Length of the Game

[dizzy_me_up]

We're all pretty clueless about a lot of details when it comes to Skyward Sword. Nintendo has confirmed that it's character interaction is gonna be a lot like Majora's Mask. Majora's Mask as well as Wind Waker (if doing a minimalist run) aren't very long. That's because of their low dungeon count. That reason alone made Majora's Mask a little bit lower on my list of favorite Zelda games. I'm a big fan of longer games, especially this console generation because games have gotten substantially more expensive. Is anyone else hoping for a long main quest. Maybe not as long as Twilight Princess (it's massive dungeons and higher dungeon count; 8 I believe) as it was a bit much. I'm aware that Ocarina of Time had 8 dungeons as well but its dungeons were actually very short. In short, I'm hoping for a nice lengthy main quest supported by great sidequests that are similar to Majora's Mask, which has been confirmed. What is everyone else's opinion?

 

[Squirrel]

I'm hoping that SS will be just as long as TP but not quite as confusing at times. OoT and TP both actually had 9 dungeons though. I'm hoping SS will have 10 (simply because I do like longer games and I just don't like the number 9. I don't know why). I also love boss battles too so more dungeons means more bosses.

 

[blackice_cc]

In the history of the series, it seems that games with fewer dungeons always have more and longer side-quests (MM, MC, WW to some extent), whereas the ones with really long main quests tend to have a lot less of an emphasis on them. That makes sense, because you have to find a balance somewhere, but lots of people seem to prefer one over the other: for example, many people love MM for all of the depth it has outside of the main four dungeons, whereas others (such as yourself) prefer a focus on the main quest.

Now, I think OoT was just about perfectly balanced between side-quests and main quest. Like you said, while it had 8 main dungeons, they were somewhat short, allowing there to be a good many side-quests added in. If SS managed to do something like that, I would be extremely happy. Better yet, since they have so much more memory to throw around than they had before, why not keep it totally balanced, but make it on a bigger scale? Such as side-quests like MM, but a main quest as long as TP. Thing is, that's probably asking for a bit much. Even though memory space keeps expanding with every generation of game consoles, the graphics potential does too, and having really good graphics is bound to take a lot of memory away from the length of the game. SS definitely has better graphics than any other Zelda game so far, so I'm not sure they'd be able to pull off that perfect combination.

Of course, anything's possible, and I would certainly love it if they could. However, if we can only have one of those two, I'd prefer the lengthy main-quest right now. MM was great, but for some reason it takes more motivation to go and do side-quests than it does to move forward with the main storyline.

 

[Master Sword13]

Being a huge fan of MM, I'm extremely excited for SS's take on the side-quest idea that MM had.

I'm a fan of dungeons so I prefer many, but I was and still am ok with MM's dungeon count simply because of their uniqueness and overall strangeness. In my opinion, we haven't seen cool dungeons like MM at any other point in the Zelda series, so I'd be ok with fewer dungeons if they last a while and/or are strange/challenging.

As blackice said above, it takes more motivation to do most side-quests, especially in MM, simply because of the necessity to know people's schedules. But from what we've seen so far of SS, this won't be an issue because there seems to be no specific times.

The length I'm hoping for in SS is 7 or more dungeons along with tons of sidequests like MM. It'd definitely put the game high on my list.

 

[Dark_One]

I'd like to see the game at TP Length but with more interaction with the environments. I was disappointed with the castle town in TP as there are only a handful of the people you can actually speak to. The Game itself was long but in the process they sacrificed interaction with the environment and as a result the game felt a little lifeless in certain areas. The fact that they are using MM as a model is encouraging and I doubt they will make another Zelda game as short as MM. Miyamoto and his team are confident this will be the best Zelda to date and I believe them. I think we'll get a nice lengthy game balanced between side-quests and the main story.

 

[DARK MASTER]

I see your point, because I too am a fan of longer games, but I think SS should be a full game. What I mean by that is, it shouldn't just be big, but have alot of stuff to do, in this big game world.

 

[Wolf Sage]

I'm a big fan of longer games. I like Zelda games with 8 or more dungeons, but like Kotake&Koume, I dislike the number 9 (it reminds me of onions, for some reason). Skyward Sword is confirmed to be shorter (in terms of places to go), but is more dense. Density in the locations in Zelda sounds quite promising to me, because it means there will be more to do, and each stage will be more thorough and fleshed out; imagine that. :yes:

In terms of length - in terms of time - I hope Skyward Sword will be at least 50 hours long (not including being lost...and stuff). If memory serves, Twilight Princess was about sixty hours or so in length...so yeah.

 

[425]

Remember that Skyward Sword will not follow the same format as the traditional Zelda games. We have been told that we will have fields that feel like dungeons. So, I get the sense that this will be a longer game. I think that dungeon like areas will be more complex and will have more puzzles and more enemies, and that the game in general will have more dungeon and less field.

 

[Vault Boy]

I love long, massive games. I don't want to say quantity over quality, but when it comes down to it, even if the dungeons are great, if there are only a few of them I will be pretty disappointed. I just like to get more bang for my buck. I just want this game to take FOREVER to beat.

 

[zeldawesome]

there might be (hopfully) 10-12 dungeons

oh and the full game should take at least 2 weeks to beat

 

[JuicieJ]

As Axle has said numerous times, SS will be a shorter, but more in-depth game. In other words, it's probably gonna be like MM in a sense.

 

[zeldawesome]

aww! oh well the games gonna be awesome anyways!

 

[JuicieJ]

aww! oh well the games gonna be awesome anyways!

The combat's probably gonna drag it out a bit, though. I say it'll be about 15 hours normal run-through, 20-25 100%.

 

[zeldawesome]

oh id say about for a playthru/lets play about itd take 15 and a half hours for 80% complete.

 

[Lex_Informer]

Opening scenario will be anywhere from about 30 min to 2 hours or so judging by what we've seen.
First three dungeons will likely take 30 min each, later-game dungeons will take about 1 hour each, getting to each dungeon will probably take 1-2 hours each.
Speculate on about 5-8 dungeons and you get a solid 20-30 hour game with no side content. Not too shabby.