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Does Videogame Length Vary By Territory?

Posted by simoniker on from the it's-how-you-use-it dept.

asphyxiation_query writes "I've been looking at the relative length of videogames (in terms of overall gameplay, how long the game stretches out from start to completion) based on region. Can Slashdot Games readers discern any obvious regional patterns or variations in this information? For example, are games from Korea typically longer than Japanese? How do European and North American titles stack up in this respect?" Or is content similarly long if part of the same genre, regardless of country of origin?

3 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. Asia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Asian ones aren't shorter, that's a myth!!!

    Oh wait, games. Yeah, nevermind.

  2. Stupid question by Kyouryuu · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This seems like a stupid question because you're asking us to compare apples to oranges. Not all RPGs are created equal, just as with RTS, FPS, and all of the other genres. Does there even exist a popular game whose Japanese version was produced entirely in Japan and the US version entirely in the US?

    When someone speaks of a game genre where length matters, RPGs are the classic example. The US just isn't exactly known for producing the best RPG titles. But likewise, the US has produced many titles that offer greater length in terms of replayability. No one honestly expects a person to play through a Final Fantasy game ten times - but titles like Unreal Tournament and most PC games can be played again and again thanks to robust multiplayer components.

    But is that "length"? Again, you are faced with the original dilemma - you're comparing apples to oranges. Specifically, comparing a designer-created "length" to a player-created "length." I would assert this isn't a meaningful comparison.

  3. Final Fantasy IV by questionlp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think the prime example would be the difference between the original Final Fantasy IV release and the American (and possibly the European as well) release of Final Fantasy II for the Super Nintendo. The original FF4 was a PITA of a game (as it was finally released in Final Fantasy Chronicles) and Squaresoft had to release an easy version of the game. The easy version was the one that was released outside of Japan.

    In a way, the harder version of FF4 was "longer" mostly due to the fact that you had to spend more time building up levels and earning Gil/GP in order to buy the expensive items. That doesn't include the fact that a lot of the enemies and bosses were even more difficult to defeat.