Short and easy games? (2024)

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(@nytlocthehedgehog)

Posts: 170

12/06/2005 3:36 pm

Estimable Member

Topic starter

Does anyone want some games to stop focusing on high-res graphics and start focusing more on longevity and a bunch of good challenges?

If the handheld consoles have been any proof of this, graphics are one of the least important things a game needs. They can still sell plenty well with good 'ole sixteen bit remakes. (such as FF: Dawn of Souls, and the upcoming FF4 Advance)

I honestly find that the ability to beat a game in under six hours, even by a speed run, is rather sad. Same for when you can blast by a game and die five times in its entirity. I want a good, long game that has freaking hard battles in it. If the game makers can't think up enough hard bosses for, say, an RPG, put in at least three difficulty modes. As apparently good I am at video games (though I don't have much to compare myself to {no offense little brother}), I need a little handicap on my enemies to get by. Heck, wanna expand it even further? Do what Kingdom Hearts did in Final Mix; give your player a little bonus for beating the harder modes.

Am I honestly the only one who wouldn't mind putting 90+ hours into completely mastering a game like I did in Sonic Adventure II? The only one who wouldn't mind getting his butt kicked every once in a while? C'mon, guys. If you want someone to buy your game, and as many sequels as you wish, keep them hooked by making them play the first at least a dozen hours. Sheesh.

~Nytloc Penumbral Lightkeeper

(P.S. Does anyone have any suggestions for the games I'm looking for? I'm kinda in a...well, a gaming rut.)

(@wonderbra)

Posts: 143

12/06/2005 3:54 pm

Estimable Member

From this generation, a few examples spring to mind, namely Viewtiful Joe, Ninja Gaiden, and Ikaruga.

Of course, if you want a challenge, just go back and play some old-school games like Contra that are guaranteed to make you weep like a little girl or your money back.

(@thecycle)

Posts: 1818

12/06/2005 3:56 pm

Noble Member

Want lots of gameplay? Play World of Warcraft. Want high difficulty? Play Ninja Gaiden.

(@wonderbra)

Posts: 143

12/06/2005 4:03 pm

Estimable Member

Quote:

Want lots of chatting ? Play World of Warcraft.

Fixed.

(@ultra-sonic-007)

Posts: 4336

12/06/2005 4:19 pm

Famed Member

Ninja Gaiden is tough...even at the default difficulty of Normal.

Either of the Halo games on 'Legendary' is tough. On Xbox Live on Halo 2, things get tough once you reach the upper 20s category.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness...I've spent a total over 250 hours on it.

Pokemon Puzzle League was challenging on the harder levels.

And of course, there's the ultimate longevity game: Tetris.

(@hiro0015)

Posts: 2915

12/06/2005 5:36 pm

Famed Member

My thoughts exactly...graphics are great and all, but the are nothing when compared to good gameplay! A couple of generations from know, the graphics in games will reach a point were they really won't be able to get any better (aka photo realistic)...then what! Viewtiful Joe is a stellar example of a game with 'basic' graphics but awesome game mechanics.

(@bass-x3)

Posts: 211

12/06/2005 6:21 pm

Estimable Member

The original two Zeldas were good, long and challenging. Fastest time I know for LoZ1 is two days, but he stayed up all night and day both days to finish it. Graphics arent everything, and thats why im not on Sony's side for the greater part, because they think graphics are

(@wraith-the-echidna)

Posts: 1631

12/07/2005 7:19 am

Noble Member

Massive gameplay and longevity + graphics to die for = Gran Tourismo 4.

*Cry from the stands: "OH NOEZ...A RACING GAME!"*

No I'm being serious here...ok racing may not be your thing, but as far as I'm concerned, it's got it all!

Other ideas: The Final Fantasy series. Granted they were losing the plot a little with FFX (That one could have been a little longer) but it was still darned tough, and great fun, and their other titles were sheer genius^^

And as has been mentioned before, MMORPGs are great for longevity^^ I have been playing FFXI for over a year now and I have completed less than 25% of the missions, plus there's a new expansion pack coming out soon!

I guess, though, you mean mainly Platformers and Shooters etc in this topic. I'm not a massive fan of either of thise genres, esp shooters, so I wouldn't know really, although I am into the Ratchet and Clank series, and those had plenty of game life for me.

But coming at it from my standpoint, you want lifespan AND decent graphics together...go racing games! I have quite a collection including the Burnout series, GT series, Midnight Clubs, NFS Undergrounds (I'm a racing fanatic) plus many more, and virtually all of them have kept me entertained for hours on end^^

Wraith

(@gyserhog)

Posts: 1241

12/07/2005 5:55 pm

Noble Member

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (AKA, Lucifers Call)

An RPG, were no matter how high a level you are, if you're not prepared, even low level demons will slaughter you. And don't get me started on hard mode... >>

(@shadow-hog_1722585725)

Posts: 4607

12/07/2005 7:06 pm

Famed Member

Come to think of it, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is no cakewalk, either... ESPECIALLY if you haven't played the first one. I've not even bothered trying Hard Mode.

And it took me several weeks to beat said game, so I'd not call it "short", either. Unless you're one of those Metroid speedrun fanatics. Which most of us aren't.

(@wonderbra)

Posts: 143

12/07/2005 7:41 pm

Estimable Member

ROFL @ Wraith saying Final Fantasy games are 'hard'.
I haven't cracked a sweat on an FF game since they left the NES.

(@ultra-sonic-007)

Posts: 4336

12/07/2005 8:25 pm

Famed Member

I beat Echoes...and then I tried Hard mode.

Never made it past Booster Guardian. X|

(@thecycle)

Posts: 1818

12/07/2005 11:27 pm

Noble Member

ROFL @ Wraith saying Final Fantasy games are 'hard'.
Yeah really. Any idiot can win a battle in Final Fantasy (or just about any other Japanese RPG) with a rubber band and one of those "turbo" controllers.

(@the-impossible-box)

Posts: 403

12/08/2005 5:30 pm

Reputable Member

Quote:

Am I honestly the only one who wouldn't mind putting 90+ hours into completely mastering a game like I did in Sonic Adventure II?

All I can say is that I'm sorry you wasted 90+ hours on a shoddy game like Sonic Adventure 2.

(@emerald-hedgehog)

Posts: 286

12/08/2005 6:30 pm

Reputable Member

Quote:

Ninja Gaiden is tough...even at the default difficulty of Normal.

...then you play Ninja Gaiden Black! Seriously, the monsters on the harder difficulty will make you believe they are nigh on impossible to defeat (even for Ninja Gaiden)!
And the special 'missions' you can take are just ridiculous after a while.

PC Games like Warcraft are gonna eat away at the hours.
Sometimes, all you need is a good solid game to pass the time like Street Fighter II. The Ratchet and Clank series (though Gladiator was slightly disappointing) has staying power. If you look hard enough, there are games that can last!

(@thecycle)

Posts: 1818

12/08/2005 8:44 pm

Noble Member

All I can say is that I'm sorry you wasted 90+ hours on a shoddy game like Sonic Adventure 2.
Yeah, I was gonna say.

(@hiro0015)

Posts: 2915

12/08/2005 9:28 pm

Famed Member

I just got my NES from Ebay yesterday! My roommates and I have been playing it for hours...it brings back so many good memories!

(@wraith-the-echidna)

Posts: 1631

12/09/2005 8:02 am

Noble Member

Quote:

Any idiot can win a battle in Final Fantasy (or just about any other Japanese RPG) with a rubber band and one of those "turbo" controllers.

I agree that the battles soon became easy, but that was only after you put in some work to actually level up your characters, thereby adding longevity to the game. If you went ahead all guns blazing without leveling up, then you'd be killed by a boss half way though.

It is longevity of games we're talking about here after all.

Wraith

(@marky100)

Posts: 800

12/09/2005 11:43 am

Prominent Member

wooooooop for morrowind, it's got plenty of gameplay, it takes a while to level up and they said "@#%$ the graphics"

(@thecycle)

Posts: 1818

12/09/2005 12:27 pm

Noble Member

I agree that the battles soon became easy, but that was only after you put in some work to actually level up your characters, thereby adding longevity to the game. If you went ahead all guns blazing without leveling up, then you'd be killed by a boss half way though.
This is not, however, a question of skill or strategy, but of rubber bands.

(@crimson-darkwolfe)

Posts: 2232

12/09/2005 12:31 pm

Noble Member

wooooooop for morrowind, it's got plenty of gameplay, it takes a while to level up and they said "@#%$ the graphics"

Morrowind does = the win, but I'd hardly call it's graphics that poor, it's just oldish. And if you want to see it with graphics, go check any Morrowing modding community.

Also, Longevity + difficulty?

Go buy Lemmings. =D

(@dirk-amoeba)

Posts: 1437

12/10/2005 12:31 pm

Noble Member

Quote:

All I can say is that I'm sorry you wasted 90+ hours on a shoddy game like Sonic Adventure 2.

Personally, I think that 90 hours is an awful lot of time to spend on any game.

I have time for about an hour of video games a day, maybe two hours max. And I don't even have a job or a particularly busy social life. I'd rather not shell out fity to sixty dollars for a game I'll likely never see the end of unless I play it every day for three months without playing any other games.

(@wonderbra)

Posts: 143

12/10/2005 12:42 pm

Estimable Member

Quote:

I agree that the battles soon became easy, but that was only after you put in some work to actually level up your characters, thereby adding longevity to the game. If you went ahead all guns blazing without leveling up, then you'd be killed by a boss half way though.

Once again, I've never powerleveled on a Final Fantasy since FF3j, which arguably wasn't worth the effort because that game sucked a whole bunch of ass.

(@Anonymous)

Posts: 0

12/10/2005 1:22 pm

New Member Guest

Uhh Grand Theft Auto San Andraes.
I speant an unhealthy amount of time in that game
First time I beat it *over 2-3 days* = 45 hours
Beat it again = 70-80 hours
And then tack in about 10 hours for just f**king around and not saving.
Great story and characters and gameplay and etc. The worst part about the game is the gun sound effects, which SUCK.

Uhm then there's games like BF2 where the longevity coems in multiplayer. Whereas the man tricks you into playing forever just to unlock another gun or gets ome more patches. And, yes, it's hard.

Then there's sweet, sweet tetris.

(@thecycle)

Posts: 1818

12/10/2005 5:36 pm

Noble Member

Personally, I think that 90 hours is an awful lot of time to spend on any game.
Even a casual MMO gamer can end up dumping over 250 hours into World of Warcraft and hardly noticing.

(@psxphile_1722027877)

Posts: 5772

12/10/2005 5:50 pm

Illustrious Member

The days of 10-15 hour gaming marathons have long since passed for some of us. The idea of a game that requires only a minimal time commitment to fully enjoy actually sounds quite pleasing to the ears of some folks. Case in point: Resident Evil.

(@dirk-amoeba)

Posts: 1437

12/11/2005 9:25 am

Noble Member

Quote:

Even a casual MMO gamer can end up dumping over 250 hours into World of Warcraft and hardly noticing.

Then such a person needs to revise their definition of "casual gamer."

In any case, that statistic means little to me because it's only a number of hours the game has played. If you have spent 250 hours on a game you've had for four years, that's different from spending 250 Hours on a game you've had for two months. Since WoW has been out for a little over a year, I'll guess the realistic time frame is somewhere in between.

I don't have WoW, and if I got it then I suspect I'd probably spend no more than a total of 20 or 30 hours on it, absolute tops, although the fact that it apparently requires more time would probbably lead me to get bored with it and quit after four or five. I'd rather play games that don't need me to devote 10 days of play in order to enjoy them. That way, I'll have time for eating and speaking.

(@thecycle)

Posts: 1818

12/11/2005 11:50 am

Noble Member

Your reasoning is flawed and you haven't played the game.

WoW doesn't necessarily require a lot of time, but there's just so much high-quality content that it is possible to devote over 300 hours apiece to two characters, one horde and one alliance, without seeing everything the game has to offer. No matter what level you are, there are literally mountains of quests and things to do, some taking as little as ten minutes and others taking as long as five-six hours. Because grinding is at a minimum in WoW, you can spend several hours playing it and hardly notice the time passing. It's just that good.

Basically, your sweeping statements have no basis in fact and are the product of speculation. I said the exact same thing about Wow: I'll probably only spend about 20 or 30 hours, at the most. I was wrong. For a beginner in a hurry, it takes 20-30 hours to get to level 30. And if you're like me and you appreciate a quality experience and like being immersed in a well-made gameworld, you'll probably take a bit more than that. And if you're enjoying yourself, which you probably will, you'll want to level up all the way to 60.

Besides which, I was simply using WoW as a counterargument to the OP's complaint that games aren't long enough.

(@dirk-amoeba)

Posts: 1437

12/11/2005 1:00 pm

Noble Member

Quote:

Basically, your sweeping statements have no basis in fact and are the product of speculation.

"Sweeping statements"? All I was doing was pointing out that short games have their merits, particularly becuase nobody else had spoken up in their favor.

Quote:

Besides which, I was simply using WoW as a counterargument to the OP's complaint that games aren't long enough.

I didn't realize this, probably because you preceded it with a quote from my post.

In any case, you are right: I haven't played WoW. And you may also be right that if I try it, I will want to play it for a very long time.

But longevity of MMO games should be considered differently from games like Sonic or Mario or FF or Zelda or Metroid or any game with a beginning, middle and an end, and my first post was really referring to the latter type.

Anyway, I've been hearing an awful lot about WoW. Perhaps I should find out what all the buzz is about.

(@supershadow70)

Posts: 276

12/12/2005 3:29 pm

Reputable Member

No way you spent 90+ hours on that game. If I can beat that game in about 6 hours, the rest of you really really good gamers can beat it in about 4 I bet.

(@xagarath-ankor)

Posts: 931

12/12/2005 3:55 pm

Prominent Member

This year we've seen Resident Evil 4 and Devil May Cry 3. Both had good graphics (for a console), both had decent longevity (20-ish hours), both were at least fairly challenging (in DMC3's case, really so- it's generally said to be on the same level as Ninja Gaiden, though I haven't played the latter)
The best RPG ever made, Baldur's Gate 2: Shadow's of Amn clocked in at 100-250 hours and a fairly high difficulty.
Morrowind I'm not a huge fan of (loads of empty space, slapfight combat and nobody to talk to), but it is, admittedly, the largest game ever.

(@nytlocthehedgehog)

Posts: 170

12/12/2005 6:35 pm

Estimable Member

Topic starter

Quote:

No way you spent 90+ hours on that game. If I can beat that game in about 6 hours, the rest of you really really good gamers can beat it in about 4 I bet.

Lemme explain myself here: I said mastered. By my definition of 'mastered,' I must complete all bonus-inducing sidequests, challenges, and secret levels.

But, then, I kinda contradicted myself. I just realized I haven't A-ranked Green Hill, nor gotten the Secretary and Amy Themes from the Chao Garden.

I also need to max out a chao in stats (Which is possible, I beleive the stats end at 3700), but I consider that under a different mastering, specifically under the 'chao' category. (SA, SA2, SAdva, SAdva2)

But meh. That's coming from a dearly-embued fanatic whose goal (though certainly not the only one) in life is to master all the Sonic games...

Shadow's gonna be heck on my mind.

~Nytloc Penumbral Lightkeeper

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