In my eyes It's gotta be 21-40 hours at least.

For the most part I cannot bring myself to spend $90-100 for a game that only lasts four or five hours, unless I'm certain It's worthwhile enough to warrant replaying and doing things differently. It also depends on whether or not shorter games compensate by launching at a cheaper price point, this can be very persuasive.

I voted for the epic 40 hours +. I feel a game needs to be quite long, but not overly so. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin I had about 25 hours in getting it close to 100% complete, yet it felt a little too short for me. As you can imagine, Another Code's paltry 4:43 made me quite angry.

I voted 21 - 40 hours, my most favourite games typically last me over 20 hours, so it seems to fit :D

It depends on the genre though, since RPGs will take you 40 or more but action adventure games may last you 20 hours, and both can still be just as enjoyable as the other.

Variety in gameplay is also important, if it's 40+ hours and I'm doing the same shit over and over, there is less incentive to continue, but if things keep changing and the experience remains fresh and exciting then the longer the better!

But as a guide 21 - 40 hours is indeed the sweet spot B-)

It actually depends on the genre. I have spent 100+ hours on GTA:VC, but most of that time was spent mucking around with the stunts and running people over with fast cars. For sandbox games like GTA I'd say the more the better.

But I wouldn't want to play a game for too long if it was one of those 'fetch me the key' or 'retrace your path' type of games.

And if you're asking about how long it takes to get to the conclusion of a story I voted 11-20 hours. Thats not counting the game 'finished' at 100%.

I think for the most part, when it comes to FPS at least, the average seems to be around 6 hours. I know when I finished Halo 2 for the first time my Dad was shocked that I waited all that time and finished it so soon.

:lol: Same for me, my sis bought me Jak 3 as a present on the 31 Dec and I stayed up all night and finished it Jan 1 in the afternoon, no sleep! She said that for $90 it was too short... or that I was an idiot for staying on it without sleep.

I voted 21-40. Any more than that, and you need a shit load of time to put into it. Any less, and and it seems like a rip to me.

21-40, including replaying bits to finish off everything.

If the story gets too long I find myself thinking "Gee isn't this thing over yet?"

Happened in Twilight Princess and also RE4

Even some games that should be long aren't I finished Fable in one night. Didn't realise how late it was until the sun started to rise. Never done that with a game before.

Jeeze, they didn't take THAT long finish...I think you just suck at those games. :P

But I think we all agree that HALF the time spent playing MGS games is actually spent WATCHING the cutscenes! :P

11-20 hours is enough, anymore and I get that feeling it's wrong and I should be doing something more constructive. I hate that feeling! :angry:

11-20 is fine for me, however I don't mind + or - a few (10s of) hours in between. Well as long as there is no load times anyway...

11-20hrs. Not too short, not too long, Kellogg's Just Right :P

11-20 hours for me. I simply do not dedicate enough hours to gaming to warrant anything longer. It took me months to finish Paper Mario TTYD on the gamecube (although some would argue that it means i got more value out of my $50)

I'm still floundering around in Wind Waker, and have yet to finish Echoes. I don't know what length these games come in at... but it seems longer than 20 hours.

The sweetest length game for me was Metal Gear Solid 3. Enough to have me gripped, and it finished at the perfect time. The varied gameplay probably helped a bit.

Half Life 2 was also perfect for me.

I do find myself returning to game like San Andreas, Command and Conquer: Generals (and now Starcraft), Trackmania ESWC, Wii Sports, and the mario party series (for when friends are around)

my god... i've turned casual...

Despite my constant reccommendations of Disgaea, if you think over 20 hours is too long, stay well away from this game. It's time is measured in days as opposed to hours.
Personally I love it to bits!

112 hours I spent on that game! Far too addictive :P Still enjoyed it but I wouldn't want every great game to be that long

I like a FPS to be over 10 hours and an action game to be between 10 and 20. However I want RPG's to keep going for a long time. If they went over 40 hours I wouldn't mind at all. It all just depends on the game.

40 hours?!?!? Hell, I played Ultima VII solidly for over a year before I got around to finishing it.

Oblivion?! Sandbox my flipping arse!

Ultima... that is where the shit is at!

Probably the 21-40 hours option for me too, although really it does depend on the genre. RPGs obviously hit that target with ease and the good majority of Action/Adventure titles seem to as well which is nice. First Person Shooters are a hard one so I will generally be happy with it if the single player component is say 6-10 hours and the multiplayer extends the game's lifetime to 15 or 20 hours. Games like Halo or Gears (even though the latter ain't a FPS) manage to double the 20 hour mark easily and that's just playing with friends. It can then go on for even more if I'm playing Ranked or (now) whoring for achievements (read: Gears 'Seriously...' achievement).

Racing games depend on what type of racing game they are. If they're Arcade racers (Burnout, NFS) then around the 10 hour mark (give or take) is suffice for me. Simulation on the other hand needs to be reasonably long and thankfully games like GT and Forza nail that for me.

And yeah, I think I have covered most games. It definitely depends on the genre at the time but generally if a game manages to last past the 20 hour mark (single or multi, or both) then that's good enough for me. :)

21-40 hours with the sole exception of a freeform RPG like Oblivion or Morrowind which I've played to death.

Twilight Princess took me about 40 hours to complete, and for such a linear RPG, it was a little long, but only a little. Way too much stopping and starting for my liking.

Twilight Princess isn't an RPG Dec, it's an Adventure game ;)

Anyone who votes for the top two options isn't a gamer and should be banned... and shot. :P 11-20 for me, but I can easily play a 40 hour+ game and love it to death.

you dont need 40+ hour games, they're usually too addictive anyway

I agree with Drake that if a game's longer than 11-20 hours I feel like I should be doing something more constructive :P I selected 11-20, although I don't complain if a game's longer - and then there's games like The Sims that I play every now and then (I know, I know...) that can last for as long as you can stand them. Forza Motorsport sucked away many many hours of my time, I don't even know how many hours it took, and I didn't even finish it before my bro traded in the XBox for a 360 (and lost my save file), so I'm looking forward to Forza 2 :D