Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[Segata]

Speaking of JRPGs, can someone explain something to me?

From my perspective, it seems as though JRPGs in the 16-bit era (and before) had pretty coherent stories and plots, albeit a bit basic at times.

But from the 32/64-bit generation up to today, the storylines seem to have become increasingly convoluted and nonsensical.

Am I the only one who thinks that? If my observation has some basis in reality, why did that happen?

To quote one of the greatest SNL skits of all time, "What's up with that?"

"Ted: Hey Fred!
Fred: yeah?
Ted: I finished writing the story and making the game but we have 3 more discs. What do we do?
Fred: erm...fill it up with overly expensive cgi cut scenes and add a bunch of bullshit story. These idiot teens will think it's deeper than it is.
Ted: Brilliant! Should I add some impossibly difficult bullshit dungeons and a ghost ship for good measure?
Fred: Yeah and some bosses with a 1billion HP.
Ted: Ok done!"

In short CD-ROMs happened.

[BoneSnapDeez]

But from the 32/64-bit generation up to today, the storylines seem to have become increasingly convoluted and nonsensical

The increased storage space of disc media, coupled with the ability to display long CG cutscenes, allowed amateur hour writers to evolve from penning short bad plots, into penning long horrendous plots.

Pretty much this. 5th+ gen JRPGs are horrendously long too. Despite the sometimes (too) simplistic gameplay I'll always prefer 3rd/4th gen JRPGs.

[ElkinFencer10]

My biggest gripe with modern JRPGs is that they're just too damn long. Some of them are damn amazing, but Persona 3 FES, for example, took me 120 damn hours. That's just insane. It was an INCREDIBLE game, but jesus christ, guys, it didn't need to be that damn long.

[Segata]

My biggest gripe with modern JRPGs is that they're just too damn long. Some of them are damn amazing, but Persona 3 FES, for example, took me 120 damn hours. That's just insane. It was an INCREDIBLE game, but jesus christ, guys, it didn't need to be that damn long.

....I put 800 hours into Xenoblade X.......

[Sano]

My biggest gripe with modern JRPGs is that they're just too damn long. Some of them are damn amazing, but Persona 3 FES, for example, took me 120 damn hours. That's just insane. It was an INCREDIBLE game, but jesus christ, guys, it didn't need to be that damn long.

....I put 800 hours into Xenoblade X.......

O.O That is a lot of time man. Was it worth it? I have Xenoblade Chronicles; I am about 2 hours in.. lol. I sort of stuck, but I also have FFXV and Zelda to play through now too. TOO many games my friend, too many.

[ElkinFencer10]

My biggest gripe with modern JRPGs is that they're just too damn long. Some of them are damn amazing, but Persona 3 FES, for example, took me 120 damn hours. That's just insane. It was an INCREDIBLE game, but jesus christ, guys, it didn't need to be that damn long.

....I put 800 hours into Xenoblade X.......

I put probably 60 hours into Xenoblade Chronicles and probably 80 or 90 hours into Xenoblade Chronicles X.

[Exhuminator]

I'm with you gentlemen about JRPG length. My sweet spot for JRPGs is 20-30 hours. After 30 hours I start to get bored with a game, unless it's very above average. Unfortunately post 16-bit era, JRPG average completion times only started creeping higher and higher. In the 5th gen they averaged 30-50 hours, and in 6th gen we started seeing 50-80 hour averages. I don't even know what 7th gen and beyond averages are. I think there's a long standing paradigm with JRPG developers that longer = better. As if the sheer hour count is what makes the game attractive to buyers. I'd much rather have a brief 25 hour highly polished JRPG versus a mediocre drawn out 85 hour long one.

I find this dislike of super long play times tends to alienate me from playing many JRPGs in my library. I've got tons of JRPG classics and hidden gems, but I rarely start them because of the life investment it takes to finish one. For example, Xenoblade averages 68 hours for its main campaign on HLTB, and hence I haven't started it even after owning for years. 68 hours is on the short side of plenty of JRPGs I own, but that's still a daunting commitment to make when you only average 3 hours of gaming a night. I'm basically looking at spending an entire month playing nothing but Xenoblade.

I get very conflicted about this topic. I love JRPG mechanics, depth, and design, but I hate the overly long hours upon hours of snowballing redundancy many take to finish.

[Segata]

My biggest gripe with modern JRPGs is that they're just too damn long. Some of them are damn amazing, but Persona 3 FES, for example, took me 120 damn hours. That's just insane. It was an INCREDIBLE game, but jesus christ, guys, it didn't need to be that damn long.

....I put 800 hours into Xenoblade X.......

O.O That is a lot of time man. Was it worth it? I have Xenoblade Chronicles; I am about 2 hours in.. lol. I sort of stuck, but I also have FFXV and Zelda to play through now too. TOO many games my friend, too many.

XCX is one of my fave games ever mainly as the world is so fun to explore..plus mechs. Gives a Phantasy Star feel. Online is like a bite sized Phantasy Star for me. First game is better in story and characters. If stuck at that first boss fight with a mechon..yeah I hated that. It gets better after that. XCX has a much more streamlined battle system. FFXV...eh. A game that could have been great but is so unfinished it's insane. It took 10 years and it's still a rushed game that you have to watch a movie to get more of the story. Combat is kinda awful as well. I say try it but it's loaded with problems. Not a bad game..just incomplete with both characters,narrative and the world.

[marlowe221]

I'm with you gentlemen about JRPG length. My sweet spot for JRPGs is 20-30 hours. After 30 hours I start to get bored with a game, unless it's very above average. Unfortunately post 16-bit era, JRPG average completion times only started creeping higher and higher. In the 5th gen they averaged 30-50 hours, and in 6th gen we started seeing 50-80 hour averages. I don't even know what 7th gen and beyond averages are. I think there's a long standing paradigm with JRPG developers that longer = better. As if the sheer hour count is what makes the game attractive to buyers. I'd much rather have a brief 25 hour highly polished JRPG versus a mediocre drawn out 85 hour long one.

I find this dislike of super long play times tends to alienate me from playing many JRPGs in my library. I've got tons of JRPG classics and hidden gems, but I rarely start them because of the life investment it takes to finish one. For example, Xenoblade averages 68 hours for its main campaign on HLTB, and hence I haven't started it even after owning for years. 68 hours is on the short side of plenty of JRPGs I own, but that's still a daunting commitment to make when you only average 3 hours of gaming a night. I'm basically looking at spending an entire month playing nothing but Xenoblade.

I get very conflicted about this topic. I love JRPG mechanics, depth, and design, but I hate the overly long hours upon hours of snowballing redundancy many take to finish.

I think "time to complete" has crept forward across all genres in the video game industry. RPGs are just the worst offenders (by a long shot).

These days, I find myself wanting a lot of games to be over long before I actually get to the end of them. 20-25 hours is my sweet spot.

[Erik_Twice]

I think "time to complete" has crept forward across all genres in the video game industry. RPGs are just the worst offenders (by a long shot).

R-Type Final, man.