How long do you play a game to decide if its good or bad?

[Arg Clin]

I can usually tell after just a few minutes. No 100% fool proof though. I hated KOTOR for the first couple of hours, yet it's one of the best games I've played.

So if a game generally gets positive reviews I give it a few hours as the benefit of doubt.

 

[Dumac]

I'll usually play for 8-10 hours to get a good grasp of the game. Sometime's I'll stick around longer hoping things will get better, though.

 

[Broburger]

Biggest thing for me is controls. If I have issues finding the controls intuitive, I will give up a game fast.

same here

 

[JoetheLion]

I'll usually play for 8-10 hours to get a good grasp of the game. Sometime's I'll stick around longer hoping things will get better, though.

So it means that you finish the game and play it half-way the second time, given how long they are nowadays.

 

[SlitheryDee]

This is incorrect.

Numerous top tier RPGs and adventure games take a long time to get the mechanics down. Play Persona 4 for an hour and you barely got to know any of the characters which make up the backbone of the game. Play a couple of The Legend of Zelda games for an hour and you probably haven't left the first village yet. Or Play Skyrim for an hour and you don't even know what skill perks do or any shouts yet.

Fallout 3? After an hour you probably didn't even get to the first town.

Not necessarily. Very good games will still draw you in with the exposition. I haven't played Persona 4, but the Zelda games and Fallout 3 both had me invested in the first 30 minutes even though I knew I hadn't done anything of great importance yet. They did it with story and interesting worlds rather than simply thrusting me into the meat of the game. The beginning of the game doesn't have to be an ordeal that is there to be slogged through so you can start having fun. If the game makes no effort to interest you while it's setting the plot up that is the fault of the game, not the player. Some games, like all the Bioshocks, make certain that you have no clue WTF is going on in the beginning, yet they use that to capture your imagination. You find yourself speculating and hungering for the next little tidbit of information.

I agree that not getting the mechanics down in the first few hours is totally acceptable for a good game. It indicates that there is some complexity to the play, and promises more variability in the future. If I master the gameplay immediately and then have only what I've mastered to look forward to for the next 15+ hours of the game that's not very fun. Starting a new game and not knowing how to play it at first is the way it's supposed to be anyway isn't it? Judging the game because I can't learn to play it immediately seem counter to what I want to get out of gaming. That doesn't absolve the game of its responsibility to hold my interest while I'm learning though.

 

[amabre]

I give it a few hours to really learn the mechanics of the game

 

[coldmeat]

I started playing Spec Ops: The Line yesterday. I remembered this thread when I was playing, so I gave it a little more time than usual before quitting, and made it to chapter 7 or 8. Seems like a very overrated game, and I don't think I'll finish it.

 

[Maleficus]

I usually don't even need to play the game.

 

[pontifex]

I started playing Spec Ops: The Line yesterday. I remembered this thread when I was playing, so I gave it a little more time than usual before quitting, and made it to chapter 7 or 8. Seems like a very overrated game, and I don't think I'll finish it.

seems underrated from what i hear.

i don't see too many people talking about it and when they do, they say stuff like 'better than I expected", "pleasantly surprised."

 

[coldmeat]

seems underrated from what i hear.

i don't see too many people talking about it and when they do, they say stuff like 'better than I expected", "pleasantly surprised."

The reason I even tried it was because of all the praise the story was getting. Felt very cliche to me. The glitchy Gears gameplay didn't help it either.

 

[clok1966]

I have quit games almost minutes in and revisited later and found i was wrong. SO i tend to play at least several hours.. some games take for example FF 13, the tutorial levels where almost 20 hours before you had learned how to use all abilities.. (5-6 of those where cut scenes) pretty hard to judge it till you get into the game earnest (I wont say how good or bad it is then....) but a game like ARMA with is hyper realistic controls.. NO WAY.. i knew in the training, less then a few minutes in it was not a game for me.. (open a friggin door!!!!, maybe need keys for each foot when walking too!, real is good, but you have to decide on fun value and realistic at some point and say, who wants to open doors? in a fast action shooter))

it depends on the game.. if its not a control or interface issue, just boring r so-so game I try make sure I play in a little deeper to make sure I'm not missing something.

 

[Oyeve]

Like GTA4 took me 2 weeks to realize the game is shit. Shit I say.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Like GTA4 took me 2 weeks to realize the game is shit. Shit I say.

It took me like 4-5 missions. I hated how the controls worked. I hated driving through town. I hated the combat. I didn't care about the story. None of the supposed amusing things you can do outside of the story appealed to me. Everything the game asked me to do I did grudgingly. "Oh another go to this place and kill these guys mission...shit" I just didn't want to play it at any point.

 

[aigomorla]

i try to gun it out to end game.

if its that horrible i load up some hex memory editors and cheat my way to end game just to see if its worth end game.

 

[EDUSAN]

until i get bored...

be it 25 minutes or 5hs