10 Long RPGs That Take Forever to Complete

RPGs are well-known for their long runtimes, which is a huge part of their appeal, as they offer an epic quest where the player character starts with nothing and gradually transforms into the hero of legend. Some RPGs take this a step too far, with playthroughs that can take a full day's worth of free time to finish, and that's just the main quest.

A long runtime isn't necessarily a good or a bad thing. Some titles wear out their welcome by extensively padding out their story to justify the game's cost. That's less of an issue nowadays, with shorter games being more appealing to people with busy lives, and able to reach a massive audience by being actually completable to someone with family or work commitments. It takes a truly special game to justify the longer runtimes, to keep people invested when so many things are vying for their attention.

It’s almost cheating putting an MMO on this list, considering just how much content they pack in, but a special shout-out has to go to Final Fantasy 14 . Unlike many MMORPGs and live service games that want the player to jump to the latest content as quickly as possible, Final Fantasy 14 is a story-based experience, where each Warrior of Light is expected to see everything from the start .

The story arc that began in A Realm Reborn and concluded in Endwalker will take hundreds of hours to finish, and a whole new saga has already begun in Dawntrail . Any prospective Warriors of Light who don’t skip the cutscenes and ignore the side activities are looking at around two hundred hours to catch up. Luckily, all content through to the end of Shadowbringers is free, so players have plenty of time to see if Final Fantasy 14 is really for them.

When Dragon Quest 7 launched on the original PlayStation, it looked antiquated compared to the Final Fantasy games of the era, with its 2D sprites on a basic 3D overworld. Enix made up for this shortfall by absolutely packing the runtime with content, to the point where it’s easily the longest single-player RPG on the PS1, with the player needing to rebuild a world that was sealed away by an evil deity.

Thankfully, Dragon Quest 7 has received two remakes: one on the Nintendo 3DS, and one on modern platforms . These cut a ton of content, drastically shortening the runtime, but even these versions are longer than the average JRPG, so don’t expect to see the credits anytime soon.

Any of the Xenoblade Chronicles games could have made this list, as they’re all massive affairs. Arguably the best of the series is the first entry, as it lacks the perverse anime cringe of the second game, the lack of direction of Xenoblade Chronicles X , and the repetitive combat mechanics of the third title. This isn’t to say that those games are bad; it’s just that the first game is the most focused of the four.

Xenoblade Chronicles is set in a world where humanity is at war with a race of machines that keeps attacking them. The protagonist, Shulk, is the bearer of the mysterious Monado, a high-tech sword with the ability to harm the machines. The secrets of the Monado and the endless conflict between biological and artificial lifeforms are told across a massive storyline, one that’s well worth experiencing.

The original Persona 5 was already a lengthy game, with its events playing out over the best part of a year. Persona 5 Royal decided to add an entire third semester to the school year, as well as a brand-new Phantom Thief to the roster, while also giving the party more combat options to make the random encounters easier.

It’s just a shame that the bulk of the new content in Persona 5 Royal takes place after the events of the base version of the game, as anyone who wants to experience the third semester has to go through the story they’ve seen before. The grind is worth it, as the third semester offers an awesome conclusion to the Phantom Thieves of Hearts story, giving one of them a much-needed chance at redemption.

Few games have evoked such a feeling of awe and wonder as Elden Ring does when the Tarnished first emerges from the underground and witnesses The Lands Between in all its glory. What’s even more impressive is that all those broken castles, forests, and mountains can be explored. All the player needs to do is mark the map, mount Torrent, and start riding.

Sure, the player will probably be obliterated twenty times before they reach their destination, as everything in The Lands Between wants to kill them, but that’s part of the fun. Completing Elden Ring is a massive endeavor, both due to the sheer amount of mandatory content and the number of times the player needs to repeat fights, as this might be the hardest FromSoftware game, and it demands mastery for those who want to become the next Elden Lord.

The Fire Emblem games tend to have beefy runtimes, but Fire Emblem: Three Houses is easily the biggest , especially for completionists. The reason is that the player is a teacher at a military academy, and they get to pick one of three houses to focus on, each with its own leader connected to global politics, which influence events in the school throughout the story.

Even completing a single run-through of Fire Emblem: Three Houses can take ages, considering just how much story there is. Anyone who wants to see how every storyline plays out for each house has hundreds of hours ahead of them, especially if they want to romance all the prospective partners available to them.

It’s rare for anyone to complete any of The Elder Scrolls games. This is due to all the enticing side content, as people rush around completing guild quests and acquiring high-level gear, without ever touching the main storyline. By the time they’re running every organization, they’re burned out and switch games.

In terms of the actual main content, Morrowind might have the longest for those who aren’t speedrunning through the game. It doesn’t help that Morrowind is slower overall in terms of pace, and has an endless army of Cliff Racers waiting to hassle the player as they run between locations, making travel extremely difficult. Those looking for more challenge after finishing Oblivion and Skyrim should give Morrowind a try, so long as they’re always watching the skies for winged horrors.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has the same problem as The Elder Scrolls series, as it’s easy to get lost in its many excellent side quests. Sure, Ciri is in trouble, and the apocalypse is just around the corner, but Geralt is just a few more games away from becoming Gwent champion!

What The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has over The Elder Scrolls is that the main storyline has an amazing hook that keeps the player invested, especially if they want to resume their romance with Yennefer. The search for Ciri and the inevitable showdown with the Wild Hunt is awesome to experience, meaning the long runtime isn’t as daunting for people who want to see Geralt’s story to the end.

Most tabletop RPG campaigns start with the party fighting giant rats in a basement. Pathfinder: Kingmaker begins with the player being given a realm of their own. All they need to do is slay the rampaging monsters and wicked bandits that reside there. Easy enough, right?

Pathfinder: Kingmaker goes to high-level play , with the player creating a couple of mud huts from a stolen bandit base, to becoming an epic-tier hero, who creates a massive kingdom that is dragged into a war against its neighbors. All the while, an ancient evil has emerged in the world, and a lone monarch is the only thing stopping them from destroying all life on Golarion, a task that will take countless hours to finish.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has an absolutely massive story , but most players wouldn’t know it. The problem is that the story in Act I is so amazing and reactive that players struggle to escape it. Even completing a character can be hard for some, as they spend hours tweaking the hair and makeup of their Tav, only to decide they don’t like it thirty hours into a run, and go back to the drawing board.

It’s a shame so many people bail and restart upon reaching Moonrise Towers, as there’s so much amazing content in Act III of Baldur’s Gate 3 . The epic conclusion of Tav’s story, the battle with the remaining Chosen of the Dead Three, and the arrival of the Elder Brain are incredible to behold. But no: players just want to keep fighting goblins and seeing what’s different if they give sass to the Druids.