There are quite a few video game genres in the world. Action, stealth, adventure, RTS, puzzle, and the list goes on. However, the one genre that seems to be gaining wild popularity nowadays is role-playing. Many developers opt for RPG features in their non-RPG games, which talks heaps about this genre’s importance.
Role-playing games are usually lengthy, and it takes the right mix of gameplay design, missions, and upgrades to make it feel consistently interesting. But there’s one more element that makes an RPG near perfect, and that is its pacing. Let’s take a look at some of these games that overstayed their welcome and could have been a little shorter.
10 Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Call it a master plan or the worst mistake ever, but Ubisoft has turned their precious Assassin’s Creed series into action-role-playing titles. Gone are the good old days of taking down multiple enemies and truly using stealth. Now it is all about progression, grinding, listening to unbearable dialogues, and doing repetitive tasks.
Newer Assassin’s Creed games are not exactly bad, but they are unforgivingly lengthy. For example, taking the most out of Valhalla or Odyssey takes over 100 hours. Which isn’t bad if these were true role-play games and offered interesting game-changing decisions. But they don’t. These games are a mere shell of what a true RPG is, and that is why they should’ve been less than half their length.
9 Dead Island
Dead Island series has suddenly taken the back seat after the success of Dying Light, which is good. The consensus is Dead Island was a decent game during co-op and quite unbearable running solo.
The repetitive tasks kind of work when playing with a friend but are extremely irritating in single-player mode. Moreover, Publishers marketed Dead Island as an emotional story-driven experience, but that isn’t what it was. While Dead Island is barely 25 hours long, its lack of good story content and missions can make anyone wish for a shorter game.
8 Akiba’s Beat
Akiba’s Beat came out in December 2016, and gamers quickly blasted it for having the most tedious repetitive gameplay ever. The pacing in this game is so atrocious that it is hard for people to enjoy it. It just keeps going on and on for about 50 hours, even if people rush through it.
Thoroughly finishing this game can take up to 100 hours which is utterly insane. Akiba’s Beat should’ve been a lot shorter than it is, probably 15 hours or 20 max.
7 Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
Almost everyone knows about Final Fantasy. After all, it’s a series with over 50 games. While most of the main Final Fantasy titles receive praise for amazing storytelling and role-playing elements, Brave Exvius goes in a whole different direction. It smothers the players with its overall length and demands over 220 hours to play it. This game is the longest one in the series yet, and since it is a turn-based role-playing game, players can do a little to reduce its length.
Moreover, it is not even a console or PC game. This one is only for Android and iOS so that people can pour their precious time into it. If only this game were a bit open-ended and very, very short.
6 Harvest Moon: Back to Nature
Harvest Moon games can be lengthy, understandable considering they are a mix of life simulation and role-playing. However, Back to Nature is a tediously long video game. The classic came out in 1999 for PlayStation and received a fairly positive score.
Its lengthiness was not a point of concern because of its decent features for the time. But in the current day scenario, it will be one tough game to play through, even for gamers who are into retro titles. If this game were a bit shorter originally, it would interest new players to check it out.
5 Wizardry 8
Wizardry 8 is an old RPG title that was released two decades ago. It’s the essence of retro gaming and old-school RPGs, which can sometimes feel a bit lengthy and clunky. The game is available on Steam and GOG nowadays for those wanting to relive its old-school glory.
This one is a good retro title, but with 90+ hours of playtime, it’s a bit too much. The overall controls, gameplay, and story can be unbearable for people because of Wizardry 8’s length.
4 Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Monster Hunter games are repetitive but fun, especially on PC or consoles. But Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is a 3DS title and has aged so poorly that it does not justify its 100 hours long length. This game could’ve been a lot shorter, especially since the first few hours are quite boring.
The game gets better, but the messed-up pacing makes it hard to enjoy this one, especially for newer players.
3 Rune Factory Frontier
How to make RPG titles even more lengthy? Add a bit of simulation into the mix, and exactly that is what this game does. Rune Factory Frontier is Wii exclusive, released alongside games such as Dragon Age: Origins and Demon’s Souls. While EA and From Software’s RPGs are in a class of their own, Rune Factory gets buried under its unintuitive storyline and progression.
Not just that, but this game is lengthy, costing players over 90 hours of their time. While the game’s visuals and design are good, is it worth putting in so many hours? According to the reviews, the story isn’t worth the time, which begs the question, will this game benefit from being half its length?
2 Persona 3
This one is tough, but it has to be on this list. Persona games take time, and their stories are pretty good. Especially, Persona 4 Golden. But these games are meant to smother new players, which is why it is such a niche game series.
Persona 3 is a decent game but has terrible story pacing issues and an outdated gameplay design. Since the game is old, the gameplay design gets a wave-off. But still, how can one muster up the entire story that’s split across over a hundred hours? If Persona games were well-paced and shorter, maybe new players would feel welcomed to the series.
1 Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr
With polarizing reviews, Warhammer: Inquisitor takes over 90 hours to play through the main story. This game would easily benefit from a shorter length, as it would put the main focus of players on the exploration and side quests.
Also, a 90-hour story is a bit of overkill and extremely hard to pace well.
