FFXIII Takes 50 Hours Even For "Experienced Players"

Ever since we learned of the game's North American release date, Final Fantasy XIII has begun to dominate news headlines everywhere. ...what, you got a problem with that?

Although many of us have already gotten used to shorter games in this generation, we can always turn to the role-playing genre for some supremely long adventures. Recent examples would be Demon's Souls and Dragon Age: Origins, both of which will net you 50 or 60 hours of entertainment (and that's at a bare minimum), and even the action/adventure game, Assassin's Creed II, is clocking in at around 40 hours. And when you say the name, "Final Fantasy," most anticipate a fairly large number in terms of gameplay length, which is why we're not surprised to hear that FFXIII will take even experienced players around 50 hours. According to Kotaku, game director Motomu Toriyama made the following prediction:

"For XIII, the size of the entire game is considerable. Just running through the main story takes experienced players over 50 hours. For the first time, I think it's possible to play through in full in about 60 hours or so."

Now, before any of you say, "well, I knew that would happen," bear in mind that FF veterans know these games have actually gotten longer over the years. I dove into FFVII and FFVIII in each of the past two years, and I'm always surprised at just how short both are if you stick to the main story. You can finish FFVII in around 25 hours if you speed right through it, for instance. So to hear Toriyama give us these numbers is exciting for any FF fan; it means we just get more goodness for our $60. Ain't gonna argue.

Related Game(s): Final Fantasy XIII

12/2/2009 9:06:06 PM Ben Dutka

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Comments (84 posts)

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Alienange
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 9:48:35 PM
Reply

Well... I know what I'M doing in 2010.

7 up, 0 down

LimitedVertigo
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:37:48 PM

Boys?

9 up, 18 down

Hezzron
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 5:08:18 PM

@ LV - Making a joke by picking up on the "doing" part was good, unfortunately you executed it with a poor subject matter. "Boys" conjures images of pedophiles, which is unacceptable to society, never mind not funny.

Here's a few substitutes for future use:

Sheep?
Blow-Up dolls?
Adam Lambert?
Tiger Wood's wife?

Heck, even a "That's what she said!" would of been better.

Anyone else care to give a few ideas?

4 up, 1 down

LimitedVertigo
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 10:34:53 PM

First off if the word "boys" makes you think of child abuse you might have a few issues you need to have addressed.

Second "boys" is way better than any of the examples you felt should have been used. How about this; next time beat me to the punch otherwise accept it as is.

You're attempt at both critiquing me and coming off witty didn't work.

Oh and child abuse is funny, just like aids, cancer, and tall buildings that fall down. In humor all is fair game, deal with it.

1 up, 5 down

convergecrew
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 9:49:33 PM
Reply

50 hours is plenty long for me. I just hit that point in Dragon Age and it feels like Ive been playing for a looooong time.

I wonder how much time side quests will add in though, hopefully another 20 or so.

1 up, 0 down

therabbitkinge
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 9:52:55 PM
Reply

That clocks in at about a dollar an hour... I pay my gardner more then that... looks like my lawns gonna have to go untended for a few weeks lol

1 up, 4 down

johnld
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 12:14:54 AM

ummm, theres is a delete post icon. you know, right next to the edit one.

4 up, 0 down

Gone
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:07:05 PM
Reply

50 hours will go by fast when you are having fun.

1 up, 0 down

kokoro
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:08:40 PM
Reply

Some guy on youtube spent 999 hours on Final Fantasy 12- lol he could have learnt two new languages in that time. His youtube name was Ashe10 I think, but his account got suspended for some reason.

2 up, 0 down

Hezzron
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:12:25 PM
Reply

They BETTER give you a good amount of playing time for a game with no multi-player. 50 hours is peanuts next to the years some games get played online.

2 up, 10 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:20:20 PM

FF doesn't need any lame online.

17 up, 3 down

Qwarktast1c
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:23:23 PM

@ world

i couldn't agree more

7 up, 2 down

Hezzron
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:24:52 PM

@WorldEndsWithMe - I take it you won't buy FF XIV then?

1 up, 1 down

Kr3sn1k
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:25:03 PM

Totaly agree with you World final fantasy will never need online it wouldnt matter even if it was 30 hours long i wuld be getting it!

3 up, 2 down

Alienange
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:29:27 PM

I'm not getting FFXIV. You can take your monthly charges and shove them!

8 up, 3 down

Oxvial
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:37:23 PM

FFIV isn't like a real ff it would be better if they just call it FF Online 2.

1 up, 3 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:55:33 PM

I probably won't, but a game dedicated to online is different from a game that doesn't need it and would only suffer because of its inclusion.

4 up, 2 down

___________
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 11:09:11 PM

online fees are actually good, IF you got the game for free.
i wished games would be free, but than you have to pay say 20 bucks a month to play them.
that would save me a sh*t load of money, because i normally play a game for a month, than off to the trade bin i go.
that way im only paying 20 bucks instead of 110.

0 up, 4 down

Hezzron
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 11:25:08 PM

Just because a game includes some online play doesn't make it lame. There are still people playing the SOCOMs online on the PS2! A quality SP game usually has decent MP if it's included.

Now if you don't like online play in general, that's a whole other issue....

...and judging from the comments here, I guess the PS3 exclusive FF XIV has an uphill climb.....or was this just a few cases of "foot in mouth"?

Last edited by Hezzron on 12/2/2009 11:29:54 PM

2 up, 0 down

johnld
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 12:25:44 AM

you cant compare socom to final fantasy for online play because its two very very different games. Sure people play socom online today but socom isnt really as story heavy as final fantasy. The thing i like about final fantasy games is that when you buy it, you get the whole game, story wise. Well, with the exception of X which needed X-2 to complete the story or at least have a happy ending.

In my opinion, standard final fantasy game and Online final fantasy games are also two very different games. mainly because standard ff series are a single player experience vs and MMO. standard ff games have a complete story to drive you when you play. MMOs on the other hand, as far as i experienced, more social environment with character parties and level grinding. there are level grinding in the standard iterations too but mostly because you cant proceed with the story unless you're stronger. MMOs tend to have a more open story type.

Sure White Knight Chronicles does have online multiplayer and i still want to see how that goes. But it is a new ip so the developers need to show people its worth the purchase. Final fantasy games dont need those incentives in my opinion. The brand/name sells itself and when you buy the game, you get the whole game. When it comes to rpgs like final fantasy, i can care less about online play because i rather be immersed in the world and story by myself than playing the game with one of my friends who im sure will irritate the hell out of me and make me miss things in the game. yeah, same reason i dont want cross game chat.

2 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 12:26:29 AM

hezzron: FFXIV is an online-only game so it's entirely different. I for one have no interest in playing any RPG online, to be honest; I've always considered it to be a solitary activity. I think most all FF fans feel this way, so to have no multiplayer in FFXIII is hardly a crutch.

7 up, 0 down

www
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 5:06:21 AM

FFXIII won't need Online like all other FFs. They wouldn't want people spending too much time online and sleeping on the singleplayer.

As with the case of MW2, there are many who haven't even beaten the singleplayer or had 2% trophies the least, but you find them putting all their time Online.

0 up, 0 down

Lotusflow3r
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 6:37:48 AM

well, i'd prefer my RPGs offline however, if they were to be online, WKC has THE perfect formula.

0 up, 0 down

Hezzron
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 9:33:06 AM

I wasn't comparing SOCOM's gameplay to FF XIII's gameplay. I just used SOCOM as an example of gaming longevity due to some added MP.

I don't think FF XIII needs MP either. But it certainly needs to be lengthy, which was the point of my original post.

To those who more or less said "final fantasy will never need online", Square-Enix disagrees because they're dedicating whole games to it now. Hopefully it'll be something worth playing, huh?

4 up, 0 down

Alienange
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 12:23:58 PM

The online component of WKC is what actually has me quite intrigued and makes the $60 purchase worth it. If FFXIII had a multiplayer component on top of those 50 hours I highly doubt anyone here would complain. Since it doesn't, I guess we have to pretend everything is ok.

1 up, 0 down

johnld
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 3:18:09 PM

i wasnt comparing socom gameplay and final fantasy gameplay at all. All i was saying that they are 2 very different types of games. one is more geared towards online while the other is heavily story driven. As ben said, rpg are usually a solitary experience for me because i like being caught up in the world im playing. If you look at socom and modern warfare 2 if you like, their stories are nothing compared to the sheer volume of standard FF stories therefore they need online components.

As for longevity in final fantasy, i never really considered it. Usually i just play the game through once without rush then just put it away after i beat it. I mean i keep multiple save files so that i can go back into those great scenes whenever i want. But i dont know why square enix took it out, but i used to be able to buy and view cutscenes after games. kindda pisses me off since XII had amazing cutscenes and theres no way i know of seeing them again other than internet and replaying it.

0 up, 0 down

BTNwarrior
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:12:57 PM
Reply

Bah, that is nothing compaired to the 65+ hours it will take to beat Persona 3 FES, or at least that is how long the box says it will take to beat

1 up, 1 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:22:09 PM
Reply

Yeah this seems pretty short for a game that was supposed to push everything PS3 to its limits. Which includes Blu Ray, I guess we know how it fits on just a few DVDs then. Oh well I'm looking forward to it and I'll try to stretch that time out if the sidequests aren't "Go get item x and I might help you" over and over again.

1 up, 2 down

johnld
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 3:20:59 PM

hahaha, pretty short. i dont thing i have beaten any final fantasy game in under 80 hours. I usually get caught up in level grinding, exploring and sidequests. Plus those minigames were pretty addicting too. like the card games in the ps1 titles and blitzball in FFX

0 up, 0 down

eLLeJuss
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:30:35 PM
Reply

Jeez 50 hours????? wowww.... i wont be sleeping for 2 days straight, thats for sure :D

0 up, 0 down

LimitedVertigo
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:45:02 PM
Reply

How are people bitching about this? It's 50-60hrs if all you do is play through the main story. That kicks the hell out of most games' full content. Throw in the 50+ sidequests and you're well over 100hrs and who doesn't play through a FF game more than once?

I swear there has been less of a gap inbetween FF12 and FF13 then there was FFX and FF12 (FF11 was not a true FF game so it doesnt fill the gap).

I'm getting this day one and it will be the most fun I've had with a game this generation of gaming, I feel sorry for those that consider Fallout3 not only an RPG but a good game deserving of praise.

4 up, 3 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:59:30 PM

Fallout 3 is a good game deserving plenty of praise, now that said, I think people just expected a bit more since it took most people 50-60 hours to beat the other ones and this was headed to blu ray. I highly doubt that this evaluation is comparable to just sticking to the story and running through it really fast like some people can with FFVII. Yes a person could do that but their characters would be super weak and unable to keep going. There is gonna be some power leveling and time wasters hidden in that number, there ALWAYS is. (See running back and forth across the same damn maps a dozen times in FFXII)

But yeah it'll still be the best time I ever spent this gen, those observations aside.

Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 12/2/2009 11:00:55 PM

3 up, 2 down

Jawknee
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 11:10:37 PM

fallout 3 is meh..

50 hours rushing through isnt bad. LV is right. when doing all the side quests and mastering your characters and their weapons, youll get a solid 100 plus hours out of it.

3 up, 4 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 1:37:29 AM

nobody said this was rushing through tho.

0 up, 1 down

BTNwarrior
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 1:52:12 AM

I was jokeing myself

0 up, 1 down

Jawknee
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 8:52:20 AM

Just focusing on the story and skipping the extras would be rushing no? Like Ben said, FFVII and FFVIII are about 25 hours without doing the extras. For me, I never finished VII or VIII In 25 hours. Minimum 80 hours on both. So if the story alone is 50+ hours in XIII with no side quests or grinding, I find that to be a significant improvement. The way I play most FF titles I'll get at least 100+ hours out of XIII. That's not enough for some? Seems like quite a lot too me. Especially considering the length most games this gen tend to be. I do agree though world that blue Ray could have maybe should have made the difference and the game could have been even longer. Take for instance the crap length RE5 was. I'm 100% sure the length of that game was gimped due to the lack of space on the DVD. I wouldn't be surprised if the new DLC content Capcom is planning was cut from the original due to lack of space.

1 up, 1 down

Alienange
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 12:32:25 PM

Brilliant. He doesn't consider FFXI a true FF and he doesn't consider F3 a true RPG. Just brilliant.

4 up, 0 down

LimitedVertigo
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 10:35:46 PM

Neither are, explain to me how they are sweetie pie.

Brilliant.

0 up, 1 down

Riku994
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:49:46 PM
Reply

Ive clocked in over 100 hours in the following games:
Legend of Dragoon
Oblivion
Final Fantasy XII
Dragon Quest VIII
All Guitar Hero's added together
And I don't expect FF13 to be any different. I'm glad I'll get 60 hours out of the story, that's a dollar an hour (unless they charge 70 which they probably will), and even then I have bonus stuff to do. I still haven't killed Zodiark, Omega, Ultima, and Yiazmat in FF12. I have yet to finish every quest in Oblivion, and I'm stuck on the Dragovian trials on DQ8. Fun stuff.

Last edited by Riku994 on 12/2/2009 10:50:15 PM

3 up, 0 down

Jawknee
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 11:14:26 PM

i spent over a 100 hours on FFXII and DragonQuest VIII too. been meaning to play those again.

0 up, 0 down

eLLeJuss
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 11:47:58 PM

Oblivion is so much fun.. i didnt even bother going through the main quest. i just went and did all the sidequests first.lol

0 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 12:27:51 AM

Over the years, I've put hundreds of hours (from multiple playthroughs) into games like FFVII and FFT.

But in one playthrough, I've put over 100 hours into:

Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
Dragon Quest VIII
Star Ocean: The 2nd Story

3 up, 0 down

Alienange
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 12:33:38 PM

You can pre-order FFXIII at Amazon for 56.99. That's just under a buck an hour. Saaa Weeet!

0 up, 0 down

Arvis
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 2:01:08 PM

You didn't hit 100 hours on your first play-through of Tactics, Ben? I'm surprised. I know I did.

-Arvis

0 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 2:43:39 PM

What? How? Even doing absolutely everything there is to do - and trust me, I know it all - only takes about 70 or 80 hours. The game itself is probably only 30 hours in length if you don't do any of the extra stuff.

And my first play-through was just one of those, "I want to try and finish as fast as I can" things, BEFORE I got into my completionist mentality. So it certainly didn't take very long. :)

Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 12/3/2009 2:44:30 PM

0 up, 0 down

Arvis
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 3:07:45 PM

*laughs*

I took my time, Ben. :)

Even on the PSP remake, I haven't finished the story and I'm at 120 hours. I just do a lot of level grinding, and I use the full allowance of 24 characters. And I try and get them all to lvl 99.

I LOVE that game. :D

-Arvis

0 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 4:52:59 PM

Oh, I see. I only care about getting my main party to Lv. 99, and I max the Jobs that makes the most sense for that character. I also master everything with Ramza, but all other characters I don't use are ignored.

I do that in all RPGs, if they let me. :)

0 up, 0 down

Kevadu
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 10:53:53 PM
Reply

This might sound strange, but personally I'm getting sick of this trend for counting hours of gameplay like that. Having a long game is great, *if* the game remains exciting and interesting throughout its length. Unfortunately that's not always the case...

The fact of the matter is, video games are not like books or movies where the length is soley dictated by the story. It's actually *really* easy to increase the length of a game. Throw another wave of enemies at the player, require some backtracking to get some item you need to advance, etc. A lot of long RPGs are long only because they require excessive grinding. FFXII was probably the longest FF game ever, but there were times when you would spend so much time fighting normal enemies just working your way to the next location that you would forget why you were even going there. Persona 4 was a great game overall that took me over 100 hours for a single playthrough, but when I look back at it I realize that the majority of that was spent crawling through randomly generated dungeons, not dealing with the plot. More recently while I'm loving Dragon Age I'm started to reach the burnout point there too. And don't even get me started on the Disgaea series ;)

Now compare that to a really good action game like Uncharted 2. It only takes 12-15 hours, but it easily maintains a high level of excitement the entire way through. OK, there were a couple fights that did seem to drag on a bit, but it was nothing truly unreasonable. I think I can safely say that my enjoyment per hour was a lot higher with that game than it was even for long RPGs that I really liked. Now I do expect an RPG to be longer than 12 hours, I'm not sure I like the trend of 100+ hour long games. To pick an old classic as an example, Chrono Trigger could easily be beaten in under 30 hours but in my opinion it is one of the greatest RPGs ever made.

In short, I want quality over quantity. And as the free time I have available to play video games seems to shrink and shrink that only gets more important...

3 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 11:08:05 PM

I know what you are saying, except I take issue with the book and movie comparison, I think those are even more filled up with useless crap just to make the 2 hour length or 400 page length very often going off on wild goose chases that don't deal with the plot directly.

BUT, that aside I agree there are many parts that are painful in an RPG, take any Star Ocean, they all have way too many battles. So much that if you stop and save you'll have no idea where u were going when you return to the game.

FFXII was the guiltiest of these in its series, which didn't help since it was hardly a real FF anyway. Sometimes it is just plainly obvious they are stalling you and I hope there is little to none of that in XIII. In the end though you always feel like you overcame a major challenge that is worth the bullsh*t.

Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 12/2/2009 11:09:17 PM

1 up, 3 down

Alienange
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 12:37:04 PM

I see what you're saying kevadu, but when it comes to FF I believe the fans already know it will be quality. They just want to make sure there is quantity too. If a FF came out with the highest quality but could be finished in 7 hours... well... we'd see some internet boards light up, that's for sure.

0 up, 0 down

___________
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 11:10:18 PM
Reply

sorry square, but i cant believe anything you say youve sold your soul to the devil.
ill believe it when i see it.
or should i say IF i see it.

1 up, 5 down

Jawknee
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 @ 11:12:15 PM
Reply

50 aint bad. considering most other games are much shorter in comparison.

3 up, 0 down

bomba2812
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 12:01:12 AM
Reply

most of the time i play shooters and i'm not a big fan of RPGs so 50 hours is a really long game to me

1 up, 0 down

Ultimate_Balla
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 1:32:39 AM
Reply

OKAY!! roundabout how many hours would a veteran rpg clock FFX? I'm faaaar from veteran but clocked it in 52 hours, INCLUDING completing a few side quests. . .

0 up, 0 down

Jawknee
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 1:10:26 PM

If you complete all of the side quests and master all characters you'll clock in over 100 hours.

0 up, 0 down

just2skillf00l
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 2:44:26 AM
Reply

I don't think a game should be judged by how long or short it is UNLESS it is leaning to heavily on either side (mostly on the short side). 50+ hours sounds good to me because games I've played and beaten as of late averaged 20 hours or less. If you think 50+ hours isn't enough or it feels like it only meets the desired time-frame because of "dragging arcs" then you're entirely correct.

Take anyone's life for example. No one goes through life putting forth 100% of their time ONLY into things that will help shape their destiny. Life is full of twists and turns and implementing arcs into a game helps to change the pace and if anything makes the game that much more interesting and diverse.

Card minigames, sports minigames, random assassination missions, unbelievable races, beat-em up husband missions, and even chasing down a thief makes a game that much more diverse and memorable. If you don't like them then that's on you but most side-quests (if not all) are optional.

Gotta give it up for Assassin's Creed 2. It truly is a fun time-consuming beast. Hurry up and come out FF13. I'm shaking with anxiety over here.

Last edited by just2skillf00l on 12/3/2009 2:45:21 AM

0 up, 0 down

just2skillf00l
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 3:18:33 AM
Reply

I just saw that "feel the pulse" trailer...I was planning on commenting first with a pun and then a joke to follow...but I have to say, this Final Fantasy game is beau...beautiful (sniff). Yeah I said it, this game is beautiful: the music, the character's personalities, the plot, the emotion and intensity of the situation, just about everything in the game is beautiful. I was on the verge of crying after the trailer. A trailer for god's sake! If the game looks this great right now as a multiplatform title, imagine if it were exclusive! Man the possibilities. Oh yeah and that pun...no that video was just too amazing to mock.

Last edited by just2skillf00l on 12/3/2009 3:20:15 AM

0 up, 0 down

www
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 5:00:54 AM
Reply

MAIN reason why I buy the FF games, LONGEVITY.
It'll probably take me more than 50 hours.

To me FFXIII pwns GOWIII, my 2 cents.

1 up, 0 down

Ultimadream
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 5:14:16 AM

Really, The main reason i play FF games is for a good adventure, 50 hours is plenty of time to tell a good story.

I just hope they do have more interesting things to do for side quests becuase 12 really did lack on them. I also hope that the sory events are more frequent than 12, yes 12 takes around 80 hours, just but it so slow on avancing its story, your running around fields and temples slaying monsters for the most of it. which gets tedious.

1 up, 0 down

www
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 8:35:55 AM

Yea I guess we've all had our issues with FFXII, the gameplay was good, the characters were interesting but there was just something special about FFX. Its like with FFX, the story really got INTO you, you could feel Tidus' pain, his relationship with Yuna, his Dad being SIN etc etc.... but with FFXII, it felt a bit empty, not much emotions attached to it.

Last edited by www on 12/3/2009 8:36:28 AM

0 up, 0 down

SnipeySnake
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 10:36:06 PM

"To me FFXIII pwns GOWIII"
Same, not saying its gonna bad though.

0 up, 0 down

SnipeySnake
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 10:38:58 PM

sin was his dad?! (didn't buy the game but borrowed it) omg?! They pulled a dark vader on him?! Oh and i have ffxii (for about 2 years now). And the longest i played it was about 30 minutes. It's tooo hard =(

0 up, 0 down

Lotusflow3r
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 6:35:30 AM
Reply

i hope his estimation was wrong. I spent 154hrs on DragonQuest Vlll and THAT was perfect. 50hrs ain't a true RPG for me.

1 up, 3 down

Jawknee
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 9:16:21 AM

50 just for the story. Read the whole article. DragonQuest VIII's story was not 150+ hours. 150+ with side quests and grinding, yes.

1 up, 0 down

HeXeN
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 11:18:05 AM

"I spent 154hrs on DragonQuest Vlll"

o_O

0 up, 0 down

Jawknee
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 12:27:47 PM

I spent almost that much time with DQVIII too but that included side quests and grinding. 150 just for the story length is a gross exaggeration.

0 up, 0 down

Snaaaake
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 8:48:39 AM
Reply

FFIX took me about 130 hours to finish and 90(or probably more but maybe since I played it 3 years back on my PS1) on my second playthrough(I also skip many stuff or finish them quickly because my goal was to get Excalibur 2).

But like Jawknee said, 50 hours ain't bad compared to other games, not to mention some AAA games.

Last edited by Snaaaake on 12/3/2009 8:51:33 AM

0 up, 0 down

HeXeN
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 9:37:28 AM
Reply

How could you people stand to play the same game for so F*&^%@@ long; Doesn't it get old looking at the same characters for 50+ hours?.

2 up, 6 down

Snaaaake
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 10:06:11 AM

You do know there's this thing called Story right?

2 up, 0 down

Jawknee
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 10:19:37 AM

No. Especially when it comes to Final Fantasy. If I didn't like the games I buy after 10 ours of play or so then I would sell all my games after playing them. I played through Uncharted 2 five times. That's 50+ hours.

Last edited by Jawknee on 12/3/2009 10:31:50 AM

0 up, 0 down

LimitedVertigo
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 12:05:02 PM

Hexen I'm still wondering how you could ever enjoy that silly FPS that reminded me of Quake's retarded cousin.

1 up, 1 down

www
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 1:14:37 PM

Hexen I see you've never played any FF game. NO it does NOT get boring. On your long journey, you come across various characters with unique abilities that join your party, and each of these characters usually have different goals and aims but it just so happens all of you might be looking for the same thing or some other.

And your characters gain more abilities and increased strength as you progress. Plus, there are a GAZILLION ways to take down an enemy in FF. There's more to FF than I can explain right now, just remember that it never gets boring.

2 up, 0 down

HeXeN
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 1:18:28 PM

@LV

0_0 ;) o_0 :)

0 up, 0 down

HeXeN
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 1:26:35 PM

@www

The only RPG that I have really only played was Beyond Oasis(probably what turn me off rpg's); so I think you should probably just ignore me since I'm ignorant on the Genre.

0 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 1:38:53 PM

Nope, never get sick of it, it's like a page turner where you just care more and more about the characters and what is happening to them so much so that you must know what happens next and how they will handle it. By extension you wonder how YOU will handle it. See FFVII turning the masses (including myself) into crybabies.

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Banky A
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 4:05:32 PM

What do you mean looking at the same characters, doesn't that happen for every game? At least FF has 'different characters' for each new sequel haha.

Playing FF for long times always rocks!

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SnipeySnake
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 10:32:42 PM

Story, its 90% of the reason i play games.

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calculator
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 3:47:09 PM
Reply

Longest game I played was inFAMOUS, it took me 40 hours (estimation) to complete the game to 100%.

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Banky A
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 4:06:07 PM

A talking calculator..
Pardon me ;)

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Banky A
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 4:07:51 PM
Reply

Awesome finally another long-ish game for this generation.

Though isn't it kind of on the shorter side of the stick for typical Final Fantasy playing times?

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Banky A
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 8:19:25 PM

Ok nervermind I'm 31 hours into FFV and I'm supposedly 3/4 of 3/5 of the way there.

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SnipeySnake
Thursday, December 03, 2009 @ 10:29:05 PM
Reply

3 things i care about:
Long and good story
Easy gameplay
Chocobos

1 up, 0 down

laharl
Saturday, December 05, 2009 @ 12:53:34 AM
Reply

In most RPGs you grind in order to beat a boss or to get powerful enough to survive in a new area.So if FF13 is a game you can finish in 50 hours as an experienced RPG gamer that time must take grinding into account.Unless its been dumbed down so much that grinding isn't necessary.Don't forget that wada said FF13 isn't a JRPG.And leona lewis is providing the theme tune.I think anyone expecting a genuine FF experience wil be disappointed.If i don't get 100+ hours out of an RPG i'm disappointed.

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Ultima
Monday, December 07, 2009 @ 10:18:24 AM
Reply

50 hours for the main story is great, but I'll believe it when I see it. And even then, I won't hold my breath for 50 hours of *actual story*. The only RPG I've encountered to date that has a roughly 50 hour story length is Xenogears. And that's *solely* for story AND if you're ploughing through the story efficiently. Stop to grind at any point, and it can go past 60 hours.

None of the Final Fantasy games come close. The closest is actually FFIX, which has a story length of 40 hours. By "story length", I'm referring to playing through the game normally (i.e. not a speed run), but only doing the story events and nothing else, while doing as little grinding as possible. Basically playing the story as efficiently as possible. In this regard, IX has the most number of events to go through in an FF game. Most of the FF games clock in at around 30-35 hours on average. And some of the early ones can be beaten very quickly (IV can be done in 15 hours or so, though it's hard as hell; 18-20 is more realistic).

On the other hand, there a couple of FFs that *seem* long, but that's only because of how they're designed and not because of the actual story. The biggest offenders are VIII and XII: VIII has maybe 20 hours of story events, but it takes nearly twice as long to go through because everything moves so slooooowly. From the loading times to the drawn out battle system (no pun intended; though the best way to speed through VIII is to grind at the beginning of the game so that you don't have to it as much later on) to the really slow running speed, VIII is just a slow game with not much happening in it. And XII is even worse, with much of the game designed to be a huge timesink, complete with massive vistas that you run very slowly through and dungeons/areas that are artificially long (the Ridorana Cateract - GOD), and yet in terms of events, even fewer things happen in XII than in VIII.

So if XIII takes 50 hours to go through the main story, great! BUt I want 50 hours of story a la Xenogears, and not 20 hours of story + 30 hours of padded time spent running around because there's too much backtracking, I run too slowly and there are too many (unavoidable) fights.

Last edited by Ultima on 12/7/2009 10:20:55 AM

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Do you still care about Final Fantasy Versus XIII?
	Hell yes, I still can't wait!
	Sort of, I just wish they'd tell us more.
	Not really, I've started to lose interest.
	No. Don't care about vaporware.

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FFXIII Takes 50 Hours Even For "Experienced Players"

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