5 Classic RPGs You Can Play For 100 Hours or More

Over the decades, the role-playing genre has become a haven for gamers looking to get the most bang for their buck. So many RPGs take dozens of hours to get to the end, giving you weeks of playtime if you want to see everything. That wasn’t always the case, as hardware limitations during the ’80s and ’90s meant games were generally much shorter than they are today. During the ’90s and the rise of CD-based consoles, games stretched much longer. In fact, quite a few classic RPGs can easily be enjoyed for 100 hours or more. Here are five such games, ordered by release date. Note that by “classic” I mean more than 20 years old, so you’ll find games that released before 2006.

5) Romancing SaGa 3 – 1995

Romancing SaGa 3 was exclusive to Japan when it first launched in 1995. That was the case for all three Romancing SaGa games, as the series didn’t get a Western release until SaGa Frontier in 1998. Thankfully, Romancing SaGa 3 finally came to the rest of the world in 2019 via a modern remaster, so you can easily get your hands on this sweeping RPG.

Now, before diving in, it’s important to note that Romancing SaGa 3‘s main story isn’t too long, clocking in at right around 30 hours. However, if you want to see everything, you’re looking at north of 150 hours. RS3 has some brutally tough combat encounters, which means you’ll likely need to grind quite a bit to take those down. Plus, there are a ton of side quests and minigames to complete, stretching that play time even further. The good news is that if you fall in love with this one, you have a whole series to dive into.

4) Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past – 2000

Unlike Romancing SaGa, Dragon Quest VII‘s main story runtime isn’t too far off from the completionist metric. If you want to see everything, expect to spend about 120 hours exploring its massive map, but you’ll still need about 75 hours to tackle the main story. And here’s the kicker: That’s the short version of DQ7. The Nintendo 3DS remake streamlined it quite a bit. If you were playing the original PlayStation version, you were looking at around 200 hours for everything and just over 100 for the main story.

It’s just such a huge map that getting through all of the enemies will take you forever. Unlike previous Dragon Quest games, DQ7 doesn’t have one large landmass. You’ll need to use shards to teleport back in time and free a location. Then, you can go back to the present and sail over to the new island. That adds even more time, as you’re not only going to each location at least twice, but also need to factor in all the travel time. Fans were thanking their lucky stars that the remakes have cut that runtime down.

3) Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn – 2000

The second Baldur’s Gate came in the midst of a legendary stretch of games from developer BioWare. Not only did they put out two great Baldur’s Gate games in two years, but they also dropped MDK2, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic between 1998 and 2003. Just an otherworldly level of great releases over five years. Most of those games were also very long, giving players dozens of hours of great stories and compelling combat.

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn is generally the longest of those five. The main story clocks in at right around 70 hours, while completionists will need about 130 hours to see everything. Considering all of the must-play side quests, you’ll probably want to do just that. Plus, there are dozens of options for creating your character, so most Baldur’s Gate II fans eventually go back for at least one more playthrough. With that in mind, you might be looking at over 200 hours before you finally put BG2 down.

2) Wizardry 8 – 2001

Wizardry 6-8 are all very long classic RPGs. Wizardry 7, which launched in 1992, might be the pick for some players because it was the last time designer David W. Bradley was involved with a mainline game. For me, Wizardry 8 has a stronger story and also has a legendary developer behind it, with Brenda Romero leading the charge as a designer and writer.

Granted, the story does pick up right where Wizardry 7 picked up, so your actual best bet is to play through all three games to get the full scope. Either way, this is a gigantic world filled with characters to meet and quests to complete. Plus, there are three different endings, adding even more replayability to the mix. Oh, and like Baldur’s Gate II, there are dozens of ways to build your party, which means you’ll be back for another playthrough or two before deleting it from your hard drive.

1) The Elder Scrolls II: Morrowind – 2002

You could also toss Daggerfall onto this list, and no one would blink an eye. Both games feature huge maps, filled with characters, quests, and dungeons. However, Morrowind is much easier to get into these days, though it will still show its age in moments. Like a few other games on this list, you can actually finish Morrowind‘s story relatively fast, clocking in at a barn-burning 40 or so hours for most players.

However, that’s just scratching the surface of what Morrowind has to offer. In fact, I would argue many players spent so much time getting lost in Morrowind that they never bothered to finish the main story. Maybe that’s just me, but you can easily take 100 or more hours just looking at everything Bethesda has created. If you want to see and do it all, expect to play Morrowind for around 300 hours. For reference, that’s twelve and a half days of playing Morrowind.

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