than focusing on 12 hour narrative experiences.
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Looking at their game output, they kinda area a party game company since the start? With different ocasional projects and ports?
Am i missing something?
 
Firima

Firima

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,471
Okami: This is the game that never ends, it just goes on and on my friend

Limbo: oh this game is so good I wish there

Alan Wake: episodic design with great resolution made this game feel complete without dragging
 
Jakisthe

Jakisthe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,561
Great but too long makes no sense. If a game can continue to provide interesting situations, it's not too long. If it can't, it's not great. I can't think of any game where I'm thinking "man this has been a pretty amazing game, including and perhaps especially so these last few hours, but I sure do hope I get to run out of content soon".

Okami is a classic example. I could have played that game for another 40 hours, since they kept on introducing new powers and setups and environments right to the end. It being "too long" always fell on deaf ears for me.
 

Eugene's Axe

Member
Jan 17, 2019
3,611
Not sure about the other two options but if there's a game that IMO suffers from being too short it is Resident Evil 2 Remake. I just wanted that shit to be 20 hours longer.
 
Garlador

Garlador

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
14,131
Too Long: Dragon Age: Inquisition - I often say that I LOVED 30-40% of the game, but it's stuffed full of the other 60% that is just junk filler...
Also Too Long: Bravely Default - It just... keeps... going

Too Short: Vanquish - loved it, but it ended far too soon for me. I hoped a sequel would come along but, alas...

Perfect Length: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - not too big and empty, not too small and quick.. Just... perfect.
 

Rafroel

Member
Oct 28, 2017
185
Too long: Okami, it's like 3 games in one!
Too short: Cuphead. Needs more platforming
Perfect: Bloodborne. Only game this gen I haven't gotten tired of after the 20 hour mark
 
Jyrii

Jyrii

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,125
Helsinki, Finland
I tend to prefer short(er) games, so there are very few games that feel too short and way too many games that feel too long for me.
Too long: Nier Automata, especially since the first two paths are too similar.
Too short: Superhot. I loved the gameplay so much that I would have liked a few more maps.
Perfect: Kentucky Route Zero
 
menacer

menacer

Member
Dec 15, 2018
1,036
Spider-Man (2018) I felt looked amazing and the combat was fun and carried enough weight to it but the game it felt too long and most of the side-missions really didn't catch my interest. Overall though I liked it quite a bit.
 
ghibli99

ghibli99

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,728
Great, but too long: Persona 5 (Loved most of it, but it just didn't want to end.)
Too short: Jedi Fallen Order (When it was over, I was like, "That's it?" Didn't help that I had no desire to 100% it.)
Just right: Red Dead Redemption 1 (A perfect open-world game that I beat in about 20 hours without feeling like I was rushing.)
 
Rotobit

Rotobit

Editor at Nintendo Wire
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
10,196
Great, but too long: Assassin's Creed Odyssey. I loved it when I played it but it's exhausting after a point and the main plotline doesn't feel cohesive enough to really inspire you to keep playing. Will return to it one day, but I dread restarting something I already poured 40 hours into.

Too short: The Frog For Whom The Bell Tolls. The only game in recent years I've managed to power through in a single afternoon. It's a classic Game Boy title though so it's very excusable, but I'd love a sequel that develops on its concepts.

Just right: Judgment, though I don't 100% the Yakuza games. Yakuza 0 felt a lot more sluggish IMO and I took years to finally work up the patience to complete it, but Judgment was a blast from start-to-finish that I genuinely couldn't put down sometimes.
 
Ryuun

Ryuun

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
357
CT
Too long: so many jrpgs, specifically persona 4 and 5.
Too short: Rage. Loved this game but it just kinda....ended. Haven't tried the sequel yet.
Just right: Super Mario Bros 3.
 
Grahf

Grahf

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,664
Too long : XBX
Too short : XB2 (spent whole game experiencing and fine tuning my strats, I'd have wanted a more beefy postgame); Also Xenogears. Can't ever get enough of that.
Just right : XB1
 
Megatron

Megatron

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,445
For the most part, if a game is really great it can't be too long for me. I just want to keep playing it. I loved Horizon. I never wished it was over.
 
ashtaar

ashtaar

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,518
Big G said:
Too long: Resident Evil 4. The village is perfectly paced, but the castle runs a bit long in the middle, and the island is mostly a drag.

Too short: Deus Ex - Mankind Divided. Couldn't believe that game ended when it did.

Perfect: Could name a bunch of stuff here, but I'll throw some love towards Titanfall 2. Right when it felt like it might start overstaying its welcome, it ends. Not too short or too long, just right.
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These are great choices!
I would say probably every assassins creed game since brotherhood has been too long imo (Ac my favorite game series tho)
 
KeyBladerXIII

KeyBladerXIII

Member
Dec 5, 2017
4,620
Too Long: AC Odyssey (and i mean, Jesus...)
Too short: Journey (but only by a little)
Just right: Shadow of the Colossus
 
Aprikurt

Aprikurt

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 29, 2017
18,775
Rafroel said:
Too long: Okami, it's like 3 games in one!
Too short: Cuphead. Needs more platforming
Perfect: Bloodborne. Only game this gen I haven't gotten tired of after the 20 hour mark
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The platforming in Cuphead is far and away the worst part of the game though.

("Worst" in such a phenomenal game is still pretty damn good, but still)
 
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