When you boot up a turn-based RPG for the first time, you know you will be seeing that title screen for the next couple of weeks or even months. We want to spend 50 hours exploring the world, perfecting our party’s builds, and defeating every optional boss possible. However, the longest turn-based RPGs go well beyond the norm and become a true challenge for those brave enough to embark on a completionist run.
Length isn’t always a virtue, but long campaigns fit the vibe of this genre and its combat. Rather than focusing on the main story, let’s highlight single-player RPGs at their absolute fullest, ones that throw so much optional content at you that it starts to feel like it never ends. If nothing else, these games give you your money’s worth.
- Only single-player console or PC games that can be completed.
- No mobile/gacha/always online stuff.
- Only one entry per franchise.
- No strategy RPGs like Disgaea, Fire Emblem, or Tactics Ogre.
- HowLongToBeat’s Completionist average is used as a reference.
1
Unchained Blades
Hours Of Play On Average: 330 Hours
Average Times:
- Main Story – 40 Hours
- Main Story + Extras – 75 Hours
- Completionist – 330 Hours
Let’s kick things off with a turn-based RPG that has been almost entirely forgotten by history. Released on the 3DS and PSP, Unchained Blades plays like a classic first-person dungeon-crawler, albeit with an anime aesthetic akin to something like Etrian Odyssey or the Labyrinth games. While the core campaign falls in line with the standard length for these types of releases, Unchained Blades combines an array of mechanics to create the ultimate completionist nightmare.
This game features a monster-collecting system, with over 180 species eligible to become followers. Completing the compendium means unchaining every single creature, a process that relies on RNG to even be triggered. The 8 main playable characters have fairly extensive skill trees, making unlocking all the nodes quite an exhausting process.
Naturally, Unchained Blades has quite a bit of post-game content, like optional dungeons and boss battles, and simply grinding levels becomes the ultimate purpose. It just never ends.
I have fond memories of playing Unchained Blades on the PSP, although I never came close to completing it. If you enjoy these sort of dungeon crawlers, you might want to give this one a go.
2
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl
Hours Of Play On Average: 280 Hours
Average Times:
- Main Story – 40 Hours
- Main Story + Extras – 100 Hours
- Completionist – 280 Hours
Pretty much every Pokemon game takes over your life. The “short” mainline entries still require 20–30 hours just to finish the main campaign, and a Master’s journey doesn’t end just because they defeat the Elite Four. At the bare minimum, players need to complete the Pokedex and catch every Pokemon, a goal that is easier said than done even when aided by trading.
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are the longest games in the series by quite a wide margin, and you feel their length on the original hardware. Compared to earlier entries, Diamond and Pearl are quite sluggish, to the point that even opening the menu feels like it takes a bit longer than it should. Battles last a lifetime, and these small moments add up after 100+ hours of gameplay. Completionists also need to unlock the 5-Star Black Card, which involves winning 100 consecutive matches in the Battle Tower.
3
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
Hours Of Play On Average: 255 Hours
Average Times:
- Main Story – 55 Hours
- Main Story + Extras – 135 Hours
- Completionist – 225 Hours
Oh, yeah, this article isn’t going to be just monster-collecting JRPGs. Dense in the way that only CRPGs based on tabletop properties tend to be, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous combines a steep learning curve and a high barrier for entry with crushing length, even if somebody only aims to finish the campaign.
The central hook involves picking a Mythic Path, and you can only commit to one per playthrough (well, technically, two, as you can swap to an advanced path late in the game). At the end of Act 2, you will need to select from the 6 basic paths, all of which come with new characters, quests, and areas. In Act 5, you gain the option to switch to one of the 4 advanced paths, which also come with their own content.
Even if you use a master save to avoid repeating the same steps to get to the first choice, you still need to replay multiple acts in their entirety over and over again.
4
Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten Past – PS1 Version
Hours Of Play On Average: 225 Hours
Average Times:
- Main Story – 105 Hours
- Main Story + Extras – 125 Hours
- Completionist – 225 Hours
All versions of Dragon Quest 7 are long to an extent, but the PS1 original blows the two remakes out of the water. In fact, this entry is pretty notorious for its slow start and lethargic pacing, which is saying something considering Dragon Quest isn’t exactly synonymous with fast-paced narratives. Even by the standards set by DQ8 and DQ11, DQ7 still takes forever to get to the point.
The campaign requires players to find 84 stone shards scattered across the world, and the PS1 version features absolutely no hand-holding or useful mechanics like an in-game radar or menu tracker. You could spend hours just searching for a single shard that happens to be found in a treasure chest or locked behind an NPC interaction. DQ7 came out during the random encounter era, so players must also fight off enemies constantly while exploring.
Completing DQ7 means maxing out every character’s vocation tree, which requires an overwhelming number of battles, recruiting every NPC to Immigrant Town, collecting every Mini Medal, and finishing the two post-game dungeons.
Just to be clear, Dragon Quest 7 is a fantastic game, even if it might also be too much of a game.
5
Baldur’s Gate 3
Hours Of Play On Average: 180 Hours
Average Times:
- Main Story – 75 Hours
- Main Story + Extras – 115 Hours
- Completionist – 180 Hours
Who among us hasn’t reset Baldur’s Gate 3 to start another playthrough, wiping away dozens of hours of progress? Frankly, I think 180 hours is on the short side, as few turn-based RPGs reward restarts and replays to the same extent as Larian’s masterpiece.
Due to the way it emphasizes player choice and consequences, you could argue that it is near impossible to experience everything in Baldur’s Gate 3, but you can certainly follow enough routes to feel like you consumed the entire experience. The game is not only designed around multi-playthroughs and narrative branching, but it 100% expects players to do just this, and seeing every achievement mandates mutually exclusive story choices.
If you want to truly complete BG3, you need to beat the game in Honor Mode, a single-save permadeath mode where a single mistake could instantly waste the last 50 hours. There are ways to cheat these types of runs and obtain the achievement associated with Honor Mode, but it only takes a single bad decision.
6
Persona 5 – Original, Not Royal
Hours Of Play On Average: 175 Hours
Average Times:
- Main Story – 100 Hours
- Main Story + Extras – 115 Hours
- Completionist – 175 Hours
You might be surprised to see Persona 5‘s vanilla version over P5R, as the latter adds a brand-new semester. In terms of meaningful content, the latter offers far more to sink your teeth into, and a single playthrough will still crack 100 hours. However, Persona 5 ultimately comes out as the longer game for a couple of reasons.
Royal introduces quite a few quality-of-life adjustments that reduce the grind, busy work, and help speed things up. Players fly through the months far quicker in the updated version, and the process to complete the Persona compendium simply takes longer than the original game. A single playthrough is already an undertaking, but you need to at least play New Game+ to make different choices than in the first run, complete the Confidant routes, spark new romances, and to fuse the ultimate Persona.
7
Final Fantasy 10 – PlayStation 2 Version
Hours Of Play On Average: 165 Hours
Average Times:
- Main Story – 50 Hours
- Main Story + Extras – 80 Hours
- Completionist – 145 Hours
Let’s end things with maybe the most popular turn-based RPG series of all time: Final Fantasy. Square Enix’s franchise features almost exclusively long games, but Final Fantasy 10 has completionist expectations that far exceed every other entry. The main story should already require around 50 hours, and then you’ll have to dive into the endless post-game content.
To unlock the Nemesis boss in the Monster Arena and get an associated trophy, players need to capture 10 of every monster, and FF10 has 102 of them. They will need to unlock every character’s Celestial Weapon and max out their Sphere Grid, both of which can be grinds. Those are far from the only things that must be done, and the PS2 version didn’t come with the 4x speed boost of the dual-pack remaster.
