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[inner-G]

Dude, takes eight hours just to get outta Midgar, lol. That's not short.

Max Level sliders, Speed Up, Encounters Off

 

[batrush]

Ys Oath

 

[Nete]

The Banner Saga lasts 10-14 hours, and is a trully unique game between narrative, combat system, and the wonderful atmosphere it creates with its lore, writing and music. And is fucking gorgeous.

Improved sequel soon™, and shouldn't be much more longer.

 

[Green Card]

what on earth is PDS.

If you have to ask you can't afford it.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

Kotor 1 is about 20 hours.

 

[WITHE1982]

Half of Ys 1 will be spent on

Spoiler

beating that fucker dark fact.

Fuck him fuck him fuck him.

Amen to that.

Spoiler

On nightmare difficultly it's basically impossible and anyone who claims to have beaten him is a phoney... a big fat phoney.

 

[d1ddy]

I beat mass effect 1 in 8 hours does that count lol

 

[Gooralski]

South Park: The Stick of Truth was already mentioned, so I'll just add my completion of main story, which was around 8 hours in one sitting. Pretty funny little game, waiting for the next one now.

 

[Lord Azrael]

The Pokémon titles are short (relative to JRPG standards that is) but especially the first generation games, which can easily be beaten in under 20 hours without rushing.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

Infinite Undiscovery takes ~18 hours to beat.

 

[Farks!]

The original Fallout can be beaten in 15-20 hours, including side quests.

 

[hurricanes]

If you have to ask you can't afford it.

I just check the price... I might sell my copy LOL.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

Dragon Quest IV - SO far I'm clocking in at 24 hours, and I'm already at the final boss dungeon. Such a simple and fun RPG, I also like how little padding there is.

TWEWY clocks in at around 20 hours. The secret reports is...god knows how long since I still have to play that.

 

[Silver-tongued]

The original Fallout can be beaten in 15-20 hours, including side quests.

If you know what you're doing, it can be beaten in a few minutes.

 

[SuperChoco]

The original Final Fantasy is pretty short and easy to get into as long as you don't play the NES version.

Shining Force is also pretty short and requires little investment.

 

[muu]

Arc the Lad 1 took like 4 hours to beat.

 

[Vortex566]

Terranigma is also comfortably short at roughly 20h.

This might be my next game. I had no idea it was so short.

 

[bluethree]

Chrono Trigger and Suikoden are definitely my favorite examples. Honestly, I wish 15-25 hour games were the norm for RPGs, at least for the main quests. Any more than that is a bit ridiculous and unnecessary.

 

[Bebpo]

Suikoden 1. It's the perfect length at 15 hours. It never wastes your time, so it never gets boring.

Felt like Suikoden 2 just took what Suikoden 1 did and dragged it out to 30 hours.

Disagree about Suikoden 2 completely. I feel it's a much more fleshed out and polished version of the Suikoden 1 concept that's better in every way.

But I agree Suikoden 1 is a great short rpg.

 

[Bebpo]

The Banner Saga lasts 10-14 hours, and is a trully unique game between narrative, combat system, and the wonderful atmosphere it creates with its lore, writing and music. And is fucking gorgeous.

Improved sequel soon™, and shouldn't be much more longer.

Oh yeah, Banner Saga was fantastic. First Kickstarter that completely lived up to the hype for me as a fan of srpgs, choice driven narratives and Norse mythology.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Disagree about Suikoden 2 completely. I feel it's a much more fleshed out and polished version of the Suikoden 1 concept that's better in every way.

But I agree Suikoden 1 is a great short rpg.

Yeah Suikoden 2 is one of those sequels, like Baldur's Gate 2, that just improves on its predecessor in every way.

 

[Pro from Dover]

Crimson Shroud on 3ds.

Oh hey, yeah! I just started replaying it yesterday.

 

[psynergylover]

Star Ocean: First Departure, I think I beat in in exactly 15 hours

 

[Mulgrok]

The original Fallout is short.

EDIT: There are so many ways to do things that you could replay it a LOT.

 

[Labadal]

You can complete Fallout: New Vegas quickly. You can spend 5 or 50 hours with the game depending on how you play.

 

[Iva Demilcol]

Earthbound-like: Contact for the NDS is about 15-20 hours long. Also, Inazuma Eleven is another short and nice rpg.

 

[Funyarinpa]

System Shock games, if they count.

Persona 4 Golden is 70-80 hours but feels so much shorter (in a good way)

 

[Man God]

The first five Dragon Quest games are very concise, with the first game definitely among the shortest of RPGs.

 

[falconxcrunner09]

Crisis Core FFVII was pretty short.

Fire Emblem didn't take me long either but not sure if either of them count for OPs requirements since its they are S/ARPGs and not a traditional one.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Vagrant Story. It even has a score system (in % if I recall correctly?), as if it were some sort of arcade game.

Live-A-Live is basically a collection of 9 very short RPGs.

 

[Man God]

This might be my next game. I had no idea it was so short.

There's actually very few super long SNES RPGs and most of them didn't come until pretty late in the cycle. Star Ocean, Dragon Quest VI, Tactics Ogre, Ogre Battle. FF VI is the longest of the first few Final Fantasy games but is still a 25-40 hour RPG.

 

[Creamium]

Costume Quest 1/2 are short (6-7 hours)

Came to say this. Played it recently and it's probably the shortest rpg I've ever played. Finished with dlc at 6 hours.

Thank god Undertale is short too, planning to start that soon

 

[Ōkami]

Sweet Home: Best aged 8bit RPG can be beaten in like 5-6 hours, really memorable too.

South Park: The Stick of Truth: You can very much 100% the game in less than 10 hours, very short and very sweet.

Other quickies, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden, Parasite Eve, and a large chunk of RPGs on the Game Boy and Game Boy Color like Dragon Quest I & II.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

Finishing an RPG can be a pretty time consuming endeavour however...


I recently finished a playthrough of Panzer Dragoon Saga clocking in at around 10 hours in total. The game spans 4 discs which are packed to the brim with content, it's fully voiced and there's a plethora of cut scenes and environments. It's a tremendous game that everyone should play if they get the chance.

Anyways, all Golden Sun games take 25 to 40 hours to beat. Yes, even Dark Dawn is pretty great if you play it now without the hefty expectations a sequel brings on release.

 

[Cilla]

Rhapsody A Musical Adventure was ten hours on my first play through. Short and sweet.

 

[Orakio Rob]

child of light is pretty short. i liked it

I second this. Beautiful game, fun combat system, well-balanced characters and you can finish it pretty quickly. Also, the music is soooooo good...

 

[chemicals]

Main Story average completion times for our games according to HowLongToBeat.com:

Breath of Death VII - 5 hrs
Cthulhu Saves the World - 7.5 hrs
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 - 8 hrs
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4 - 9 hrs

It's fairly difficult but Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is only about 20 hours long and much less on replays (in order to get the best D-Ratio, you need to beat the game in under 8 hours on NG+).

All of these are amazing games. Playing Penny Arcade 3 for the second time. So good. Final Fantasy 1 is also quick and probably my favorite RPG of all time.

 

[Orakio Rob]

All of these are amazing games. Playing Penny Arcade 3 for the second time. So good. Final Fantasy 1 is also quick and probably my favorite RPG of all time.

I would like to add that the Android port of FF1 is very good.

 

[syncyes]

The early Dragon Quest games (from I to VI) are fairly short affairs. 20~30 hour rpgs.

 

[Man God]

The early Dragon Quest games (from I to VI) are fairly short affairs. 20~30 hour rpgs.

VI isn't short. At all.

 

[Joni]

Vandal Hearts is a pretty short SRPG, and fun all the way through.

Sequel Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment is quite short too.

 

[syncyes]

VI isn't short. At all.

Really? I'm not sure about the original, but I beat the DS remake in 33 hours.

From DQVII onwards is when the series started getting long, iirc.

 

[Tadpole]

Don't have a number but child of light was short.

 

[Bog]

VI isn't short. At all.

According to most FAQs I'm halfway through at like 8 hours. That's short. (SF version)

 

[Joyful]

Mother 3 is about 20 hours

 

[Y2Kev]

Parasite Eve is a really good short game. Maybe 10 hours if you're slow? Wonderful everything about that game.

 

[Jisgsaw]

Nier, south park and the last story are the best short(-ish) RPG I played. Especially South Park and TLS benefited from that imo, as in the narrative being more streamlined.

Magna Carta 2 is also fairly short (20-ish hours) and hasn't been cited from what I've seen. But it's not that great a game.

I'm playing Witcher 3 and I know it's about 40 or so for main story, but it will probably be my longest game this year.

Hum, not to spoil it for you, but ehm... you might want to double that.
If you really rush it, you might clock at around or under 40-ish hours, but that'd be rushing and missing most the game has to offer.

 

[User 479360]

Bound by Flame wasn't overly long.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Crimson Shroud from Yasumi Matsuno is a short but sweet RPG. As is Vagrant Story, another masterpiece from Matsuno-sama.

King's Field IV was around 20 hours long. EverGrace also by From Software was like around 10. Eternal Ring was like 8 hours or something, lol. Soul Hackers was one of the shorter SMT games clocking in around 20 hours. Same goes for the original Persona. The first Raidou game was similarly short and lasted just over 10 hours, I believe but it's been a long time since I last played it. Drakengard 2 was really short, thinking back.

Mass Effect 2 was straight to the point and my favourite in the series because of that.

The Last Story was Sakaguchi's attempt at a short RPG and it was rather solid and underrated.

Parasite Eve is similarly a masterpiece RPG and is only around 10-20 hours.

For a really solid SRPG at a shorter length I'd recommend Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume for DS. First playthrough was only like just under 10 hours, second playthrough even shorter due to NG+ abilities.

So yeah, I love short RPGs. No bloat and generally tend to be more memorable experiences for me.

 

[dadjumper]

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
Pokemon Gen 1
Undertale