On the topic of RPGs being too long, I like it that way. I’m one of those crazy people that don’t just play RPGs for the story (#1 reason), I also play it for the game mechanic (#2 reason). I devote hours into playing Tales of series because I LIKE the battles, trying to get high combos, use crap moves to see if they’re really crap or not etc. I play turn-based SRPGs (like SRW and Disgaea) because the act of leveling up and dealing inane amounts of damage, or try to go through at as low a level as possible.
If you stick to the story, most RPGs can be finished in 40 hours, and rarely is there a RPG that requires you to level up a lot (Eternal Sonata and Cross Edge being some of the recent ones) just to finish the game.

the only way to play rpgs is to replace your life with the life of the character, beats the hell out of reality

im very similar with books its all or nothing baby pffft playing on the train 2 hours per day is for fags not showering for a week not leaving the bed/couch for days forgetting who you are thats the way niggaAAA

RPGs can be long. I tend to focus on beating one RPG at a time. If I play one 1/2 way through I find it hard to just pick it up and play because I forget about the story and I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do.

Lost Odyssey is a great game try to finish that one.

I have adopted a play one RPG at a time approach now, instead of playing them as they come out. That way, months can be spent with a quality RPG and you can move from finishing that to more RPGs if thats your genre of choice.

I would hate to attack vesperia and star ocean at the same time. Thus, waiting (jealous of you!) to play this, exclusively, until the next RPG comes along that warrants the time.

Have fun playing! :)

Play another game.

I for one love these types of old school games, and yes as my life has progressed I have less time for them…

But there are plenty of games that cater either directly to your tastes or with nice grey areas for you to traverse.
People who talk about likeing FF and yet hate constantly stopping to have to fight… DONT LIKE FF. They like the nice scenes and story line they got used to in FF7 and never realised that the Western Release was horribly dumbed down.

If you want to play a different type of RPG for the sake of gaming go play it… because now what weve got is a game producer who doesnt know what they want to do, and a series of games that I no longer have any love of.

This is from a guy who PREVIOUS to FF7 had played Squares ENTIRE catalogue(at least what had been fan translated).

Buck up or get out of the pool.

That’s not really possible with most RPGs for the following reasons:

1. The next save point is when?
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Hopefully a dying trend in RPGs is the marathon effort required just to get to the next save point. Nothing would freak me out more when I was younger then having my epic FF7 play session interrupted by a call for dinner – NOW! “But I need to save!” Too bad, I lose.

In contrast, and as an example, is the Legend of Zelda series which allows saving at any time.

2. I’m doing what when now?
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– Either because I’ve been engaged in too many side quests, very non-linear play, or it’s been a month since I last played the game, it’s so easy to forget what you supposed to do. And there is a difference between what my current side-quests are, and my main story objective. Often I find it’s only the most current activity (i.e. side-quest) for which the current objective can be displayed.

3. Why am I doing this?
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I usefully play RPGs for the stories/narrative. Yet most RPGs encourage, nay, reward spending obscene amounts of time doing side quests. All this activity only slows down the narrative, which is usually only revealed in cut scenes at certain milestones reached in the game.

This may be personal experience, but for this reason I usually lose the motivation to spend lots of time playing the RPGs.

4. Side-quests vs Replay Value
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This may be more of reflection of my personal play style then something generally applicable, but I don’t feel like I’ve finished a game until all the side quests are done. Often games will even keep track of progress as a percent complete. However, how often have I read in a game review stating that a game has lots of replay value because there are lots of side-quests to complete? Nuh-uh! If I’m spending 60 plus hours on a game, then there is no going back. Either I complete side-quests now (first time), or not at all. After all, what’s the difference between me spending 100 hours the first time to finish the game 100% as opposed to playing the game through twice at 50 hours each?

Unfortunately this normally culminates in me feeling like a failure because either I didn’t finish the game 100% the first time, or I spent too much time doing side quests and lost interest in finishing the game at all.

What I love about the Legend of Zelda series is that (bar a few minor exceptions, i.e. some photographs in Link’s Awakening etc.) there are no limitations or expiry on finishing all the side-quests. From heart pieces to inventory items, you can get them all. You don’t have to worry about having reached some milestone in the game beyond which side quests are lost – they are still there.

In contrast is FFX-2 to name a specific example; very non-linear episodic levels, the completion of which is triggered sometimes unexpectedly by player actions. And when a level is over, there is no going back. I remember restarting FFX-2 half-way through because I realised I hadn’t got Pain’s special dress sphere in Chapter 1. And when I realised in Chapter 5 that I had only collected 9 out of 10 crimson spheres, having missed a sphere in Chapter 3, I just stopped playing. It was the slap in the face I didn’t need. And it made no sense to me. Why was I being punished? I didn’t miss it because I wasn’t trying!

Resolution
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Here’s what it will take for me to finish an RPG:
• Allow sporadically game play:
– Save when you want to.
– Play for 20 to 30 minutes at a time.
• No expiry of side-quests
– Side-quests that can always be finished, even at the ‘end’ of the game.
– Motivation for doing the side-quests (early) should only be to make completing the rest of the game easier, or because they are enjoyable in themselves.
• Clear Objectives:
– The ability to easily bring up the current objective/s
– Objectives of the main story, and current side-quests should be easily distinguishable.
• The story so far:
– Some kind of system for recapping the story so far.
– Maybe something like a story diary/journal, or unlocking of story cut scenes to play as a continuous film as a refresher. Perhaps even making personal notes within the game as a reminder.