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Author Topic: On Length In Video Games  (Read 32668 times)

tomart

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #100 on: 09 Feb 2008, 22:40 »

The GTA games are TOO large, if you ask me.  Oblivion was around the right length for me because I felt like I was genuinely exploring.  The GTA games were so goddamn large, but there's no variety in it.  Drive, shoot things, drive, shoot things for a different reason, steal a new car, shoot things because you feel like it, rob a bank, shoot things, steal a car.  I really tried to like them, but I just couldn't find a reason to keep playing after 15 minutes.
15 minutes? 
[Your list sounds like GTA1? I only started with Vice City.] 
.......I wonder if you got far enough in San Andreas to:   
collect and use the GOOD weapons (hint: they're nowhere near CJ's house)
jump off a 90-story building with a parachute 
race a bicycle down an insanely steep mountain path 
gather homies and spark gang wars (& later defend your turf when they counterattack) 
fly a P-51 Mustang or an aerobatic plane (every single vehicle in the game handles differently) 
do the ambulance missions against the clock (handles surprisingly well when you get the hang of it) 
(not to mention the firetruck, vigilante, taxi, delivery and pimping side-missions)
play several "real" games in casinos & bars, that win/lose your in-game money (even billiards! done pretty well, too)
try the 3 hot motorcycles (I found them MUCH better than cars for speed, outmaneuvering cops, jumping things and FUN)
drive several different boats in and out of boating school 
fly big & small helicopters (under bridges, between skyscrapers, scaring beachgoers, etc) 
pump iron, outfit your CJ in rad threads, tatts & afro and date the 6 girlfriends (each wants different things and gives unique rewards) 
drive in a crazy demo derby in a special stadium
drop satchel charges on wave after wave of SFPD   
capture and drive the M1 Abrams tank through San Francisco or Las Vegas, it's hella fun blowing up everything in sight 
or fly around with the jet-pack!  It's a damn good prize for a late mission.

Did you get to fire the (amusingly misnamed) Minigun?  My personal favorite.  And yes, I liked the flavor of Vice City better, but SA improved a lot AND added a whole lot - it was like they tried to include everything we wanted, and polished everything to work better.

There's much more, but these give some idea of the variety.  And NONE of the above examples are from the 100  storyline missions. There's lots more variety there: assassinate with sniperscope;  bounce low-riders and dance in a club (both like DDR);  plan and pull a heist in a major casino;  steal Police motorcycles and drive them onto a car-carrier truck barreling down the highway;  fly radio-contolled biplanes;  parachute onto a bizjet, take it over and fly it home;  swim underwater out to a heavily guarded boat with only a knife and free some hostages;  shoot down evasive hostile helicopters with heat-seeking missiles;  drive a motorcycle around an insane 3D course inside a big drydock;  operate radio-controlled helicopters inside a geek's dream war simulator;  sneak aboard an aircraft carrier and steal a Harrier, then defend yourself vs enemy Harriers using HUD radar targeted guided missiles;  team-jump out of a C-5 and paraglide onto a helipad to take over a drug lord's mansion;  rescue a girl from a burning, smoke-filled building;  they really went for variety in San Andreas.

And I had hours of fun just genuinely exploring, too.  There's a secret military base (with an underground black project that you can steal!) and an abandoned airfield out in the desert...  and much more.
« Last Edit: 10 Feb 2008, 00:46 by tomart »
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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #101 on: 10 Feb 2008, 02:08 »

Honestly, the story kept me playing way more than all of that crap.
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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #102 on: 10 Feb 2008, 02:09 »

San Andreas was the only one I ever personally owned, although I ended up returning it after about a week.  I know I'm an exaggeratory person by nature mostly because I have poor concept of time, but in all honesty I must have put in at least 14 hours seeing as I tend to play new games for about 2 hours a day for the first week of owning it.

And I have to say, with the GTA system, absolutely none of that sounds that appealing.  Driving a tank and blowing up everything in sight = Mercenaries, which implemented doing so much better, if you ask me.  I already could run around with a fucking baseball bat and kill whatever I wanted while not risk bodily harm because it's too easy to get away from punishment.

Didn't bother with the Ambulance, vigilante, etc. missions because they were just so unnecessary and simple and because it's a huge, sprawling game world, I could barely read the map to figure out where the world I was supposed to go, anyway.  Pumping iron was, again, completely stupid because you more or less NEEDED to do it in order to make yourself better, and it was just random button mashing.  Felt like grinding out levels to me.

I suppose that's just it.  The real problem for me is that I felt like there wasn't enough of a punishment for jacking around.  Absolutely nothing kept me on track because if I went off the track, who cares?  It doesn't hurt anything except maybe my wallet, and that doesn't mean jack because all I have to do is boost some cars to make it back up.
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Johnny C

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #103 on: 10 Feb 2008, 07:05 »

His point is that the GTA games do in fact carry quite a bit of variety with them, and he's right. The story is, however, a better reason to keep playing.

I'm excited to play an iteration where targeting isn't a total pain in the ass, though.
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Storm Rider

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #104 on: 10 Feb 2008, 11:15 »

What really pisses me off is when people try and argue that the appeal of GTA comes from its realism, and that post is a perfect example of why. Have you ever heard of a criminal jacking a tank and driving it through San Francisco, per chance? I'm not saying anybody here has said that, but I've encountered that argument before, and it's completely ridiculous.
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MusicScribbles

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #105 on: 10 Feb 2008, 11:21 »

Storm, who has argued the game's realism with you? I get that so often I feel like crying. Why is it so hard to understand that whores do not make you healthy?
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Storm Rider

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #106 on: 10 Feb 2008, 11:50 »

Mostly people in person rather than on the internet. When I try to ask them why they like the game just out of curiosity when they don't answer "because running people over is fun," then they usually pull out that gem.
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Ozymandias

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #107 on: 10 Feb 2008, 11:52 »

I'm excited to play an iteration where targeting isn't a total pain in the ass, though.

GTA4 is going to use a RE4/Gears of War aiming and cover system. I'm excited, even though I usually play it on PC for that very reason.
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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #108 on: 10 Feb 2008, 11:56 »

Ozy, it isn't that I want proof, but link anyway? That has made me substantially more interested in GTA4. The rest of the GTA's have had such awful treatment of weapons.
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ackblom12

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #109 on: 10 Feb 2008, 12:25 »

Wait, wait, is that news that makes me interested in actually playing GTA?

I think it may be!
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Ozymandias

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #110 on: 11 Feb 2008, 15:58 »

Goddammit Johnny.
« Last Edit: 11 Feb 2008, 15:59 by Ozymandias »
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dennis

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #111 on: 11 Feb 2008, 17:26 »

What really pisses me off is when people try and argue that the appeal of GTA comes from its realism, and that post is a perfect example of why. Have you ever heard of a criminal jacking a tank and driving it through San Francisco, per chance? I'm not saying anybody here has said that, but I've encountered that argument before, and it's completely ridiculous.
Actually, a dude jacked a tank and drove it through San Diego a few years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Nelson
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Johnny C

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #112 on: 11 Feb 2008, 17:32 »

Not to mention the Killdozer.
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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #113 on: 11 Feb 2008, 18:00 »

What really pisses me off is when people try and argue that the appeal of GTA comes from its realism, and that post is a perfect example of why. Have you ever heard of a criminal jacking a tank and driving it through San Francisco, per chance? I'm not saying anybody here has said that, but I've encountered that argument before, and it's completely ridiculous.
Actually, a dude jacked a tank and drove it through San Diego a few years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Nelson
I thought that was common news else I would have mentioned that.

But I just now realized not everyone lives in the US Southwest area and might not have heard of that whole deal.  I remember watching it as it happened on TV.  Pretty crazy stuff.
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dalconnsuch

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #114 on: 12 Feb 2008, 16:06 »

What really pisses me off is when people try and argue that the appeal of GTA comes from its realism, and that post is a perfect example of why. Have you ever heard of a criminal jacking a tank and driving it through San Francisco, per chance? I'm not saying anybody here has said that, but I've encountered that argument before, and it's completely ridiculous.
Actually, a dude jacked a tank and drove it through San Diego a few years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Nelson
I thought that was common news else I would have mentioned that.

But I just now realized not everyone lives in the US Southwest area and might not have heard of that whole deal.  I remember watching it as it happened on TV.  Pretty crazy stuff.

i've witnessed plenty of crazy psycho killers killing half of a city selling drugs and beating hookers up with baseball bats and illiminating half of the police force and national guard

it happens, just the guvment keeps it away mannnnn!
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dalconnsuch

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #115 on: 12 Feb 2008, 22:38 »

i want to find an RPG that takes like 200 hours straight through to complete and thats 200 hours of story line and battle no side quest hooey

totally hit me up with one
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Johnny C

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #116 on: 13 Feb 2008, 00:27 »

I found that game. Go to your local EB and pick up a copy of Spend A Week Outside Of Your House With Other People.

Not a lot of battle, but incredibly complex dialogue trees.
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KickThatBathProf

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Re: On Length In Video Games
« Reply #117 on: 13 Feb 2008, 00:33 »

Some of the dialogue trees were a bit too complex for my taste.  The intricacies of the "Multiple Job Level" really confounded me to no end
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