Something I've been thinking about recently is game length and how that effects my gaming experiences. I'm quickly approaching 30 years old now and I simply don't have the time to play long 100+ hour RPGs any more, (even though I do love them), as most people I know around my age have even less free time than me thanks to jobs, children, responsibilities and such; it's shocking to think how much free time we did have as kids/teens to play games.

So with that in mind I started to think, how long is too long, and for that matter how long is too short? We've all seen the likes of Angry Joe on YouTube talking about game length with his now infamous cry of, "4 HOURS!?!", but is this really so bad. Back in the days of 16-Bit where I spent much of my childhood, games where 2 hours long as standard. Long enough to feel decent and impactful but short enough that you could concievably finish them in one evening. Here's a list of some of my favourites from the Mega Drive.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - Platformer - 1.5 hours
Streets Of Rage 2 - Beat Em Up - 2 hours
Gley Lancer - Shmup - 1 hour
Kid Chameleon - Platformer - 4 hours
Golden Axe - Beat Em Up - 30 minutes (seriously)
Ranger X - Platformer/Shmup - 1.5 hour
Revenge Of Shinobi - Action Platformer - 1 hour

Now, the Sega Mega Drive was a very action/platformer heavy console so perhaps it's a bad comparion but even if we consider RPGs of the time, the only way you get long games is by going to PC. Looking as some of the SNES RPGs there's not much of a difference in length there either;

Terranigma - RPG - 12 hours
Secret Of Mana - RPG - 7 hours - (edited, bad source)
Legend Of Zelda: Link To The Past - Action/RPG - 6 hours
Super Metroid - Exporation based Platformer - 3 hours
Final Fantasy 6, (3 in USA) - RPG - 5 hours - (speedrun time, not representitive of the actual game).

Even an RPG can be easily finished in an evening/weekend back then, not now, where that franchise is well know for being hundreds of hours long per game. So why the change? I look at these games and I see something obvious about these games. I've played more than 20 hours in every single one of them, even Golden Axe... why? Replayability. These games are extremely tight and as such very fun to play over and over, even with changes in genre. I can replay both Streets Of Rage 2 and Final Fantasy 6 and feel very satisfied with both of them. Games today seem to forget this.

So what do we need with game length. Is it unfair to expect 40+ hour gaming experiences with every game as became the norm in PSOne and up games? Have we been spoiled by long games? Is it simply a false equivalency, comparing game length with value as though the only value a game has is in the hours it consumes? I ask all this because so many game I enjoy are trashed for having low game lengths, but I wonder if they should. Is it fair to trash games for being short. Some of my favourite games of last gen where quite short and looking at these games, I fail to see how these could be improved by being 40+ hours long;

Portal - Puzzle - 4 hours
Spec Ops: The Line - Third Person Shooter - 7 hours
Metal Gear Rising: Revengence - 3D Brawler - 6 hours
Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest For Booty - 3D Platformer - 4 hours
Vanquish - Third Person Shooter - 6 hours
Journey - Indie Adventure - 2 hours

Are these games bad because of their length? Hell no, many people consider the shortest ones there, Portal and Journey to be some of the finest games made that generation. So how should we judge game length?

Really all this comes down to one game that made me seriously consider this; Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. People are complaining because the main story can be completed in 2 hours, and even if you complete every single side mission and trophy/achievement it's still barely clocking in at 5 hours. So is this reasonable? I actually think that, yes it is. The game isn't being advertised as a long epic RPG or anything, they're openly stating that it's a short but focused game and that's something I can get behind and in fact, as daft as this may sound, the shorter play time made me want this game more. Knowing it's a game I can finish casually over a weekend in between other things, that's a good thing for me. It means I can get through and enjoy a game without having to budget time for it. There are so many games out there I want to try, sometimes I wish they where all only 2-5 hours long as I'd be able to enjoy more of them that way. All that said, especially with my current playthough of Final Fantasy VII on my Vita rekindling this for me as of late, I often long for my long turgid 100+ hour RPGs and I'd be truly sad to see them no longer available.

So, what does everyone else think about this? Do you share my opinion on game length or do you feel differently? I think this is an interesting discussion and one I'm not sure has a conclusion yet.

Good post. I agree.

Game length does not concern me. Quality does. Bad Company 2 singleplayer was like 5 hours. That doesn't stop people from playing its best of its genre multiplayer for 500 hours. Skyrim...certainly doesn't take 200+ hours but technically people can play it forever because it's just that well made. Golden Axe 30 min game. So insanely well crafted that you can play it 50 times and never get bored of it. DooM - 4 hour game that can be speedran in 30 min. Best game ever made. Quintessential timeless shooter because of its level design, fun factor, and creativity.  Games do not all have to be depressing drama mini series soap operas that take weeks of your life to play.

Where on Earth did you get those numbers from? How on Earth of FF6 and Zelda only take 5 and 6 hours respectively?

You can't beat Final Fantasy 6 in 5 hours...

Probably a speedrun or something, if it's possible even then... But that's definitely not reflective of typical length for that game.

I based the numbers off three things. Personal Experience, the times listed on howlongtobeat.com and the YouTube longplay community. Some of them I disagree with slightly, but generally they're quite accurate and the longplays can't really be argued with as you can physically watch them play them. (Admittedly, I'm using speedrun times for FF6, it's open ended in many respects so it's entirely possible for the game to be 30 hours long depending on how you play it, but it's possible to complete the game in around 5-6 hours, in fact some people can do it in as little as 4 1/2 hours).

Link To The Past in 6 hours, now that's perfectly reasonable, and I've done it multiple times myself.

I'm sure it's not from personal experience because unless you speed run Secret of Mana there's no way in hell you're coming close to 2.5 hours.  My opinion is you typed each game in Youtube and took the first playthrough you saw.  There's actually a co op Secret of Mana speed run that was live streamed in two hours and 30 minutes on Youtube.

I say this because even if you beat the game, doesn't mean it took you that amount of time.  Why not say that Castlevania takes  13 minutes to beat because that's the fastest speed run.  I can beat it in under 20 minutes, but is your average player going to be able to beat it in less than 30 minutes their frst time playing?  Probably not.

I'm the exact opposite. As someone who doesn't have as much time for games, I want more deep, immersive games that I can play for dozens of hours over a period of weeks. Those are the games I'm willing to buy at full price, or nearly full price.

Fallout 4, Borderlands 3, Dragon Age 3, Persona 5, the next Valkyria Chronicles (if it ever appears) are on a very short list. Other games, like the next Saint's Row, Gran Turismo, and Far Cry, I'll probably pick up when they hit the $30 mark.

The kind of games I really like have depth and a lot of content that keeps you in that world for a long period of time.

As for value, that's absolutely relative. If I had money to burn, I wouldn't mind buying a 4 hour game at $60, but that kind of thing does not fit within my current budget.

Those times are far away from the average though. The first time you play a Zelda game, it does not take 6 hours unless you've followed a guide, in which case I'm not sure what the point in playing is.