I don't think I'll include MMOs since they are multiplayer focused even if they can be solo'd.

Also, I consider the need to grind as a break in the story.

What about complimentary campaigns? You know, most games throw in some kind of campaign because its expected, but its not meant to be the main game?

In that sense, what is the longest campaign you played?

I bring this up because i am frequently disappointed with the dismal effort put in sometimes.

An example is Galactic Civilizations.... Galciv2 had a campaign with about 10 missions which was fantastic - Galciv 3 which had amazing campaign story idea was cut short at just 3 missions which really pissed me off!

maybe. but the billion oblivion gates totally aren't. that's critical plot right there. (i loves oblivion too)
You only do this b/c I won the argument and killed the thread ;) <3 hehehe

And grinding for animal hooves and berries is NOT a break in the story. :)

I just finished this game today, and you're definitely remembering wrong. The main quest line is very short. Maybe 7-8 hours worth. It took me 24 hours to complete, but by far the majority of the game is mindless filler content like go to x planet and raid y bunker.

*whispers* it has been a very long time since i played :)

Fair enough :)

If they hadn't completely removed the vast majority of the vanilla content a few expansions ago, that'd be true. There's actually less story content from 1-60 than there was when the game launched. Really though, I'd say MMOs fall into the same category as Elder Scrolls games since the majority of your time will be spent sidequesting or loot-hunting rather than actual story progression. I doubt you could actually complete Morrowind without using exploits if you were just following the main story progression, because the game expects you to sidequest to get cash and levels. Heck, Caius Cosades will actually fuss at you early on if you haven't joined any guilds.


Since you're looking for a single linear story, I'm not sure of any good long games that fit the bill. BG2 is quite long, but most of that length is non-story related. You're essentially forced to do sidequests in chapters 2 & 6, and you'll be very underlevelled and undergeared if you skimp on those sections. IWD 1&2 are a much more linear story-focused experience, but they're also much shorter. There's a lot of lengthy JRPGs, but there's almost always mandatory grinding involved.

Wouldn't know. When I played warcraft, I was almost entirely sat in Arena, Rated/unrated BGs or doing WPvP hehe.
One fellow guildie did all of that PvE stuff though on a dozen alts. She must be nuts ;)

Actually, if you ignore side quests, Morrowind is not that long. A speedrun of that game (all main quests category) takes less than 30 minutes (maybe a bit longer in a marathon setting), so a casual run of the game would probably not take more than maybe a dozen hours. (Remember, this is ignoring everything but the main quest.)

Dragon Quest VII, on the other hand, is a lot longer; a typical estimate for that game is 80 to 120 hours, and even a speedrun takes more than 15 hours! (Based on the PSX version) Then again, DQ7 puts almost the entire game into its main quest, while Morrowind puts it in sidequests.

Some of the longest campaigns I played was:

The Baldur's Gate trilogy, ToB being the third, because all three campaigns go into your characters life story detailing how they overcame being a Bhaal spawn.

Warcraft 3, a game that truly earns the title of epic, covering many characters and races. I like how they didn't give you a story description for each scenario and actually had dialogue and story bits within what you are doing.

Each individual Metroid Prime game, but I don't know how much of that time was spent figuring out what to do next.

I should point out that DQ1-3 are closely related, and if you want the full experience, you should play DQ1 before either of the others.

DQ4-6 are not as closely related, but again, 4 should be played before 5 or 6 in order to get the references.

DQ8 contains a clear reference to DQ3.

Oblivion took me four years to finish. I was playing a pure-class thief and because my character was very squishy I had to grind my skills a lot. I would play the game on and off. Whenever I got tired of grinding I put it off for another day. The payoff was worth it IMO. My high acrobatics skill let me jump on and across rooftops. Sometimes I would go to a town, put on the Gray Fox mask, smoke enough guards to make a Dr.Dre song, and then take off the mask and move on like nothing happened.

If side quests contribute to the story or world building, they count. I was more referring to fed ex style quests just there to pad out game time. Morrowind works because part of the story is exploring, getting to understand the world your a part of better.

I also see when multiple endings that are worked into the story requiring multiple playthroughs as counting as a single narrative. I hear that the latest Nier game is like that and it greatly intrigues me.

1-3 is the story Erdrick/Loto - The Erdrick Saga. And playing 3 first would definitely ruin the surprise, same with 2. Plus, it would be difficult to go to the original if you played any of the others first with no prior knowledge because you play as a single character in the first, but control a party in all the other games in the series (except for DQ X which is an MMO and not a stand alone title).