dear older gamers

[nickfil]

I'm quickly approaching 30. At this point in my life so much of my time is taken up by work and just regular social obligations that i have little time to game, or i tend to do it in bursts of a couple days at a time.

Because of this I thought i'd be attracted to quick games like wiiware and xbla titles. Just one off solid game mechanics. But... they all feel like I've played them before and get boring really fast. All the new stuff I want to get into, but then can't because of time barriers. I get half way through a game and then dont' touch it for months. By the time i pick it up again, i spend all my time relearning.

I'm not opposed to longer games, but they have to have no grinding or any other bullshit like that. Mass Effect is a good example of an RPG i could actually get through because I 1) knew all the character's motivations and where the story was going was clear to the player and 2) there was little to no grinding required to finish it. 3) it was broken up in such a way that you could play it in bursts. 4) Even though you unlocked more powers/guns and stuff like that, the game never added fundamental changes to the way you played as you went. Brutal Legend, for example, changes what it is half way through and when my playtime is erratic, it means that not only do i have to re-learn how to do one thing- i have to learn 3 things. A beautifully written game that i'll never finish. As opposed to psychonauts which builds on itself and creates new ways of using the same type of gameplay in different ways via the environment.

So my question to you all is this- what modern games have held your attention, and provided a good session of gaming in a short burst? I find myself playing more FPS games not because i want to but because they call on the same skill set and fundamentally are the same type of game all the way through. But i want to expand. I'm getting sick of them. I'd like to play more RPGs, but in small bursts, this is a difficult thing to find.

[J T]

I prefer shorter games too, largely because of time constraints, but also because I like indie games that experiment with control schemes. Some of the best short but sweet modern games I've played recently have been:

Zeno Clash
Braid
Portal
P.B. Winterbottom
Geometry Wars
Street Fighter IV
Shatter
Klonoa
Rocket Knight
Gridrunner Revolution
Puzzle Quest & Puzzle Quest Galactrix
Metal Drift
Bionic Commando Rearmed
Beat Hazard
Trine

As far as bigger games that I've still managed to get into despite time limitations. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has been pretty easy for me to play for awhile, forget about, then come back to later. Borderlands has also been that way to a degree, but sometimes you get stuck in some long quest that gets hard to get out of quickly. I also dunked a lot of hours into Persona 4 somehow, despite a limited schedule, but it is a demanding mistress, so be careful. Long periods go by without save points.

[nickfil]

As far as bigger games that I've still managed to get into despite time limitations. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has been pretty easy for me to play for awhile, forget about, then come back to later. Borderlands has also been that way to a degree, but sometimes you get stuck in some long quest that gets hard to get out of quickly. I also dunked a lot of hours into Persona 4 somehow, despite a limited schedule, but it is a demanding mistress, so be careful. Long periods go by without save points.

How is persona 4? Am i going to understand what is going on? I feel like a lot of the newer japanese games get so convoluted and bogged down that i never know who is double or tripple crossing who and what the fuck is going on. Every time i play jrpgs these days i feel like i need supplemental reading to go along with them.

I've had Oblivion and fallout 3 sitting on my shelf for months now. A year maybe. I should probably crack those huh? The only reason I haven't is because i've played daggerfall so i know how immersive those games get. I fear that i'll only play them and stop working! ha.

oh- and I tried the demo for trine on onlive and i think i'm going to pick it up. That game was really fucking fun. Zeno Clash also seems like it is up my ally, but i don't have anything i can play it on until it comes to xbla. Sadly- so many of those games in the list I've already played. However, i did totally forget about winterbottom and rocketknight.

speaking of indie...

And yet it moves, and aquaria have been on my to play list for a long time. Might try them next. I'm such a weirdo though. I usually shy away from indie games by and large and it takes so much for me to actually sit down and play them. However, i've yet to ever play an indie game that i didn't like (except for world of goo. I don't get the fanfare on that one)

[prfsnl_gmr]

I have the same problem, and I end up spending more time collecting console games than playing them. I have found, however, that it is much easier for me to play portable games than it is for me to play games on a console. As a result, I have accumulated a substantial backlog of GC/PS2/Wii/Xbox games, but I am absolutely crushing my DS/GB/GBA library. I think that portable games - especially those with quick save features - are just better for play in short bursts. Moreover, the "startup" costs of playing a portable game are also lower (i.e., they take less time to load up and less time to shut down).

I do not play as many RPGs as I used to, but if I did, I would certainly have my hands full with the DS/GB/GBA libraries. Between the various remakes (Final Fantasy I - VI), compilations (Phantasy Star Collection), and original titles (Contact, The Dark Spire, Dragon Quest IX, Golden Sun), the DS, GB, and GBA have a large selection of of both modern and "old-school" RPGs that you can certainly play in short bursts. Accordingly, my advice would be, if you do not already have them, to pick up a DS Lite (so you can play DS and GBA games) and a GBA SP (so you can play GBA and GB games). If you can tolerate the graphical downgrade, you can pretty quickly and cheaply build a library of high quality titles, RPG or otherwise, that you can easily pick up and put back down.

[Pulsar_t]

Fallout 3 is a high-maintenance game. I'd suggest you either sell it or simply use a trainer to zip through the important scenarios. Using a trainer I was able to explore more of the game in significantly less time. A few titles that might be suitable for you

Alan Wake - Episodic nature, you'd likely feel satisfied when you finished an episode and just hold off for the next one till another time.

Alpha Protocol - This is one highly unpolished game, so I can't really recommend it unless you're willing to forgive its shortcomings. Missions are short and the game autosaves too often.

Ghostbusters - An interactive movie with basic inventory and linear paths. I can leave it for weeks and then return to it without having to spend much time re-learning.

Rez HD - This is one of a few games where it's possible to re-visit anytime anywhere.

Darksiders - A Zelda-type game that's fun to play and not too deep for most people's tastes.

[noiseredux]

maw...der...en..games?

[timidturtle]

It's not that modern ,but I should recommend it because it fits your requirements. Shadow of the Colossus. You can play in short bursts because (as you may/probably already know this) it's basically comprised of 16 boss battles, and you feel very satisfied after beating one. Also, if it's your first time to play it does hold your attention for all the way through.

[corn619]

Just turned 33 last month. Long games are becoming harder and harder to play due to work and family. I've been playing some old school platformers, shmups and some games on the Wii such as Sin & Punishment, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and I just bought Endless Ocean Blue World. I tried playing Final Fantasy 13 and I just lost all interest. Playing felt more like a chore than enjoyable. To be honest though, I have a hard time playing games in this heat.

And most of my video game budget as of late is being spent on stuff for my new hobby, my new Challenger R/T http://www.challengerforumz.com/showthread.php?t=55007 . I've been selling a ton of video game stuff lately and plan to sell a lot more. I just don't have the time to play them anymore. Not to mention my interest in games has been seriously in decline lately for some reason. Maybe Dragon Quest IX will change all that this weekend, I love that series. And the best part, its portable enabling me to play it at work.

[elvis]

31 with three kids, and a 60 hour a week job. Gaming time is now limited to 20 minute bursts at most. Shmups and fighters pretty much dominate the genres I play due entirely to the fact that some longer titles won't even let you find a save point in the time I have at my disposal.

With that said, my eldest is now 9. She enjoys gaming quite a bit, and the younger two seem to be taking a liking to it also. Hopefully another few years and they'll all be joining me in the games room, and it can become a family affair.

[Hatta]

Funny that this comes up, I'm 30 today. I play a lot of RPGs, and honestly modern games are much more amenable to play in short bursts than old school RPGs. Play something like Dragon Warrior, and god knows how long you'll be in that dungeon with no chance to save. I recently completed Nocturne. It was a long ass game, ~90 hours total, but there's a save point every 30 minutes to an hour. If you watch an hour of TV a night you can play a modern RPG instead with no problems. It'll take 2 or 3 months, but if the game is good, that's a good thing.

Also, modern RPGs tend to have a quest log, so you go back and check what you needed to do. I also recently played Secret of Mana again. I couldn't go for 2 days without playing without having to check a walkthrough to remind me where I was.

I'm fortunate that my GF enjoys watching me play narrative driven games. That we're doing something together makes it a lot easier to stick with it. She'll often want to go play earlier and stay playing later than I do.

I have been playing more shmups recently than ever before. I think they're even more demanding of time than a modern RPG. Sure, it only takes 20 minutes to play through one round, but in order to get better it takes a lot of repetition. The first 2 or 3 game I play are really just for warmup. That's 30 minutes to an hour right there. Then I get in the zone and just want to keep playing. Just sitting down and playing one game does nothing for me.