Is game length counterproductive to Role-playing ?

Personally, it depends of how important the story is in the game. I won't( or rarely) replay games which is very story oriented because I feel very little incentive in these games to do so. It feels like reading the same book twice.

Games I replay a lot tend to be sandbox games. Mount & Blade must be among the games I have the highest hour count in. Same for Starsector, or strategy games like the Dominion serie.

Originally Posted by vanedor
Personally, it depends of how important the story is in the game. I won't( or rarely) replay games which is very story oriented because I feel very little incentive in these games to do so. It feels like reading the same book twice.

Games I replay a lot tend to be sandbox games. Mount & Blade must be among the games I have the highest hour count in. Same for Starsector, or strategy games like the Dominion serie.

Beat me to it. Like you, I have trouble replaying any narrative heavy game more than once, regardless of length, for that same reason. The usual choices don't really help because I don't feel like I'm making any choices the second time around unless you count consciously choosing not to do the same thing I did the first time, which isn't the same.

But sandboxes, those I can play for hours. I've put hundreds of hours into both Morrowind and Skyrim. Ironically, the thing that makes those stories less memorable is also the thing that allows me to enjoy replaying them more than more focused narrative games.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
Beat me to it. Like you, I have trouble replaying any narrative heavy game more than once, regardless of length, for that same reason. The usual choices don't really help because I don't feel like I'm making any choices the second time around unless you count consciously choosing not to do the same thing I did the first time, which isn't the same.

But sandboxes, those I can play for hours. I've put hundreds of hours into both Morrowind and Skyrim. Ironically, the thing that makes those stories less memorable is also the thing that allows me to enjoy replaying them more than more focused narrative games.

I think in games where you're just playing until you get bored and not to finish the story or accomplish any major goal, you're more likely to focus on the journey than on the destination, so there's less anxiety about making progress or not. That's why i find Bethesda games relaxing too, i don't care about beating the main quest or not, i just play it and relax.

That is a good point and perhaps one I haven't consciously thought about much. Perhaps one reason I enjoy sandbox games like FO4, Skyrim, SIMS 4 so much … is because they are relaxing to me. No real time table, I can be whomever, or whatever, I want, explore and play at my leisure, and so on.

EDIT: At least once I finish the main quest as I need to do that first as I want to know the story. First time playing any of the open world Beth games I do the main quest and go through the main story first. Then I spend the bulk of my time treating it as a sandbox.

Heavy narrative/story games with a set protagonist (Mass Effect is a good example) are the types I usually only play once or twice as once I know the story, which is the focus, I lose interest if I can't make my own characters and do my own thing.

Honestly for me, what cuts into my replayability these days is the sheer amount of games we enjoy on an almost monthly basis. Replaying games is how I got through the eighties and nineties, then came along an MMO or two and bam, decades later we are swamped with mostly decent titles. It's funny Wizardry seven was mentioned, as for years I got along replaying one through four more times than I could even count. The seventh game I also replayed quite a bit.

Also, when I do decide to replay a game, nothing deters me. When I commit, I'm all in, full stop. You could slap Wizardry fifty-one down in front of me, and I'd still finish what I'm doing before checking it out! =p. I'm not a person that plays multiple games at the same time, I'm fully immersed in the one I am playing, until I finish it nothing else gets my attention, at least game-wise.

Carnifex, I wish i had the time and attention span you have.

He has a certain talent for finding multiple ways to say the same thing.

Well, I've played Baldur's Gate 2 through with more combinations and more times than almost any other game out there and I still occasionally mess with it. I like my games to be long, sprawling, and provide a lot of options. Something like a Roguelike where you are basically supposed to die in order to experience the full game is different and it does allow for even more experimentation.

I enjoy getting attached to my characters through long epic games. I actually started playing Wildermyth again for the reason that it's just basically a long epic story generator.

If the immersion is good enough, then I don't care much about length … However, for me, the difficulty plays a much stronger role.

Length has an influence, but not as great as difficulty for me.

It depends - if it is really about roleplaying - I need freedom for replayability. Freedom not to finish the game, freedom to pick up something different, take different approach. Also variability and a lot of different characters or builds.
So forced completionism in achievements and nothing else, with only 1 character to choose from, in open world (like Ubisoft games) even if it does have a good story is = not finished game for me. So I make the game shorter for myself in order to repeat it I guess - like in Skyrim.
Maybe if the game offers content you cannot change, you cannot change the order, you will not likely repeat it if it is too long? maybe. Truth is if it is shorter, I will more likely finish it, but it is usually not roleplaying games, more like story/combat games.