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selenicseasAt 78.9 hours, I felt like I spent too much time on Horizon Forbidden West. That's not nearly the longest amount of time I've spent on a game – Breath of the Wild took 135 hours, and I currently have 292 hours in Baldur's Gate 3 (although the only playthrough I've completed took me 123 hours). I never thought Baldur's Gate 3 took too long to finish a playthrough. Breath of the Wild was pushing it, but Horizon Forbidden West was, for some reason, too long, despite taking the least amount of time of these three mentioned games.
I've been pondering for about a week just why I thought the game took too long, and what I've come up with are my typical annoyances with open-world games (too much padding for me to go for 100% completion). I've also been thinking about the length of video games in general, and what I think is an ideal length for a video game.
And what I've come up with is that I don't think there can be an ideal video game length. Some games would outstay their welcome if they were longer than 6-8 hours, while others have enough non-filler content to keep me engaged for 100 hours.
That doesn't mean I don't have my own preferences – I do! For most games, I've found I can spend around 20-30 hours before wanting to move on to something else. Occasionally this goes up to 40 hours, if it's a game with a longer main story.
But that's only for games that aren't CRPGs. I have zero problem playing a CRPG for a hundred hours for more, mostly because they have the content to justify that length. Most other games just don't.
I've been pondering for about a week just why I thought the game took too long, and what I've come up with are my typical annoyances with open-world games (too much padding for me to go for 100% completion). I've also been thinking about the length of video games in general, and what I think is an ideal length for a video game.
And what I've come up with is that I don't think there can be an ideal video game length. Some games would outstay their welcome if they were longer than 6-8 hours, while others have enough non-filler content to keep me engaged for 100 hours.
That doesn't mean I don't have my own preferences – I do! For most games, I've found I can spend around 20-30 hours before wanting to move on to something else. Occasionally this goes up to 40 hours, if it's a game with a longer main story.
But that's only for games that aren't CRPGs. I have zero problem playing a CRPG for a hundred hours for more, mostly because they have the content to justify that length. Most other games just don't.
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