Less time to play or they can't bother to put the game on 4 discs?

 yeah i hope your right. im still gonna get this and play it. i just hope im not let down :]

IU is not going to be shallow.  Unlike a lot of action-RPGs, IU actually has some variety in its gameplay mechanics.

gah that only happens at each once every six months ;).

but 2 after noons and this game is done.

i didn't buy uncharted or heavenly sword for the same reason.

I'm still hopeful for the game, but I always was, and still am going to wait for reviews. The last Tri-Ace game I played was Silmeria for the PS2, and unfortunately I didn't like it as much as I had anticipated, however I liked Star Ocean: TTEoT much more than I anticipated.

This game looks like it has actually tried to move the genre forward, with a method of important battles and dungeons to form a cohesive experience that is action packed all the way through, without a myrid of pointless level grinding. In essence, it's removed the filler, and allowed for a true Next-Gen game, with non-repetitive boss battles being the main indication of that. Gears of war did the same thing. It tried to create a game with the 10 minute rule in mind. Gameplay sections change every 10 minutes. You'll never be performing the same repetitive tasks for more than 10 minutes at a time without some sort of breakup. This was based on the RE4 gameplay design.

It appears to me that the IU design is modeled after this, and in essence this will be the first next gen jRPG, or neo-jrpg, with a concentration on fun and pacing rather than playtime and complex minigames/mazes. One of the major losses you get with this sort of design is length, as a lot of the prerequsite level grinding from previous jrpgs has been removed in favor of pacing.

However, this isn't the first arpg to do this.

You'll find a fantastic game on the playstation 1 called Vagrant Story. The actual game length is about 15 hours long, but you'll find that it is one of the deepest and most epic rpgs ever created. The game is designed to be played through more than once, as you keep your weapons with each consecutive playthrough, and leveling them up is the best part of the game. Though the game also manages to have excellent story and character development with amazing gameplay, it's a 10/10, in my book, and one of the best rpgs ever made. Very few will ever see Grand Master Breaker status, as it can easily take 20+ playthroughs and some have been said to have played though the 15 hour game 100+ times. You can confirm that by a vist to the Vagrant Story forum on gamefaqs.

So, you can't ever judge a RPG of any type based singularly on a press release number. Wait for the reviews, or play the game yourself, to find out its quality. For all we know it could be the best game ever made, or it could suck terribly. Hearing that it only lasts 20 hours means nothing.

How many other games did you not buy because they are only 20 hours long?

@piggychan

Thanks for reminding about the official website again. I didnt realise it was updated so much. It really hyped me up even further and I hope that the simultaneous release will help boost sales. You can tell alot of production value over 2-3 years went into this game.

It won't be either the best or worst game ever made but it will be very good if previews are of any indication.

Yeah, the previews look really good, but you never know when a game will come along and flop, like Haze, or be surprisingly good out of the blue, like Parasite Eve.

How, only 20hours and on 2 DISCS!! looks like all M$ money has gone to waste =))

If this was on the PS3, it would be native 1080p and 150hours due to the powerful CELL, and the mighty RSX. =)

True 4D graphics that are only possible on the market leading BLU-RAY technology used in the award winning PS3. =)))