How long do you stick with one save file on average?

[CoolKid575]

I've noticed a split in the Pokemon community between how people approach the games. Some seem to prefer to beat the E4; then reset/generally put down the game and not pursue much post-game content. Meanwhile others (including me) prefer to stick with one file for hundreds of hours and complete all the side stuff; with of course a wide spectrum in between. How much time do you put into a Pokemon save file on average and why?

 

[Devalue]

On average? Probably the 100-300 hour range. Plays one file for 300+ hours (the first playthrough). Completes the Pokedex, clears raids, and builds up a stockpile of Pokemon there. Completes ~20 hour playthroughs on separate files after that. Drops the file after beating the Elite Four.

Averages out to the 100-300 hour range. Spikes upward at the start of the generation. Trends downward after a few months.

 

[Megan]

10-20 hours maybe. I usually just do casual playthroughs nowadays. Granted, if I play later generations it can take a little longer. That depends on how much there is to do. I gave up on doing postgame, however. I just think it's not worth it. <_<

 

[Explorer of Time]

I usually move on to the next game right after exploring any new areas that open up post-champion and fighting all the trainers there, plus any postgame non-Battle Facility boss battles like most games' Elite Four rematches. Depending on the game, it usually takes around 30 to 50 hours for me to beat it, and around anywhere between 1 and 20 hours for the postgame. The Johto games are on the extreme high end of that because they include an entire new region to explore, while the Gen 1 games are on the very low end because the only new thing after the League is to go explore Cerulean Cave and collect some items, and catch/fight Mewtwo.

I'm not very interested in the pokedex completion side of things, nor Battle Facilities because I find trying to maintain long streaks of wins to be very stressful, plus I don't like being limited to teams of three.

Some romhacks, fangames, and challenges do end up significantly longer, though. I spent nearly 90 hours on my first Blaze Black 2 Redux run because I had to switch out team members all the time due to shifting challenge restrictions.

 

[giradialkia]

So, I used to play Gold/Silver religiously. I just loved the game to pieces - still do. I would play through again and again, probably not doing too much different, but just enjoying the journey so much. Save files probably wouldn't go much further beyond 60 hours, because once I beat Red, it'd feel like there wasn't much left for doing (I just wasn't interested in filling the Pokédex, since I'd never have anyone to trade with, and so it'd never be fully complete).

This trend persisted, to lessening extents, with each generation up to around Black 2/White 2, which came out when I was in my second year of college or so. From DPPt onwards I started investing in teams beyond just soloing with my starter, and that alone meant more time was spent on a save file.
Life was also starting to get a lot busier, and the games were also a lot chunkier - way more Pokémon, way more things to do in the postgame like Battle Frontiers and Pokemon World Tournaments. So while I had less time to play, I was investing more into my save files whenever I did.

I still have my original save files from White 2, Y, ORAS, Sun/Ultra Sun, and Shield. I just bought the second pair to each of them if I felt like replaying the story (yay for being a working adult... money for games, no time to play em!).

Nowadays rather than my save files starting over, they just accumulate. Usually they reach the 400~ hour mark or so before I move on to the next generation of games "for good", and while most of the Pokémon are migrated to Home, I like to keep the file's progress for nostalgia's sake. Always nicer to revisit a completed save file than a blank save.

 

[Nah]

It varies.

On my first playthrough of a game I often put in 100+ hours and have gone all the way to 600-something hours in a few. Subsequent playthroughs though it tends to be a lot less, as I'm usually just interested in getting to the point of entering the Hall of Fame and stopping there, so those are usually like 15-30 hours.

 

[Corveone]

Usually somewhere between 30 and 60 hours, so I pick the third option I guess.

Less than 30 is very unlikely. More than 60 is rare, but possible depending on the game. Longest playtime in one save file I had so far was 98:55, but that was in a difficulty oriented rom hack so definitely none of the main games got that far.

 

[ASPbeastebo]

Depends on how tied to it I feel tbh, I still have my save file in Pokémon Pearl with like 800+ hours but habitually restart save files in pretty much every other game I have minus my Pokémon Black.