The RPG genre today finds itself at the forefront of the gaming industry. RPGs were once viewed as a genre predominantly for PC gamers and Japanese audiences, but are now one of the best-selling genres of games worldwide.
Series like Final Fantasy and Mass Effect have helped propel the genre to its newfound AAA status. With their intricate stories and large open-worlds with many interesting side quests, offering tons of hours of playtime.
Another pair of series responsible for this increased attention are Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. Games like Fallout 3 and Skyrim have set a standard for all modern RPG titles and were likely a driving force behind Microsoft's $7.5 Billion acquisition of Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media.
According to howlongtobeat, Skyrim has an All Styles completion length of 110 hours. Here are 10 of the games that are even longer.
10 Persona 5 Royal (124 Hours)
Starting this list off on a high note, Persona 5 is considered one of the best RPGs of all time. It was met by both fan and critical acclaim, indicative of its 9.3 Metacritic score, and 8.7 user score.
Persona 5's length may seem extortionate for a story-driven game. But the unapologetic length is necessary to fully explore the stories and characters. An enhanced version of the game, Persona 5 Royal, was released three years after the initial game. Its new features included more storylines and a new semester.
9 Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition (125 Hours)
Fallout 4 was a game that was always going to happen. But that didn't stop fans from overflowing with excitement when the announcement was made in 2015.
Unfortunately, the game didn't quite live up to expectations. It leaned into too many of the RPG tropes that fans dislike in open-world games, such as repetitive fetch quests and redundant speech options. It was still a great game in its own right though, and a Game of the Year Edition was subsequently released. The Game of the Year Edition expanded the game's playtime with its inclusion of all official add-ons.
8 Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Definitive Edition (127 Hours)
Developed by Owlcat Games, Pathfinder: Kingmaker is an isometric RPG that was met with lackluster reviews upon release. The game had some interesting ideas though, such as a character alignment system that gave consequences to player's decisions.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker was originally a PC exclusive when it was released in 2018. However, a Definitive Edition brought it to Xbox One and PS4 two years later.
7 Dragon Warrior VII (131 Hours)
Also known as Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, Dragon Warrior VII was released on the PlayStation 1 in North America in 2001. A year after its Japanese release.
Despite releasing on Sony's first generation of console's, Dragon Warrior VII had a huge game world to explore, filled to the brim with side quests to complete. Impressively, Dragon Warrior VII would still take most players around 100 hours to complete even if they just focused on the game's main story.
6 Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (133 Hours)
Spoiler alert; Monster Hunter Tri is one of three Monster Hunter game's to appear on this list. This will likely be of little surprise to fans of the series. As the games are known for their huge maps that are littered with quests to complete and monsters to fight.
Capcom's Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is one of the best entries in the series. Predominantly due to its excellent implementation of three-dimensional combat and the increased focus on storytelling. Furthermore, the game had an excellent online mode that also appeared on handheld versions of the game for the first time.
5 The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt - Game Of The Year Edition (133 Hours)
With the Xbox One and PS4 generation coming to a close, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is deservedly recognized as one of the best games of the generation. CD Projekt Red, who were relatively unknown at the time, didn't just turn heads with The Witcher 3 but set the standard for all other Xbox One and PS4 games to follow.
The game's vast open-world had tons to explore and beautiful environments that showed off the two console's hardware. Along with treating gamers with high-end PCs to some of the most impressive visuals in gaming.
A Game of the Year Edition was released a year later, including the game's two expansions Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.
4 Harvest Moon: More Friends Of Mineral Town (142 Hours)
Harvest Moon: More Friends Of Mineral Town is very similar to Harvest Moon: Friends Of Mineral Town, with one of the few changes being that the player now controls a female character.
The GBA game has much of what players would expect from a Harvest Moon title. Player's inherit a farm from an old man who left the land in his will and must restore it. This can be done in many ways, such as by raising livestock, managing crops, or mining.
3 Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (149 Hours)
The second Monster Hunter game on this list was released on the 3DS and Wii U shortly after the original was released on the Wii, Monster Hunter Tri.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is notable for expanding the series' ecosystems. The game's many underwater sections offered a new dimension to the series' combat. They allowed for a plethora of exciting new monsters and inevitably increased the game's runtime considerably.
2 Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (223 Hours)
The final Monster Hunter game on this list misses out on the top stop but is considerably longer than the aforementioned Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. The game was initially released as a PSP exclusive in 2008, before coming to the PlayStation Vita and IOS devices some years later.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite releasing on handheld consoles didn't prevent it from being the longest Monster Hunter entry yet. The game was critically acclaimed upon release and is impressively the 2nd highest selling PSP title with 5.47 units sold.
1 Mobius Final Fantasy (289 Hours)
Mobile games are often dismissed as predominantly being glorified mini-games that are designed to be addictive and encourage consumers to spend money. Square Enix's Mobius Final Fantasy is one of the biggest counter-arguments to that claim.
The RPG impressively didn't change key gameplay mechanics that are synonymous with the Final Fantasy series, despite releasing on limited devices. The series' deep, tactical turn-based combat returns, along with a large open-world begging to be explored.
Following the game's huge commercial success, a PC port of the game was released shortly after its initial release.