How long to complete POE?

How long is a piece of string?

Its long enough that having done a playthrough you'll probably forget how long it really took. At least if you are playing it on GoG anyways.

It's quite long. Kind of.

I've played 45 hours so far (if the savegame time is counted correctly). I have done 3 out of 8 companion quests and I'm only on level 5/15 of the endless paths of od nua. But I did everything I could find. I have built up Caed Nua completely. Just reached the second big city. Twin Elms.
I always have fast mode enabled, although I use scout mode in dungeons. I neither try to rush nor play slow.

Right now I'm stalling because I want to wait for the next patch that's supposed to drop this week.

Ultimately I think it's a highly subjective thing, someone said the crit path (do only the quests necessary to complete the game) is about 15 hours. Oh and a huge factor is obviously the difficulty. Of course someone who plays hard will take so much longer. I think normal is already challenging. You definitely have to know what you are doing. One fight against 3 Ogres can require multiple tries to win. Just like Baldur's Gate was sometimes hard.

So again, some people take 3 hours to just create their characters.

It's not a short game however, I think that's a safe assumption.

Dayum. O.o

If you are not trying to rush, why are you using fast mode?

You both need to get out into the country and relax. :P

I don't consider this rushing at all. Besides, simply walking from point a to point b is the most boring part of the game. I much rather spend the time in conversations, so I can read everything.

Understood.

In a well done game like I hope Pillars of Eternity (excluding the bugs) I would prefer to take my time and take it all in but after a while if environments begin to look the same or if I would need to backtrack a lot I would resort to a fast mode as well.

I'm guessing the game will be pretty long. For me at least. I usually don't play through a game more than once, so in my first playthrough, I try and do every side quest I come across, as I come across them. That way I don't end up hours and hours into the game, and have like 30 side quests that I haven't done. Although I don't really spend much time reading through the books you come across, and I don't really read the stories from all the kinda random NPCs that you can see into their souls.

I've put in just under 21 hours according to my game save. I only just hit level 5, I've just left the first big city (though I'm sure there's some side quests there that I didn't happen to just stumble across, which I'll end up searching for.) I haven't stepped foot into the endless dungeon thing yet, and have barely upgraded my keep. 21 hours is a good chunk of time spent, and honestly I feel like I've only scratched the surface.

I take my time and try to do it all, as well.
Only difference is that I also read the books. ;-)