Game length vs. replay value

[forevercloud3000]

I work at a Game Store, and it is painful as a long time gamer to see that so many people are Speed Runners.

They no longer are trying to enjoy a game for everything it is worth, they are in a hurry for the adrenaline rush of saying they finished it. I hate it when people are like they "Beat" Pokemon.....like how? Sure, the game's story quest has a sort of definitive end but what is "beating" it? People who say this often have only scratched the surface of the title.

Someone told me that Skyrim was short, and I almost raged. How? Well turns out the guy doesn't do SideQuests, only main. That is like you don't eat the fries with a meal, only the burger but then going to complain that you didn't have enough food.

I suppose it is just hard for me to get used to that easter eggs and nuanced discovery isn't as desired today . I replay the hell out of my singleplayer games because in the good ones you can always discover something new. RPGs are the SP genre that can usually bet on having some decent longevity. Yet there is often just as much content in SP action games and platformers. The Last of US took me about 12hrs to beat the first time. Yet I missed a ton of collectibles. These aren't just useless trinkets, I got very involved in knowing about "Ish" and his escapades through that world. They really further enriched the game for me. Same for Dead Space and Horizon's side collectible content, they were world builders. So by this point I must have 60+ hours clocked into TLOU, grabbing collectibles, enjoying the side conversations, and increasing the difficulty which really turns it into a gripping survival game. So I feel like an SP game that has that kind of replay value is more than worth it.

Games that I thought was not worth a full price Tag but loved? Heavenly Sword. Took me about 6hrs to complete, no real collectibles or side content. It was obviously meant to be a launch title, launch titles are forgiven partially for this because they are getting used to the hardware. Yet the game came out almost 2 years in.....it should of had more to do.