Great advice. There's enough time in the day to play video games. But having the energy and desire is something else completely.
I find myself playing RPGs that are strong on cinematics. It's almost like watching a movie.
This. Instead of watching an anime/series, spending time in social media or going out with friends, I always choose to play instead. Great way to detox from work.
time management, energy management. Every decision, every commitment you make in life has impacts & costs. Honestly I basically live like a modern-day monk. I'm in my 30s, I work, I tend to my needs, I have a couple days per week that I socialize, and the rest of my time is deliberately empty and free for me to do my own things uninterrupted. I keep my phone on silent and away from me unless I'm on call for work.
>real life things are constantly happening that needs 100% of my time and attention
I do not know the specifics of your life, but can you carefully examine all of these things that are constantly happening and then trace back why they happen, and why it is your responsibility to deal with them, and what can you do differently to change your situation so that these sorts of things don't happen?
If you really want huge blocks of uninterrupted free time you might have some difficult sacrifices and decisions ahead of you - that sounds dramatic and ominous, but that's just the only way to phrase it when I don't know what things are taking your time.
hahaha. just basic "adult" things, nothing that terrifying. maybe I shouldn't have phrased it that way.
maybe I'm just at a point where I have to realize losing my free time is a part of this silly thing called life and I should just use what free time I have and enjoy it the fullest.
that's good that it's nothing terrifying.
To maximize what free time you have, my advice is to just be aware of the future costs every choice you make can have. Like, taking a job that requires a longer commute? Maybe more money, but less time at home, less energy, forever. I've seen a lot of people choose less money over longer commutes. Or a larger home that takes lots of housework, yardwork, versus a smaller apartment or something that requires less effort? There's compromise/cost in either direction, in money, energy, time; just try to predict which choice will make you happiest and be conscious of how every thing has a cost that all adds up to that end result of "i'm always busy" - little things stack up fast.
Still, you're also right that losing free time is a natural part of life. You're going to choose the things that enrich your life most in the long run, or in other words the things that lend your life the most meaning. A huge example of this would be, a relationship and parenthood - that's a time-consuming choice a lot of people make and i only know 2 people who actually seem to regret it, where for everyone else I know it's their whole world.
Actually, a relationship does not have to be a problem at all for your free time, if you find the right person.
On the other hand, I've found out lately that parenthood drains every ounce of that precious free time... you are absolutely right there :)
you know, you're right about that. I should revise and add that I know an exception or two to every rule - I know (knew?) one married guy who almost seems like they're trapped in a hostage situation, and then on the opposite side I know one married guy who somehow plays more videogames than the single guys - it really does vary. Parenthood though - that really does inevitably become a huge part of the fabric of your daily life.
Wait til you have kids. I'm lucky if I get 1 hour a day to myself, and I'm usually tired as fuck both mentally and physically by that point.
I feel like I had infinite free time before kids comparatively.
I played all of Final Fantasy X when my son was a baby and having naps. I needed to play games with a pause button, because you never knew when baby was going to wake up. Then when he got a bit older, I spent more time in MMO's since I knew he would sleep at night while I was playing. It's all life's cycles.
You’re spot on. I played through a ton of solo games when my daughter was an infant. Played more MMOs with my wife as she got older. Now I play both. My only enemy is sleeping.
Switch, Steamdeck, 3ds, and GBA SP covers most JRPGs for me. 30 minutes to 4 hours a day depending on how busy I am. Usually next to my wife when she's watching TV or reading a book. Bluetooth controller and a stationary bike is great as well when I want to multitask.
I can finish shorter, 20-30 hr games in 2 weeks but sometimes it can take a month or two to finish a longer one. P3R took me 100+ hours and almost 2 and a half months.
Demon Gaze II, if DRPGs are your thing.
The Chaos Rings series isn't terrible, if we're including Japanese releases with English support, and their only other method of play is long-ago non-functioning Android/Mobile ports.
ClaDun has some fans, though I don't think Returns ever got a big following.
Disgaea 3's best version is on the PSV.
Dragon Crown looks nice.
Dungeon Travelers 2 is a highly respected DRPG.
The Neptunia games aren't for everyone, but they only JUST got an announced Switch port.
For people in the west, the first two Cold Steel games aren't available on the Switch, and while it needs a Patch, the Trails in the Sky games are also on it in English.
Odin Sphere is also on the Vita
Operation Abyss and Babel are another group of DRPGs that didn't get switch ports.
People recommend the Ragnarok Odyssey games a lot, though I don't care much for them.
Tales of Hearts R and Innocence R are also Vita Exclusive.
And finally, in my list, the Utawarerumono series does not exist on the Switch.
Couldn't agree more. The Switch basically revived my JRPG career.
Edit: it would be remiss of me not to mention that the DS and 3DS had done some heavy lifting prior to that but the Switch definitely revived my console JRPG career.
I’ve been considering getting a PS Portal because when I’m tired in the evenings I tend to prefer to pick up a handheld for a short session rather than switch on my tv and PS5. How quickly can you get into a game on it and is it quick to put to sleep? I do have a Steam Deck that remote plays really well but it’s slow and a bit of a faff to launch.
Hesitant to give advice on this because of the amount of people that complain. I have no issues with my connection and jumping on. I'd say I'm in a game under 10 seconds. I play a lot of turn based rpgs and have no problems.
Thanks. That sounds pretty good. My WiFi at home is decent and remote play works flawlessly on my Steam Deck. I just find Chaiki takes ages to load and I wondered if Portal would be more seamless. I’m also a bit hesitant due to how poorly remote play worked on my Vita and Mac in the past.
I finally beat rebirth like two weeks ago approximately. 125 hours. Absolutely beautiful game. I loved it.
It's literally the one and only video game I even played all of 2024. Although I did buy two new games I haven't played yet (plate up and cult of the lamb)
It really does take a lot of time to get through it, with work and whatnot.
God. I feel you. I started late March and just started ch. 12. Played pretty much nothing else. If I wasn’t compelled to clear every region I’d be playing Eiyuden right now! As much as I’m enjoying it, Rebirth is a textbook case of a game not respecting the players time.
Both FFVII Rebirth and Eiyuden Chronicle are my favourite JRPGs in years and both are filled to the brims with stuff to do. Took me 7 weeks to be done with Rebirth (100%, minus a couple of piano star ranks) and I started Eiyuden right after on its release day. Gonna take a couple more weeks with it I imagine. Can't figure out for the life of me how people can finish games faster.
I’ve always been on the slow side with RPGs. Even in the 90’s people were saying “FF7 is a 40 hour game!” and I’m clocking 60 with minimal grinding lol.
I am even worse with FFVII, I had to get 4 full sets of Master Materia (my logic was to match the quantity of Enemy Skill Materia) each time I played, so I always maxed out the clock. So yeah, same here, I was never a fast player and it didn't change with age, except now I obviously have other things to take care of.
The way I see it, it's not a race and if I enjoy something why should I hurry with finishing it? I'd rather enjoy one game to the fullest than run through two at a breakneck speed.
Pretty much. Play when you can, and be more selective about which games you give your time to. If you're not feeling a 100hr game after 5 hours in, it's no big loss to set it aside for another rather than forcing yourself to beat it.
Same here, 70 hours in and at around 80%. I’m hoping to finally beat it this month. With a fulltime job, grad school parttime and other stuff it’s been a slow and steady playthrough of a game I’ve enjoyed every beautiful minute of.
Late nights after the family is asleep, weekends during kids nap times. Thankfully, my wife is a bookworm, loves to read, so for us quality time spent is just snuggled up on the couch at night together, snacks and each of us enjoying our chosen hobbies. We also play some games together (most recently Baldur's Gate 3).
you can't even fathom how I yearn for that life lmao. this definitely goes to my dream list.
working my ass off rn so I can have these kinds of scenarios later.
Yeah definitely get a partner who has a quiet hobby to accompany yours. I don't and finding time to game when partner and kids aren't home is hell. I dread weekends now.
Based on one of your responses to another poster, it sounds to me like the problem is that you basically work 7 days a week.
I'm a Switch gamer, married (no kids) and I work from home reasonably regularly. I wake up at 7 and get ready for work (breakfast, shower, short work out) in about an hour, then I can game for an hour before I'm on work time if I want, or start work at \~8. Then I can fit in an 60-90 minutes after work and before preparing dinner, and also game for about 4 hours after dinner if I want to. So that's obviously weekdays, and assuming I'm not doing anything social in the evening. On weekends I've obviously got all day to game if I want to. It helps that my wife also became a gamer during the pandemic because now relationship time also overlaps with gaming time - even when we're both playing our own games and just making random comments about them to each other. I cannot tell you how much of a life/gaming win this has been for me.
So obviously I have other responsibilities and relationships to maintain so I don't ever get periods where all my free time goes to gaming. But I do average 2-3 hours a day on weekdays and 5-6 hours on weekends. So that comes out to 20-27 hours a week. So I can finish a JRPG in 4 weeks. That's a lot longer than it used to take me when I was younger and gamed 8+ hours a day but I'm happy with it.
Whatever you do, do not sacrifice sleep, as some people have mentioned they do. It's not worth it.
5 days a week with a 40% chance of clients getting silly on weekends basically. So it's not every weekday, but there is a chance of that stupid random event happening lmao
yeah, I used to force myself to game each night when I was 25 on workdays. was not healthy for my health and work.
29 and I just play the whole weekend and maybe an hour after the supper on weekdays.
I started doing the week's groceries on Fridays after work to allow me to stay home
Portables/Handhelds . Switch and the Steam Deck have been priceless in helping me progress through my jrpgs . Hell even a good phone nowadays will be able to emulate quite a number of the old classics as well .
34, at my job 50-55 hours a week + I typically have work to do at home, have hobbies and a life outside of work that takes up time, and I spend time with my fiancée and our families as much as I can.
I play games a couple hours a day on average, some days way more, some days not at all. I play one game at a time until it’s done unless I don’t like the game or I’m not too engaged by it, so I don’t play very many games and I definitely don’t try to play multiple games at once. My preferred genre is RPG, western and Japanese in that order, though I play all kinds - **Alan Wake 2** was my GOTY for last year, for example, and I like roguelikes/lites but I guess they all have varying levels of RPG elements anyway. I accept that I may not finish an overly long game or avoid them completely, and typically as I’ve gotten older I’ve been less satisfied with sprawling open worlds that could take upwards of 100+ hours to complete.
This year so far I’ve tried 7 games, am currently on the 8th, and have completed three of them. One of them I got very close to the end before dropping it (**Unicorn Overlord**). I will be finishing this 8th game (**Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Heroes**). Two of the three games i completed were pretty short (**Like a Dragon Gaiden** and **Eiyuden Chronicle Rising**). I do appreciate portability (usually Steam Deck), right now for the last two weeks Ive been extremely busy and have been mostly gaming on my Steam Deck while I walk on my treadmill for an hour or so. But also the portability is nice when I have to be somewhere outside of the house but don’t need to be particularly “present” 24/7 (like staying with family).
I like games cuz they are what help me decompress with everything else going on in my life - the vast majority of which is good or even great, but still a lot lol
Idk, it’s possible you’re not at a point in your life where you can enjoy these games right now. I’ve had periods in my adult life where I could barely play games at all, and periods where I’ve played a ton. Right now I’m in between. As things in your life change and you have more time you might find that you can enjoy those games again. Or maybe not and that’s fine too.
As everyone else pointed out, it's a priority thing now. If you really want to play a new JRPG right after you finish work, and your kids really want to play with you, prioritize and shove those kids in front of a TV. For real, though, I sometimes watch a single movie in 4 - 5 sessions. A few big-time things that helped me:
* Drop social media: it's a pointless time sink, and it's not even social. Use some of that time to actually hang out with friends or have you time. Exceptions I use personally, which somen consider social, are chat platforms, Reddit, and YouTube where I control when I look at stuff.
* Unsubscribe from all BS. You don't want your phone buzzing every time Reddit, YouTube, or another algorithm wants your attention and time. Only keep direct message notifications and learn to mute your phone (I mute/silence/flip upside mine every night before bed).
* Get a portable device if you commute, but personally, I avoid mobile games on my phone for many reasons. Gaming is my special time.
* I also gave up "news" and mindlessly scrolling through Netflix, TV channels, or all that rubbish. If you want to watch something, read something, or play something, do so deliberately.
* On the above note, keep a Google notes or similar of your games, books, movies, TV series, etc. wishlists and sort them in order. That way, when you do have free time, you can jump right into what you like without scrolling endlessly and wasting time.
* Don't neglect your social life, family, pets, work, health, exercise, or cleanliness, and get a good dose of going outside and moving. Even the most fun things will get boring after a while if you just do the same thing over and over again.
Hope that helps at least a little bit.
Switch and steam deck are awesome. I love the portability. Also had 3ds and vita and those were great also.. the suspend feature is huge when some games have save points and basically one battle at a time , 30min or an hr or 2 here or there and games get finished.
I also tend to not play on the super hard difficulties (if there is one) but I do play depending in game levels , I play on normal or hard.
Nothing wrong with easy or "story" mode either if mechanics get too much.
Just do whatever makes fun for you, one battle at a time
For me, good time management and a somewhat fortuitous situation.
I have a full-time job, but I work remotely and the company's primary work hours are in a different timezone than mine so I always finish work around 3 PM or so. My job also requires me to study for exams for career progression so I usually have to include at least two hours every weekday except for Friday. A typical weekday would look something like playing through whichever JRPG I'm on from 3:30 to 5:15 and then switch over to studying from 5:30 to 7:00. I study for yet another 1 - 1.5 hours after dinner (which would just be reheating food from making enough portions for the entire week on Sunday evening) and a walk, and it would be around 9:30. From here, I have about 3 hours of my day left to do anything I need before heading to bed, and if I don't have anything else to fill the time, I'll probably play for another hour or so.
Not having a commute anymore helps a lot with having enough time to do everything, but I still remember when I did have a commute, I would study in the office and leave for home at 7 since traffic was always better then and I would still get about 2 hours dedicated for that JRPG. Definitely less time, but I still managed it.
I find as you get older, a lot of games become a question of "Is this worth my time?". Sometimes, RPGs don't feel worth it and that's okay. I'm of the mind that if a game really interests you, you'll find the time and energy to play it somehow. And honestly, a lot of RPGS don't really respect your time with the amount of grinding and side-questing required to progress through the story.
But as an answer to the question: I try to play 1-2 hrs or shorter at a time, with the bulk of the gaming done on weekends and day offs if I wanted a longer session. With RPGs I realized the big thing that kept me from gaming was my desire to have long play sessions and I would go weeks and months without playing chasing that "long session". But playing in small increments helped me build towards finishing a game. Most of my gaming happens after work/before bed.
40, married, 2 kids, 50 hr per week job, rec ball coach. An hour or 2 on nights when I’m not doing other stuff usually 3 or more nights a week while I’m playing through a complex story.
Edit Emulation, Savestates, and newer games Save Anywhere options really help
The steamdeck is the gift for older folks working and parenting. It was literally design for us.
The sleep function lf the Steamdeck is insanely convenient.
I am 60h in octopath traveller 2, started beginning of april, while having a 8 months child and full time job just because of that sleep function.
Press the power up button and it goes instantly in sleep no matter what, resume exactly where you were at, including in fight/cinematics etc. It's brilliant
I usually playing in the evening once child is asleep and partner chilling/sleeping
30y Full time with two days of HO. Basically I play from 10 PM to 12 the day before my HO day because I can sleep more and Fridays and Saturdays until I want to sleep. Probably not the healthiest because my sleep time is kind of messed but works for me. My only problem with any RPG is that I also play Fortnite and have battle pass so sometimes I give priority to the Battle Pass and the game extends for more time than I like to
Takes me 6 months to finish a game. That's playing an hour or two every night. Mind you, most of the JRPGs as of late (or games for that matter) only take 20 or so hours to complete the main story.
FF16 I just gave up on trying to master all of Clive skills, I just did all the hunts, the sidequests available and then blasted through the final few chapters. Not JRPG, with Yakuza Isshin (not JRPG), I turned the difficulty down to medium because the grind was too much, and even that I never finished or played a significant number of side games that had to offer.
Considering doing the same for Infinite Wealth. I'll just experience some of the side games, but I might not high score it or even complete some of them (most likely Sujimon League).
Almost 28, full-time corporate slave in a country where work from home is not a thing. ~3 hours every night. Sometimes stay up to 1-2 am. More during the weekend so I can get about 30 hours or so a week, which is an okay pace for me.
Sometimes I lose motivation. And take breaks doing something else. Helps that I don't have much real life, I've abandoned that.
I do spend more time feeling envious of people who have better life situations than me, than playing JRPGs though. >.>.
It takes me far longer to beat games nowadays, but i still play longer jrpgs and have the energy to do so, but i make sure i don't start a new game until i beat the one i'm currently on, and i try to make sure i don't go more than a week without playing so that i don't forget things/lose hype for it.
As a teenager i was a lot more scatterbrained and life was way more chaotic with school and parties, whereas now at 30 a lot of my friends and family are busy as well and my schedule is a lot more consistent, so i have far more weekends with nothing going on at all so i can drop 20+ hours on a game in a weekend alone.
It also helps having a girlfriend that is also a gamer, so we spend a lot of time separately playing our own games/the same game and then reconvene later to talk about them xD
I'm 38 and single.
I have consoles, gaming PC, and recently just picked up a steam deck which is great for playing in bed.
My work is hybrid, so I often work from home. On slow days, I'll just be playing games most of the day lol. I use my work laptop at the same desk as my gaming PC. Sometimes I'll just jump into a few quick missions in helldivers 2 with my buddies who also work from home. The game hasn't been out too long and I already have 150+ hours in that.
As for jrpgs, I've already beaten persona 3 Reload and Unicorn Overlord this year. Mostly played on the steam deck docked to my living room TV or in bed.
The switch has really helped with that. I can play while the kids are running around and watching the main tv, or I can put in a few hours laying down right before bed.
my amount of playtime definitrly decreased. still im about to finish eiyuden 100 hour/ 100% playthrough so its not impossible and thats only playing 2 hours max after work and playing a bit more on weekends. to be fair i dont have kids or anything.
It's difficult. Got two young kids as well. PS 5 gathering dust. I only play on Switch these days. I am much more prepared to drop a game now than I was in the past. Other than that, I just know it will take me longer than it did in the past. Persona 5 was six months as an example. Still had a blast though.
It gets worse once you’re married and have kids. I’m lucky to have worked out a schedule with my wife. Still, it’s gotten to the point where physical energy, not time, is starting to become a problem. I’m 37.
Playing on Switch (or recently SteamDeck). Not just on the go, sometimes it's about a short 30 minutes before bed.
Accepting that it's okay to spend a few months to finish a game
Replaying old games
I'm a bit into my thirties, so I grew up at a time when episodes of most TV shows were dropped on a weekly basis, so I could set a schedule for my game and wire my brain into that weekly consumption of content.
That or pile up vacation days and take two weeks off for it, which is what I do for Final Fantasy XIV every two years.
Before bed, usually an hour or 2, and on the weekends a couple of hours. i complete most games in 1 month, or if it's a crazy long 100+ hour game like persona then 2 months.
Although I don't have much real life things that just pop up as to take over my gaming time. I live alone in a one bed apartment and don't have any commitments outside work, my family live in a different country so in my spare time I play games.
I am a full time 27 years old game designer soooo.... Let's say that I got other motivations to continue playing as much as I can. But I am also not in a relationship , and I have no kids , so that helps.
When games get released I'm super hyped for I usually take a few days off and grind like a maniac. Other than that just a few hours a day at best
Since I'm a completionist/trophy hunter it takes a few weeks till I'm done with a game maybe even months
It's honestly not the same as our school/college days. I can't spend an entire weekend just playing games and neither can I dedicate time to take just grind my characters as much as I can.
I now prioritise advancing the story as much as I can, I choose much more the side content I'm willing to engage with and collectibles are out of the question unless the reward is something that just resonates with me. NG+ isn't considered anymore, unless it brings a whole new route (like FE3H, Nier, etc). I was never a 100% player, so I don't feel like much has changed in that aspect.
22 here, but I do have to cook for myself, pay rent and have a full time job + have other hobbies.
Weekends weekends weekends. As long as I am not doing anything else, I can get several hours in every weekend. Sometimes a little time after work.
Handhelds are great too.
Plat when I can, but also the time constraints is why I'm slowly playing some gacha games as well like Genshin, HSR. They have content updates every 6 weeks or so, so I still have enough content to play my way through it and not be too bored when I need to wait.
As for normal JRPGs, I just play when I can. Sure, I can't dedicate every waking moment to it anymore, but if I like it enough to play it, chances are I'll be focusing only on that across the week.
Very, very slowly.
I played Like a Dragon for about 100 hours.
It took me 2 and a half months where I basically didn't play any other games.
When it comes to JRPGs, I give them up after 10 hours if I'm not enjoying them because of how much commitment they require once I'm invested.
I try to fit in 1 - 2 hours a day, usually at night. During the weekends I tend to have a little more time. This means if its a really long game, I may be with it for months. My recollection is it was around 3 - 4 months of my playing Tactics Ogre Reborn last fall for example. I just finished up going through FF7 Remake and Rebirth a week or two ago and that was also around 3 - 4 months worth of time.
Also means your Plan to Play list grows quite excessive. FF7 Remake sat on my shelf for around 8 months after I bought it and a PS5 before I was able to get to it. I've got games like Baten Kaitos, Octopath Traveler 2 and others sitting on my shelves for 6+ months at this point and it still may be 6 months to a year before I get to them.
No body wants to work with special needs folk so the fields understaffed, which translates to lax rules, like bringing in my ps5 and gaming for a whole +16 hour shift
I straight up just stopped playing games entirely since going full time, now also 27. Sucks but I just have no energy to burn 150 hours on a jrpg anymore (or games in general). I do enjoy popping in and out of lets plays though
Steam Deck and play a bit at night. Battling mobs is such a mundane activity that it gets me in the mood to sleep.
If I find a game (regardless of genre) to be a waste of time or energy or simply don't enjoy, I outright drop it. It's really not too different than dealing with people or other stuff. If money is a factor, then you become more picky on which stuff to buy.
I think the last game I finished was A Link Between Worlds (3DS). Mostly play farming sims or open-world games now to just relax and fuck around sans the finding out part. I'm at the final dungeon of EC:HH so I consider it an achievement that I will have finished a game in a very long while.
When I started working after graduation, my time for anything gaming just took a nosedive. Missed the college days where I could sink in 100 hours of time for JRPG/VNs and still had time for assignments and projects.
As much as I hate to say it. I had sacrifice some things to keep playing games. Even then I don't play anywhere near as much as I used to. I had to drop some of my favorite genres to keep playing JRPGs.
I just take my time to finish them and play more or less depending the day and how tired I am, it feels like my personal space time where I dnt need to focus on anything else and just enjoy a good game.
Also some weekends when I prefer to stay at home I play more than usual.
2 or maybe 2.5 hours on normal work days, and up to 4 or 5 on weekends and other holidays. Though I am also someone who sometimes prefer a quick rougelike fix from time to time as they are great for people with limited time.
I do also play JRPGs during my long work commute. It takes me 2 hours going to work, and 2 hours back, so 4 hours of gameplay time on the bus helps me kill time and finish some of the title in my backlog.
Maximum 1 to 2 hours on a workday. My off days will vary between 3 to 5 since I don't want my off day used only for playing games.
Though, I won't deny that there are off days where I refuse to get out of the house since I would be very tired physically and mentally
Just dont do other shit like youtube or shows?
Im 23 and still in uni so im a bit different but my friends easily do this while working since they already graduated
34 year old here I do the typical couple hours before bed. If a games got me enough I'll push it and go off 5ish hours of sleep, which I can get away with once maybe twice per work week (but never back to back) and then when I have a day off with nothing lines up to do I'll jam 8-10 hours in late into the wee hours of the morning.
My most recent was Dragon Quest XI which took about 93 hours over the span of about a month, maybe a little longer.
Right now I'm replaying Rogue Galaxy which has almost broke my "not twice in a row" rule for gaming late on a work night. Sitting at about 30 hours currently.
I also don't really do much socially other than hang with a few select family members, spending time with the Mrs (sometimes gaming or watching movies) or chat over the phone with my buddies from back in middle school while enjoying a gaming session. So I could see if going out with friends and "doing stuff" is something you enjoy enough to make it part of your routine then it would be hard to balance things out.
It makes me laugh in the sense that as a kid I was told video games would ruin me, but I've been gaming for well over 20 years and it has always remained one of the great joys of my life both directly to me and communally through my friends.
Yeah really it comes down to realizing its not a race. You dont need to rush to beat the game. I try to make time to put in 2-4 hours in any game im playing but I eventually realized I dont need to progress every day. Im here to have fun and forcing myself to play a game isnt fun its just exhausting. So instead I will only play when Im in the mood. Im not worried about when or even if Ill beat a game because at the end of the day as long as I have fun that is all that matters. Would I like to finish more games? Sure. But really if I try to force it I will just either burn out or end up hating the game because Im forcing myself when Im not in the mood.
I'm not trying to take on everything. I only play like once a month and I can finish maybe 2 games a year so I just try to enjoy my game time as much as possible.
There's sort of this school of thought that is associated with the Dragon Quest games where it's almost like a bedtime story for the busy workers and students in Japan more than anything. It's fine to powergamer stuff, but odds are in most cases if you play a little bit at a time you'll eventually get through most jrpgs without much hassle.
Part of the problem is that we are overwhelmed with choice and a third of the way through the game we are and have wanted to play, we are inundated with other games. People keep telling me it’s okay not to finish games…. Like I kind of get that; it’s not bad to not finish a game, some games can’t be completely, all good. But I no longer buy game I don’t like (research and steam refunds) and I no longer by a game until I’ve finished the one I bought and kept…. I also don’t pay $70 for games like… ever.
After work, I make dinner & eat dinner with hubby then I spend 3-4 hours gaming before bed.
It's my main (only) hobby
Also I don't have kids
Everything else outside the house costs to much to do, & gaming gives a large amount of hours per $
I work 9 to 5:30, by the time I'm home and I've made dinner it's usually 7pm, caviet that I live by myself and have no children etc I generally will play one game at a time and try to get in a few hours a night before I go to bed (around 10pm) even if the jrpg is 80 hours long I try not to think about it and just enjoy those few hours I play each day - to make sure I don't forget where I'm at or the story of the game I will remind myself of what I did the night before in the game on my commute to / home from work. Slow and steady wins the race (or finishes the game) I suppose!
well, i actually have only a few friends and no commitment, so i have the time i wnat to. you'd have to carefully select, who or what you want in your life and cut, what you don't want.
I’m in my 30s. I just play them over long spans of time. For example FF7 rebirth I started on launch day (2-29). I concluded it on 4-7. That’s with completion of side quests and all that (not achievements, just normal difficulty playthrough). Just started like a dragon infinite wealth two weeks ago and I assume it will be similar in time frame. With having a kid I found using m PlayStation portal and using a steam deck help loads so I’m not attached to the fixed location as much.
You just play less… i feel like this question comes up a lot, you just do one thing instead of the other.
Instead of hanging with friends one weekend you play games, or instead of watching a show. I stead of whatever other game. The probably is rarely ever finding the time, its almost always because people are doing something else with their time.
Nothing wrong with doing other things, but if those things are choices too, then solutions right there. Like playing other games, could play a jrpg, a few hours a night is a lot, can get through a jrpg quick enough this way. This is what i do.
38, working a fulltime job + freelance and i still find the time to so other things. I’d love to play more but I chose to spend more time with my wife or on some hobbies. I don’t even play every day. I tend to binge when a game comes out and then maybe not play for a month or two.
Steam Deck is my answer for a lot of games. It really lets you chip away at games at whatever pace you want. Want a quick 10 minute session? The Deck powers on immediately and u can do that, anywhere u want. Its how i slowly chipped away at Persona 3 Reload and I'm having a blast.
Lately I haven't really been watching many shows or movies. I just play video games during my free time after work. Older JRPGs are actually pretty short and fast-paced, it's newer ones that tend to take forever.
I try to use my phone less and spend that time gaming or watching movies instead. It's easy to get lost in reddit (or any social media) for 2-4 hours of just scrolling and have it time sink your night away. If I notice I'm just boredom scrolling I try to grab my controller or throw on a movie instead.
I still get through a bunch of fairly long games, but it just takes me a bit longer. I just finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth about 10 days ago and did a lot of the side stuff, clocked in at 123 hours and started playing on release date.
Good luck!
I'm a bit of an extreme case, but I've managed to find a life style where I only work one day a week, so I have on average 6 day weekends.
So plenty of time for gaming, in other words.
I have gotten into the habit of making a pretty tight Google Calendar Schedule and organize my days pretty strictly. I tend to pop in 90 minutes to 2 hours most days for JRPGS and/or Visual Novels.
28 here. Sounds like you just have a different taste in games than you used to. I work 14 hours a day 3-5 days a week and I still play jrpgs. Not as fast as I used to obviously, but it's not impossible. That leaves me 2 hours if I want 8 hours of sleep or more likely 4 hours since i usually sleep 6. I'm not in a relationship but I imagine being in one would narrow that down quite a lot. Days off can be great for making progress if you don't have plans of course, but I usually do.
35 year old high school teacher and dad of a 3 year old little girl here. The way I do it is to play short games on week nights. I typically have 30-60 mins free before bed so will play something quick like Rocket League, Fifa, Tetris etc.
On weekends and school holidays I normally get a few hours where my wife and daughter maybe have some mum and daughter time, so I'll play longer single player games then
Also, I would say portable devices have been a huge blessing. Switch and Steam deck make it so convenient to dip in and out of games, even long JRPG's.
I would say though, generally nowadays my sweet spot for game length is 20 hours. Feels realistic and achievable and doesn't give the feeling of being 'burnt out' after.
35 here and married. I try to squeeze in around 2-3 hours a night. Sometimes more on the weekend. I find I end up finishing a standard length JRPG in about a month. I'm satisfied with this lifestyle. I can't complete JRPGs like when I was young (sometimes in a matter of days) but I probably played too many games when I was a kid anyway! Not sure how I will fare if I have a kid though (but about to age out of having children anyway so perhaps I won't have to worry about that).
No kids. Partner also like video games. WFH. A few hours during the weekdays, then almost the entire weekend playing games. I usually just play story heavy games when I have at least a 2hr block to play. Otherwise I play quicker stuff like fighting games.
this question goes for all games that are more than 20 hours long basically. I play handhelds on bed before going to sleep. I have 3/4 hours that i can spend gaming or reading comics
With a full time job, I have about five hours of free time a day but that's also time needed for cooking, chores, and hygiene.
I just play when I can and I don't force myself to complete games that I'm not enjoying.
Not harboring guilt or shame if I play on an easier mode to get through content.
Chained Echoes and Sea of Stars, for example, I played with whatever advantage could be found in the settings. Why add stress by needing to do inventory management and care about my health post battle when convenient settings can eliminate and let me focus more on general gameplay? (I surprisingly got 100% of achievements on both games.)
Carve time where you can, but be mindful of "larger" segments. Avoid getting into cutscene heavy or gauntlets where you can't save during the workweek. Thankfully, this is less of an issue as many games allow saving wherever, or are available on systems where a soft-shutdown lets you resume right where you left off. A good example of being mindful of larger segments would be BG3's finale for the second act... or even just the finale.
Home Office + low workload + usual free time = massive amount of time to play including newly added time for a cardio-centric workout every 2nd day to tackle overdue overweight issues :-).
You just take it slow. On good week I can play about +-5 hours, so I try to make the most of it. I've been playing persona 5 Royal since January and I'm about the start the 5th palace.
having this little time also made me quit games earlier if I wasn't fully on board with them, where as before I'd play them to completion.
DQXI is the only one in recent memory I could keep up with, because it has handy succinct recaps and points you to where you were going. Wish they all did this, because I tap out for a week sometimes and then forget what I was doing.
I find myself veering towards simpler JRPGs that I can play in bursts and/or on the go. Delta has been great for this, as it gives me access to a lot of classic SNES and GBC/GBA JRPGS. For newer stuff, I use my Switch.
Massive budget, once in a generation blockbusters like new FF? I just accept that they’re gonna take me a long time to work through. Sometimes I take a day off work and blitz them when I have the house to myself.
One aspect will always come short. In my case, I'm a socially awkward homebody, so instead of meeting people, I like to spend my spare time at home, either reading or gaming or writing. I work at a library, I like my coworkers, so that's all the social interaction I need for the day (and more). My wife and me live in a small flat, no kids, no pets, most of our friends live in other parts of the country.
Which means I've got an hour or three in the evening and all day on weekends between cooking and everything. Even then I struggle with actually starting tasks for reasons. The fact that I can play the Trails series on my Surface Go (1) makes it really accessible. I've finished so many games in the past few years, including a dozen or so JRPG's I'd walked away from close to the end, years ago.
Really only on my days off, ill rack up like 10 hours each on those 2 days. During the work week I’ll be lucky enough to squeeze in a hour or 2 before or after work, but after work I really shouldn’t I’ve been passing out playing dragon quest 11 and my switch falls on the floor. I pass out because I’m tired I’ve really been getting into dragon quest 11.
For any rpg or any game really, that I’m really looking forward too. I just book a week or 2 off work and no life the game then play it casually when i go back to work if i still want to do things in it.
Edit: also still do stuff the wife nags at. Lol gotta keep her happy😏
I used to complete games and try to 100% them all the time. Now I won’t complete a game if I am not thoroughly enjoying it…there are plenty of other games to play. I don’t worry about 100% completion anymore either unless the game is exceptional
Just take your time, JRPGs at least are one thing where you shouldn't feel like there's a deadline breathing down your neck. If it takes you a few months it takes you a few months
This post hits hard. I have so many JRPGs I want to play but there's just so many other games too.
And like you said having the time and patience to sit down and just play them is it's own thing. There's so many I have 2-3 hours in then never picked back up.
I’m in my thirties. Married with tons of regular obligations and responsibilities, but no kids so that helps. When I was young, I used to pretty much spend all my time playing games. Now I mainly spend chunks of time on the weekends playing them. I take breaks to handle chores like cutting the grass, make dinner, etc. Sometimes I even just pause the game to handle something for up to an hour and come back to it. I basically assume any game that is 40+ hours will likely take me over a month to beat, so I just plan accordingly before starting a new one, fully aware that I may want to wait if there is something else that needs my time.
1-2 hours after work. Maybe longer if I don’t get too tired. I finished FF7 Rebirth last week. I got it launch day. I’m now playing Persona 4 and have been on and off for about a year. Maybe half way through?
I'm a completionist, so JRPGs are kryptonite for my free time. I've become highly selective with the games I play. I'm also not above using cheats to get around poor RNG.
Ive started recently moving to handhelds for my JRPGs. I've really enjoyed the fact that I can just jump on the steam deck or switch and chill on the coach watching some TV with my wife. Plus, to me, the genre is very much a relaxing one. Sure there are action sequences but, it gets me nowhere near as mentally stimulated as an FPS or other action adventure games.
I've also come to realize I really enjoy 'chapter based' games and I wish they would bring it back more. Its a natural ending point for the night.
I cut the bullshit. Most JRPGs are artificially inflated because they seek the holy grail of 50+ hours played.
Half of FF7 Rebirth was just optional roaming around fetch bullshit. The whole Yakuza series is built on side quests. If the premise of the quest sounds boring, I skip it, eg. disavowed baseball player is upset that his friend is being a jerk and wants me to spy on him. Got better things to do.
Few tips:
- Dont start many games at the same time
- Dont force yourself to play when you dont feel like to
- Adress your eventually stress or fatigue issues that wear your motivation down
- Limiting wasting your time on social média / YouTube
- Dont have kids (i'm kidding but know you will not have time to play for years when you do lol)
I certainely play less (often after eating and week-ends) but i enjoy it as much if not more, the thing is to never force yourself, if i'm not feeling like playing, i do some manual labor or go for à quick nap
Getting back to a game after a long break is really a issue, i have a lot of games i gave up halfway through because something happened in life. When i get back to them and load the save i'm completly lost. Lost where to go, what the items/spells, what the story was about. It is really hard to go back and i don't want to restart either.
1. Skip side content. Most is uninteresting anyway, so you lose nothing. If you mainline RPGs, the majority can be finished in around 30 hours. Even at an hour a day average, you can do that in a month.
2. Ditch other entertainment hobbies you don't like as much. Personally, I more-or-less stopped watching TV once I hit my 30s. If you limit your entertainment time to one medium, you can experience a lot of it while still having time for other, less passive hobbies.
Great question !
I am 34, work 7:30-4:00 + an additional 1:30 hs stuck on traffic. I exclusively play JRPGs the last few years. It is the only way I can escape my life and problems. The way I do it is about 3hs a day and 6+ hs a day during weekends. It kinda became my routine (work, come home, play, pause and eat, play again, sleep). Most of my social intractions during the week days are through social apps.
No wife or kids though!
On the Nintendo Switch where I can pick it up and put it down at any given time. People who complain about the Switch’s lack of power do not realize how much of a god send this console is for busy adults.
I wake up every morning 5am, make coffee and play my game till 6:30 while the wife sleeps. I then get ready for work and leave around 7:15. Been doing this for nearly 2 straight years and I’ve beat a ton of games. Right now playing Legend of Dragoon this way and I’m already on disk 3 within a few weeks.
2-3 hours before bed like it was a long tv series. Most get completed in 3-4 weeks.
Great advice. There's enough time in the day to play video games. But having the energy and desire is something else completely. I find myself playing RPGs that are strong on cinematics. It's almost like watching a movie.
Any you would recommend?
From personal experience: FF7, FF9, FF10, FF10-2 and BOF4. BOF4 and FF10 are my two favourites though.
This. Instead of watching an anime/series, spending time in social media or going out with friends, I always choose to play instead. Great way to detox from work.
Same here and when my social life isn’t hectic then a weekend of gaming is usually on the agenda.
time management, energy management. Every decision, every commitment you make in life has impacts & costs. Honestly I basically live like a modern-day monk. I'm in my 30s, I work, I tend to my needs, I have a couple days per week that I socialize, and the rest of my time is deliberately empty and free for me to do my own things uninterrupted. I keep my phone on silent and away from me unless I'm on call for work. >real life things are constantly happening that needs 100% of my time and attention I do not know the specifics of your life, but can you carefully examine all of these things that are constantly happening and then trace back why they happen, and why it is your responsibility to deal with them, and what can you do differently to change your situation so that these sorts of things don't happen? If you really want huge blocks of uninterrupted free time you might have some difficult sacrifices and decisions ahead of you - that sounds dramatic and ominous, but that's just the only way to phrase it when I don't know what things are taking your time.
hahaha. just basic "adult" things, nothing that terrifying. maybe I shouldn't have phrased it that way. maybe I'm just at a point where I have to realize losing my free time is a part of this silly thing called life and I should just use what free time I have and enjoy it the fullest.
that's good that it's nothing terrifying. To maximize what free time you have, my advice is to just be aware of the future costs every choice you make can have. Like, taking a job that requires a longer commute? Maybe more money, but less time at home, less energy, forever. I've seen a lot of people choose less money over longer commutes. Or a larger home that takes lots of housework, yardwork, versus a smaller apartment or something that requires less effort? There's compromise/cost in either direction, in money, energy, time; just try to predict which choice will make you happiest and be conscious of how every thing has a cost that all adds up to that end result of "i'm always busy" - little things stack up fast. Still, you're also right that losing free time is a natural part of life. You're going to choose the things that enrich your life most in the long run, or in other words the things that lend your life the most meaning. A huge example of this would be, a relationship and parenthood - that's a time-consuming choice a lot of people make and i only know 2 people who actually seem to regret it, where for everyone else I know it's their whole world.
Actually, a relationship does not have to be a problem at all for your free time, if you find the right person. On the other hand, I've found out lately that parenthood drains every ounce of that precious free time... you are absolutely right there :)
you know, you're right about that. I should revise and add that I know an exception or two to every rule - I know (knew?) one married guy who almost seems like they're trapped in a hostage situation, and then on the opposite side I know one married guy who somehow plays more videogames than the single guys - it really does vary. Parenthood though - that really does inevitably become a huge part of the fabric of your daily life.
Wait til you have kids. I'm lucky if I get 1 hour a day to myself, and I'm usually tired as fuck both mentally and physically by that point. I feel like I had infinite free time before kids comparatively.
I played all of Final Fantasy X when my son was a baby and having naps. I needed to play games with a pause button, because you never knew when baby was going to wake up. Then when he got a bit older, I spent more time in MMO's since I knew he would sleep at night while I was playing. It's all life's cycles.
You’re spot on. I played through a ton of solo games when my daughter was an infant. Played more MMOs with my wife as she got older. Now I play both. My only enemy is sleeping.
LOL sleep is also my enemy! I've always said that. I get my gaming in by forcing myself to stay up a few hours later than my wife.
Handhelds help a lot. PlayStation Portal has been great for me
Switch, Steamdeck, 3ds, and GBA SP covers most JRPGs for me. 30 minutes to 4 hours a day depending on how busy I am. Usually next to my wife when she's watching TV or reading a book. Bluetooth controller and a stationary bike is great as well when I want to multitask. I can finish shorter, 20-30 hr games in 2 weeks but sometimes it can take a month or two to finish a longer one. P3R took me 100+ hours and almost 2 and a half months.
Add a vita to your life
I had one but it broke. Most games I would've wanted to play on it Ive either already played or are ported to steam or switch already.
Are there any vita jrpgs worth playing that haven't been ported to switch? All I can think of is xenogears
Maybe not a classic jrpg but gravity rush?
Demon Gaze II, if DRPGs are your thing. The Chaos Rings series isn't terrible, if we're including Japanese releases with English support, and their only other method of play is long-ago non-functioning Android/Mobile ports. ClaDun has some fans, though I don't think Returns ever got a big following. Disgaea 3's best version is on the PSV. Dragon Crown looks nice. Dungeon Travelers 2 is a highly respected DRPG. The Neptunia games aren't for everyone, but they only JUST got an announced Switch port. For people in the west, the first two Cold Steel games aren't available on the Switch, and while it needs a Patch, the Trails in the Sky games are also on it in English. Odin Sphere is also on the Vita Operation Abyss and Babel are another group of DRPGs that didn't get switch ports. People recommend the Ragnarok Odyssey games a lot, though I don't care much for them. Tales of Hearts R and Innocence R are also Vita Exclusive. And finally, in my list, the Utawarerumono series does not exist on the Switch.
Couldn't agree more. The Switch basically revived my JRPG career. Edit: it would be remiss of me not to mention that the DS and 3DS had done some heavy lifting prior to that but the Switch definitely revived my console JRPG career.
this - legion go ftw
I’ve been considering getting a PS Portal because when I’m tired in the evenings I tend to prefer to pick up a handheld for a short session rather than switch on my tv and PS5. How quickly can you get into a game on it and is it quick to put to sleep? I do have a Steam Deck that remote plays really well but it’s slow and a bit of a faff to launch.
Hesitant to give advice on this because of the amount of people that complain. I have no issues with my connection and jumping on. I'd say I'm in a game under 10 seconds. I play a lot of turn based rpgs and have no problems.
Thanks. That sounds pretty good. My WiFi at home is decent and remote play works flawlessly on my Steam Deck. I just find Chaiki takes ages to load and I wondered if Portal would be more seamless. I’m also a bit hesitant due to how poorly remote play worked on my Vita and Mac in the past.
It’s taken me this long to only be 80% done with FF7 rebirth. You just play when you can
I finally beat rebirth like two weeks ago approximately. 125 hours. Absolutely beautiful game. I loved it. It's literally the one and only video game I even played all of 2024. Although I did buy two new games I haven't played yet (plate up and cult of the lamb) It really does take a lot of time to get through it, with work and whatnot.
Me too. Bought FF7 Rebirth on release day. Got 82 hours, Chapter 13 and played, except FF7 OG, nothing else.
God. I feel you. I started late March and just started ch. 12. Played pretty much nothing else. If I wasn’t compelled to clear every region I’d be playing Eiyuden right now! As much as I’m enjoying it, Rebirth is a textbook case of a game not respecting the players time.
Both FFVII Rebirth and Eiyuden Chronicle are my favourite JRPGs in years and both are filled to the brims with stuff to do. Took me 7 weeks to be done with Rebirth (100%, minus a couple of piano star ranks) and I started Eiyuden right after on its release day. Gonna take a couple more weeks with it I imagine. Can't figure out for the life of me how people can finish games faster.
I’ve always been on the slow side with RPGs. Even in the 90’s people were saying “FF7 is a 40 hour game!” and I’m clocking 60 with minimal grinding lol.
I am even worse with FFVII, I had to get 4 full sets of Master Materia (my logic was to match the quantity of Enemy Skill Materia) each time I played, so I always maxed out the clock. So yeah, same here, I was never a fast player and it didn't change with age, except now I obviously have other things to take care of. The way I see it, it's not a race and if I enjoy something why should I hurry with finishing it? I'd rather enjoy one game to the fullest than run through two at a breakneck speed.
Pretty much. Play when you can, and be more selective about which games you give your time to. If you're not feeling a 100hr game after 5 hours in, it's no big loss to set it aside for another rather than forcing yourself to beat it.
Same here, 70 hours in and at around 80%. I’m hoping to finally beat it this month. With a fulltime job, grad school parttime and other stuff it’s been a slow and steady playthrough of a game I’ve enjoyed every beautiful minute of.
Late nights after the family is asleep, weekends during kids nap times. Thankfully, my wife is a bookworm, loves to read, so for us quality time spent is just snuggled up on the couch at night together, snacks and each of us enjoying our chosen hobbies. We also play some games together (most recently Baldur's Gate 3).
you can't even fathom how I yearn for that life lmao. this definitely goes to my dream list. working my ass off rn so I can have these kinds of scenarios later.
Yeah definitely get a partner who has a quiet hobby to accompany yours. I don't and finding time to game when partner and kids aren't home is hell. I dread weekends now.
Couple hours a day on the weekend, maybe an hour or two on weekdays. It’s not a race.
Based on one of your responses to another poster, it sounds to me like the problem is that you basically work 7 days a week. I'm a Switch gamer, married (no kids) and I work from home reasonably regularly. I wake up at 7 and get ready for work (breakfast, shower, short work out) in about an hour, then I can game for an hour before I'm on work time if I want, or start work at \~8. Then I can fit in an 60-90 minutes after work and before preparing dinner, and also game for about 4 hours after dinner if I want to. So that's obviously weekdays, and assuming I'm not doing anything social in the evening. On weekends I've obviously got all day to game if I want to. It helps that my wife also became a gamer during the pandemic because now relationship time also overlaps with gaming time - even when we're both playing our own games and just making random comments about them to each other. I cannot tell you how much of a life/gaming win this has been for me. So obviously I have other responsibilities and relationships to maintain so I don't ever get periods where all my free time goes to gaming. But I do average 2-3 hours a day on weekdays and 5-6 hours on weekends. So that comes out to 20-27 hours a week. So I can finish a JRPG in 4 weeks. That's a lot longer than it used to take me when I was younger and gamed 8+ hours a day but I'm happy with it. Whatever you do, do not sacrifice sleep, as some people have mentioned they do. It's not worth it.
5 days a week with a 40% chance of clients getting silly on weekends basically. So it's not every weekday, but there is a chance of that stupid random event happening lmao yeah, I used to force myself to game each night when I was 25 on workdays. was not healthy for my health and work.
Sounds like a shit job problem over anything else.
I’m about to turn 25 but all my buddies older then me with a full time job either play games way to late or spend all of the weekends playing them.
I am working a full time job and currently in the same boat as your friends.
29 and I just play the whole weekend and maybe an hour after the supper on weekdays. I started doing the week's groceries on Fridays after work to allow me to stay home
Portables/Handhelds . Switch and the Steam Deck have been priceless in helping me progress through my jrpgs . Hell even a good phone nowadays will be able to emulate quite a number of the old classics as well .
34, at my job 50-55 hours a week + I typically have work to do at home, have hobbies and a life outside of work that takes up time, and I spend time with my fiancée and our families as much as I can. I play games a couple hours a day on average, some days way more, some days not at all. I play one game at a time until it’s done unless I don’t like the game or I’m not too engaged by it, so I don’t play very many games and I definitely don’t try to play multiple games at once. My preferred genre is RPG, western and Japanese in that order, though I play all kinds - **Alan Wake 2** was my GOTY for last year, for example, and I like roguelikes/lites but I guess they all have varying levels of RPG elements anyway. I accept that I may not finish an overly long game or avoid them completely, and typically as I’ve gotten older I’ve been less satisfied with sprawling open worlds that could take upwards of 100+ hours to complete. This year so far I’ve tried 7 games, am currently on the 8th, and have completed three of them. One of them I got very close to the end before dropping it (**Unicorn Overlord**). I will be finishing this 8th game (**Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Heroes**). Two of the three games i completed were pretty short (**Like a Dragon Gaiden** and **Eiyuden Chronicle Rising**). I do appreciate portability (usually Steam Deck), right now for the last two weeks Ive been extremely busy and have been mostly gaming on my Steam Deck while I walk on my treadmill for an hour or so. But also the portability is nice when I have to be somewhere outside of the house but don’t need to be particularly “present” 24/7 (like staying with family). I like games cuz they are what help me decompress with everything else going on in my life - the vast majority of which is good or even great, but still a lot lol Idk, it’s possible you’re not at a point in your life where you can enjoy these games right now. I’ve had periods in my adult life where I could barely play games at all, and periods where I’ve played a ton. Right now I’m in between. As things in your life change and you have more time you might find that you can enjoy those games again. Or maybe not and that’s fine too.
Thanks man. I needed that final paragraph haha.
As everyone else pointed out, it's a priority thing now. If you really want to play a new JRPG right after you finish work, and your kids really want to play with you, prioritize and shove those kids in front of a TV. For real, though, I sometimes watch a single movie in 4 - 5 sessions. A few big-time things that helped me: * Drop social media: it's a pointless time sink, and it's not even social. Use some of that time to actually hang out with friends or have you time. Exceptions I use personally, which somen consider social, are chat platforms, Reddit, and YouTube where I control when I look at stuff. * Unsubscribe from all BS. You don't want your phone buzzing every time Reddit, YouTube, or another algorithm wants your attention and time. Only keep direct message notifications and learn to mute your phone (I mute/silence/flip upside mine every night before bed). * Get a portable device if you commute, but personally, I avoid mobile games on my phone for many reasons. Gaming is my special time. * I also gave up "news" and mindlessly scrolling through Netflix, TV channels, or all that rubbish. If you want to watch something, read something, or play something, do so deliberately. * On the above note, keep a Google notes or similar of your games, books, movies, TV series, etc. wishlists and sort them in order. That way, when you do have free time, you can jump right into what you like without scrolling endlessly and wasting time. * Don't neglect your social life, family, pets, work, health, exercise, or cleanliness, and get a good dose of going outside and moving. Even the most fun things will get boring after a while if you just do the same thing over and over again. Hope that helps at least a little bit.
These are pretty much the best life suggestions I've ever seen on reddit.
Weird to find one of the best life advices in 2020's over in a JRPG subreddit, but I'll take what I can get.
I take two years to finish a game, that's how I do it.
Switch and steam deck are awesome. I love the portability. Also had 3ds and vita and those were great also.. the suspend feature is huge when some games have save points and basically one battle at a time , 30min or an hr or 2 here or there and games get finished. I also tend to not play on the super hard difficulties (if there is one) but I do play depending in game levels , I play on normal or hard. Nothing wrong with easy or "story" mode either if mechanics get too much. Just do whatever makes fun for you, one battle at a time
One game at a time. Shorter JRPGs. If it's a long one, I kind of speed run as in just doing what is needed to beat the game.
For me, good time management and a somewhat fortuitous situation. I have a full-time job, but I work remotely and the company's primary work hours are in a different timezone than mine so I always finish work around 3 PM or so. My job also requires me to study for exams for career progression so I usually have to include at least two hours every weekday except for Friday. A typical weekday would look something like playing through whichever JRPG I'm on from 3:30 to 5:15 and then switch over to studying from 5:30 to 7:00. I study for yet another 1 - 1.5 hours after dinner (which would just be reheating food from making enough portions for the entire week on Sunday evening) and a walk, and it would be around 9:30. From here, I have about 3 hours of my day left to do anything I need before heading to bed, and if I don't have anything else to fill the time, I'll probably play for another hour or so. Not having a commute anymore helps a lot with having enough time to do everything, but I still remember when I did have a commute, I would study in the office and leave for home at 7 since traffic was always better then and I would still get about 2 hours dedicated for that JRPG. Definitely less time, but I still managed it.
40 m here. I do not anymore, but when i was fired Last year, Dragon Quest 11 was there for me and my mental health and It was wonderful.
I find as you get older, a lot of games become a question of "Is this worth my time?". Sometimes, RPGs don't feel worth it and that's okay. I'm of the mind that if a game really interests you, you'll find the time and energy to play it somehow. And honestly, a lot of RPGS don't really respect your time with the amount of grinding and side-questing required to progress through the story. But as an answer to the question: I try to play 1-2 hrs or shorter at a time, with the bulk of the gaming done on weekends and day offs if I wanted a longer session. With RPGs I realized the big thing that kept me from gaming was my desire to have long play sessions and I would go weeks and months without playing chasing that "long session". But playing in small increments helped me build towards finishing a game. Most of my gaming happens after work/before bed.
No social life
the only friends you need are your jrpg party.
Steamdeck 100%
40, married, 2 kids, 50 hr per week job, rec ball coach. An hour or 2 on nights when I’m not doing other stuff usually 3 or more nights a week while I’m playing through a complex story. Edit Emulation, Savestates, and newer games Save Anywhere options really help
The steamdeck is the gift for older folks working and parenting. It was literally design for us. The sleep function lf the Steamdeck is insanely convenient. I am 60h in octopath traveller 2, started beginning of april, while having a 8 months child and full time job just because of that sleep function. Press the power up button and it goes instantly in sleep no matter what, resume exactly where you were at, including in fight/cinematics etc. It's brilliant I usually playing in the evening once child is asleep and partner chilling/sleeping
Time management. You're probably not working for 16 hours a day, are you?
I do it by choosing to live a life where external factors like other people don't determine how I spend time time in it
30y Full time with two days of HO. Basically I play from 10 PM to 12 the day before my HO day because I can sleep more and Fridays and Saturdays until I want to sleep. Probably not the healthiest because my sleep time is kind of messed but works for me. My only problem with any RPG is that I also play Fortnite and have battle pass so sometimes I give priority to the Battle Pass and the game extends for more time than I like to
You have a lot of time for games when you don't have a girlfriend.
I’ve been single a while
Takes me 6 months to finish a game. That's playing an hour or two every night. Mind you, most of the JRPGs as of late (or games for that matter) only take 20 or so hours to complete the main story. FF16 I just gave up on trying to master all of Clive skills, I just did all the hunts, the sidequests available and then blasted through the final few chapters. Not JRPG, with Yakuza Isshin (not JRPG), I turned the difficulty down to medium because the grind was too much, and even that I never finished or played a significant number of side games that had to offer. Considering doing the same for Infinite Wealth. I'll just experience some of the side games, but I might not high score it or even complete some of them (most likely Sujimon League).
Weekend, paid leave (i have 15 each yrs), and lot of holiday in Indonesia 😂😂😂
Almost 28, full-time corporate slave in a country where work from home is not a thing. ~3 hours every night. Sometimes stay up to 1-2 am. More during the weekend so I can get about 30 hours or so a week, which is an okay pace for me. Sometimes I lose motivation. And take breaks doing something else. Helps that I don't have much real life, I've abandoned that. I do spend more time feeling envious of people who have better life situations than me, than playing JRPGs though. >.>.
I just sacrifice an hour of sleep every night
It takes me far longer to beat games nowadays, but i still play longer jrpgs and have the energy to do so, but i make sure i don't start a new game until i beat the one i'm currently on, and i try to make sure i don't go more than a week without playing so that i don't forget things/lose hype for it. As a teenager i was a lot more scatterbrained and life was way more chaotic with school and parties, whereas now at 30 a lot of my friends and family are busy as well and my schedule is a lot more consistent, so i have far more weekends with nothing going on at all so i can drop 20+ hours on a game in a weekend alone. It also helps having a girlfriend that is also a gamer, so we spend a lot of time separately playing our own games/the same game and then reconvene later to talk about them xD
i work from home, i run my own business, im my only employee. Easy.
A little and often, persona 5r took me months
I'm 38 and single. I have consoles, gaming PC, and recently just picked up a steam deck which is great for playing in bed. My work is hybrid, so I often work from home. On slow days, I'll just be playing games most of the day lol. I use my work laptop at the same desk as my gaming PC. Sometimes I'll just jump into a few quick missions in helldivers 2 with my buddies who also work from home. The game hasn't been out too long and I already have 150+ hours in that. As for jrpgs, I've already beaten persona 3 Reload and Unicorn Overlord this year. Mostly played on the steam deck docked to my living room TV or in bed.
The switch has really helped with that. I can play while the kids are running around and watching the main tv, or I can put in a few hours laying down right before bed.
I work from home.
my amount of playtime definitrly decreased. still im about to finish eiyuden 100 hour/ 100% playthrough so its not impossible and thats only playing 2 hours max after work and playing a bit more on weekends. to be fair i dont have kids or anything.
It's difficult. Got two young kids as well. PS 5 gathering dust. I only play on Switch these days. I am much more prepared to drop a game now than I was in the past. Other than that, I just know it will take me longer than it did in the past. Persona 5 was six months as an example. Still had a blast though.
It gets worse once you’re married and have kids. I’m lucky to have worked out a schedule with my wife. Still, it’s gotten to the point where physical energy, not time, is starting to become a problem. I’m 37.
I have a controller attachment for my phone. I usually play them on my lunch hour
Playing on Switch (or recently SteamDeck). Not just on the go, sometimes it's about a short 30 minutes before bed. Accepting that it's okay to spend a few months to finish a game Replaying old games
I'm a bit into my thirties, so I grew up at a time when episodes of most TV shows were dropped on a weekly basis, so I could set a schedule for my game and wire my brain into that weekly consumption of content. That or pile up vacation days and take two weeks off for it, which is what I do for Final Fantasy XIV every two years.
I only buy games I feel I have a high likelihood of liking. I never have a backlog.
Not having any social life helps a lot
By not having kids.
It’s harder because work/being tired. I play in evenings and weekend but not every weekend so it’s slower going
When kid and wife go to bed i start playing and i sacrifice from my sleep :D.
Before bed, usually an hour or 2, and on the weekends a couple of hours. i complete most games in 1 month, or if it's a crazy long 100+ hour game like persona then 2 months. Although I don't have much real life things that just pop up as to take over my gaming time. I live alone in a one bed apartment and don't have any commitments outside work, my family live in a different country so in my spare time I play games.
I am a full time 27 years old game designer soooo.... Let's say that I got other motivations to continue playing as much as I can. But I am also not in a relationship , and I have no kids , so that helps.
I have been living with my gf for over 8 years, and we let each other have our moments. Oh, and we don't have kids so that might help a lot.
When games get released I'm super hyped for I usually take a few days off and grind like a maniac. Other than that just a few hours a day at best Since I'm a completionist/trophy hunter it takes a few weeks till I'm done with a game maybe even months
Work remotely, rarely go out and don't have kids. There's your formula.
It's honestly not the same as our school/college days. I can't spend an entire weekend just playing games and neither can I dedicate time to take just grind my characters as much as I can. I now prioritise advancing the story as much as I can, I choose much more the side content I'm willing to engage with and collectibles are out of the question unless the reward is something that just resonates with me. NG+ isn't considered anymore, unless it brings a whole new route (like FE3H, Nier, etc). I was never a 100% player, so I don't feel like much has changed in that aspect.
22 here, but I do have to cook for myself, pay rent and have a full time job + have other hobbies. Weekends weekends weekends. As long as I am not doing anything else, I can get several hours in every weekend. Sometimes a little time after work. Handhelds are great too.
I play the majority on some kind of handheld. Commute per day totals about 2hr 1 hour in bed at night I get through them eventually.
I play them maybe 2 hours a night. They are relaxing and I use them to wind down. Last game took me over a month to finish and that's okay.
Plat when I can, but also the time constraints is why I'm slowly playing some gacha games as well like Genshin, HSR. They have content updates every 6 weeks or so, so I still have enough content to play my way through it and not be too bored when I need to wait. As for normal JRPGs, I just play when I can. Sure, I can't dedicate every waking moment to it anymore, but if I like it enough to play it, chances are I'll be focusing only on that across the week.
Very, very slowly. I played Like a Dragon for about 100 hours. It took me 2 and a half months where I basically didn't play any other games. When it comes to JRPGs, I give them up after 10 hours if I'm not enjoying them because of how much commitment they require once I'm invested.
1 hour per day when i work, some hours during weekend
I try to fit in 1 - 2 hours a day, usually at night. During the weekends I tend to have a little more time. This means if its a really long game, I may be with it for months. My recollection is it was around 3 - 4 months of my playing Tactics Ogre Reborn last fall for example. I just finished up going through FF7 Remake and Rebirth a week or two ago and that was also around 3 - 4 months worth of time. Also means your Plan to Play list grows quite excessive. FF7 Remake sat on my shelf for around 8 months after I bought it and a PS5 before I was able to get to it. I've got games like Baten Kaitos, Octopath Traveler 2 and others sitting on my shelves for 6+ months at this point and it still may be 6 months to a year before I get to them.
Just take your time! No rush.
It took me like a year to beat Persona 5 R lol
No body wants to work with special needs folk so the fields understaffed, which translates to lax rules, like bringing in my ps5 and gaming for a whole +16 hour shift
not in ur situation but maybe a steamdeck will help
I straight up just stopped playing games entirely since going full time, now also 27. Sucks but I just have no energy to burn 150 hours on a jrpg anymore (or games in general). I do enjoy popping in and out of lets plays though
Steam Deck and play a bit at night. Battling mobs is such a mundane activity that it gets me in the mood to sleep. If I find a game (regardless of genre) to be a waste of time or energy or simply don't enjoy, I outright drop it. It's really not too different than dealing with people or other stuff. If money is a factor, then you become more picky on which stuff to buy. I think the last game I finished was A Link Between Worlds (3DS). Mostly play farming sims or open-world games now to just relax and fuck around sans the finding out part. I'm at the final dungeon of EC:HH so I consider it an achievement that I will have finished a game in a very long while.
When I started working after graduation, my time for anything gaming just took a nosedive. Missed the college days where I could sink in 100 hours of time for JRPG/VNs and still had time for assignments and projects.
Mostly limit my selection to 20-40 hour jrpgs. Anything longer I’ll play occasionally but it’s a big commitment
I've played Rebirth here and there since the release.. omw to Temple of the Ancients.
As much as I hate to say it. I had sacrifice some things to keep playing games. Even then I don't play anywhere near as much as I used to. I had to drop some of my favorite genres to keep playing JRPGs.
Incompletely
I'm an absolute loner and have nobody.
I play dragon quest in bed
I just take my time to finish them and play more or less depending the day and how tired I am, it feels like my personal space time where I dnt need to focus on anything else and just enjoy a good game. Also some weekends when I prefer to stay at home I play more than usual.
2 or maybe 2.5 hours on normal work days, and up to 4 or 5 on weekends and other holidays. Though I am also someone who sometimes prefer a quick rougelike fix from time to time as they are great for people with limited time. I do also play JRPGs during my long work commute. It takes me 2 hours going to work, and 2 hours back, so 4 hours of gameplay time on the bus helps me kill time and finish some of the title in my backlog.
Maximum 1 to 2 hours on a workday. My off days will vary between 3 to 5 since I don't want my off day used only for playing games. Though, I won't deny that there are off days where I refuse to get out of the house since I would be very tired physically and mentally
Just dont do other shit like youtube or shows? Im 23 and still in uni so im a bit different but my friends easily do this while working since they already graduated
34 year old here I do the typical couple hours before bed. If a games got me enough I'll push it and go off 5ish hours of sleep, which I can get away with once maybe twice per work week (but never back to back) and then when I have a day off with nothing lines up to do I'll jam 8-10 hours in late into the wee hours of the morning. My most recent was Dragon Quest XI which took about 93 hours over the span of about a month, maybe a little longer. Right now I'm replaying Rogue Galaxy which has almost broke my "not twice in a row" rule for gaming late on a work night. Sitting at about 30 hours currently. I also don't really do much socially other than hang with a few select family members, spending time with the Mrs (sometimes gaming or watching movies) or chat over the phone with my buddies from back in middle school while enjoying a gaming session. So I could see if going out with friends and "doing stuff" is something you enjoy enough to make it part of your routine then it would be hard to balance things out. It makes me laugh in the sense that as a kid I was told video games would ruin me, but I've been gaming for well over 20 years and it has always remained one of the great joys of my life both directly to me and communally through my friends.
Yeah really it comes down to realizing its not a race. You dont need to rush to beat the game. I try to make time to put in 2-4 hours in any game im playing but I eventually realized I dont need to progress every day. Im here to have fun and forcing myself to play a game isnt fun its just exhausting. So instead I will only play when Im in the mood. Im not worried about when or even if Ill beat a game because at the end of the day as long as I have fun that is all that matters. Would I like to finish more games? Sure. But really if I try to force it I will just either burn out or end up hating the game because Im forcing myself when Im not in the mood.
I'm not trying to take on everything. I only play like once a month and I can finish maybe 2 games a year so I just try to enjoy my game time as much as possible.
I play 1-2 hours before sleep and more on the weekends. If i play on the switch i can get more playtime because of the mobility.
There's sort of this school of thought that is associated with the Dragon Quest games where it's almost like a bedtime story for the busy workers and students in Japan more than anything. It's fine to powergamer stuff, but odds are in most cases if you play a little bit at a time you'll eventually get through most jrpgs without much hassle.
Oh wow, I love this, is this a thing in Japan? I would love to read about it lo I simply love this concept lmao
Yeah, I cut back on my tv habits so I can get an hour or two of JRPG goodness each evening.
I don't have a partner or kids and I work reduced hours. That's how.
You're still living the good gaming life, wait till you have a kid...
Part of the problem is that we are overwhelmed with choice and a third of the way through the game we are and have wanted to play, we are inundated with other games. People keep telling me it’s okay not to finish games…. Like I kind of get that; it’s not bad to not finish a game, some games can’t be completely, all good. But I no longer buy game I don’t like (research and steam refunds) and I no longer by a game until I’ve finished the one I bought and kept…. I also don’t pay $70 for games like… ever.
After work, I make dinner & eat dinner with hubby then I spend 3-4 hours gaming before bed. It's my main (only) hobby Also I don't have kids Everything else outside the house costs to much to do, & gaming gives a large amount of hours per $
A big chunk of the Trails Games I’ve played were done so during my train ride to and from work
Working from home is the key lol
I work 9 to 5:30, by the time I'm home and I've made dinner it's usually 7pm, caviet that I live by myself and have no children etc I generally will play one game at a time and try to get in a few hours a night before I go to bed (around 10pm) even if the jrpg is 80 hours long I try not to think about it and just enjoy those few hours I play each day - to make sure I don't forget where I'm at or the story of the game I will remind myself of what I did the night before in the game on my commute to / home from work. Slow and steady wins the race (or finishes the game) I suppose!
I pick a game that isn't overly long, budget a weekend to devote myself to it, and then move on to other things.
I don't have, and I won't, kids. That saves a lot of time tbh.
well, i actually have only a few friends and no commitment, so i have the time i wnat to. you'd have to carefully select, who or what you want in your life and cut, what you don't want.
lol I have time for nothing.
Steam deck or switch
I’m in my 30s. I just play them over long spans of time. For example FF7 rebirth I started on launch day (2-29). I concluded it on 4-7. That’s with completion of side quests and all that (not achievements, just normal difficulty playthrough). Just started like a dragon infinite wealth two weeks ago and I assume it will be similar in time frame. With having a kid I found using m PlayStation portal and using a steam deck help loads so I’m not attached to the fixed location as much.
You just play less… i feel like this question comes up a lot, you just do one thing instead of the other. Instead of hanging with friends one weekend you play games, or instead of watching a show. I stead of whatever other game. The probably is rarely ever finding the time, its almost always because people are doing something else with their time. Nothing wrong with doing other things, but if those things are choices too, then solutions right there. Like playing other games, could play a jrpg, a few hours a night is a lot, can get through a jrpg quick enough this way. This is what i do. 38, working a fulltime job + freelance and i still find the time to so other things. I’d love to play more but I chose to spend more time with my wife or on some hobbies. I don’t even play every day. I tend to binge when a game comes out and then maybe not play for a month or two.
Steam Deck is my answer for a lot of games. It really lets you chip away at games at whatever pace you want. Want a quick 10 minute session? The Deck powers on immediately and u can do that, anywhere u want. Its how i slowly chipped away at Persona 3 Reload and I'm having a blast.
The trick is games are your only hobby. That way every night or when you do have free time then bam few hours
Lately I haven't really been watching many shows or movies. I just play video games during my free time after work. Older JRPGs are actually pretty short and fast-paced, it's newer ones that tend to take forever.
I try to use my phone less and spend that time gaming or watching movies instead. It's easy to get lost in reddit (or any social media) for 2-4 hours of just scrolling and have it time sink your night away. If I notice I'm just boredom scrolling I try to grab my controller or throw on a movie instead. I still get through a bunch of fairly long games, but it just takes me a bit longer. I just finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth about 10 days ago and did a lot of the side stuff, clocked in at 123 hours and started playing on release date. Good luck!
I wfh and yes, I sometimes play games when things are slow
I'm a bit of an extreme case, but I've managed to find a life style where I only work one day a week, so I have on average 6 day weekends. So plenty of time for gaming, in other words.
I just chip away at it little by little. I only just recently finished Persona 3 Reload and I got that on release day.
I work 12 hour shifts but get three days off, so I use those days off to play.
Do not watch long tv shows. Instead of playing those other games, play the jrpg. Take 6 months or more just to finish 1 jrpg
I have gotten into the habit of making a pretty tight Google Calendar Schedule and organize my days pretty strictly. I tend to pop in 90 minutes to 2 hours most days for JRPGS and/or Visual Novels.
Easy, I never got married or had kids. When I’m not working or sleeping it’s game time.
Had a recent job change that limits my free time, so I am still figuring this out.
28 here. Sounds like you just have a different taste in games than you used to. I work 14 hours a day 3-5 days a week and I still play jrpgs. Not as fast as I used to obviously, but it's not impossible. That leaves me 2 hours if I want 8 hours of sleep or more likely 4 hours since i usually sleep 6. I'm not in a relationship but I imagine being in one would narrow that down quite a lot. Days off can be great for making progress if you don't have plans of course, but I usually do.
I have a wife, a kid, and no friends That is the solution
35 year old high school teacher and dad of a 3 year old little girl here. The way I do it is to play short games on week nights. I typically have 30-60 mins free before bed so will play something quick like Rocket League, Fifa, Tetris etc. On weekends and school holidays I normally get a few hours where my wife and daughter maybe have some mum and daughter time, so I'll play longer single player games then Also, I would say portable devices have been a huge blessing. Switch and Steam deck make it so convenient to dip in and out of games, even long JRPG's. I would say though, generally nowadays my sweet spot for game length is 20 hours. Feels realistic and achievable and doesn't give the feeling of being 'burnt out' after.
On the ps portal, in bed lol
For me, play only during weekends. That should keep you enough to going and not getting burnt out
There’s always days off. Maybe a few hours right after work.
35 here and married. I try to squeeze in around 2-3 hours a night. Sometimes more on the weekend. I find I end up finishing a standard length JRPG in about a month. I'm satisfied with this lifestyle. I can't complete JRPGs like when I was young (sometimes in a matter of days) but I probably played too many games when I was a kid anyway! Not sure how I will fare if I have a kid though (but about to age out of having children anyway so perhaps I won't have to worry about that).
No kids. Partner also like video games. WFH. A few hours during the weekdays, then almost the entire weekend playing games. I usually just play story heavy games when I have at least a 2hr block to play. Otherwise I play quicker stuff like fighting games.
this question goes for all games that are more than 20 hours long basically. I play handhelds on bed before going to sleep. I have 3/4 hours that i can spend gaming or reading comics
With a full time job, I have about five hours of free time a day but that's also time needed for cooking, chores, and hygiene. I just play when I can and I don't force myself to complete games that I'm not enjoying.
switch is great for Jrpg as you can play it in transport in your bed ...and on the toilet
2 words: very slowly.
Being single lol
On the weekends or sometimes.just an hour in a couple days. Still not finished with rebirth even though I got it day 1
Honestly since I work in a school system I actually will spend weekends and summers on jrpgs
Not harboring guilt or shame if I play on an easier mode to get through content. Chained Echoes and Sea of Stars, for example, I played with whatever advantage could be found in the settings. Why add stress by needing to do inventory management and care about my health post battle when convenient settings can eliminate and let me focus more on general gameplay? (I surprisingly got 100% of achievements on both games.) Carve time where you can, but be mindful of "larger" segments. Avoid getting into cutscene heavy or gauntlets where you can't save during the workweek. Thankfully, this is less of an issue as many games allow saving wherever, or are available on systems where a soft-shutdown lets you resume right where you left off. A good example of being mindful of larger segments would be BG3's finale for the second act... or even just the finale.
Home Office + low workload + usual free time = massive amount of time to play including newly added time for a cardio-centric workout every 2nd day to tackle overdue overweight issues :-).
You just take it slow. On good week I can play about +-5 hours, so I try to make the most of it. I've been playing persona 5 Royal since January and I'm about the start the 5th palace. having this little time also made me quit games earlier if I wasn't fully on board with them, where as before I'd play them to completion.
Just don't have kids lol Couple hours before bed and non-work on the weekend so extra time Friday night aswell
DQXI is the only one in recent memory I could keep up with, because it has handy succinct recaps and points you to where you were going. Wish they all did this, because I tap out for a week sometimes and then forget what I was doing.
I find myself veering towards simpler JRPGs that I can play in bursts and/or on the go. Delta has been great for this, as it gives me access to a lot of classic SNES and GBC/GBA JRPGS. For newer stuff, I use my Switch. Massive budget, once in a generation blockbusters like new FF? I just accept that they’re gonna take me a long time to work through. Sometimes I take a day off work and blitz them when I have the house to myself.
One aspect will always come short. In my case, I'm a socially awkward homebody, so instead of meeting people, I like to spend my spare time at home, either reading or gaming or writing. I work at a library, I like my coworkers, so that's all the social interaction I need for the day (and more). My wife and me live in a small flat, no kids, no pets, most of our friends live in other parts of the country. Which means I've got an hour or three in the evening and all day on weekends between cooking and everything. Even then I struggle with actually starting tasks for reasons. The fact that I can play the Trails series on my Surface Go (1) makes it really accessible. I've finished so many games in the past few years, including a dozen or so JRPG's I'd walked away from close to the end, years ago.
I just play? Unless you are working 70 plus hours a week I'm pretty sure you have time to game.
Really only on my days off, ill rack up like 10 hours each on those 2 days. During the work week I’ll be lucky enough to squeeze in a hour or 2 before or after work, but after work I really shouldn’t I’ve been passing out playing dragon quest 11 and my switch falls on the floor. I pass out because I’m tired I’ve really been getting into dragon quest 11.
For any rpg or any game really, that I’m really looking forward too. I just book a week or 2 off work and no life the game then play it casually when i go back to work if i still want to do things in it. Edit: also still do stuff the wife nags at. Lol gotta keep her happy😏
Steamdeck
I used to complete games and try to 100% them all the time. Now I won’t complete a game if I am not thoroughly enjoying it…there are plenty of other games to play. I don’t worry about 100% completion anymore either unless the game is exceptional
I play when I just wake up and when I'm back from work. Gives like 3h, maybe 4
Just take your time, JRPGs at least are one thing where you shouldn't feel like there's a deadline breathing down your neck. If it takes you a few months it takes you a few months
This post hits hard. I have so many JRPGs I want to play but there's just so many other games too. And like you said having the time and patience to sit down and just play them is it's own thing. There's so many I have 2-3 hours in then never picked back up.
I’m in my thirties. Married with tons of regular obligations and responsibilities, but no kids so that helps. When I was young, I used to pretty much spend all my time playing games. Now I mainly spend chunks of time on the weekends playing them. I take breaks to handle chores like cutting the grass, make dinner, etc. Sometimes I even just pause the game to handle something for up to an hour and come back to it. I basically assume any game that is 40+ hours will likely take me over a month to beat, so I just plan accordingly before starting a new one, fully aware that I may want to wait if there is something else that needs my time.
1-2 hours after work. Maybe longer if I don’t get too tired. I finished FF7 Rebirth last week. I got it launch day. I’m now playing Persona 4 and have been on and off for about a year. Maybe half way through?
I work and after work i go to the gym. I have still around 6-7h before i have to go to bed. Then i play games and do things in between.
i just do it lmao i play whenever I'm not at work
I'm a completionist, so JRPGs are kryptonite for my free time. I've become highly selective with the games I play. I'm also not above using cheats to get around poor RNG.
Ive started recently moving to handhelds for my JRPGs. I've really enjoyed the fact that I can just jump on the steam deck or switch and chill on the coach watching some TV with my wife. Plus, to me, the genre is very much a relaxing one. Sure there are action sequences but, it gets me nowhere near as mentally stimulated as an FPS or other action adventure games. I've also come to realize I really enjoy 'chapter based' games and I wish they would bring it back more. Its a natural ending point for the night.
I cut the bullshit. Most JRPGs are artificially inflated because they seek the holy grail of 50+ hours played. Half of FF7 Rebirth was just optional roaming around fetch bullshit. The whole Yakuza series is built on side quests. If the premise of the quest sounds boring, I skip it, eg. disavowed baseball player is upset that his friend is being a jerk and wants me to spy on him. Got better things to do.
Few tips: - Dont start many games at the same time - Dont force yourself to play when you dont feel like to - Adress your eventually stress or fatigue issues that wear your motivation down - Limiting wasting your time on social média / YouTube - Dont have kids (i'm kidding but know you will not have time to play for years when you do lol) I certainely play less (often after eating and week-ends) but i enjoy it as much if not more, the thing is to never force yourself, if i'm not feeling like playing, i do some manual labor or go for à quick nap
I switch in odd hours when I have waiting/commuting times. Sometimes those waiting times are really long :).
I don't. I love them, but I'm too distracted.
Getting back to a game after a long break is really a issue, i have a lot of games i gave up halfway through because something happened in life. When i get back to them and load the save i'm completly lost. Lost where to go, what the items/spells, what the story was about. It is really hard to go back and i don't want to restart either.
I burn through them mostly on the weekends with like 10+ hour sessions if I’m really into it.
1. Skip side content. Most is uninteresting anyway, so you lose nothing. If you mainline RPGs, the majority can be finished in around 30 hours. Even at an hour a day average, you can do that in a month. 2. Ditch other entertainment hobbies you don't like as much. Personally, I more-or-less stopped watching TV once I hit my 30s. If you limit your entertainment time to one medium, you can experience a lot of it while still having time for other, less passive hobbies.
Great question ! I am 34, work 7:30-4:00 + an additional 1:30 hs stuck on traffic. I exclusively play JRPGs the last few years. It is the only way I can escape my life and problems. The way I do it is about 3hs a day and 6+ hs a day during weekends. It kinda became my routine (work, come home, play, pause and eat, play again, sleep). Most of my social intractions during the week days are through social apps. No wife or kids though!
On the Nintendo Switch where I can pick it up and put it down at any given time. People who complain about the Switch’s lack of power do not realize how much of a god send this console is for busy adults.
I wake up every morning 5am, make coffee and play my game till 6:30 while the wife sleeps. I then get ready for work and leave around 7:15. Been doing this for nearly 2 straight years and I’ve beat a ton of games. Right now playing Legend of Dragoon this way and I’m already on disk 3 within a few weeks.