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?

  • QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works
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    5 hours ago

    Going back a ways here with Castlevania: Symphony of The Night. It seems like a fairly fleshed out game as it is when you get to the “final” boss but then you read a guide and find out “ending A” is only half of the game

  • Tidesphere@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    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.

  • durfenstein@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    Hollow Knight.

    Surely this is the end of the map… Ok but now Suuuuuurely this is the end of the map… OK NOW SUUUURELY…

  • Crafter72@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    18 hours ago

    Fallout 4. The amount of world exploration and itty bitty stuffs almost makes me lost myself in exploration, even though the story can be really short depending how you progress the content. On my first playthrough, I clocked at ~90hrs of play time and only just passed the 1/4 of story progression just because I sucked in sidequest and exploration.

    Never thought I enjoyed the base building and assisting settlements aspects, Bethesda did great job on Visual storytelling speaking as Interplay/Obsidian Fallout fan.

    Another case is STALKER Anomaly mod which can gives you theoritical endless playtime as long as you creative to build your own CYOA Stalker story. Though I don’t recommend Anomaly if you’re looking for the STALKER lore (as they’re fan project) and should be treated as post-vanilla playthrough.

  • Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works
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    22 hours ago

    Nier Automata actually kinda pissed me off the first time I played it. Thought I was finished with the game and was confused by the ending, turns out that was just ending A. Gotta play again for B, and then C, and can’t forget D and E for the full picture.

    Had to take a break from the game but I went back for the rest of the endings and they’re worth it. Also they cut out a lot of the side quests and grinding after ending A. Getting that first ending is actually like 50% or 60% finished. But yeah, at first I was getting flashbacks to the PS2 games that tell you the true ending can only be seen by playing again on the newly unlocked ‘Very Hard’ difficulty

  • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    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.

    • QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works
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      5 hours ago

      There’s like three different points in the game that look like the end before revealing more. It’s a chunky game. If it was paced slightly better and the dialogue trimmed (by a lot) it would be perfect. But it’s close enough

    • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      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.

  • Deadrek@lemmy.today
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    15 hours ago

    Astlibra: Revision

    I’d put a conservative minimum first playtime at 60 hours… For slower, completionist, players? 80-100 hours.

    If that first playthrough is on the impossible setting?.. I don’t wanna think about it. Lmao

  • durfenstein@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

    I knew it was a jrpg from the beginning, but the way the stories unfolded and piled up had me confused. There was a new question every chapter and it just bwcqme bigge and bigger. Awesome game

  • Ashtear@lemm.ee
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    15 hours ago

    Biggest surprise for length was Dragon Quest VII, the PSX version. Started playing it close to release, dropped it several times and finally finished it years later.

    I’d played multiple games in the series before and I think the longest one topped out at 40 hours, so I really was not expecting a 100+ hour marathon like that was (although the very, very long prologue should probably have served as a warning).

  • porotoman99@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    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.

      • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        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.

      • shrodes@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        There’s a remaster coming out early next year! I’m planning on doing the same when that comes out

  • skrunch@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    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 😅)

    • wrekone@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      21 hours ago

      It was a really fun game. It took months to finish it, in small chunks, trying to fit in time here and there with my kid. I’m glad we finished though.

  • magic_lobster_party@fedia.io
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    1 day ago

    Elden Ring. Even after finishing the final boss there was so many areas I’ve not been to. And all those areas are unique - some with unique enemy types. It’s the game that dares to hide a secret area behind a secret area.

    • KreekyBonez@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      from the people who brought us illusory double walls of the Great Hollow and Ash Lake, go figure