How do you play RPG's?

It's summertime and what better way to avoid the blistering heat than to finally invest time into that pile of RPG's you've amassed.

The topic for discussion here though is how do you play your RPG's? How do you manage your time with them?

Do you prefer to play them endurance run style in that you play a bit then move onto another game or do you marathon your way through them focusing only on the RPG? Maybe you have your own method for playing them, so why not share it with the rest of the community and maybe, just maybe, you'll help someone defeat their backlog of RPG's.

If I'm really into the game I usually get through them pretty quick. With RPGs if I'm not compelled to play 6-8 hours a day I consider the game is a disappointment.

I try to do everything I can, all quests, and I normally play them bit by bit, otherwise I just get bored and burnt-out real fast.

I focus on only one RPG at a time (if im enjoying it, that is) and play all the main quests, and most side quests until I reach the story's end (I avoid collection quests)

I don't spend more than an hour or two due to time constraints. Unless i'm really enjoying it, in which case I sleep a little late :P

I can't binge like I used to but my usual gaming traits tend to comply:

Never spend any money and try to do everything in order to make yourself comfortable for the boss fights.

I usually only play one single player game at a time, especially RPGs. Depending on how well the mechanics are laid out, I might look up some stuff online while I play. I avoid straight up walkthroughs. If I reach the end of the game and I'm still into it, I'll do all the extra side stuff I can, then look up what I missed and do that too. I'll usually play for a few hours at a time. If the music gets repetitive or is constantly interrupted by battles, I won't hesitate to turn it down and put on my own music or a podcast.

I only binge games. But that also means I only play them whenever I have enough time/energy to do it. An RPG can usually last 5-10 6 hour sessions over a couple of months for me. Or in the case of Tales of Xillia, which is the most recent example, I beat it in 4 sitting of 10 hours over half a year.

I can put a lot of time into an RPG as long as I've got the free time to do it, up to about 6 -9 hours on a day on weekends. I progress a little differently between WRPG's and JRPG's however. With JRPG's I start off slow, maybe putting in a couple of hours a day, then get more into the game the closer I get to the end, probably because my party's increasing levels and weapons/abilities get me all power hungry and excited. By the end I can do big 7-8 hour sessions.

With WRPG's a start of putting lots of hours in, chatting to all the NPC's and thoroughly exploring the world and side-missions. By the latter half of the game I start rushing towards the conclusion. I'm not sure why the difference, but in the case of Mass Effect 2, its because I'm excited to get the suicide mission going. :)

I play them until I get bored.

These days it seems to happen more often as there is so much filler content in games (RPGs especially) now it's getting quite annoying. In order to pad out the length they give you pointless quests that are boring to do over and over in the same areas.

Skyrim was ok because every quest felt somewhat unique, Dark Souls is the best RPG to come out this [last?] gen for multiple reasons including it's incredible combat system, so not all RPGs do this or anything, but it does feel like it's becoming more of a slog to play RPGs anymore.

So, that's why I play them until I get bored. Most of the time I can still get $50 or $60 worth out of it (if time can even imply a games true value anyway) so I guess that's enough although I think most RPGs could do better.

I used to get games so rarely that I would always focus on one game at a time and play it to completion. That's less true these days, as I've gotten a little more ADD with my gaming habits and have the money to have a greater backlog than I ever could before, so it's so much easier to just jump between games at a whim.

If I really like a game though I will play it obsessively and ignore anything else until I'm done.

I like to focus on one game at a time. It's fatal to move between multiple games, especially in RPGs, since you might forget the plot or current objective that you'd end up hours scouring what to do next and ended up with putting down the game.

I've just recently finished Legend of Heroes TITS and now almost finishing Ys Memories of Celcetta. I try not to play multiple games at the same time. Next would probably be Raidou Kuzunoha.

I put in one solid 3-4 hour session and unless it really left me hungry for more, that's probably all I'll play of it. Xenoblade Chronicles is probably the last game that fell down this hole, if I recall correctly.

I set aside a certain amount of time each day to complete them, playing other games on the side. This probably explains why it took me so damn long to complete Resonance of Fate. Then again, the alternative isn't much better.

full on cosplay regalia.

I usually play them in chunks. My issue is with old school rpgs where I want to be leveled up way ahead of the bosses in the area I'm at so I do a lot of level grinding.

Definitely one at a time. Lately, I've been only playing one game period at a time, instead of my old ways of playing like three or four at a time. I may, however, change this trend for Divinity (which I just started) because it feels like a game I can't focus on for long periods of time--it feels more like a game I want to play in two-three hour chunks.

I'll do most of everything as long as I'm having a good time. If it's good enough I'll catch everything else on my second play through. Or third...

I typically only play RPGs that allow for a lot of character customization. So I'll pick a class and make a character (usually characters I've made in other games) and play them for a few hours. Then when I start to get bored, I'll create an alternate, start a new game, and play that one for a few hours. I'll repeat that process creating 2-5 distinct characters, and switch between them. I usually keep them all with the same level range, but I'll usually play the one I find the most fun more than others.

In Dark Souls 2 I have 5 characters at the moment. In Fallout New Vegas I have 4. In Skyrim I have many many more.

In long spurts over a long period of time. I beat Ni No kuni last year by picking it up every month or two and playing in extended sessions.

I tend to get really into the first 3/4's of an RPG and burn out somewhere near the end. If I'm rocking it or have overpowered everything, I'll eventually blow through the ending (and I've been better about finishing games in general lately), but I've become terrible at exploring new game + stuff. Speaking of which, I really ought to finish Tales of Xillia's second playthrough before I move on to the sequel.

I have a weird habit when it comes to RPG's in that I will play right until you need to fight the last boss than stop playing and play something else. Than one night I'll just beat a bunch of games at once.

Right now I am at the end of FF7, FF9, Xenogears and Dark Souls 2. I've beaten 3 out of the 4 games already so I know what their endings are but I'll probably beat Dark Souls 2 than go ahead and fight the final bosses of the other three games and start this maddening process all over again.

It'll probably start with the PC port of Trails in the Sky since I've never played that before and it looks interesting.

Usually in two hour chunks

I put podcasts on during no. Story stuff

RPGs I gotta play full bore until completion, long gaming days consecutively until I'm done with it one way or the other.

if I set them down too long, I lose the thread (my mental notes on plot, where releveant NPCs are etc.) too much and have a very very hard time going back to them.

I have this problem too, I'm just to the point of no return concept for these games and feel compelled to mop up every itty bitty side quest before the final boss run. Which ultimately causes me to burn out on some of these if that gets too tedious.

Nude as the day I was born.

I used to be able to binge them pretty hard (I got through my first playthroughs of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts II and Persona 4 at around 7 to 10 days)

Now I'm just be happy if I can finish a game in a month.

I tend to play them heavily at first, then slowly back off, then come back to it weeks later to finish it.

I always have multiple games I am playing at once. I try to keep the number of RPG's I am playing at once down, but I always fail. Just to give a sense of how ridiculous my RPG backlog is I currently am 20-60 hours into the following games - Demon's Souls, Ni No Kuni, Kingdoms of Amalur, Baldur's Gate, Divine Divinity, Dragon Age (Expansion content), Final Fantasy 13, and my second playthrough of The Witcher 2. I have the problem that I can't accept not doing every side quest in an RPG. Everyone says to not do all the side content in Amalur but I just couldn't stop myself. So I reached a point where I was virtually invincible going into the second half of the story. For those who have played it, I spent well over 70 hours before even sailing to the second continent. And I spent another 15 to get where I am now which is on the verge of entering the final region. And I'm still doing side quests despite having pretty much the best possible gear in the game and entering into the later zones over-leveled.

Another example of my insanity with RPG's - In games like Baldur's Gate or Divine Divinity where you have your big square regions connected by a map, I will explore each region in the following manner. I will walk to the top left corner of the map. I will then walk down to the bottom left corner. Then over to the bottom right. Then up to the top right. I will then move inward, basically forming the rectangular equivolent of a spiral until I have explored every inch of each zone. I will hand notate the map if allowed to mark any items of importance that I might be interested in coming back to. These types of things basically make it so I never finish RPG's. I try my best to overcome and just fail.

I hoard every potion and never use them because I will need them later.

I do this with every item in the game, and then use everything on the final boss fight.

I am currently playing Divinity: Original Sin and I have noticed a pattern in regards to any RPG thanks to this game.

If it is really good, I will play hard. Nearly 5-6 hours a day for about 3 or 4 days and then I start to peter out. I then try and force myself to see how much longer the game has left and try to complete one or two quests a day in that time. In D:OS I have just gotten to Lucella Forest after a good 30 hours of playing. This is the second area and I am starting to get tired of it all. My first thought was "Oh crap. I just finished the first area. Now there is a second? Oh gods, what if it is just as long if not longer? WHAT IF THERE IS A THIRD THAT IS EVEN LONGER?!". By the way, for those who have played/beaten it. How much is left? I am only around level 9 and have just arrived in Lucella. Also, how bad is it if I don't finish all the sidequests? Would I be severely undergeared/leveled for the Final Boss?

I love RPGs, but I tend to rush near the end to finish them. Especially if I feel they outstay their welcome. For example. MMO's I don't mind but if I spend 12+ hours in a single area (Wilderrun for example) I get tired of it. Or if an RPG is upwards of 100+ hours long (Looking at you, Final Fantasy XIII) with nothing interesting going on? I get incredibly bored very quickly. To me, the perfect length of an RPG is around 20-30 hours. With FPS/TPS, 8-12.

I played about 75 hours of Divinity in the last two weeks. So yeah, when I find an RPG I really like, I tend to go in hard (provided I actually have the time, of course) and play nothing else.

When I can't do that I still generally only play on game at a time, regardless of genre really, because if I do start another, changes are I'll never finish either of them in the end.

Endurance Run Style for me. I just recently completed all of Fallout 3 and I played it for 120 hours over a month and a half. I usually only play one 'Big' RPG at a time.