Rise of the Argonauts - Preview @ Eurogamer

"What RPG fans really want" seems to be the theme of Eurogamer's preview of Rise of the Argonauts, which features input from lead Charley Price. Here's the intro:

What do RPG fans want? Rise of the Argonauts' lead designer Charley Price believes they want a strong, customisable character with choices to make. And beyond that, it should be simple. Price says he's been busy "discarding the baggage of Dungeons & Dragons" for Argonauts - due out on PC, PS3 and 360 later this year - because it's laborious and repetitive. There's no juggling inventory items, no health or mana bars, no levelling up, XP or grind, and menus are few. This is a third-person action-RPG built on Unreal Engine 3. And Argonauts doesn't stop at reinterpreting the genre; it also wants to resurrect Ancient Greece.

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They also have another piece with an excerpt from Charley, who claims gamers really want shorter play times:

"Every time someone invests 25 hours of their life into a game and then realises there's another 75 hours to go, they just can't stomach continuing and they walk away with a sour taste in their mouth - no matter how much fun they had with the game.
"They need to be doing something achievable with the end in sight; people's expectations are evolving for what they want to get from the experience," he added.

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More information.

I'm like a flag in the wind on this one--first time I heard of it I thought it sounded interesting. Then I found out about the HUD-less thing and it started to seem like just another dumbed-down action title masquerading as an rpg. Then I read about picking your patron God, the skills and some of the story aspects, and that HUD-less was optional and I liked it again. But this piece is making me think that everything the devs are aiming at is a game I wouldn't like.

Especially that last quote. You only walk away from a game after 25 hours if the game itself is turning you off. I don't think anyone walks away after 25 hours of a really fun experience saying "Sheesh, why would I want to keep playing that?"

Short playing time => casual gaming.

I loved this comment "So, basically RPG fans don't want RPGs anymore, we want action games. Riiiiiight. Thanks Charley" by Nosrak.

I personally don't have much time these days and 20-40 hours fits me quite well but I don't think players get pissed off about a game they're really enjoying because there's more of it.

There are plenty of RPG tropes that need challenging but I'm finding these guys arrogant - or at least, the way they come across in the media. Don't tell me what I want - tell me why you made certain decisions and what you think the advantages are and let me decide.