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[Fbh]

Jrpgs have a special place for me because it's the genre that really got me into gaming .
As most kids I did, of course ,also play and enjoy other types of games but it was Chrono Trigger and Pokémon Red that made me feel truly invested in a game for the first time. And so for many years the new JRPG's were often my most anticipated games of the year.


But in recent years I've found myself playing less and less of them.
Our tastes change over time so it's not weird to lose interest in things that we used to like. But in this particular case it's not that I no longer enjoy the stories or worlds or (most of) the gameplay in these games. It mostly comes down to the fact that they seem to be getting longer and longer just for the sake of length.
In the same way that many open world games boast about the massive size of their map but then when we get to play them we realize there aren't many interesting things to do in them, it feels like a lot of recent JRPG's boast about being very long without taking into consideration that the sacrifices made to reach that length just make the game worse. It's like there's some internal rule in many current japanese studios that a JRPG can't be shorter than 70 or 80 hours, and if it means slowing down the pacing to a crawl or adding a ton of filler content then so be it.

At first I thought that it might just be that as I get older and my free time is reduced I was just now noticing these issues in JRPG that I might have missed as a kid. But then when I headed to howlongtobeat to look at some of my favourite games from the SNES and Ps1 era I saw that they were indeed much shorter.
Chrono Trigger, one of my favourite games ever, takes around 25 hours to beat
Final Fantasy IV also takes around 25 hours (or 30 if you play the DS remake)
Final Fantasy VI around 35
Suikoden 2 around 35
Final Fantasy VII around 40
Vagrant Story around 25


Now I look at some of the standout JRPG's of recent years and:
Persona 5 95 Hours
Xenoblade Chronicles X 70 Hours
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 65 hours
Bravely Default 57
Tales of Berseria 45
Final Fantasy XV 30 Hours (which might be one of the reasons why I really liked it despite being a very flawed game)

And that's all if you simply focus on the main Story. If you want to do some sidequests the number can often go up by as much as 100%.

Now, it's not like I hate or dislike long games. My free time might be less than it used to be but if the game is good I don't mind playing it for 100+ hours even if it takes me months to finish. I loved The Witcher 3 and if you include the DLC I spent close to 200 hours on it and loved every minute. Even this year my game of the year, Breath of the Wild, kept me fully engaged for 80 hours (and I just got the DLC so that number is probably going up).

But the thing I just can't deal with anymore is games that are super long and achieve that length by not respecting my time.
Persona 5 was a bad offender of this and while I did finish it, it's a game that would have been way higher on my personal ranking if it was like 30 or 40 hours shorter. The game is filled with moments when the pacing slows down to a crawl just for the sake of it, with tons upon tons of cutscenes that are little more than the same conversation playing out with slightly different words or several hours spent on some plot point that in the end gets resolved and has literally no impact on the world or story. The Dungeons which at first had a great balance of length and challenge start to drag on and get unnecessarily long towards the end. And they don't get longer by adding interesting new mechanics, it's mostly just more filler hallways, and more forced battles, puzzles that would have been fun if you had to do them once or twice but are instead repeated several times, etc. In one of the later dungeons you'll enter yet another hallways and one of the character will even complain about there being no end to them, I think the writers thought they were being funny but to me it just sounded like the team admitting that 80 hours into the game they were intentionally stretching out the dungeons.

I've been interested in picking up Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for the Switch but after reading through some reviews I think I'll just not bother since it sounds like yet another 40 hours long game that has been packed full of filler and time wasting game mechanics so it takes 80 hours to finish and they can boast about how long it is and how much content there is.


So anyone feeling the same? Any good newer JRPG's you'd recommend that are either shorter or were the length doesn't feel artificial?
I look at my favourite Japanese RPG's of recent years (several of which are some of my favourite games ever) and one thing most of them have in common is that they are shorter (Bloodborne is like 35 hours, Dark Souls 3 is like 30, Nier automata is around 40, SMT IV around 50, etc)

 

[Andyliini]

No, not at all. I have played JRPG's for about 20 years now, and I love them as much as ever. I'm about halfway through Xenoblade Chronicles 2 with about 60 hours on the clock. And I couldn't love it more. Granted, I do not have as much time to play as I had as a kid or while studying, but I have been playing a few JRPG's recently, and only a few of them felt like they went on a bit too long. One I can remember was 7th Dragon III, and that was mainly because that game had a rather weak story, with template characters and all that.

 

[Ostrava04]

I kind of agree, I love rpgs but don't have enough time to play all of them anymore. I wish every rpg would incorporate a fast forward function like how FF12: The Zodiac Age did

 

[120v]

aren't xenoblade and persona kind an exception to the rule, though? jrpgs are still more or less a ~20-40 hr endeavor

 

[Sakura]

But in this particular case it's not that I no longer enjoy the stories or worlds or (most of) the gameplay in these games. It mostly comes down to the fact that they seem to be getting longer and longer just for the sake of length.

I wouldn't really say JRPGs are getting longer.
It's just the series mostly. I mean, look at your list. FF wasn't too long 20 years ago... and it's the same today.
Persona 5 is long, for sure. But so was Persona 3 12 years ago.
I think most JRPGs are still in the 20 to 40 hour range (Star Ocean, Tales). If there has been any change, it's that the JRPGs on the shorter end of the spectrum just don't tend to be as good as the JRPGs that were that length 20 years ago.
In any case, my personal opinion is the length doesn't matter, it's how fun it was. I've played 30 hour games that felt like they dragged on forever, because I wasn't enjoying them. Then I play games 60 to 100 hours that felt like they were over in a flash because I was having so much fun. It's not that Persona 5 was too long, it's that you weren't enjoying your time with it. You said you would've like it more if it was shorter, but I also think you would've liked it more if instead of the 'filler' you talk about, it was fun new content.

 

[Shotgun Anaconda]

Sounds like you just outgrew the genre. As I got older I've lost a lot of interest in games and styles i used to like and time is a major factor why. I just dont have time or interest in playing this weird fantasies when I'm doing things in the real word. A lot of the games you mentioned are pretty much the same vein so you might just have fatigued RPGs.

 

[shark sandwich]

I’m in the same boat.

Definitely avoid Xenoblade 2. I’ve never played another game that is this disrespectful of the player’s time. Oh let me count the ways:

-14 hours of voice-acted cutscenes. Most of which is people stating and re-stating obvious things. Plus there’s an awkward pause at the end of every line, and the delivery is just really slow in general.

- the only method to power up Poppi (the Nopon Tora’s Blade) is by grinding a 2 minute minigame. It’ll take you several hours to buy all the really good parts

- Gacha mechanics mean there is no upper bound on how long it can take to get the blades you want. Some people have spent over 10 hours just grinding to get KOS-MOS

- “merc missions” that progress in real time. Expect to interrupt your game for a few minutes every ~20 min to finish and restart them.

- “field actions” where you need to equip blades with the right combination of skills to open a chest/get past an obstacle. This means manually reconfiguring your blade setup, only to manually change back as soon as you make the skill check

- most quests consist of multiple fetch quests. “Go find me x of these” ->turn in ->”thanks... oh yeah I also need y of these....”

It sucks so bad. There’s a fantastic 40 hour JRPG there buried under 60 hours of pointless filler.

 

[zinder]

I agree tbh. I also enjoyed FF XV more than any other games on that list, despite clearly being inferior to Persona and the likes.

I really wanna play Xenoblade 2, I was crazy hyped for it. But I won't buy it since I know there is no chance in hell I will ever finish it.

 

[shark sandwich]

And no, I do think JRPGs are getting longer thanks to their adoption of open-world elements.

It seems like once you have a big open world, the inevitable next step is to cram it with a bunch of fetch quests so you have an incentive to explore.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I love RPG's and I've finished the majority of them when they were out (e.g: FF7-10,12-13, and etc). I've gone back and replayed the ones I really liked and I own the ones that are well known on my phone or handheld. I own all the FF's and a handful of DQ games on my phone.
I finished Chrono Trigger on PS1 and DS. That's my favorite game.

I try to play the newer ones, but a lot my favorite RPG's are older games. I own SMT1-4, the filler PS2 games, the DS titles, and Persona 1-5. When it comes to length: I guess I don't finish enough newer JRPG's to care. I finished Lost Odyssey when it was out and I enjoyed it. I sold The Last Remnant (I had a 360 copy on launch) and Infinite Undiscovery because I thought they both sucked. I didn't like Star Ocean The Last Hope at all. The new Star Ocean that came out last year didn't interest me at all. I own a few Tales games that I don't want to play. I also had Blue Dragon at launch, but I wasn't that impressed with it after playing 10 or so hours.

In my opinion the newer JRPG's haven't caught my interest. I picked up Xenoblade Chronicles and X the day they came out. I thought the idea of waiting forever to get a Skell was the dumbest thing in the world. I thought the game looked beautiful, but waiting that long for something that cool was lame.

I recently finished Suikoden II and I'm about to finish Secret of Mana 2. Those both are 30 hours. I love Lunar and Front Mission.

Recently I have owned FFXV and Persona 5. I enjoyed what I've played, but I haven't been compelled to finish them because the grind doesn't feel as rewarding as say Romancing Saga 2 or another Suikoden game. Hell, I have almost all the Dragon Quest games and they seem more rewarding than finishing Xenoblade or FFXV.

I would play Valkyrie Profile, Lunar, Vandal Hearts, and Lufia as a teenager. Those are pretty much my go to nowadays because they still interest me. It's sad when technology advances and the newer JRPG's aren't better. I'd still rather buy an older JRPG than go shopping for one that has come out in the last decade.

I hope Dragon Quest XI is really good. Maybe that will be good OP. Maybe that will help you enjoy the long road to completion.

 

[Sakura]

I’m in the same boat.

Definitely avoid Xenoblade 2. I’ve never played another game that is this disrespectful of the player’s time. Oh let me count the ways:

-14 hours of voice-acted cutscenes. Most of which is people stating and re-stating obvious things. Plus there’s an awkward pause at the end of every line, and the delivery is just really slow in general.

- the only method to power up Poppi (the Nopon Tora’s Blade) is by grinding a 2 minute minigame. It’ll take you several hours to buy all the really good parts

- Gacha mechanics mean there is no upper bound on how long it can take to get the blades you want. Some people have spent over 10 hours just grinding to get KOS-MOS

- “merc missions” that progress in real time. Expect to interrupt your game for a few minutes every ~20 min to finish and restart them.

- “field actions” where you need to equip blades with the right combination of skills to open a chest/get past an obstacle. This means manually reconfiguring your blade setup, only to manually change back as soon as you make the skill check

- most quests consist of multiple fetch quests. “Go find me x of these” ->turn in ->”thanks... oh yeah I also need y of these....”

It sucks so bad. There’s a fantastic 40 hour JRPG there buried under 60 hours of pointless filler.

I don't have a problem with long JRPGs, but I feel you on Xenoblade 2.
Everything about the design just seems to exist to suck your time.
Even the minigame you talk about, after you play a stage it boots you out of the game so you have to reload it, going through the animations etc. Like why not just pop me back on the stage select screen?
Going through 50 common gacha crystals, having to watch the same animation play out every time to see what you get in the crystal.

 

[cireza]

Pretty much the same situation. I love and enjoy and can replay games like Phantasy Star IV, no problem.

Recent JRPGs however are bloated with stupid mechanisms and fetch-quests that make them a chore to play through.

It is very difficult to find a JRPG that is not filled with stuff like this. Xenoblade 2 I gave up after 10 hours or so, it was pretty clear that the combat was a repetitive mess that takes way too much time, not even talking about world exploration (pick-up useless stuff every two steps) and uninteresting fetch-quests.

Too bad because the game looked like it was going to tell a decent story with fine characters.

The most recent JRPG I really enjoyed and that respected my time was Tokyo Mirage Sessions. I recommend it. Uninteresting quests are minimal in this game, and the combat and mechanisms are fun.

 

[The_Mike]

I have never liked Japanese RPGs in general, with the exception of Fire Emblem. I played Fire Emblen Awakening for like 20 hours but lost interest because it was so damn long so I feel your problem.

 

[Morning19]

For some, as we grow up, the most valuable currency becomes time and not $. And in our day and age where hobbies and socializing becomes easier and more accessible, committing to 100+ hour games becomes less interesting. Been playing games my whole life, but in the past couple years, I can really only sit down and play Rocket League and PUBG. I can sit down, get a game in, and be done. I still love reading and watching about games, but I just can't marathon them like I used too. Just too much else going on in my life to be able to accommodate it. Possibly when I retire and the kids are out of the house I can do it again. The thing is, I am not even that sad about it, I love RL and PUBG! And they scratch the itch for me.

 

[Manac0r]

It's funny I was thinking about this the other night. I always jump on board the new hit JRPG because my inner kid remembers being immersed and lost in adventure. The reality is I don't have the time to invest plus with age comes a certain inisight into the tropes and fillers used, not to mention the inability to immerse in the world like when you were younger.

I think the OP is spot on. It is a shame because I miss being lost and immersed in a quality jrpg.

 

[wildemu]

It's less about game length for me and more about game design choices that make put the game down forever. I went through persona 3 and 4, and I just don't want to go through more filler a 3rd time. The choices made in xenoblade 2 also made me drop it by chapter 4. The world looked beautiful, but I couldn't really enjoy it because I had a mob almost every few feet to face. And if I didn't grind these monsters, I would be underleveled for the boss.

Nowadays, the game needs to grip me from the beginning like horizon and Witcher 3. I don't want to spend 20-40 hours to get to the "good stuff."

Xenoblade 1 is one of my favorite rpgs of all time and I don't know why. Maybe the story was better from the beginning?

 

[The Awesomest]

I don't have a problem with long JRPGs, but I feel you on Xenoblade 2.
Everything about the design just seems to exist to suck your time.
Even the minigame you talk about, after you play a stage it boots you out of the game so you have to reload it, going through the animations etc. Like why not just pop me back on the stage select screen?
Going through 50 common gacha crystals, having to watch the same animation play out every time to see what you get in the crystal.

You realize you can press + to skip the blade awakening scene?

 

[Shouta]

If you're still enjoying the content but put off by the length, then you should adjust your playing habits to match. If you're not fussy about difficulty, playing on a lower one to reduce encounter times and just enjoy the story can save time. If you're not a 100% kind of person, then only do side things that genuinely interest you. If you have a cutscene that is just repeating stuff, skip through it, etc.

Making minor adjustments like that does a lot. Choosing your level of engagement with an RPG is one of great things about the genre.

 

[Filben]

I cannot speak for JRPGS but for games in general, for I have a similar problem. I don't mind playing long games, but when the gameplay get tedious, repetitive and grindy like in Mafia 3 and, sadly, in Assassin's Creed Origins, too, I'm less motivated to invest my spare time. When I already hear in a game that I have to collect x amount of y to progress in the main story it immediately starts to annoy me. I don't have time for that, just gimme substantial activities related and tied to the narrative.

 

[Dunki]

So anyone feeling the same? Any good newer JRPG's you'd recommend that are either shorter or were the length doesn't feel artificial?
I look at my favourite Japanese RPG's of recent years (several of which are some of my favourite games ever) and one thing most of them have in common is that they are shorter (Bloodborne is like 35 hours, Dark Souls 3 is like 30, Nier automata is around 40, SMT IV around 50, etc)

.hack games on steam are pretty short. You get 3.5 games and each is 10 hours. Tokyo Xanadu also seems pretty short so far since I did hit 15 hours and alreaydy in chapter 6 out of 8 i think and I pretty much did every sidequest in each chapter as well.

Otherwise if you want a kind of JRPG in a modern setting try Yakuza 0it has everything you expect from a jrpg except real partymemebers^^

 

[Artistic]

Depending the game, I try to be an completionist. Add in achievements and it's makes it even harder.

So while I do apperciate length and a ton of gameplay value and quality story, in my case, it kind of hinders me completing some games.

Don't remember the last time I had a gaming marathon for over 2-3 hours at a time, want to say NBA 2K16.

 

[Danjin44]

I personally don't have problem with long JRPG. I think thats because I'm in big hurry to finish them as soon possible so I can move on to then next game. I like to take my time finish them, I don't care if it take 1 or 2 month to finish them

 

[Fbh]

I’m in the same boat.

Definitely avoid Xenoblade 2. I’ve never played another game that is this disrespectful of the player’s time. Oh let me count the ways:

-14 hours of voice-acted cutscenes. Most of which is people stating and re-stating obvious things. Plus there’s an awkward pause at the end of every line, and the delivery is just really slow in general.

- the only method to power up Poppi (the Nopon Tora’s Blade) is by grinding a 2 minute minigame. It’ll take you several hours to buy all the really good parts

- Gacha mechanics mean there is no upper bound on how long it can take to get the blades you want. Some people have spent over 10 hours just grinding to get KOS-MOS

- “merc missions” that progress in real time. Expect to interrupt your game for a few minutes every ~20 min to finish and restart them.

- “field actions” where you need to equip blades with the right combination of skills to open a chest/get past an obstacle. This means manually reconfiguring your blade setup, only to manually change back as soon as you make the skill check

- most quests consist of multiple fetch quests. “Go find me x of these” ->turn in ->”thanks... oh yeah I also need y of these....”

It sucks so bad. There’s a fantastic 40 hour JRPG there buried under 60 hours of pointless filler.

I don't have a problem with long JRPGs, but I feel you on Xenoblade 2.
Everything about the design just seems to exist to suck your time.
Even the minigame you talk about, after you play a stage it boots you out of the game so you have to reload it, going through the animations etc. Like why not just pop me back on the stage select screen?
Going through 50 common gacha crystals, having to watch the same animation play out every time to see what you get in the crystal.

Well that's one game I'm definitely scratching from my list now. Kinda sucks since the world looked pretty cool.
I remember reading that the Xenoblade team helped the Zelda team at Nintendo with creating the open world of Breath of The Wild, it's a shame that they only went there to teach and didn't learn anything in return

.hack games on steam are pretty short. You get 3.5 games and each is 10 hours. Tokyo Xanadu also seems pretty short so far since I did hit 15 hours and alreaydy in chapter 6 out of 8 i think and I pretty much did every sidequest in each chapter as well.

Otherwise if you want a kind of JRPG in a modern setting try Yakuza 0it has everything you expect from a jrpg except real partymemebers^^

Thanks, I will check those out.
And yeah I love the Yakuza franchise. While they are also packed full of content and some of it could be seen as potential time wasters, it's pretty much all optional

I wouldn't really say JRPGs are getting longer.
It's just the series mostly. I mean, look at your list. FF wasn't too long 20 years ago... and it's the same today.
Persona 5 is long, for sure. But so was Persona 3 12 years ago.
I think most JRPGs are still in the 20 to 40 hour range (Star Ocean, Tales). If there has been any change, it's that the JRPGs on the shorter end of the spectrum just don't tend to be as good as the JRPGs that were that length 20 years ago.
In any case, my personal opinion is the length doesn't matter, it's how fun it was. I've played 30 hour games that felt like they dragged on forever, because I wasn't enjoying them. Then I play games 60 to 100 hours that felt like they were over in a flash because I was having so much fun. It's not that Persona 5 was too long, it's that you weren't enjoying your time with it. You said you would've like it more if it was shorter, but I also think you would've liked it more if instead of the 'filler' you talk about, it was fun new content.

Well yeah P4 and P3 already felt a bit too slow and long...and both of them are in the 70-80 hours territory. P5 feels just as slow but they added another 20-30 hours of filler.

And yeah, as I said in the OP. I don't have a problem with long games. Loved my 200 hours with the Witcher 3 and I loved my 80 (and increasing) hours with breath of the wild and 60ish hours of going through Dark Souls 3 multiple times.
My Problem with games like Persona 5 is that it's 100 hours long but has, at most, 60-70 hours of good content and the rest is just filler and time wasting to artificially make it as long as possible. Because for some reason Atlus cared more about it being super long instead of being as good as possible.

I personally don't have problem with long JRPG. I think thats because I'm in big hurry to finish them as soon possible so I can move on to then next game. I like to take my time finish them, I don't care if it take 1 or 2 month to finish them

I'm not in a hurry either. If there is a good long game I don't mind playing it for 2 months if that's how long I need to beat it
If a game is awesome then of course I want it to be as long as possible. As I said, I don't mind 100 + hours long games, I mind games that don't respect my time.

And no, I do think JRPGs are getting longer thanks to their adoption of open-world elements.

It seems like once you have a big open world, the inevitable next step is to cram it with a bunch of fetch quests so you have an incentive to explore.

Which I don't even mind. I just ask that they make the boring and time wasting crap optional.

 

[Osukaa]

I understand where your'e coming from OP but at the same time I do enjoy RPG's that are long as long as they have a reason to be long and keep me interested. I stopped playing Tales of Zestiria as it kinda dragged on but Ill go back to it in a bit. I also kinda stopped playing a couple more but its funny cause I started playing Xenoblade Chronicles on the 3DS and im about 20 hours in and I really am enjoying it but who knows how the next 10 hours will end up lol. I guess its just the struggle we have to go through as gamers.

 

[Rising_Hei]

What i do when i feel like that is:
Stop playing the genre for a while, try and jump into other, let time pass.
Then try the new games and perhaps expand my horizons through indies.

But i'm also pretty dissapointed right now, couldn't really get into Persona 5 since i bought it day 1, for example. And Tales of Berseria was a huge pain to me.

 

[goldenpp72]

Well that's one game I'm definitely scratching from my list now. Kinda sucks since the world looked pretty cool.
I remember reading that the Xenoblade team helped the Zelda team at Nintendo with creating the open world of Breath of The Wild, it's a shame that they only went there to teach and didn't learn anything in return



Thanks, I will check those out.
And yeah I love the Yakuza franchise. While they are also packed full of content and some of it could be seen as potential time wasters, it's pretty much all optional




Well yeah P4 and P3 already felt a bit too slow and long...and both of them are in the 70-80 hours territory. P5 feels just as slow but they added another 20-30 hours of filler.

And yeah, as I said in the OP. I don't have a problem with long games. Loved my 200 hours with the Witcher 3 and I loved my 80 (and increasing) hours with breath of the wild and 60ish hours of going through Dark Souls 3 multiple times.
My Problem with games like Persona 5 is that it's 100 hours long but has, at most, 60-70 hours of good content and the rest is just filler and time wasting to artificially make it as long as possible. Because for some reason Atlus cared more about it being super long instead of being as good as possible.



I'm not in a hurry either. If there is a good long game I don't mind playing it for 2 months if that's how long I need to beat it
If a game is awesome then of course I want it to be as long as possible. As I said, I don't mind 100 + hours long games, I mind games that don't respect my time.



Which I don't even mind. I just ask that they make the boring and time wasting crap optional.

I'm currently about 30 hours into Xenoblade 2 and the idea that it requires too much time is a bit out there. It has a LOT of fluff side junk you can do, but don't need to. I found it mostly cumbersome and have been skipping it and haven't been struggling in doing so. As long as you don't have a compulsion to do everything it seems fine to me, but then i'm only nearing the half point so who knows.

 

[JORMBO]

I beat Xenoblade 2 in 42 hours. I didn’t do much side stuff. I feel the story moved along at a nice pace and was always interesting. I’ve been doing some of the side stuff after beating the game and most of it seems to be boring filler.

I don’t mind really long games as long as they are interesting and not stretched out. If a game lasts 70 hours and is always interesting I am ok with it just taking me a long time to beat. I do think it’s hard to keep a game interesting for that long though. I feel 40-50 hours is a good upper limit.

So I agree with what is written in the OP somewhat.

 

[CLBridges]

I spent over 100 hours in FFXV. Borrowed Persona 5 from my niece and just don't have motivation to spend a lot of time with it (Just got to the second palace). I think it's mostly about if the game grabs and keeps my attention early on. I want to finish P5, just gotta play in short bursts.

 

[Sakura]

You realize you can press + to skip the blade awakening scene?

I'm talking about before you get to the awakening scene. You already know whether you've got a rare or a common by the way it starts.
From when you choose to open the crystal to when the awakening scene starts, it's like 10 seconds. When you are going through dozens of crystals, it's a huge time consumer. Not to mention you can only open one at a time.

 

[Sosokrates]

Congratulations.

 

[Hoya Destroyer]

I think you should try Battle Chasers, OP.
I have almost completed it now myself. Its not too long. I've probably put about 45 hours in so far, which I hear is more than the average run through. I like to explore.
It has a Western art style (based on some old comic book), but it plays very much like an old school JRPG (from what I remember of them).

The story is the "save the world" stuff, you'd expect, but if you like turn based combat, its very fun and the character design is great too. Some of the environments are very pretty as well. There is even a fishing mini game.
I had never heard of the game or the IP, but happened to glimpse Red Monikas boobs in a Steam screen shot and decided to give the game a go from there Good game.

"Very Positive" Steam reviews too (FWIW).

http://store.steampowered.com/app/451020/Battle_Chasers_Nightwar/

 

[Narasaki]

RPG in general feel too long because the story, supposedly the most important part of that genre, is usually trash level tier. That's why the explosion of the action RPG with the souls games and the minimalistic approach to the storytelling was the best thing the genre could do.

I still miss something like SMT Nocturne thou... and I'm super cautious with getting hype with the new SMT that's coming out. I don't think an Jprg like Nocturne could ever exist in this mediocre modern gaming world

 

[Gamegeneral]

I feel you. I have a hard time playing JRPGs that feel like they're not respecting your time, regardless of length.

I'm okay with some grinding, but giving me options to speed up said grinding (Thanks, Bravely Default) helps. The ability to pick up/put down whenever I want is also a big plus. I've just recently started the mobile FF9 port. It runs well and they added a continue feature that starts you from the previous load screen. And the game's slow pace is pretty well rewarded with charming characters so far.

The problem with long RPGs is that some of them tout length as a selling point when there's a lot of filler.

 

[KamelRed]

I have no problems with longer JRPGs. It actually means I spend less money on new games because I'm still working one on or two of them already. Im a bachelor though so I have more time to myself when not working.

 

[DarkestHour]

I feel the same. Tales of Berseria was the most recent JRPG I've finished and the amount of times I had to run back and forth to the same areas seemed like nothing more than a lazy way to make me spend more time in the game. The world wasn't even interesting to explore.

Witcher 3 though, despite not being a JRPG but a long game, constantly held my attention through its incredibly designed world, story telling, and lore.

 

[ipukespiders]

I’ve got several JRPGs in my backlog that I couldn’t hope to ever finish anytime during my working life. One day.

 

[synchronicity]

RPG in general feel too long because the story, supposedly the most important part of that genre, is usually trash level tier. That's why the explosion of the action RPG with the souls games and the minimalistic approach to the storytelling was the best thing the genre could do.

I still miss something like SMT Nocturne thou... and I'm super cautious with getting hype with the new SMT that's coming out. I don't think an Jprg like Nocturne could ever exist in this mediocre modern gaming world

I agree with your take. (Although for me, Nocturne had a minimal approach to its narrative as well, and I loved it for that.) It's not how much you say, but what you say and how you say it.

Nocturne and Souls are among the very best games ever made imo, btw.

 

[carlo6529]

Hey Op, try the Octopath Travelers Demo.

 

[Pejo]

I think it's less about length and more about quality of side-quests. There's just too much filler compared to actual interesting sidequests. Like look at Xenoblade 2. Some of the sidequests were great. Mostly the ones surrounding the recruitment of Blades and getting to know the blades a little better. Then you had like a million "Collect 5 kooboogles" or "kill 3 Jazoopies at point A then run to point B". I get why they're in the game for leveling and rewards and stuff, but they're just not meaningful or fun. I wish we'd get a game that just had high quality quests, even if it had to sacrifice playtime to get there.

In comparison, look at the last half of Final Fantasy VI. A lot of the side-quests were really interesting from a lore perspective (8 dragons) or fleshed out the characters. Those are the kinds of quests I can get behind.

 

[entremet]

This is why I'm excited about Switch doing well. I just play and beat more JPRGs on portable. I'm still hoping ATLUS releases Persona 5 on Switch somehow. I know it's not their pattern. Persona has been on Sony systems, while SMT has been on Nintendo systems of late, but hopefully they can do something. Persona 5 Crimson PS4/Switch. Do it, ATLUS.

 

[catpurrcat]

Good points OP. Though the slog isn’t limited to jrpgs, fetch quests and useless dialogue are found in other genres just as often. Games like P5 I enjoyed the dialogue and most of the pacing (dungeons way too long! No need for mementos length either) so I didn’t mind the drawn out conversations.

The worst offenders are “open world” elements taken too far, like stupid fetch quests that end up being walking simulator or corridor battles. So boring.

 

[robor]

Totally agree.

The problem with modern RPGs (I have problems with MOST rpgs East or West) is the side-quest mentality. Why do they even exist at all? It would be better to make RPGs with "atom" quests that make up the entire narrative arc, but where the player can only "choose" a select "path" of "atoms" to make up and fulfill a certain "flavour" of the arc itself. That way the game is more condensed and satisfying, but also retains longevity in play due to the fact that the entire experience can't be accessed by one single play of the entire game.

Lore and stats is another major issue but that is a different topic for another time.

 

[Jezan]

I think that the hours from Xenoblade X are not true, the main story even when you require to go through some affinity missions to keep going is at max 20 hours.

If you start doing all side quests and affinity missions you will go over 100 hours. But then again Xenoblade X is more of an exploration game so I don't think it's your standard JRPG and it's way too different from Xenoblade 1 or 2 that it draws more from WRPGs than JRPGs.

I like long JRPGs, what I can't stand is the need to keep pandering to those weird otakus. I mean Xenoblade 2 is full of weird design choices that I hope do not make it to XCX2 (if we ever get a sequel to the superior Team Elma game)

 

[Bl@de]

I don‘t have a problem with a long linear JRPG like Persona 5. The game always progresses and it‘s never really boring. The worst offender in this game are mementos. I have a problem with filler quests in generic action games like Shadow of Mordor. No substance and long lists of similar quests without any story progression.

 

[JimmyRustler]

The key is to shake off the feeling that you have to play everything. Pick a game and take you're time with it. If it takes you 6 months to complete it, so be it.

And the older JRPGs weren't perfect either. Remember it being quite common that you usually had to grind some levels in order to be able to progress. That's even worse that bloated content in my book.

 

[Melubas]

I agree with you OP. Being 31 and working full-time plus other hobbies than games I find long games stressful, much prefer a 10-20 hour game tops. I have the Money to buy whatever I want so value for money is not really an issue anymore the same way it was when I was younger.

 

[Shifty]

I'm with you OP. I think the last proper full JRPG I finished was probably Persona 3.

I tried playing through 4 on vita but just couldn't make it to the end. The thumb-twiddling between major plot moments and grindwalls for big dungeons were just too much. No interest in 5 whatsoever.

I hope Octopath Traveler doesn't end up being stupidly long just for the sake of it.

 

[Revo_zero]

I go through stages, sometimes i cant bare the length but other times i just get on with it without issues, im 31 so my time is pretty limited but i still find myself playing a majority of JPRG type games, mainly thanks to many of them being on portable systems like the switch and vita. What i really cannot bare at the moment is the ubi style open world action/rpg stuff, so much filler devoid of substance, i got 15 hours into AC:O and the sheer size of the map just grinded me to a halt and can bare finishing it, same as GR: Wildlands. I know JRPG's are known for thier filler and artificial padding but the stories usually keep me going, but once ive had enough, ill just put it away and forget about it. Like someone else pointed out, its best to just approach something you like and get out of it what you feel like and bounce if you've had enough, theres no shame in putting it to one side if you dont finish it, i never force myself to finish something.

 

[jshackles]

RPGs are my favorite genre and JRPGs especially. I've a huge fan of single player, story-heavy narratives. I played a ton of RPGs last year even.

That said, just like other genres there are good games and bad games. And some are really bad. Here are my personal tips and thoughts:

• Don't worry about doing 100% of everything in a game unless it's really grabbed your attention and you want to - I typically will beat the main quest / campaign / whatever then bow out at post-game content is usually just filler
• Use HowLongToBeat.com to find out beforehand how long you can expect to be playing a game you're interested in - I've tossed a few games further down the backlog simply because I didn't want to commit that much time to a game
• Don't hesitate to drop a game that you don't feel like is respecting your time - If you're getting frustrated with grinding / fetch quests and you don't want to do those things, don't. You can always come back later (or not)
• Sprinkle in some shorter games between the longer ones - I played Fantasy Life last year for 100-ish hours on my 3DS, then went to Fairune which took like 2 hours. I followed it up with Ever Oasis at about 30 hours, and it worked out. On consoles I like to intersperse some Telltale games to break things up.

Hope this helps!

 

[Fbh]

Good points OP. Though the slog isn’t limited to jrpgs, fetch quests and useless dialogue are found in other genres just as often. Games like P5 I enjoyed the dialogue and most of the pacing (dungeons way too long! No need for mementos length either) so I didn’t mind the drawn out conversations.

The worst offenders are “open world” elements taken too far, like stupid fetch quests that end up being walking simulator or corridor battles. So boring.

True. But I think that a key difference is that, for the most part, other genres (including Western RPG's) at least make their bloat and filler content optional.
Plenty of games are full of crappy side content but every time a villager asks me to bring him 10 wolf pelts I can at least ignore him or refuse his request. The bloated dialog and overly long dungeons of persona can't just be ignored so easily since they are built into the core of the main story.

Going back to Howlongtobeat you can look at most recent western RPG's and the completion time for the main story is actually pretty low.
Horizon takes a bit over 20 hours, skyrim takes 30, even The Witcher 3 which is know for being very long and having a lot of content takes less than 50 hours if you focus on the main quest.

Breath of the Wild is a good example of a Japanese RPG/adventure game that respects my time even though it also has boring fetch quests in it for those who want them. But if the game had been made by almost any other JRPG centric studio chances are a lot of those fetch quests wouldn't be optional and the Divine Beasts would be locked behind a certain number of shrines I have to complete and before the final boss there would be a new take on the awful Tri Force gathering part of Wind Waker.

Hey Op, try the Octopath Travelers Demo.

That was actually the very first thing I played on my Switch.
I really liked it and it's easily among my most anticipated games of the year.
A part of me still worries a bit about it though, since as far as I know it's from the Bravely Default and the last third of that game is maybe the best example out there of a game not respecting my time.