Recently I completed the single player campaign for Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm again. When I was a young pup I used to replay games constantly. I'd speed run the original Mario Brothers (before I knew that was a thing) try and figure out how to complete the Legend of Zelda Link to the Past dark world dungeons in strange orders. When your video game library consisted of a handful of Super Nintendo and Nintendo titles, if you wanted to play games you played what you had. If I simply played games in Steam I haven't installed yet i'd be playing for years. Still, I love to head back and play games again. Last year I replayed Portal 2. I also reinstalled the original...
Oh man. Romance of the three kingdoms is in my top 5 games. Although 8 is easily my favorite. I still play it.
I do love to try new games, but, with Steam for example, I tend to pick up anything cheap that looks potentially good. The intent to play these "gems" at some point is there, but it isn't as strong as the want to fall back into something I love to play.
Back when I was in college, I used to play Final Fantasy VIII about once a year. There are a few other games, like Final Fantasy X, that I played more frequently as well. In more recent years, I haven't really done that very often. I did replay a few Zelda games a few years ago, though.
Since you mentioned Red Alert, after playing Red Alert 3 a few months ago, I was thinking of replaying the entire series, but didn't. I used to often play the original C&C when it came out.
Lately, I seem to be jumping around to different games.
I usually have very limited play time and it's just easier for me to sit down and replay Final Fantasy Tactics, or Mega Man X, or Earthbound or something because I already know how to play and I know pretty much exactly how much I can get done in a certain amount of time. As my kids are getting older though it's getting easier to play, so I've been playing more new-ish games.
I have a couple games I plan to reply this year, like Kotor2 (with the restored content mod!) and the Majora's mask 3DS reissue, which I just started today. And of course we just played through Kotor1 as our games club.
I have a few games on the replay circuit. The Portals and Half-Lives, The NES/SNES Mario games, Actraiser, most every id Software game, but yeah, replays are much more rare than they used to be.
"And of course we just played through Kotor1 as our games club."
Aw man, I'm late to the party on this Games Club thing! I could have used the extra motivation to sit down and finally play KOTOR. Even got an original xbox recently...haha
I find this age of the infinite library to be pretty overwhelming if I allow myself to think about it. The truth is, it's pretty near impossible for me to have all of the gaming experiences I would like to have in this lifetime. Even with the back catalog I've accumulated due to being an at-times-obsessive collector, I am well enough equipped to play great games non-stop for the next several years.
But then I remind myself to try to live in the moment, play whatever sounds most fun at the time, and just enjoy it. I've gotten an immense amount of pleasure from replaying Ocarina of Time with my fiance lately. Sometimes I'm aware of the fact that I could be spending that time on the GTAV campaign or finally starting Ni No Kuni, but it's still worth making time to replay the old favorites.
"I find this age of the infinite library to be pretty overwhelming if I allow myself to think about it. The truth is, it's pretty near impossible for me to have all of the gaming experiences I would like to have in this lifetime."
I agree. As a completionist I would really like to play many games on my list but it's just not possible. Like you I sort of play what grabs me enough to make it through. I've been trying not to play through too many games at the same time as that seems to make it worse and I don't finish much of anything.
I don't remember the last game I finished because I have so many games. I suppose games like FTL and DoTA2 I've "Finished," but haven't unlocked hardly anything still.
Some games that I think would be fun to replay again:
1080 Snowboarding
Techmo Bowl
Moonwalker (the arcade version)
Final Fantasy II, III and VII
GoldenEye
NBA JAM
Maniac Mansion
The Oregon Trail
Super Castlevania
Contra III
These posts are great arguments in advocating shorter games. If the majority of games were the length of a Portal or Journey (and priced accordingly), it would be so much easier to cover a lot of ground, and still get that sense of satisfaction.
"These posts are great arguments in advocating shorter games."
THIS to infinity. I think some games are WAY too long for myself, like Borderlands 2. That said many people love how long it is but I just kind of want it to be over. I just don't have the time for a 60 hour game and to get that kind of content games often make levels longer and add more fetch questing and the like. A real shining example of a game that was long but not too long was Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Portal 2. All killer and no filler.
Some other short games that were fun: Little Inferno, Hotline Miami, Fez & Ittle Dew(the best not Zelda Zelda game i've played yet).
I find myself on the other side of the spectrum here. I pretty much always prefer longer games. I'm not sure how long I've felt like that, but I can definitely see it in different parts of my gaming past. For instance, when I was playing Command & Conquer, I enjoyed the length of the game. Also, when Travis introduced me to Final Fantasy VIII and I became obsessed with Final Fantasy, I then really started enjoying longer games. I enjoyed that I could easily get maybe 60-100 hours in a good Final Fantasy game.
As for shorter games, I've often found myself disappointed that they were so short. Even Final Fantasy is guilty of disappointing me with a short game such as Dirge of Cerebus. Also, Mario games usually only take a couple or few days to finish and I think I had one Harry Potter game that also disappointed me after I completed it in such a short time. Also, my only complaint about Grand Theft Auto V was that it was too short, although still a great game. Sometimes I like short games, it just depends on what I'm doing, what I want to do, the game itself, and how much time I have or want to put into it.
That makes sense Greg. I used to really love digging in to longer games like Neverwinter Nights and the Final Fantasy series too. Sometimes a longer game can hold my attention but that's really the exception these days and it's usually not a narrative driven game.
Damn, I thought GTAV was pretty long. I guess I thought it was the perfect length, really. Any longer and it would start to drag.
I feel like GTAV is pretty long, but then again I had to start over after my PS3 froze while saving and corrupted my save file. :P So I had to play through the first half of the game twice. It's kind of my fault for forgetting to save multiple save files.
I like long games. But I'm a freak. Short can be fun. And there is a place for them. I'm just into compelling story driven titles. I like immersive gameplay. And longer games do that better for me.
I like both, pretty equally. I want a game to be exactly as long as it needs to be. I think Portal 2 was about as long as it should have been, and so was Skyrim (though to be fair, can you ever really say Skyrim is completed?)
And then you have some games where there's no clear end, like Minecraft and Terraria. MMOs as well. Those work because they keep you engaged, and fail if they don't.
Basically, if the game engages you for 8 hours and finishes, it's just as good as a game that engages you for 100 hours and finishes.
There's certainly an argument to be made for total entertainment for your money. Is it more valuable to buy Skyrim for $60 when you get hundreds of hours out of it or Bioshock Infinite for $60 when you get about 12ish?
Honestly I don't want games to be put into that kind of equation. The question is whether the game experience is worth $60 to you. If you're satisfied, it did a good job, regardless of length.
I wonder how many hours I spent on GTAV. I could most definitely check some time. I just thought the story mode was kind of short, or at least I expected it to be longer.
Yeah, Skyrim, I don't know how many hours I spent on the PS3 version, but I've apparently played the PC version for 108 hours. That really surprises me because I thought I spent less time on it than I had on the PS3. To me, for a game like Skyrim (and Final Fantasy), that's really damn good!
Terraria on the other hand, says I've played for 375 hours, which is AMAZING! Yet, I'm sure some of you have probably spent more playing it. I'm really surprised by that number. I also know for sure it's going to jump much higher in June when 1.3 is released. I'm not sure how much time I spent with Minecraft.
I pretty much agree with you about the game experience and price, it's all up to the player.
1200 hours on dota2.
1100 on morrowind.
400 oblivion.
200 fall out 3
125 skyrim.
And I can guarantee you add up all my runs of Kotor its up there with skyrim or fall out.
Like I said though. I'm obsessive.
Lol. Most hours on the free one. Haha
Wow, that's quite impressive!
49 minutes Dota 2
141 hours Oblivion (I'm surprised, although I also played it on the PS3, though not sure how long even though I completed the game and the majority of the quests, so my PS3 hours are probably close to my PC hours.)
71 hours Fallout 3
"Honestly I don't want games to be put into that kind of equation. The question is whether the game experience is worth $60 to you. If you're satisfied, it did a good job, regardless of length."
Ultimately I agree with you Travis. If you love what you are playing then the cost is fine. With that, I have been spending less money on certain things than I used to because of the pretty high enjoyment I get out of video games and how much they cost. For instance, I used to go to the movies to the see the latest films. Over the last 5 years this has waned to only seeing a handful a films per year in the theater. When you add up the costs of tickets(because I bring my partner) and maybe buying some popcorn you can get to something close to $30 or more. Or I could buy the Star Wars Bundle for $15. In the end if you like what you spent money on then super, but I am getting to the point where I want to skip the theater entirely and just nab the Bluray or rent it.
So i'd say the money part is important but at the the end of the day if you love it, it was a good idea.