Ben-DutkaEver 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
Well… I know what I'M doing in 2010.
Boys?
@ 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?
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.
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.
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
ummm, theres is a delete post icon. you know, right next to the edit one.
50 hours will go by fast when you are having fun.
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.
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.
FF doesn't need any lame online.
@ world
i couldn't agree more
@WorldEndsWithMe – I take it you won't buy FF XIV then?
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!
I'm not getting FFXIV. You can take your monthly charges and shove them!
FFIV isn't like a real ff it would be better if they just call it FF Online 2.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
well, i'd prefer my RPGs offline however, if they were to be online, WKC has THE perfect formula.
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
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
Jeez 50 hours????? wowww…. i wont be sleeping for 2 days straight, thats for sure 😀
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.
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
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.
nobody said this was rushing through tho.
I was jokeing myself
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.
Brilliant. He doesn't consider FFXI a true FF and he doesn't consider F3 a true RPG. Just brilliant.
Neither are, explain to me how they are sweetie pie.
Brilliant.
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
i spent over a 100 hours on FFXII and DragonQuest VIII too. been meaning to play those again.
Oblivion is so much fun.. i didnt even bother going through the main quest. i just went and did all the sidequests first.lol
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
You can pre-order FFXIII at Amazon for 56.99. That's just under a buck an hour. Saaa Weeet!
You didn't hit 100 hours on your first play-through of Tactics, Ben? I'm surprised. I know I did.
-Arvis
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
*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. 😀
-Arvis
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. 🙂
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…
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
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.