The End of the Line...For RPGs

I realized something earlier today. It was while I was grinding for levels in Final Fantasy XII, a game that I still have not beaten despite having it in my possession for going on two years now. The realization was simple.

"I don't have time for this shit."

"This shit", specifically, refers to the various console RPGs that require enormous investments of time to make any progress in. I am currently over fifty hours into Final Fantasy XII. I have spent fifty hours of my life that I will never get back on this game. And what am I getting from it? Am I getting epic shit that makes all the effort worthwhile? Are there enormous throwdowns with monstrous beings that warp reality and time and whatever? No. I'm grinding levels in an effort to make it through a fucking cave that is mostly populated with imps. IMPS. And in case you didn't get it that second time, let me re-reiterate:

Imps.

We are talking minor goddamn demons, here. At over fifty hours into a game I should be in a position to punch Beelzebub in the balls, not have to go toe to toe with a frigging gargoyle with a pitchfork and lose half the time.

Investment in the story can only carry me so far. Once upon a time I really wanted to know what shit was going down in Final Fantasy XII. I really did. I knew the names of the kingdoms, I knew the purposes behind the protagonists' actions, I even could recall the backstory of the major characters. Now, returning to it months later, I am simply doing things because the mechanism of the game says it should be so. And doing for the sake of doing is the silliest thing there is.

So I have come to this conclusion: the games I play and enjoy most are brief and to the point. The Sands of Time Trilogy, Devil May Cry, Shadow of the Colossus, these are games that were fucking awesome, and all of which I played to completion (except for DMC, where I'm still stuck on the final boss). And I was able to play them to completion because they maintained my interest enough and were compact enough that I was able and willing to fit them into my daily schedule.

...I think that's enough of a rant from me, for now.

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"I have two children!"