Curse

LifeInfusion · Dec 02, 2006, 01:16 AM // 01:16

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20.../qotw_01.shtml

I was reading this and found it interesting.

Quotes to make you think:
"Games that are short make the player (buyer) feel ripped off and like movies, games that are too long are usually less fun and less entertaining."
*Games replacing movies concept

"I rarely will ever play a game more than 20 hours before moving onto the next game. "
*People's attention span mentioned here

"It really only takes a couple hours to beat Super Mario Bros, but we all played it way more than that. "
*replay value?

"rarely have I been disappointed with a game because it was too short. It's almost always because it wasn't compelling, or it was buggy, or had poor game mechanics, etc. "
*fundamental problems

"Besides taking a lot of time to complete, these 20+ hour beasts require too much learning and devotion right from beginning to learn how to actually play them, so it's not hard to just forget the whole thing and leave your 60$ purchase gathering dust."

"Finishing a game should provide the player with a sense of accomplishment. Should gamers who cannot invest 10 hours a day be prevented from enjoying this? Should a game's length suffer just to appease a 1-2 hour gamer? "

"the gamer in me wants more, and the developer in me can see why it's not there."

================================================== =======
Fundamental question at hand: HOW LONG IS LONG?
Since Arenanet won't ask you, I feel it would be beneficial to them to know what the community thinks, to better serve the community as a whole.

Elruid · Dec 02, 2006, 01:25 AM // 01:25

To me in GW terms, Prophecies was about just right.
Factions on the shortish side. Nightfall on the LONG side.
Personally of course.

Naturally they are limited by their development cycles so I won't mention it further.
The talk about fundamental problems in your quotes of the article share my views of some personal issues I have had with GW so far.
In Factions it was the the the the the the the Gates.
In Nightfall non-account-wide heroes and not having more than three per player. And the Lightbringer/Sunspear reputation "acquiral".
In Prophecies I still remember circumventing Frost Gate because I found it too hard back then, heh. It was a great moment, up until that point in games I had never really had any freedom if there was a storyline involved.

Ok, so a mightily pointless post, but it's some time in the afternoon and everyone knows how.
I don't really have an attention span when things I have interest in are concerned. And as long as I have something meaningful to do.
I've become quite allergic, such a strong word, to grind over the years, that is, spending pointless effort on time sinks where those could be cut in favor of something fun and worth it.
Since I am as ever clueless, I dunno what makes a game tick in the end.
Just suffice to say that there haven't been too many games the purchase of which I have later regretted.
Ok, Everquest 2 is one. GW, however, is not.

Post scriptum, that means after writing in pig latin, blame the preview function and its crack addicted disconnection from reality for the final outcome of the text.

MithranArkanere · Dec 02, 2006, 01:55 AM // 01:55

For me, prophecies without factions was too long.
Adding factions, you can get better armor and warop to level 20 in no time, making prophecies easier.
Factions was too short. It's all about, 'go, go, go' and 'run, run, run!'.
Nightfall is ok, perfect. Finished it in onw week, and only because I was getting Elonian 100%.

Now I'm going for protector and such.
When they fix the Domain of Angish (and they do, I'm using the same voodoo magic I used to make them add Inscriptions and Insignia) Nightfall will be the best of them.

BoredJoe · Dec 02, 2006, 04:53 AM // 04:53

For me Prophecies was a bit long, Factions just right (but the story needed to be filled out a bit more). Nightfall seems about right, mission wise, but could be shorter without impacting much I think. The nice thing about the first two was there was stuff to do after the game was finished. In Prophecies there was UW and FOW and also learning how to solo farm

. In Factions there was FA and AB.

I kinda feel sorry for new players mainly because there doesn't really seem to be any area in Factions or NightFall that have the same feel as TOA to get into Uw or FOW, and solo farming doesn't seem as easy to learn in Factions and Nightfall.

KESKI · Dec 02, 2006, 05:16 AM // 05:16

I asume this is only about pve right??
Its never about the length of the story but the quality of the story.
As much as I like GW, both story in Prophecies and Faction seem crapy to me. The bad guy just arent bad enough for me to hate them. Dont know why, but all their evilness are so...minor...colony domination?? revange?? come on, a true evil will have pass that already=P A desire for power, a different view of better world, something that is twist from a good thought that is truely evil. A evilness that can not be detect, almost seem saint if simply look at it.
So they are both too long for my taste=P
Maybe I am just numb to the old style evil.

p.s: Yes I know Lich and Shiro used to be good, both loyal to their king and kingdom. But by the time we arrive, they are already evil=P