This has been getting to me for a while now.

why is it that whenever you play an RPG they tell you on the box or whatever that it will last longer that it actually does?

eg: Tales of Symphonia
estimated time of completion= 80 hours
actual time of completion= 50 hours (and i did everything but get the Gaia Cleaver)

another example;

Baten Kaitos (a decent enough Gamecube RPG)
estimated time of completion= 60 hours
actual time of completion= 25 hours

it's stupid. I'm sick of getting to the percieved midpoint of a game to have it end on me without warning. The only games to have lasted any time at all are FFIX and VII. Why do the manufacturers keep putting such unrealistic lifetimes on games?

To make you want to buy them.

I'm like so lost In Baten Kaitos. I just started it yesterday, they could have at least had a tutorial battle.

I can't play now, since Kalas or whatever has like 10 HP from a fight and I don't know how to heal him in that town.

And I guarantee you can WASTE hours in FFX by getting the crests, sigils, and rare weapons. Those are annoying.

Keep in mind, back in the day people played FFVI for hours on end to hit level 99. On every character.

I think this is why MMORPGs ruined gaming for me... like PSO. You'll realize there are barely any stages and wonder why the hell you're doing it, but it's fun to reach new milestones. I like that.

You're just good.

With the average casual gamer, those times are about accurate. It took me 60 hours to beat FFX, when a bunch of people could beat it in 40 or less.

What they need to do is base the time frames differently. Like for example, maybe they can estimate how long it takes them to beat their own game. People are almost guarenteed to play a game longer than the people who made the game. Seriously, I doubt many people play a game because it says it's an exceedingly long game anyway. As long as the game lasts me more than a couple days, I'm happy.

ok. In each town theres a shop, one of the options being to 'rest your wings'. Doing this will completely heal you of all status conditions, for free, as well as giving you full health.
The battles themselves are a pain in the ass to begin with, but they get better later on. By the end of the game its frantic, because the time limits decrease sharply. Just make sure on your deck menu that you've got all your weapons and armor, etc, in the right-hand section, otherwise you're gonna be playing a whole shitload of pass cards.
I'd say to persevere with Baten Kaitos, i actually began to like it quite a lot by the end, especially after some of the plot twists. Don't expect it to be the best thing ever, but it comes within a stones throw of Tales.


you've got a point there Draygone, as long as the game lasts a little while, it's ok.

I beat ToS in 45 hours, getting everything.

Gah! No wonder. I kept talking to that doctor and checking around the church. I thought healing in those places would make more sense.

XP

Regal, did you ever get those games back your bro sold?

no, but i got given a replacement Ocarina by the guy in the shop. I'm still getting over that. I ordered a copy of RPGM3 on import, but it won't be here for a while yet.

I haven't forgiven him.





45 hours for ToS is good, but i reckon i could beat it, with a real effort. I'm guessing that was without the 10x exp, though? you could cut that time down a lot with the 10x upgrade.

All righty, buddy.

what, am i being strangely obsessive again?



*twitches*

Sure, you COULD BEAT a game in X amount of hours, but I think what they are saying is that it takes Y amount to COMPLETE it. That is to say all side quests completed, all mini games mastered, every weapon obtained (and used), same for magic (where aplicable), all cut scenes WATCHED(not skiped), all characters completley leveled up to max levels, all NPCS spoken to (and they have said everyting that they will ever say), all stats maxed out, money maxed out, all items maxed out (at least once, even rares), all enemies fought at least once, and all places visited.

If you take that into considderation then the time frame that the game designers place on the game is CONSERVATIVE.

I played FF8 for OVER 120 hours BEFORE I even faced Ultimiecia (who whooped my ass u_u*) The game said "over 80 hurs of game play." Sure, I addmit that I would sit there with the game running whilst I consulted my strat guide for some juicy tip, or to devise some convoluted way to refine Dark matter in to energy crystals, with out having to face Ruby Dragons, but the point is that I played that game for WELL over 80 hours even if you factor out all that time that the game sat there running in the subscreen.

I tend to think that the game designers often UNDERestimate the time it will take at first. Then they play the game the way it was "meant" to be played, and that ups the ammonut of time it takes. Then you get input from game testers who actualy go throught the game TRYING to break the code, and they get a different figure for completion. I figure that they average all that out and call it "close enough."

as long as a game lasts more then a few days and kicks ass ill play it