screwed on 28/11/2003 at 16:18
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Originally posted by Brem_X_Jones I'm interested - what was the last action-lead game you bought? I can't think of an action game in the last two years that lasted for 25 hours, and I'm really trying.
KG
Who said anything about action games?
Morrowind, Mafia, NOLF, I could probably think of more after awhile. However, you do have a point. There aren't many. Used to be that all good games took a long time to finish and they weren't cash ins. The best games I've ever played were long-- Thief, Thief 2, DX, Jedi Knight 1, Half Life. Now they're all short sequels that cash in on a classic. Sad.
Blackjack on 28/11/2003 at 16:43
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Originally posted by JonahFalcon Call of Duty? 4 hours
Max Payne 2? 4 hours
Tron 2.0? 12 hours
OK, am I the only one here who actually takes his time with single-player games? I can take longer than this on a good Thief FM level.
Short single-player games are a trade off for supplying a quality multiplayer experience IMO, which is where I'll go hell-for-leather. In NOLF's case I got a reasonable bite at both sides. Since DX:IW is very unlikely to get multiplayer I'm looking for 45+ hours entertainment (25+ for the rest of you, I'd guess).
10-20 hours would be a ripoff to me, and 4 hours? Man, what the heck are you doing? Do you just run flat out through the whole thing?
Uncia on 28/11/2003 at 19:15
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Originally posted by screwed Used to be that all good games took a long time to finish and they weren't cash ins.
I'd say it's more a deal of "developers are under so much pressure to make their games look, sound and run great, they don't have time to make the games as long as they used to". Look at old Zelda games- they're insanely long, but making levels there is excessively easy, you just build with tiles. Even a single properly made room in a modern 3d game takes as much time to make as say 50 screens of tiles [I think people who tried to make SS2 FMs can attest to the amount of work that goes into the details]. And they have to make enough rooms to fill the same number of hours? I think not. And that's just level making, not to talk about scripting and dialogue and balance,...
CrashT on 28/11/2003 at 19:24
The more content that has to be created per level the less "levels" we are likely to get, or the smaller those levels are likely to be. As we, gamers, start asking for, and getting games with all the latest graphical features we are going to have to except that unless we want to wait 4-5 years instead of around 3-2 we are going to get less overall content for our bucks.
Making all the different maps (Bump, Normal, Specular etc) that are required takes time, the same with textures and models and actual level geometry... Now that explains every other game... Look at Unreal 2, some of the most geometry and texture intensive levels in any recent game and there's bugger all of it. Morrowind and Mafia and such can be longer because overall there a lot of reuse of textures and models and other resources so they only need to be made once.
So DX:IW... did they like create all the extra content and just not add it to the game or something, or just leave it out of the Demo Level? *Shrugs*
vrao81 on 28/11/2003 at 19:46
I finished DX1 on Hard skill in 13 hours...so 15 hours for the sequel isn't so bad. What's everyone complaining about:confused:
Ummagumma on 29/11/2003 at 03:16
I prefer shorter games, as there's always something new coming down the pike I wanna try next.
Eberon on 29/11/2003 at 03:17
I truly believe in the power of a lengthy game. I personally enjoy the fact that I cannot exactly remember the order of events/levels in Deus Ex 1 because it was so sprawling and lined out for so long, even though I have played the game through about eight times now.
Length can have a very critical level of importance for me when it comes to FPS games in particular. An RPG with story and all I can enjoy for quite a while, but I like to be able to lose myself in an FPS, not finish it in a tidy 10 hours.
That said, there are varying degrees of satisfaction. I can't say that DXIW will suck simply based on the impression that I may finish the game in 15 hours. I am confident that the game will stand against most everyone's doubts.
JonahFalcon on 29/11/2003 at 09:07
Just realized there's a reason Deux Ex: IW is 20 hours long and the first was longer:
How much time did the development of the engine take? Deus Ex was so Unreal-engine based that its SDK was a modified version of Unrealed -- hardly modified.
Deus Ex 3 will probably be far longer since the Havok engine is THERE, and it'll be easier just to make it higher rez for future computers.
Tej on 29/11/2003 at 10:17
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Originally posted by Uncia I'd say it's more a deal of "developers are under so much pressure to make their games look, sound and run great, they don't have time to make the games as long as they used to".
Now you've made me think about another aspect: the details in gaming world. I mean, some developers put a lot of effort to make the world highly detailed. How many of us can say we savour that? Do we stop to look around, see the plants, the screws, the pebbles? Or do we just rush by, pursuing whatever goal we are currently working at?
tomi1kenobi on 29/11/2003 at 11:33
That's a very good point. I think on the first time you kinda breeze through without paying too much attention to details. Later on you've more time for that and then there often are nice surprises in it. I mean, when I saw the latest in-game footage nof STALKER, I paused A LOT just to stare at all the little things.
Must be quite difficult for the devs, too. How to make really nice and detailed environment without shooting the actual gameplay in the leg?
