I don't often post about video games. This is mostly because I don't really play all that many. I have a few here and there, and I'm mostly an RTS type of person. Still, I was reading my webcomics and came across this.

Now, I miss games that were long and immersive. I loved the almost impossible difficulty of the first two Descent games. I remember spending 8 hours (in multiple sittings) on a Command & Conquer map at one point. In fact, I even thought that MMO's were so popular because of the expansive, dynamic, unplanned content that made them interesting for so long.

So, never having heard of Kingdoms of Amalur, I searched and found this article. The designer claims that a speed run by their QA team yielded a 200-hour game. I don't want to sound completely ignorant, but isn't that a good thing? If memory serves (and it may not), Myst was a 40-hour average solve time, and Riven was about 200 hours on average. I understand that a speed run versus average solve time is a bit like comparing apples and rocket-powered super apples, but it has also been almost 15 years. Our apples should be rocket-powered by now, just like our backpacks.

In any case, I don't really go for RPG's for the exact reason that the comic linked above indicates. Many involve repetitive tasks interrupted by brief interesting parts. Still, I feel I can express my shock and annoyance that games are getting shorter every day when all I want is a game I can really sink my teeth into without having to start losing continuously to people online.