If this 20-25 hours for rpgs becomes a trend then it sgoing to be a bad one and there will never be an rpg in the future that is as epic as the best ones from the past.

20+ hours is a decent length for any type of game, including JRPGs.  Some of you just aren't thinking this through.  IU being shorter can actually make IU better than if it was a 40+ hour JRPG.  Take Star Ocean 3(one of tri-Ace's previous games) for example, it was good but the main story, while decent IMO, was bogged down by filler content(as in events that have little to nothing to do with the story) in the middle of the game.  SO3 would have been even better if those filler parts were cut out and the game was made shorter.  Also, isn't it a coincidence that one of the flaws of the genre is that the stories tend to be a little drawn out? No, it isn't.  However, because IU's main story will apparently only be 20-25 hours long, the game won't feel so drawn out like other JRPGs are.

Hopefully this is just the main story, I have a feeling it is. The trailers I have seen, suggests lots of exploration/side quests.

Unfortunately for you, that might be the case.  The problem is that we don't have as much time to play games as we used to so the developers has to make games based on the amount of free time we have.  Also, there are games that are a lot shorter than IU is going to be. i.e. Heavenly Sword, Uncharted Drake's Fortune

that is a let down imo...i was expecting ATLEAST 35 hours (without sidequests). probably means the story is gonna be played through really fast, which i hope it isnt the case cuz i had high hopes for this title.

edit: @ raichu's post with SNES RPG's -  they were limited to that i think mostly because of the cartridge things

i would finish this game in a heart beat

There is probably going to be some replay value in IU though.  Also, it's nice change of pace to play an RPG that is shorter than usual.

I'll have to wait and play the game. Some of my favorite games took me about 20 hours to beat though, so the shortness isn't necessarily a negative, however hopefully it doesn't indicate that the game is shallow, perhaps they are trying something new with the game.

Why? Twilight Princess has 50+ hours one 1 disc.

I got good hopes for this game too. If anyone is still unsure about what this game will offer should head to the official IU website and check out some of the new stuff under the gameplay section.

www.infiniteundiscovery.com

you should check out the steath vid called detection.. kinda like MGS :O