Yesterday I finally beat “Professor Layton and the Last Spector” which is the fourth Professor Layton game for Nintendo DS (the next chapter is for 3DS). I still have extra puzzles to do and other things to find in the game. My final play time for the game was just shy of 20 hours. For the life of me I don’t know if that’s a good time or not since Professor Layton could be beat relatively quickly if you’re just super amazing at puzzles. The only other thing holding you back would be the dialogue and numerous cutscenes.
Anyway, it amused me to think about what 20 hours in Professor Layton entailed versus other games. This game is such that I spent most of that 20 hours simply staring at my DS while riding the subway (and in some cases missing my subway stop). Games like Uncharted only run 10 hours or so tops so 20 hours isn’t even part of the equation unless seeking trophies or playing multiplayer.
Batman Arkham City had a lot of side missions but the challenge rooms can easily increase the playtime of that game. I just recently beat New Game+ by doing only story missions and was a little surprised at just how short it was.
As for Skyrim, I’m still not terribly interested. I feel very intimidated by a game of that magnitude and feel that slowly chipping away at it during evenings and weekends would get a little frustrating especially with so many other games out now that I want to play.
Skyrim is definitely massive enough that it can feel daunting. Just huge amounts of stuff to do. 45 hours logged in that already and I haven’t completed but probably 5-10%. Still it’s a great game for any RPG lover.
It is interesting to see the disparity between the time spent in certain games and what you can accomplish in those times.
I do love RPGs, but I haven’t played many Western RPGs. Certainly not ones as massive as Bethesda RPGs but I’ve always been very curious from afar. Maybe if there’s a time when there aren’t so many other games out that I want to play. I always say that if I were bed ridden I’d definitely pop in something like Skyrim.
I feel exactly the same about Skyrim. I want to like it and feel like I would probably dig it, but it just seems a little too massive and focuses a little too much on minutiae that I don’t think I care about (hunting and skinning deer to make leather armor). I actually borrowed a copy of Oblivion from a friend but still have yet to even put it in my xbox.
Don’t be too scared of Skyrim. It will suck your time, but for all the ENORMOUSLY MASSIVE SIZE of the game, it’s still simple enough that you won’t tear your hair out and if you can make your self stop, it’s not that hard to stay away from. It’s just the first hundred and fifty hours that will keep you glued to the chair.
“Just” the first 150 hours? O_O I’m trying to think of what’s the longest period of time I’ve spent on a game before. I’m guessing Final Fantasy VII or X, and that’s multiple play throughs, not just one. Someday perhaps, someday.