Kingmaker - Companion Romances

Originally Posted by Silver Coin
Project manager said it's 140 hours of content

Holy wow. That's what I'm talking about! I probably won't 100% but I love when the CRPGs have an epic scale that slowly builds up from nothing (or less than nothing, like Gothic.)

Originally Posted by Silver Coin
Project manager said it's 140 hours of content

Wont take that long for me as I finished Witcher III & Dragon Age: Inquisition in a few days. Guess having to much free time allows me to play games longer nowadays.

Originally Posted by Silver Coin
Project manager said it's 140 hours of content

Now that's good news, I was hoping it was going to be 100+

Originally Posted by TheRealFluent
How long is the main campaign of Kingmaker supposed to be? Are we talking Sword Coast Legends short 30 hours or what?

As Silver Coin said 120 hours (40 hour main quests + 80 hours for side contents).

I believe this factors in learning about kingdom management and all that. There is also a chance it was miscommunication (I think the community manager could have meant 80 hours including main + side contents, not 80 hours additional contents). To be honest, I don't mind either way, 80-120 hours sounds good to me

I didn't realise the romance topic will generate so much posts

I want romance to meaningful, as in, it helps you bond with the companion and learn more about their history/background etc. if it works like romance in BG2, I will be happy.

At this point… I'm a little skeptical from dialogues I've seen in beta (not romance banters, it wasn't included), so I will have my fingers crossed. Well, there was one flirty dialogue you can initiate with each of the romanceable character, but it didn't go any further than that.

I personally don't like having games longer than 40-60 hours, because in my experience they tend to be incredibly repetitive and have a lot of pointless filler.

Originally Posted by Silver Coin
I personally don't like having games longer than 40-60 hours, because in my experience they tend to be incredibly repetitive and have a lot of pointless filler.

I don't agree many things with Silver but I agree with him on this 100%! Right now I have the following games to plays,

Dragon Quest XI
Bard's Tale 4
Kingsmaker
Assassin Creed

Imagine if each of these taking 100 hours

I really don't get why people feel like they have to 100% complete games and finish them as fast as possible which result in these "games have to be short otherwise they are pointless filler".

It's a hobby, not a race. The point of a game isn't even to finish it but to have fun playing it.

I'm not in a hurry to complete an RPG, but I do, of course, have to ensure that no piece of loot or XP has eluded me.

Its not about 100% completion but I would like to have some sort of closure to games especially their stories. So if the game is 100 hours long, then the chances are they add something in the middle to drag it so you get bored and essentially forced to quite by the game. What this means is that, the you are forced to not see the good parts of the game.

For example, I was enjoying the lore and main story of DAI but hated some of the grindy game play mechanics so I stopped playing the game.

If they remade DAI in renpy I might be interested to play it but as is the game play is just such a painful bore that it is not worth playing.

I doubt Kingmaker will have the same issue even if one can expect any huge game to have both lows and highs when it comes to quality.

Originally Posted by azarhal
I really don't get why people feel like they have to 100% complete games and finish them as fast as possible which result in these "games have to be short otherwise they are pointless filler".

The reason long games typically have a lot of pointless filler is because it's impossible to create 120 hours of meaningful handcrafted content without taking shortcuts and getting lazy. Especially for a small budget game like this.

Furthermore, just because a game isn't 100+ hours doesn't mean that it's short. If you think that, then you must have a lot of free time on your hands.

As to your point, in games that run over 40 hours I almost always skip some side content. With a game this long, I'd probably end up skipping 50% of the content just because I don't have the time or motivation to invest 120 hours, and that's not even including the three expansions they have planned.

Now if a game is 30 hours long, but has 120 hours of replayability, that sounds more reasonable to me. Good CRPGs are meant to be replayed after all.

I can see it from both point of views, but I don't mind 80-120 hour gameplay for Kingmaker if the later chapters are as good as first two.

From what I've seen there are three factors that will inflate game hours in Kingmaker:
1. Exploration
2. Kingdom management
3. Under level to beat main bosses - need to do more side quests

Originally Posted by Silver Coin
Snip

I don't have the time or motivation to invest 120 hours because its not Deadfire.

Fixed for you

Even with Deadfire I skipped most of the bounties and some of the tasks after the 50 hour mark. I don't have patience for filler content anymore.

Originally Posted by Silver Coin
Even with Deadfire I skipped most of the bounties and some of the tasks after the 50 hour mark. I don't have patience for filler content anymore.

I don't blame you. I did the same thing in FFXV. The content became overwhelming and later I rushed to see the ending at 50 hours (probably leaving another 50 or more of side content behind.)

As long as that stuff isn't mandatory I don't see an issue.

I am still bitter I could not ‘marry’ a Khajiit and may never get over it.

Originally Posted by Silver Coin
Furthermore, just because a game isn't 100+ hours doesn't mean that it's short. If you think that, then you must have a lot of free time on your hands.

100 hours games takes me 2.5 to 3 months to finish unless I am on PTO. I think 40 hours is a short game. 20 hours is very short. 60 is fine. I played some games for over 200 hours (on multiple playthrough) and never finished them too.

Also, most 100+ hours games have ~30 hours main quest anyway, if I get bored I just rush the main quest and ignore the rest. I haven't seen a single 100 hour game where there was 100 hours of main quest anyway (except maybe MMOs, but they usually allow you to skip stuff).

My biggest problem with games is that I realized last year that I get bored once I "finished" my character : I got all the class abilities I'm going to use until the end, usually because character progression is front loaded relying a lot on passive bonuses or because reaching level cap is super fast. One of the reasons why D&D and its clone are more interesting than most modern game character progression system.

First off, I prefer quality over quantity. I'd rather play a 30 hour RPG with consistent high quality content than a 120 hour game with 90 hours of filler. Resources are finite, and the more developers spread themselves thin the more potential they waste.

Second, spending 2-3 months to complete a single game may not be a long time for you, but I reckon it is for most gamers that have jobs, huge backlogs, and maybe even other hobbies besides gaming. If every game I wanted to play was 100+ hours, I'd never get around to them all.

I understand your point about being able to skip content, but games are typically designed around experiencing all of the content. If I only play 40 hours of a 120 hour game, those 40 hours are guaranteed to leave me feeling unsatisfied. And again, the resources that went into the other 80 hours could of been used to enhanced the 40 that I played.

Finally, I'll reiterate again that replay value is more important to me than length. They're not mutually exclusive persay, but usually the more developers spend in length the more they sacrifice in terms of roleplaying options, quest design, and reactivity. The longer the game is, the less likely I am to replay and try different paths as well.

To reinforce that final point, look at the games with the most replay value

Tyranny (20-30 hours )
Alpha Protocol (12-20 hours )
Age of Decadence (8-12 hours)

Originally Posted by Silver Coin
I understand your point about being able to skip content, but games are typically designed around experiencing all of the content.

Most games aren't designed around experiencing all the content, they don't even have a story. Games are design to entertain people. The goal is to have fun playing them, not get pissed that you can't get 100% completion because you find the optional content boring. Optional content that my actually be fun to another person might I add. Like romances.

And you think I don't have a job? I work 40/hours week and that doesn't include the commuting. You think I don't have a huge backlog? I have near 100 games on just my Steam account I haven't played yet. I watch movies and animes as hobbies on top of gaming. I also go to the gym 3 time per week and walk a good hour every day.