DS Daily: 'Is ... that it?'
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Aug 7th 2008 at 9:00AM }
As gamers, we've all experienced it: the slightly crushing disappointment of finishing that special game, the one we wished was just a few hours longer, or simply more replayable.What was your defining "Is ... that it?" game on the DS? For this blogger, there can be only one: Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Ten hours of glorious puzzling, a charming, twisty storyline, and barely any replay value to speak of (apart from the weekly downloadable puzzles, though it isn't the same!).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt G. @ Aug 7th 2008 9:08AM
I don't know...if you wait a while before playing Layton again, you will have some trouble on most of the puzzles. You'll remember them sure, but you won't immediately know the solutions. Plus, if you force yourself only to remember how great the game was, and none of the content itself, then you'll go in practically blind. I've done this before with stuff I've learned in certain college courses, hehe. It works.
JK @ Aug 7th 2008 9:20AM
I suppose some developers assume that a lot of people who own handhelds only play sporadically (in between classes, on a commute, etc -- or even in between console gaming sessions), and so make shorter games. Well, there's a few of us out there who actually prefer handheld gaming (I know, it's shocking), and it can be disappointing when a promising game turns out to be really short.
Of course, many next gen games have the same problem -- but hey, from a marketing standpoint it's smart: Why make a game 50+ hours to complete when you can make a gamer buy five 10 hour games instead? Doesn't make it right, but it's just the "next big thing" mentality in much of the gaming world today.
Matt G. @ Aug 7th 2008 9:09AM
But as for the topic at hand, I guess Sonic Rush Adventure was too short for me. Granted, you have those quests to extend the life of the game, but the number of levels is really minimal. Yeah, it's a Sonic game, but shouldn't there be more than like 12 levels?
Ashley @ Aug 7th 2008 5:55PM
Shockingly, the original Sonic only had 8. Blasphemy!!
So, the answer is NO.
Nate Beaudry @ Aug 7th 2008 9:25AM
Final Fantasy IV for me. wow that game was short.
dagguis @ Aug 11th 2008 12:57AM
Not for me :S, although its my first FF, Ive already played 23h and Im in the seal cave. So, IMO its a great game with great challenge and difficulty, idk about replay value but ahm, Im not so avid to the handhelds.
filmtrauma @ Aug 7th 2008 10:37AM
The Simpsons Game.
It was incredibly fun, and beautiful, I think. But I swear, it lasted like seven minutes. Major letdown.
Jacksons @ Aug 7th 2008 10:57AM
Phantom Hourglass got that reaction from me. I finally get all the equipment to use and then the darn game ends on me. I know that's the case for every other Zelda game too, I just wish they'd let me use all my fancy stuff a bit longer before pulling the plug.
Fulluphigh @ Aug 7th 2008 5:33PM
TWEWY (I know I probably won't be the last one to say it, and there are other games on my list that were way to short. But this early in the morning it was all I could think of.). Three short weeks of noise canceling awesomeness. There is plenty of replay value, but the story was over way to fast.
AlgusUnderdunk @ Aug 7th 2008 11:11AM
Contact, for DS by Grasshopper Studios (ay, the same lot who made No More Heroes, Killer 7, etc.)
The game's really gorgeous and well executed, until you realize you've pretty much hit the end of it all... and you're nowhere NEAR the end of the seemingly ridiculously impossible level grind.
Seriously, playing through dedicated to just ONE job set, and just ONE weapon, and you'll barely get that job to level 30, and barely get that weapon to level 50. And I grinded quite a bit too...
If it had just been a bit longer, or if the level grind had been reduced from 100 to 50 with the abilities spread throughout instead of techs unlocked right up to level 100 it would've been so much better...
The sidequests are great and all, but you know none of them can upgrade you like you need, and none of them really play into your special abilities like cooking or thievery...
Sam @ Aug 7th 2008 11:29AM
Phantom Hourglass for me. I was so upset when I realized it was over.
Mr Khan @ Aug 7th 2008 12:09PM
FFTA2
300+ Quests, and a whole 21 of them are actually part of the main story line
Roto13 @ Aug 7th 2008 2:29PM
My choice is FFT A2 also, but not because there are so few story quests. That game isn't over until you've finshed every single quest. :P Going in, I thought there would be more like 400 quests, since there are 400 spots on the quest grid, but when I hit around 285 I thought "wow, there are so few quests available right now. I bet this game is lying to me and there are only 300...."
Mr Khan @ Aug 7th 2008 5:46PM
The grid isn't lying, i don't think. There are 300 "Quests" in the sense that they are available at the Pub
The extra grids are for "Map Events" like confrontations with monsters, rival clans, and a few other things
I still don't think they add up to 400, but it's much more than 3
Gennataos @ Aug 7th 2008 12:27PM
Phantom Hourglass for me, too. I never even go around to cashing in the power gems. That's right, I never boosted any of my abilities.
I'm likely to go back through it at some point, but I would have been happy for that to be another 10+ hours.
Deozaan @ Aug 7th 2008 6:42PM
Wait, what? You can turn in your power gems for something? I beat the game and never even knew about that!
chibi_wings @ Aug 7th 2008 3:52PM
Trace Memory. I love adventure games, and it was really fun, but very short. And for me to say a game is short is rare, because I tend to take a lot longer to finish games then the average gamer.^^ (I'll use FFTA2 as an example since i remember how much I have logged on it. I have around 90 hours and I've only finished 160ish quests. Yes, I know, I take forever..)
Ashley @ Aug 7th 2008 5:55PM
Yeah, I finished it in 6 hours. Waste of 20 dollars, IMHO.
chibi_wings @ Aug 7th 2008 6:01PM
I am yet again the slower one, it took me around 10ish hours to finish Trace Memory ^^;;
bluezy @ Aug 7th 2008 5:03PM
Puzzle Quest. At the rate i played that game, it was over far too soon.
Deozaan @ Aug 7th 2008 6:47PM
I know this is the wrong system, but Fable is probably the epitome for sudden, disappointing endings, without any desire of playing it again.
And more recently I beat LostWinds for WiiWare. Somebody should have mentioned somewhere along the lines that LostWinds was just the "prologue" of episodic games. I finished it in less than an hour and a half.
But on the DS? I guess I'd agree with Phantom Hourglass and Trace Memory.
And also Animal Crossing: Wild World. Not because it ended suddenly (it doesn't end), but because I played the GameCube version for hundreds and hundreds of hours and for some reason was expecting more new stuff in the DS version. I didn't even play AC:WW long enough to pay off my house. :-/
HellsHammer @ Aug 7th 2008 10:51PM
Hotel Dusk.
Not since I played Snatcher have I been so sad to see a game end.
FantomRedux @ Aug 8th 2008 5:29AM
The Ace Attorney games. Love them and all, but being a late starter I burned through the Phoenix Wright games in about 2 weeks, playing on and off, then when Apollo Justice came out, that was gone after about 2 days. They're excellent game, I'd even go so far as to say the best on the DS, but they are over too quick for me and have no replay value. Gimme Gyakuten Kenji already! And give it some replay stuff, or a sh!tload of missions