Games, as a whole, are too long. it seems that the length of a game is now a selling point just as the size of the game cartridge used to be. The problem is that most games should be a certain length but developers throw in a bunch of stupid side quests and pointless missions to pump up the time required to finish a game. The early Final fantasy games were about 40 hours of pure gameplay. There was no "go see him to get something to give to her to get something to bring to them to get a key to open a door to get to the next area" bullshit. Besides, 40 hours is a serious time commitment to a game; it's equivalent to a work week, for fuck's sake.

I prefer games that are 40 hours or shorter. Think about this: Chrono Trigger was about 25 hours. It's a brilliant game that offers an epic quest, but the experience is streamlined and that's the key. I loved Baten Kaitos until I reached the point that the story should have ended but the developer decided to add in enough filler content to warrant a second disc. Had the story ended at what was the natural ending point, I would still be singing the praises of BK; instead, I damn it and point to it as a perfect example of one of the main problems I see in the industry. What's next? A 90 hour platformer? No thanks. If a game is 30 hours or less, I'll probably play it more than once. If it's over 40, no dice. I have neither the time nor inclination to revisit, regardless of the quality.

now we get to the reason for this rant: Okami. I like the game, but its overabundance of convoluted side quests is making it hard to love. The art style is great and the first 14 hours are so were absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, I'm now at a point in the game where everything feels like a side quest and I'm starting to lose interest. While the early parts of the game were extremely compelling, these later parts are feeling like a collection of all the worst parts of 3D Zelda games - find this, dig over there, bring this to him, use the item he gives you to go over there where another ridiculous side quest awaits. This makes me respect the design decisions of Shadow of the Colossus even more.

There's a lot to be said about streamlined experiences and narrative that ends at a specific, natural point. So,please, let's focus more on quality and less on quantity.

/rant