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What say you?

  • Short focused

    Votes: 1,346 85.5%
  • Long with abundance of markers and quests

    Votes: 228 14.5%

  • Total voters
    1,575
Nov 1, 2017
1,844
they can't be even quality games if one is designed to waste your time with repetitive pointless side missions and generic junk loot like how the latter are always designed
 

Deleted member 5129

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,263
It depends really. I do appreciate short games a lot more these days, but once in a while I also enjoy a game I can really sink my teeth in
 

Scruffy8642

Member
Jan 24, 2020
2,850
See it's interesting. While I absolutely prefer a 10-15 hour game, I'll very rarely buy one for full price. Meanwhile if it's a 40+ hour game, I'll buy it without a second thought, even though I know I'll have less fun with it. I guess I inherently see less value in them.
 

Eamon

Prophet of Truth
Member
Apr 22, 2020
3,547
Neither. Give me a 25-40 hour game where I can pursue a linear narrative with optional side content that fleshes out explorable zones and allows me to better connect with the surrounding cast of characters. More open than your typical linear action-adventure title, while more restrained than your prototypical Ubisoft checkbox simulator.

In other words, your typical Bioware RPG :)
 

RatskyWatsky

Are we human or are we dancer?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,931
I want more short games. I'm playing a lot of older games right now and it's amazing how short they all are. Resident Evil 2 is like 5 hours long!
 

Shan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,965
Super subtle title, OP.

Depend on the games though I prefer the longer experience.
 

Dogui

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,813
Brazil
These big 100+ hours games often have the advantage of being finishable in 15-30 hours if you rush stuff or avoid side content. The poll make it looking like everyone needed to waste 100 hours on them.

Though i would still rather have the shorter focused experience, or even a longer focused experience.
 

shinobi602

Verified
Oct 24, 2017
8,374
I already have a full time job

I dunno how people consistently play shit like Assassin's Creed
I work full time, my wife works full time, and we have three kids. And I still play every Assassin's Creed lol.

I just play a few hours at a time. If it takes me months to finish it, it's fine by me. I'm in no rush.
 

Altezein

User requested ban
Banned
Mar 21, 2021
3,924
Buenos Aires, Argentina
I actually prefer games that go up to 30-40hs, like single-player RPGs.
Shorter more linear games like Uncharted I'm also super fine with.
100 hour bloated games with infinite map icons... hell no.
 

RavenK92

Member
Nov 3, 2020
799
Long for the sake of long is a bad thing. This is what made me quit the Immortals Fenix Rising DLC. There's way too much filler in that game. Open world with lots to do isn't necessarily a bad thing (the Spider-Man games for example are great at it), but it must be engaging content, not just go everywhere and pick up a collectible ad nauseum
 

Ultima_5

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,673
I'm old so the shorter one. When I️ was a kid the longer bloated ones by a huge margin
 

Meech

Member
Oct 29, 2017
496
I prefer short and focus. It helps with this busy life of mine. But don't get me wrong, I still love some big open games too.
 

Mokujin

Member
Oct 31, 2017
451
I'd depends, buuuut if you change the question to a Hideo Kojima game I would 100% answer 10-15 hour focused game. Mission structures and poorly designed resource management have made insufferable both MGS5 and Death Stranding to me.
 

Hasney

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
18,638
Let me explore the world, do the tasks and shove a podcast on. That's my happy place
 

Musubi

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,619
Literally depends on what kind of mood I'm in at the time. Sometimes I want something short and punchy other times I like to indulge in a longer game.
 

NippleViking

Member
May 2, 2018
4,491
Poll's dumb and bias af: i.e. would you rather a nice Banh Mi or a shit-sandwich?

What about a focused ~100hr game? You can have long games that are still focused and without bloat.

Also what about a healthy median? 20-40hrs, with length long enough to carve a deep sweeping epic, yet lean and concist without extra fat and filler.

Games should be as long as they need to be. Whilst a game that's excessively long and disrespectful of player time is arguably the greater evil vs. a game that's too short to achieve meaningful payoff, but equally I'll normally take the game with greater scope provided its length contributes to higher highs.

Witcher 3 is anywhere from 30 to 100hrs, the Mass Effect games are all 20-40, most Soulsborne games can be as short as a handful of hours or in the hundreds.
 
Last edited:

Lucreto

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,645
I prefer 100 collect-a-thons. I love Assassin's Creed and the hours of collecting random shit. It is why I love Ubisoft games.

I played Far Cry 5, New Dawn, Assassins Creed Valhalla and Fenyx immortals back to back and enjoyed every second of it.
 

Firefly

Member
Jul 10, 2018
8,634
How do you define "focus" here OP? I don't think length of the game has much to do with focus.
 

Afrikan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
17,008
Very Surprised (didn't expect this from Era)...and yet happy to see the poll results so far. 😁
 

Timu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,588
Short games also makes me want to replay them on harder settings. A long game makes me want to play it once and never again because it takes too long to replay it.
 

Rosenkrantz

Member
Jan 17, 2018
4,941
Depends on what I want at the current moment, both have their place.

My actual preference would be 15-25 hours long campaign with non linear level design (Dishonored, Prey, Deus Ex etc.).
 

FrostweaveBandage

Unshakable Resolve
Member
Sep 27, 2019
6,703
No such thing as a ten hour game for me.

There are hour long games (retro, mostly) and time sinking monsters.
 

Freezasaurus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
57,009
I usually prefer longer games as long as the core gameplay remains enjoyable. Generally speaking, I think somewhere in the 30-50 hour range is my personal sweet spot. Take for example, your average Ubisoft game. I generally like the formula and gameplay loop present in those games, but they're getting to a point where there's far too much bloat. AC: Valhalla had me ready to tap out by 75 hours, and I didn't finish it until I was at 111 hours.
 

Xeteh

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,388
I don't think I can answer this. I love plenty of smaller games, I'm not one to judge hours/$ spent but sometimes I get invested in characters/stories/whatever and if a game overstays it's welcome I'm okay with that too. I guess it depends on the game type.
 

Laziness

Member
Apr 19, 2018
587
Short games without a question. I can't stand open world games, I want a game which entertains me, not huge a 100 hours game in which I have to entertain myself by my own means, traversal huge maps created for the sake of timesink, see dozens of side content which quality doesn't stand a chance against mainline, etc. I want a short, linear, structured experience in which creators tell me the story they want to present and be done with it.
 

Kuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,698
If its like Assassin's Creed or Skyrim then no but if its like Witcher 3, BoTW, or Genshin Impact then yeah I can spend a long time in those worlds.
 

CowboyAloy

Banned
Dec 28, 2019
255
United States
Heh. I feel lucky. I basically stopped console gaming from 2014-2019 so I never got inundated with the open world games everyone else did. Yes I played Skyrim when it released on PS3 and I did play the original AC to completion but other than that I've not been exposed to them that much.

Fast forward to now, and these games are my preference. I mean for years I've been playing mobile rhythm games so to have a game like HZD or Ghost of Tsushima with all the different quests and things to do is revolutionary to me. I work a full time job, 4 ten hour shifts every week and I still prefer these types of games. I hope they continue to be made and improved.
 

Yasumi

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,575
Long, focused games. Give me a nice long novel-length plot. Then short and focused. Open-world is bottom of the barrel, Ubisoft model is actual garbage.
 

SageShinigami

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,476
This poll is designed in the most biased way possible, and it didn't even have to be. Era's dislike of open worlds is well-documented. It's one of the biggest displays of the "Era bubble" , which is why there's always so many people shocked when Far Cry or another Ubi open-world breaks sales records.
 

LuckyLinus

Member
Jun 1, 2018
1,938
Not a fan of 100 hour open world games, there are some that I like but they wouldve been better as shorter and more focused experiences.
 

ket

Member
Jul 27, 2018
12,985
I barely do any of the non-quest content in open world video games like Assassins Creed, RDR2 or Ghost of Tsushima so the collectables and side activities don't really bother me.

i like both types of games