Iury

Aaron

Of course I can, and I should. Just like this post, people often mistake the two. A game's length and its pacing are two different things. Now, do they often go hand in hand? Yes, they do—that’s normal.

Usually, short games have a faster pace, and longer games have a slower, more detailed storytelling. That’s not to say this is always the rule, though.

You can have a 2-hour game with a story that starts and ends within 2 in-game hours (e.g., a hostage situation or bomb-diffusing scenario, where things need to be solved quickly and every moment counts), which would essentially make every IRL second you play equate to 1 in-game second. Just as you can have another 2-hour game with a story spanning centuries (e.g., a kingdom-building game where every 10 minutes you skip a generation to play as the next ruler).

The same applies to long, 100+ hour games. It's just harder to maintain a lightning-fast pace for longer games because the hurdle to create enough content for it would be surmountable.

Does this make the difference between a game's/story's length and its pace clear? 

I reiterate: there's NO such thing as a game being "too long". I’m open to any attempt to change my mind, though.

There's NO such thing as a game being too long. Side quests are and should be counted as an addition.

The only "length" that really matters is the main quest length.

Whether the game's length is well paced or not... That another conversation that has no place here.

This kind of complaint is ludicrous. I wouldn't be surprised if those complaining are regular gacha players. That's the only way that make sense. If you're used to 15 minutes of game content every 6 months, than a 100 hours long game right on your hands might seen a bit intimidating, indeed.

I've yet to finish quite a few long games that I started playing years ago. For the exact same reasons as everyone else: I have little free time, I want to play other games, I want to do other things, etc etc.

Does that mean the game's "too long"? 'Course not. And I love it, because everytime I come back to them, I have new things to see and to do. Or I'd restart it all over to enjoy again the things that made me love it, with an added nostalgia effect. I don't need to finish it in one or two weeks. The game's there and will still be there whenever I want to play it again. Different from these live-service focused games that uses FOMO as the strategy to retain players.