I was a proponent, of games needed to be longer until this article came along. But for example crisis core is one of my favorite games and I wouldn't want it to be longer. Like I mean it got to the point, and did it beautifully. As did Vagrant story on PS1 was short. Parasite Eve was short And thats probably similar to Crisis Core (not in style or story but in concept).

More like I mean, the games are just as good, so just rent the short ones. If Uncharted 2 was 40 hours it would have been tedius IMO

Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Mario 64 is short, Hell You can beat FFIX in like 14 hours or less. if you tried hard just like you can beat mass effect in 10

Like in Mario 64 if you want games like Mass Effect to be short you can make it short if you want them to be 20-30 hours they can be long (Except I found Mass Effect 1 tedius at that point) Mass Effect 2 fixed that

Except they ARE RPGs. You roleplay as the characters.

Furthermore, I like how hardly anyone brought up the handhelds I mentioned or the fact that, regardless of genre, the overall length of most games have become shorter for sprakly graphics that people put too much focus on.

I intend to think, sparkly graphics are good, sparkly = videogames more like movie

ugly banana = more like book

I like books, like choke, catcher in the rye, but that would be a bad videogame, I know that my argument doesnt make sense, but thats how i win :)

how long was ninja gaiden on NES, compare to ninja gaiden XBOX

I can't give my opinion because It took me like 2 years to beat the 1st bowser in NES, because I was like 3 years old. and obviosly it does not take that much time

Ocarina of time took me and my brother put together

Problably 200 hours to beat! so not being good at videogames does not count :D!

Oh well gaming evolves, just deal with the changes.

That's the stupidest thing ever. Every game is an RPG by your definition. Flight Simulators are RPGs because you roleplay as a pilot, and those are damn ass long these days.

Goldeneye can easily be beaten in a few hours, same for Perfect Dark, Half life maybe 10. When I was 12 I beat Super Mario 64 in two sittings. Super Mario World is a few hours long, Link to the Past 15 to 20 (same as Darksiders).  I would like to see your statistics, if you have any. Or is this just some general "feeling" you have that games aren't as great as they used to be? I want to see some data for your assertions.

But I can create a character in FIFA 10's "Be a Pro" mode and play with him in all other game modes and earn new skill points and even learn new tricks.

But let's be real. FIFA 10 is far from being an RPG, just like Assassin's Creed, DMC4 or Heavenly Sword.

FIFA 10 = Sports

Assassin's Creed = Action-Adventure

Devil May Cry 4, Heavenly Sword = Hack and Slash

You still gain bonuses and the objective is to kill enemies and beat bosses. Thereby it's an rpg.

so mario and little big planet are rpg's?

you get new hats and new clothes! and even a new paint gun!

Regardless, the initial point was about gaming in general.

It seems most of you just don't follow the actual definition of what an RPG is, rather the popular connotations.

yes, but if you are trying to talk to a group of people. Most people are going to use the popular connotations. Or if you are going to use the actual definition, then you need to explain it at the start of a topic otherwise it becomes a mess like this.

By definition then, Games besides tetris and solitare are RPG's