Game Length: How Long are you Willing to Put in?

[warcrow]

Well, Ken tells us that the game is going to be very open ended (not quite the sandbox experience like GTA:SA, but divived up into sections or nodes that you can go back and forth to and from) and that every experience is going to be mostly going to be unique and customized as our own.

With all this being said, how much time are you willing to put into this game? Excluding any MP games (especially MMOs), Oblivion is probably the most time I've put into a (single-played) gaming experience with 135 hours. I know that that's not much compared to some (I know of one guy who put in 200+ hours) -but that's a heavy time sink for me.

With all the information that I have on BioShock, it appears to me that this game is most likely going to be up there with Oblivion. This includes replaying the game with a new character -I calucate it as a whole.

What say you?

[Maniac]

I'd say about thirty hours would be a max for me. I usually devote that much time to an rpg.

-Maniac

[karmeck]

30h less is also good, it's teh game play that matters during thos game houers, thats why Episode games work.

[Bartekk]

(...) how much time are you willing to put into this game? (...)

As much as it takes to have fun with it.

[Flash Johnson]

barring the game having a fatal flaw and i find it unplayable, i might play it as long as i own a computer capable of running it

[ahrel]

As long as it takes, so long as it remains fun the entire time. There's no way to really say "I'm gonna spend X amount of time with this game" before I've played it.

[jackinthebox]

as long as it's fun, i'm going to play it... i usually don't replay games with a new character immediately after the first try, but who knows^^

[a rabid chicken]

If someone really likes a game, why would they want it to end? Assuming it is good, longer is better as far as I'm concerned. I find it extremely odd that anyone would want a game to be LESS than a certain length. If you are someone who thinks it's better if the game isn't as long as possible could you please explain why. I don't have a problen with that or anything, but until this thread was started I didn't think that anyone would want a highly enjoyable game to be short. Are there actually people like this? If you are one of these people, please explain why you are this way if possible. I am very fascinated by the concept that someone would want a short game and would like to understand why.

[vrap]

I expect that the length of the story portion of the game will be standard 20-30h, but the game's longevity will be substantially more due to it's game design. So I guess I'll be putting in exactly as much time as I have been in System Shock 2 and Deus Ex - on the scale of years rather than hours :)

[Newbeing]

If someone really likes a game, why would they want it to end? Assuming it is good, longer is better as far as I'm concerned. I find it extremely odd that anyone would want a game to be LESS than a certain length. If you are someone who thinks it's better if the game isn't as long as possible could you please explain why. I don't have a problen with that or anything, but until this thread was started I didn't think that anyone would want a highly enjoyable game to be short. Are there actually people like this? If you are one of these people, please explain why you are this way if possible. I am very fascinated by the concept that someone would want a short game and would like to understand why.

Well short and long can be relative from person to person. It also depends on how the gameplay and storyline pans out. Pacing can be very important to how you tell a story or even play a game.
If this game is like Soul Reaver for instance, you'll play for hours and hours with free roaming areas opening up as you progress through the storyline, but once you face Kain at the end, the storyline is over, roll credits and wait for the sequel or load the game up before you fight Kain and just mess around. If it were to be like GTA you would complete the more mission based storyline, face some final opponent, roll credits, but continue play afterwards.
Both situations really give you as much time as you want to get through the game while leaving more opportunities open.

Though, I guess I don't really understand your question. I don't think people are saying the want the whole game experience to last X amount of hours. They're saying that if you were to run through the storyline as fast as possible that it should at least be x amount of hours to compete with other games. If BioShock is as freeroam as others have said it is, then you can seemingly take as long as you want to get to the "end".

[Raveness]

I would like it to be on-par with what Deus Ex and SS2 delivered, which for me was roughly 30-35 hours on the first playthrough.

I'm not that big on worrying about the length of a game, I expect more quality gameplay during that time. A 10 hour game with excellent action, intrigue and a progressive and interesting story is better than 50 hours shooting or hacking/slashing at the same monsters in the same window dressing over & over.

[jam777]

If it's an enjoyable game with a great storyline that draws me in and it keeps me coming back for more, than "mission accomplished" IMO. Regardless of the length. I don't like to judge a game by the length of time I spend playing it, but rather the fun I have with the game. (That is to say, as long as the fun factor is worth the amount of $$ I forked over for the game.)

To me, Gears of War seemed a bit short. But was I happy with the game? Absolutely! I'm not sure how long I spent playing it, so maybe it was the whole "time's fun when you're having flies" thing. ;)

However, there are some games that have repetitive areas, unnecessary backtracking, drawn out storylines, etc. This definitely makes the game seem longer than it really is (or needs to be) and, in some cases, makes them very difficult to complete.

Oblivion, for example, I have yet to complete. It's an enormous game to explore and I have a ton of quests left to do. Will I ever finish it? I'd like to think so. (If only just to say that I did) But there just seems to be alot of repetitive dungeons and quite a bit of backtracking going on. Do I have the time and patience to invest in a game this size? Not sure.

[a rabid chicken]

Newbeing, I thought the question asked by this thread was, "What is the LONGEST you want the game to be?" Instead of "What is the SHORTEST you want the game to be." Perhaps I am confused. This happens to me quite often.

[Newbeing]

Well it is essentially the same question when you look at it realistically. You can't really say I want this game to play into infinity now can you? Despite the fact it would be nice if it lasted that long.

[somecut8]

I'm thinking bioshock will be kinda like deadrising, where there is an "overall" objective, but the areas where you can go are completely up to the user.

[Newbeing]

I'm thinking bioshock will be kinda like deadrising, where there is an "overall" objective, but the areas where you can go are completely up to the user.

Yes, but hopefully unlike Dead Rising, Bioshock won't have a strict time limit on, well, anything.

[Corgano]

I will to put in as long as it takes to play through it. No set time for me. The more enjoyable the experience, the better. I see myself playing more of a neutral/good character the first time through. And then probably going for the evil/immoral person the second time through.

I play on a NWN PW a lot, and am helping to build the new NWN2 PW of the same place. So, if I like something I may spend a long time there. I know Bioshock is currently only single player though. Maybe they'll combine this into a Fallout type world some day. Would be cool to see.

[^ilovebioshock!]

well by what i have seen BioShock will be a game where you are always finding out new things so i think it will take a while to get bored of it:D

[MarK SlamS]

Yay for first post!

As for game length, that would depend on how much of Rapture is open to me.

Are some sections of the city completely flooded/destroyed in the war/infested with Big Daddies (I wouldn't wanna go in there)?

I know the developers have stressed the games non-linearity, but I'm one who likes to explore every single nook and cranny, along with putting myself in the shoes of the character I'm playing as, especially if it's a first person game.

Regardless, if Bioshock is even half the game SS2 was, it's pretty much automatically Game of the Year, with it's closest competition being Blue Dragon and Mass Effect.

[Glottis]

Well, Ken tells us that the game is going to be very open ended (not quite the sandbox experience like GTA:SA, but divived up into sections or nodes that you can go back and forth to and from) and that every experience is going to be mostly going to be unique and customized as our own.

With all this being said, how much time are you willing to put into this game? Excluding any MP games (especially MMOs), Oblivion is probably the most time I've put into a (single-played) gaming experience with 135 hours. I know that that's not much compared to some (I know of one guy who put in 200+ hours) -but that's a heavy time sink for me.

With all the information that I have on BioShock, it appears to me that this game is most likely going to be up there with Oblivion. This includes replaying the game with a new character -I calucate it as a whole.

What say you?



As long as it takes,and then some,and then some !!!! If I can get a hundred hours of play time out of it,great ! The longer the game is the better !!!!

I love the Morrowinds and Oblivions of the PC gaming world.... :)

[Necros]

Yay for first post!
As for game length, that would depend on how much of Rapture is open to me.
Are some sections of the city completely flooded/destroyed in the war/infested with Big Daddies (I wouldn't wanna go in there)?
Ken said that the whole city is open for you to explore. Though I also think there will be areas where you can only go to when you are more powerful (have more plasmids, stronger weapons).
As for the flooded sections... I don't know. But if there are (and it would make sense) I hope our character can swim. :) And some underwater fights would interesting too. :D

Oh, and welcome! :)

[Lucas78]

I really have no "set time" in mind; I just hope in an immersive experience. Obviously, not going to the "Max Payne" extreme with just 10-12 hours, but something that is open-ended and tempt you to play the game again after you beat it the first time (and that's not always easy, especially for those, like me, who are a bit spoiled after they beat the game the first time and not feel like playing again after knowing how the game ends).

[DSroyU DOW]

as long as it's fun, i'm going to play it... i usually don't replay games with a new character immediately after the first try, but who knows^^ 2nd but i hope im gonna want to after this one

[Necros]

I really have no "set time" in mind; I just hope in an immersive experience. Obviously, not going to the "Max Payne" extreme with just 10-12 hours, but something that is open-ended and tempt you to play the game again after you beat it the first time (and that's not always easy, especially for those, like me, who are a bit spoiled after they beat the game the first time and not feel like playing again after knowing how the game ends).
I'm sure I'll play it through more than once. I think it'll be around 30-40 at least for the first time. I'll explore every little corner in the game and read/listen to anything I can find. :) And I'm quite sure there will be times when I'll just gaze at the wonderful setting of a room/area and just look at the pouring water or something. :) The design of this game is amazing. :cool:

[Corgano]

I'm sure I'll play it through more than once. I think it'll be around 30-40 at least for the first time. I'll explore every little corner in the game and read/listen to anything I can find. :) And I'm quite sure there will be times when I'll just gaze at the wonderful setting of a room/area and just look at the pouring water or something. :) The design of this game is amazing. :cool: I will be doing exactly the same thing. I look forward to every piece of paper to read, and every recording to listen to. Plus I'm sure I'll spend time just watching the fish swim by. :)

[Necros]

Plus I'm sure I'll spend time just watching the fish swim by. :)
Yeah, good idea. :) Maybe we can put on a defeated Big Daddy's suit and go swimming around a little bit. :D :D

[jackinthebox]

Yeah, good idea. :) Maybe we can put on a defeated Big Daddy's suit and go swimming around a little bit. :D :D

i think the suits are stuffed with silicon and processors... so you will have to do some work first ;)

[ComradeP]

I hope our character can swim.

Imagine swimming around...and seeing a dot in the distance...which comes closer...and closer...only to become a gigantic fish (like the one in the narrated video) that immediately eats you which results in death.

That would scare a lot of people. A lot of people are afraid of being alone in the vastness of a sea/ocean. I think one of the interesting gameplay elements of Bioshock is that, counting all sane people, the player seems to be alone...in an underwater city with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and knowing that he has to kill to stay alive.

I'll explore every little corner in the game and read/listen to anything I can find. And I'm quite sure there will be times when I'll just gaze at the wonderful setting of a room/area and just look at the pouring water or something. The design of this game is amazing.

Close to my opinion. I'll explore every nook and cranny once, no matter how long it takes and look at everything there is to look at, but I doubt I'll return to it as even though the game is fairly open ended, the environment is not apparantly and knowing where all the stuff is makes a game a lot less of a challenge.

[splicer]

Its simple,I boot it...I play It..I finish it..no breaks,take in the experience,start over!;)

[Rapture_Survivalist]

As long as there is a decent (more like spectacular ;)) story, then I'm happy. But hopefully there will be branching plotlines/side stories to keep people coming back for more!:D

[Fennerman]

I doubt this game is gonna take more than 25 hours... I guess... That said, i'm probably playing it twice

[splicer]

I'd say 8-12 is more realistic;)

[Raveness]

Ken Levine has stated, and I quote: My last playthrough, knowing the game in and out, and just trying to get to most of the rooms so i could find the perfect spot for various licensed music, was about 10 hours. My guess is a total noob playthrough is 12-20, with the high side a bit more.

[splicer]

Well,thats it then!-If the man himself reckons 10 hours-oh dear!:(

[Rapture_Survivalist]

Come on people!:mad: We're starting to sound like a bunch of paranoid gamers going "OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD BIOSHOCK IS ONLY GOING TO BE LIKE 10-12 HOURS LONG OHMYGODOHMYGOD!!!1!!!!11!!1!1!!111!1

I think that we should put our trust in Irrational and 2K that they will make a truly memorable experiance, and that we will keep coming back for more.

Other than that, it's out of our hands....

[splicer]

I can hear what you are saying,but also at £50 a pop,a lot of neutrals are going to be dissapointed,especially when other titles offer three times the amount of gameplay for the same outlay.I'm all for a quality experience,but i want value also.;)

[Alminie]

I would say Bioshock is going to take about 100 hours,
"of me staring at the eye candy"
then once I start really playing,
20-30 hours play time. :D

[splicer]

Nice thought,shame about the reality;)

[Raveness]

Come on people!:mad: We're starting to sound like a bunch of paranoid gamers going "OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD BIOSHOCK IS ONLY GOING TO BE LIKE 10-12 HOURS LONG OHMYGODOHMYGOD!!!1!!!!11!!1!1!!111!1

I know what you mean. All too often you see supposed "gamers" always asking the inevitable blanket question of length, like length is directly proportional to enjoyment. These people are 'too feckin stoopid' to understand the complexity that can go into time spent playing.

Bioshock will be tight, every minute spent playing should have you on the edge of your seat, anticipating the next event. This isn't some experience-cruncher game where you can watch TV out of the corner of one eye whilst slaying the umpteenth monster, or some hack action shooter on rails that could be done while crapping on the loo.

Quite frankly, even though I know Irrational needs the cash from this mass crowd, sometimes I wish they'd keep their money and flush it down the toilet or buy another long, empty hoagie of a game from EA. Marketing must be the easiest of jobs, just throw numbers and flashy images at the 'too feckin stoopid' crowd and they'll eat it up.

[/rant]

[splicer]

Well said,this will overload every sensory input that we have,and I'm sure long hours will be spent in awe gazing at the loveliness,lets hope the actual gameplay matches the athestic of the visuals;) Also if you are refering to me being too fecking stupid to appreciate complexity over lenghth then you couldnt be more mistaken,I want quality and longevity!

[Rapture_Survivalist]

Even if it is on the shortish side in terms of straight story, I will probably stare at every water drop, add, window and actual location for 10 hours (like most people here!;)) before I move on.:D

[splicer]

I've already said,that on one playthrough I'm just gonna follow a BD around to see what it does!;)

[Fennerman]

if ken took 10 hours knowing the game in and out, but trying to listen to music... I guess a normal guy could take about 20 hours or more. I mean, I usually take about 15 minutes to take an important desicion (like in System Shock 2 when you had to decide what upgrade to make). And also ken probably didn't have to go back to different places to something missed, cause he already knew where it is... I'm a slow and strategic gamer, I think every move except on quake style games xD, that said... I doubt I take less than 15 hours.

[splicer]

Thats fine if that suits your style.I'm sure everyone will find their own pace thru the game.I was the same in SS2,pondering what move to make-the super clunky interface didnt help!:p

[smallsey]

how long DID everybody take to finish ss2? i must have spent atleast 10 - 12 hours on that one...so really its about the same as bioshock aparently.
im going to just wait and see how long bioshock takes to finish. i can see myself looking at all the wonderful objects and whatnot in the game to...not to mention modifying the weapons in different ways to reach pure golden awsomeness. so prob about 20 hours.
as long as its better then single player halo 2...and theres no majorly lame time restraints like dead rising had in place. so much potential wasted.

[Hornet65]

As long as it takes, if the game is good i'll play it forever. I still play Final Fantasy VII sometimes, and that came out in '97

[splicer]

My playtime(1st time)was 5.43mins-shocking:p

[smallsey]

your a tester? :eek:

[splicer]

Nope..just a speedy gamer!:)

[Fennerman]

As long as it takes, if the game is good i'll play it forever. I still play Final Fantasy VII sometimes, and that came out in '97

xD I played Out of This World recently ^^ (the anniversary version) it's even older... what a game! Also played shock 2 for the third time... It all depends of how big is your love ;)

[Nihil]

as long as it's a good game which ithink it will be then it can last as long as it wants, like seriously even if you get bored with it after awhile which will be unikely thn it gives you something you can always come back to as long as it's unique to every player like it promises. that why i loved just cause and saints row even those were somewhat linear atleast i had an open world to mess around with when i got sick of the real world.

[aids on wheels]

Well short and long can be relative from person to person. It also depends on how the gameplay and storyline pans out. Pacing can be very important to how you tell a story or even play a game.
If this game is like Soul Reaver for instance, you'll play for hours and hours with free roaming areas opening up as you progress through the storyline, but once you face Kain at the end, the storyline is over, roll credits and wait for the sequel or load the game up before you fight Kain and just mess around. If it were to be like GTA you would complete the more mission based storyline, face some final opponent, roll credits, but continue play afterwards.
Both situations really give you as much time as you want to get through the game while leaving more opportunities open.

Though, I guess I don't really understand your question. I don't think people are saying the want the whole game experience to last X amount of hours. They're saying that if you were to run through the storyline as fast as possible that it should at least be x amount of hours to compete with other games. If BioShock is as freeroam as others have said it is, then you can seemingly take as long as you want to get to the "end".
i'm hoping it'll be one of these games i can grab back at when i don't have other games to play for a while meaning 100+ shouldn't be hard

[mothra]

everything > 20hours is good with me. below that there must be
truly spectacular and exhausting gameplay to satisfy me

[lockload]

Around 30 is fine with me, i put about 40 into oblivion and got bored

[ArmedandDangerous]

I finished every single quest in Oblivion in 55,and I'm hoping Bioshock will last as long. 30+ hours is good enough. I usually replay the games 3-4 times anyway.. So that amounts to 120+ hours for me xD

[Poison17]

I don't know how long I will put into it, because the game isn't out yet but the most I ever put into a single player game was about 90 hours and it was Pokemon Red then the game had a glitch and it deleted my file after I had every single one.

[ArmedandDangerous]

Lol,I reached the Eilte Four in Blue in 4 hours 15 minutes with no cheats and my whole bench nearing 99.

[Grendel]

Well if it's a game I really enjoy then it will likely get multiple playthroughs, I know I will go through at least twice. Although if I have a fun with a game it doesn't really matter to me how long it is. I would like to see bioshock last about 30 hours but if it's fun it doesn't matter all that much.

[Rumor]

It all depends on just how great Bioshock is going to be...

If it is a truly great game, I'll keep playing it for years. For example, I've been playing GTA: San Andreas since its PC release and I'm not done yet. How many hundreds of hours was it? No idea.

From what information is available I gather Bioshock will have similarities with Psiops, which I enjoyed for some time. Telekinesis, teleportation, it all sounds very tasty. Give me a large interesting playground and I'll play this game for a long time, which is more appropriate to measure in years than in hours, like someone here said.

[lurchibald]

well i invested 150 hrs in oblivion if a game intrigues me enough then it will last a lifetime and with bioshock i hope to get 25-30+ hrs straight storyline +10-30 hrs wandering around and then there's the replayability different styles of play etc etc etc

WooHoo 30th post now a fully qualified member

[Ectoplasm]

To OP: this whole 'willing to put in' concept is strange. Say, you are playing an incredibly entertaining, engrossing, amazing game, but the moment you reach the amount of time you 'were willing to put into it', finished or not, it's exit and uninstall?

Me, as long as it takes, and the longer the better.

[CrestFactor]

As long as there is a decent (more like spectacular ;)) story, then I'm happy. But hopefully there will be branching plotlines/side stories to keep people coming back for more!:D

I can't really imagine a game like this NOT having branching plotlines or, at the very least, side-missions. I mean it's supposed to be huge and explorable, right? Exploring would get really boring really fast if you end up being like "Wow, this place is awesome. Wish there were something to do here :( "

[Eel Kuan]

I don't view any game as enjoyable that I have to rush through. I enjoy exploring the game and looking at the scenery. Part of the enjoyment is the role playing aspect, if you are speeding through the game, you miss experiencing what you bought the game for - fun! So if it takes me 100/200/300 hours, and I am having fun, then it takes me however long it takes.

[Raveness]

I can't really imagine a game like this NOT having branching plotlines or, at the very least, side-missions. I mean it's supposed to be huge and explorable, right? Exploring would get really boring really fast if you end up being like "Wow, this place is awesome. Wish there were something to do here :( "

Actually I don't expect much in the matter of side-missions. SS2 had next to none, but it ingeniously made it feel like there was by including PDA tidbits of ammo stashes and codes for lockers ad nauseum. I'd rather have every action expertly woven into the main plot, with the ability to disregard some objectives, or at least have some conflict or cancel out each other, leading to some effective branching of the narrative progression.

[silentbread]

as long as it takes

[smallsey]

Actually I don't expect much in the matter of side-missions. SS2 had next to none, but it ingeniously made it feel like there was by including PDA tidbits of ammo stashes and codes for lockers ad nauseum. I'd rather have every action expertly woven into the main plot, with the ability to disregard some objectives, or at least have some conflict or cancel out each other, leading to some effective branching of the narrative progression.

haha i loved that. not many games do it... actually no game except ss2 has done that so far. shame. maybe a successor to ss2 will use that idea =P

[Rapture_Survivalist]

Like I said in a previous post, it's out of our hands. We should just hope that it meets our expectations.

[Freddo]

When I buy a new good game (most recent example would be Okami), then I tend to put pretty much all my spare time into it. If the game lasts longer than 2 weeks of intense gaming, then I tend to get somewhat bored with it and spend less time playing, and starts to do more "normal" stuff :p When Oblivion came out I had put about 100 hours into it after 2 weeks.

I felt that System Shock 2 had pretty good game length, and I'm certain Bioshock won't be longer than that SS2. In my extremly uneducated guess I would say that Bioshock is about 1/4 shorter than SS2, and I'm content with that.

[Raveness]

I felt that System Shock 2 had pretty good game length, and I'm certain Bioshock won't be longer than that SS2. In my extremly uneducated guess I would say that Bioshock is about 1/4 shorter than SS2, and I'm content with that.

Ken already stated that the game should take 12-20 hours for noobs playing the first time through, roughly equivalent to SS2:
My last playthrough, knowing the game in and out, and just trying to get to most of the rooms so i coulld find the perfect spot for various licensed music, was about 10 hours. My guess is a total noob playthrough is 12-20, with the high side a bit more.

http://69.64.70.103/forums/showpost.php?p=10321&postcount=10

[Freddo]

Sounds good :D

First time thru SS2 took about 20-22 hours or so for me IIRC.

[GH Illustrations]

I'll be playing till the end, then replaying some more . . . .

Then playing again to admire all the art and crazy water effects, I take my time in games to admire their beauty . . . .

[Raveness]

Sounds good :D

First time thru SS2 took about 20-22 hours or so for me IIRC.

I don't think your guess is extremely uneducated then. In fact it looks spot-on. My recent playthrough of System Shock 2 involved doing every little possible thing imaginable (GamePig, research everything, kill everything, all audio logs, query every single item even the wines and juice) and it came out at this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/RavenessM/gamepics/ss2timesave.jpg

Subtract a quarter from 15 hours and you have roughly the low-end length of time Ken mentioned ;)

[Kastor]

Me? if its entirely possible, ill spend as long as i can wandering the halls of rapture, living off the environment, hiding in the deepest darkest shadows... admiring the beautiful water effects... surviving :p

im gonna try to avoid voilence wherever possible.

[TerosX]

However long it takes to play through the game 3 times.

[JBaums]

i think it will be so good that i will put in as much time as it takes to beat it twice

[DarthMario7]

i will play for as long as i can before ive done everything

[WakeUpInFlames]

I am going to put in some SERIOUS time into this game, I'm going to play it over atleast 5 times.