We know that certain games are big, like BG3 or Persona 5. But recently games like FF7 rebirth and Indiana Jones just kept going on and on past “Act 3”. Also Rise of the Golden Idol seemed a little short to me
Are developers getting more efficient with generating content?
It Takes Two. I thought the game would be over about four times, but then it kept adding even more mechanics and got HARD. I thought it would be super casual, did not expect that much length and depth to it (ignoring the cheesy story 😅)
This. There’s just so much game in that game.
Hollow Knight.
Surely this is the end of the map… Ok but now Suuuuuurely this is the end of the map… OK NOW SUUUURELY…
The Talos Principle. After a short bit in the game, you go to a hub area that goes to other areas like the one you just came from. Eventually, you find out that there is another hub area above this which leads to other hub areas. I didn’t remember if there is another layer on top of that, but either way, once I hit that second hub layer, I remember realizing that the entire game was multiple times larger than I had thought, and I had no way to know if it would expand again when I made it to the next area.
The Talos Principle was such a great game! I think I’ll play it again before buying part 2
My wife and I each 100%'d Talos 2 and it was abundantly amazing. It had been years since either of us completed 1 but the way the story is structured you hear about the events of the first game in detail pretty regularly. I’m trying to be vague for spoilers. And of course I’m not trying to talk out of replaying 1, but just know you don’t have to, understand 2, and in my opinion it might be a touch tedious to do them back to back.
Both fantastic games tho that started a lot of good conversations between us.
There’s a remaster coming out early next year! I’m planning on doing the same when that comes out
Okami. Every time I finished an area, I thought I was nearing the end of the game. And every time, I was presented with a new, even larger area.
So pleased about the sequel coming! Loved that game.
Even if you notice that your brush techniques an inventory screens don’t look complete, it really does feel like the end. Then when they do look complete and you’re sure you’ve finally finished it, there’s one more region and some upgrades.
Hollow Knight. Every time you think you’re nearing the end, there’s still a lot more. The true ending and optional DLCs add so much.
The final two dlc battles more than doubled my overall playtime. Absolutely brutal bosses.
I loved nightmare grimm, but didn’t bother with the Godmaster stuff tbh. The boss rush was way too much for me.
That Pathfinder Kingmaker was long as hell. Not sure i want to start the sequel until I’m good and ready for another pleasant slog.
Pleasant slog should be the tagline on every owlcat game.
Love them but they definitely love a long game and a fuck you puzzle here and there.
I just finished it recently as well and also need an break until I start WotR.
Yakuza games a completionists dream/nightmare
I’m not usually surprised by the length but by the girth.
Pokemon Silver. Beat the Elite 4 and surprise now you get to go back to Kanto.
Blew my tiny mind…
I remember grinding my way through Pokemon Conquest, having a decent time but also kinda wanting it to reach its conclusion. I get to the end of the main campaign, scroll the credits, and then it tells me on next boot that there’s now some more content to play.
“Oh cool, a postgame,” I thought.
No. There was not a postgame. There were something like eighteen new campaigns to play.
To a certain kind of person this must’ve felt like Christmas morning. I put the game in a drawer and didn’t turn it on again out of sheer intimidation.
Nethack.
The first few dozen times I played it, it felt like it took forever to get anywhere. The most recent time I played, it felt quick and easy to get to the bottom. (I got stuck on something, though, and haven’t been able to continue past the valley of the dead.)
Portal
For me Portal as well. I knew back then that people said it’s an afternoon game but I thought “an afternoon for a good player, certainly not me”. Finished it in an afternoon.
Untitled Goose Game, but the other way. Got to the end of what I assumed was the first world, but it turned out that was the entire game.
Still a good game, but if I’d known I would have waited for a sale or something.
As an older gamer I want the opposite: shorter games. I don’t have the time to sink.
Final Fantasy 12
I had just come off of FFX while running through all the FF games that I could. With FF12, I got to a point where I had a solid amount of freedom and did a bunch of side quests and stuff. Then the next portion of the story takes you to this mountain, and I thought, ah cool, this looks like “new base” material. They lay out new information about the plot and then the next stop is to assault an air ship.
Kick ass, I think. This is probably roughly the story equivalent of the assault on Bevelle from FFX, you go in, fight your way through, a cinematic happens and the thrust of the story changes, new info drops, motivations change and are renewed just like in FFX.
Nope. You get to the boss on that ship, it’s some dude you have little to no investment in fighting. You kick his ass, he transforms, easy fight, and the game just ends.
I sat in actual open mouthed disbelief. There was no way the game ended there, at what I felt was dramatically and game time wise to be the obvious mid point. And yet, there the credits rolled.
I was so disappointed.
I haven’t played since the original release, but I vaguely remember feeling the same way. If I remember correctly you get to the boss and he is practically like who are you guys. I felt so let down there was no build up between the boss and your characters.
And then Square repeated it with FFXV. Whole time I was like why do I care about this villain? Apparently you had to play some side game or read a story to understand why you were meant to care.
With the decision that we needed to play the Kingdom Hearts mobile game to fully understand KH3, I’m starting to not like Square telling us we need to play so many different games to get how KH plot was