Retro STrife wrote:Atarifever wrote:I like the idea of a 25 hour JRPG. I wish there were more of them so I'd have some chance at completing some. Right now I'm playing Secret of Mana on Wii, and reviews have led me to believe it's not extremely long.
I feel that same way. For guidance, I highly recommend http://www.howlongtobeat.com. Search a game there and it gives you a general idea of how long it takes to beat--both for the main storyline and for completionists. Most mainstream games are covered and it is pretty accurate.
I find this site severely underrates the time to completion. I find for the RPGs I have played, it takes me 3 times as long to finish. For instance, I played Lord of the Rings Third Age on the Gamecube, and I believe it has a timer built in your save file. http://howlongtobeat.com says a completionist will take 23.5 hours -- I believe it took me almost 70 hours to win the game. There is even an option where you can then replay the game giving your starting character the final +20 Sword of Cleaving or something, which would be the completionist thing to do.
Another example is Bards Tale 1 on the NES. It also says about 30 hours for the completionist. I think that is a severe underestimate for that game. I have no idea how long it really takes to beat that game, since it goes on and on and on way past 30 hours.
I am not a completionist, and will skip out on exploring everywhere, searching every rock and wall for easter eggs, seeking out every person with a clue or costume or achievement. I will grind however, and often am overleveled by the final boss fight. Still, I think these times are 'minimal times for risk taking chess masters to complete' and not gamers like me, who ground pound their way to victory through massive leveling up. (that should be a tee shirt)