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Length of the Game


Sabretooth

How long should KotOR III be?  

137 members have voted

  1. 1. How long should KotOR III be?

    • Short: Around 10 Hours
      0
    • Average: Somewhere between 20 and 30 hours
    • Original KotOR: About 40 Hours
    • Slightly Longer: Around 50 or 60 hours
    • Humongous: 70-80 Hours or more, like Mass Effect


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Ah, guess I haven't seen a phrase being repeated so many times in any forum. And I agree with them: THE LONGER THE BETTER!

 

Well, I don't. I don't mind length, but its not a quality in itself. Cameron's longer versions of both Aliens and The Abyss are definitely better. The same with the extended editions of Lord of the Rings. Titanic is longer than Aliens or The Abyss, however, but it drags on horribly (you really stick with it only because you know the iceberg is waiting ahead...).

 

I wouldn't mind a long game, but the plot needs to justify it, which can be a tall order. Throwing stuff into the plot may seem easy enough, but you can't let any game/movie/book/whatever drag out for too long without pushing the plot ahead. Even in the existing games, it can be annoying at times. I mean, in the first you're looking for the starmaps, and it's painfully obvious that the plot won't move much forward until you've found them all. In TSL it's similar with finding the jedi masters. They try to spice it up by throwing in cutscenes with Malak and so, but it really is no substitute for just moving ahead in the plot. Had there been two starmaps or even jedi masters more, many of us would probably not be here because we would have been bored to tears.

 

Don't underestimate the danger in dragging out the plot - it can happen very, very quickly.

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Ok, then I guess it wraps that up.

Because it is KOTOR, a bit more, with some variability increase, other inclusions and tighter integration to promote flexability as well.

 

This just makes me think more about, when the next installment of original star wars series is concieved, the first thing in mind is how to be able to adopt all and any game-path developments, at the base concept of gamming, to date.

That would seem like the best realm of creativity to focus on. After all we are talking about the almighty Star Wars here. It'd be highly appropriate for the aesthetic I think.

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The main quest/story should be about the same as the last two, but it could definitely use a lot more side-quest stuff.

 

MAybe they should offer some free roaming around the maps .

In GTA you could still have loads of fun after completing all story-missions .

 

Maybe they should offer something like this in the next Kotor or better give us a darn good map and mod editors / tools . NWN was nice example of this , tons of stuff you could create yourself , yummy :p

 

ANyway , the main story shouldn't be longer then 40 hours , but if your really did turn over every rock in the game just to see if anything is underneeth it , then 60 hours or so should do it .

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I wouldn't mind a long game, but the plot needs to justify it, which can be a tall order. Throwing stuff into the plot may seem easy enough, but you can't let any game/movie/book/whatever drag out for too long without pushing the plot ahead.

 

Yes, you're right. For "passive" medias, like movies and books, a unjustified long plot is boring. But, haha, that's the good about games. The game can be as long as you want to be. Some people go through Kotor in a week, but some others just finish it on a month or more!

 

So, what I want to say is that, the secret about the game being longer is investing on side quests and plots. But there're some examples of very good games that could make you play the same story forever and still have patience to level up, Like Final Fantasy XII (+200 hours :nod:)

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As long as there's a good story all the way through, I'd love 80 hours+ of solid gameplay. Though, I'd like about half of that to be non-main-quest related stuff. Factions with quests, interesting stuff. Just something so that it's not as liner. You know, like having an alternate plotline if we're darksiding it up.

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I'd love to play a KOTOR which could last over eighty hours, but it might be too much for the main plot. Ideally I'd go with around fifty hours, but with enough optional sub-plots and side missions to make it last eighty if you wanted it to.

 

QFT ;)

 

By the way, how many hours were in KOTOR II? Like, with optional quests and without them? It's intriguing me now that I think of it...

 

BUT, the game can be as long as they want if, as if already posted, the story doesn't drag. What they can do with all that time is finish the series for good, close absolutely all loose threads, including the most minuscule side quests. KOTOR IV is too much IMO, storywise. Unless it starts a new trilogy. In any case I would prefer a new trilogy of similar games unrelated storywise after KOTOR III.

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The plot would have to keep me interested for the game to be really long. I would say 80 hours of game play all together including every quest would be all right because you wouldn't have to do them all. It would kind of have to be like Morrowind, where you have a huge game and tons of side quests to keep you busy.

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The plot would have to keep me interested for the game to be really long. I would say 80 hours of game play all together including every quest would be all right because you wouldn't have to do them all. It would kind of have to be like Morrowind, where you have a huge game and tons of side quests to keep you busy.

 

I'm inclined to agree, games have to consisitently keep their momentum throughout to be able to produce a large game, a sad case of a rarity in most modern games. SP games can't be as ambitious as the likes of MMORPGS as it just wouldn't work in a single player setting. The reason for KOTOR being so popular is that it is a reasonable length with a strong plot that keeps a player interested throughout; it's therefore not too long but not too short either, a well balanced game in my opinion (of course i play with a lot of mods, which makes the experience a WHOLE lot better!). K3 should maybe be somewhat longer, but keep true to it's predecessors that should result in a fine end to the series.

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I have an Idea.

 

With regards to the story, why not take the KOTOR I Storyline, modify it slightly (add a new star map that you missed before, maybe, or actually be able to Take over sith Acadamy - just something to make it better) and the KOTOR II storyline, tweak that also, (maybe add a Jedi Master you meet by accident, or an encounter with Revan?) and combine them. Two good 40 + hour games combined would form a decent 80 + hour game, with a familiar storyline.)

 

 

How would they do it?!, you ask?

After you play the "updated" KOTOR I storyline, simply have the Ebon Hawk enter Hyperspace at the end of the KOTOR I storyline, have "FIVE YEARS LATER..." appear on the screen, and show the damaged Ebon Hawk float towards Peragus. Of course, they could also add a new storyline, (maybe a Pre-KOTOR I story that you get to after completing the KOTOR II line - it could say "TEN YEARS LATER..."

(If they did it right, they could possibly get 120 + hours of solid game play, although 80 hours (of it) would be a refresher course)

So yeah...in summary: as long as possible, without becoming needlessly complicated.

 

(The "FIVE YEARS LATER..." thing is commonly used in movies/games to show a (relatively) long period of time has passed.)

 

In closing...

Sorry for taking so long/if I hijacked this thread I sincerely apologize

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A plot longer than in the two previous games would drag on horribly, I fear. In fact, in both games, I was beginning to be a little annoyed with looking for all those starmaps/jedi masters. A long game is good only if the plot is constantly evolving.

 

KotOR games have so far pretty much followed the formula of doing an "intro planet" to set up the plot, then have four or five planets that must be completed according to the same basic principle before you can move on to the endgame.

 

If you prolong the middle game by simply adding more planets/starmaps/masters for me to complete/find, then I'll probably be so bored with the lack of plot evolvement that I just might stop playing.

 

That hasn't happened so far, but I can't say that I didn't reach the point where I began thinking "get the hunt for the maps/masters over with already, so that I can see what happens next". Because I play to see the plot evolve. I do not play for the doubtful joy of killing the baddies, collecting new gear, or wading through the graphics - those are all just icing on the cake, and if you take away the cake itself, what's left will make you sick...

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Which is the main problem in Kotor and Kotor 2 if the plot wasnt around finding 4 four of one thing it could be expanded, but of course that is a whole other topic to it's self. I wouldnt mind playing a 80+ long hour game but replayibility might be a problem. Although as long as the first major area was more exciting then the other two games (i got realy realy bored going through peragus nad taris). It would also need to have alot of variation in plot depending on what actions you made as doing the same plot but each choice just having little effects on the entire plot get quite boring.

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