Topic: Are short modern games a problem?

[Crying Freeman]

Mad Max has brought this question to light for people: Devs today definitely try to make a game longer than it needs to be. $60 is a crazy lot for a piece of entertainment, so wanting your moneys worth is natural, but seriously, people complain about a 10 hour game!? And devs know that, so they add in pointless, irritating, and boring shit into their games just for the sake of making them longer instead of making a better product. Games used to be 16 minutes long ffs, but devs balanced it out with difficulty. In the 6th gen, games sometimes were 2 hours and had short levels but their length relied more on replayability, where beating the game on higher difficulties would unlock rewards like MP maps or secret weapons. Nowadays? Design a game engine and mechanics for a 2 or 10 hour game but add side objectives or make the levels overly long to get them to 6 and 20 hours (done lazily, I might ad).

I'd say no. I'd rather play a fun and well designed game thats 2 hours over a 20 hour game that has no business being 20 hours.

[shelverton.]

Yes. YES!
Some of my favorite games are pretty short but I get my "value" because they're so good I wanna play them again and again.

The older I get, the less likely am I to actually sit through a 20-30 hour long game. It's not "value" to me if I have to force myself to keep going. Even games that are critically acclaimed (Skyrim, Witcher) are super hard for me to stomach these days. I just grow tired of them because I don't see any resolution coming up in the forseeable future.

A 2 hour platformer with fantastic gameplay will, over time, probably give me 20 hours of entertainment anyway, if not more.

People complain that games today are too short, and they make a big effin fuss over it (The Order comes to mind), but my problem with modern games are that they're soooo drawn out and tedious.

A great example is that two of my favorite Zelda games of the last 15 years are Minish Cap and A Link Between Worlds. Both are short, sweet and extremely tight, gameplay-wise. I tried completing Majora's Mask but I kinda gave up. Same with Ocarina 3D. They're too long, or at least they seemed never-ending.

[X]

A good example of an overly drawn-out game is Alien: Isolation, and this is a complaint I've heard floating around the net as well. It's too long of a game, especially when you're sneaking around 90% of the time. Now don't get me wrong here. This is a really good game and captures the original alien atmosphere perfectly! But it's just too long for its own good. Avoiding the Xenomorph for the majority of the game does get very tedious and drags out the gameplay much longer then it needs to.

[Abnormal Freak]

One of my most fond recent gaming experiences was Shadows of the Damned, a short 3- to 5-hour action game with lots of great ambience. I don't really have interest in sitting down for 40+ hours to play most games, I get too bored by about the 6-hour mark.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I love short games with loads of replay-ability. Maybe that's the reason why i settle for handhelds.

[Bloodreign]

Another reason why I stick to retro gaming, they can be played in short bursts, don't require a lifetime to finish, were harder to compensate for being shorter, so you got your ass kicked and still got your money's worth, and they didn't try to play like interactive movies.

I don't have the time for a 40-60 hour game that isn't an old school RPG (those tended to have stories that made me care and want to kick the main villains ass), especially if said 40-60 hour game is just another boring ass FPS.

[Crying Freeman]

Remember when the Order came out and people were shitting on it before it came out JUST because it could be completed between 5-6 hours? Thats so fucking ignorant! Plus, the same people complaining about that kind of length might call a game like Gone Home or Portal amazing and forget how short they are. Even CV1 and Ninja Gaiden are 16 minute long games for crying out loud lol!

Replayability is WAY better than length itself, but I think people nowadays try too hard to hate on or love a game just by looking at numbers, whether they be length or ratings. We all have a low-graded game that we still enjoy, the best thing people can do is actually see what the game offers and decide whether or not they want it, not just looking at length. Just hate seeing comments like "Only 6 hours? Nope" but if a game is at least 12 or so hours it automatically becomes accepted. It's bullshit with a capital B

[Abnormal Freak]

I'd hazard a guess that most people who complain about short games never go back to play any games long after they've finished it once. There's a lot of people out there who beat a game and then sell it, and eventually turn around to sell their system for the latest one (PS3 for PS4, 360 for XB1). I don't think replayability is a factor for a lot of gamers.

[PFG9000]

I actually prefer shorter games.  I wish I had time to put 60 hours into a game, but that would take me months, and I'll have lost interest long before then.  There's just too many times when I have no time for gaming for a week or two straight, and if I'm in the middle of an ultra long game I'll just forget what was going on, plot-wise, and I'll even forget the controls, over the course of those dry spells.  I have no problem paying $60 for a 6 hour experience if it's a fun 6 hours.  Quality over quantity, I guess.

The longest game I've ever finished is Okami (took me about 50 hours).  I would love Love LOVE to go back and play it again, except it's just...so...long.  And yet I've put easily over 150 hours into Symphony of the Night, and probably more than that for Doom.  They're shorter games, but they're so amazing that they make up in replay value what they lack in the length of one playthrough.

[The Belmont Pizza]

I agreed most of you people. I am getting real tired of play long games. Especially point where I play one game and been play over more or less than 8 hours and I get real tired of it because I want to get over with and play other games. It's pretty rare these day to find modern game that are short games. I play and beat game called "Octodad". This game is very short and I beat this game over 2 or 3 hours. I am very satisfied.  I am 31 years old and I don't really have much time to play long games these day. I notice lot of kids who go to middle school and high school, they prefer play long game. They have all the time in the world while they're young. Hell, even when they beat games that over 10 hours and they still complain about how short the games were.

Someone should list the modern games that are very short to play!

[Abnormal Freak]

I think this recent Maddox video applies to this discussion, and I think he has a bit of a point about many games throwing in a story because it's expected. I love a good story in a game, and sometimes a good or unusual premise can make up for an otherwise not-so-great game, but too many developers have this slapdash approach to making their game feel like a movie that it really comes across amateurish and boring. Idealistically you'd have games with both good gameplay and story, but obviously making fun games should be the focus; if you can't write for shit, hire someone who can.

[Flame]

problem is they have to balance out price as well.

because a 15 hour AAA game costs the exact same 60 bucks as a 30 hour one.

very few exceptions there.

[Ratty]

Long games have a place, but personally I have a hard limit of 15 hours for most games. No matter how much I'm enjoying a game my mind starts to wonder around the 15 hour mark with very few exceptions, and this is why I've completed relatively few RPGs despite loving the genre in theory.

As Maddox pointed out in the video Abnormal Freak listed, the average gamer is 31 years old these days, we've got shit to do and leisure time is at a premium. I can't imagine trying to balance an active gaming hobby with raising a child for example. There's also the fact that as we're older we've got more games and more access to new ones. As a kid I never had more than around half a dozen games at any one time, usually much less. Now, mostly thanks to Gog and Steam sales, I've literally got hundreds.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I feel you Ratty. I'm not fond of RPGs either.
At least you got hundreds of digital titles. I only tend to buy 2 games each year since 2013 and I still haven't finished some. haha.

[zangetsu468]

Short games are fine so long as they have replay value imo.