[General Discussion] RPGs, a sprint or a marathon?

It depends on the game itself as to what I'll be like during the game. Dragon Quest VIII is a prime example of me being the "wandering aimlessly" type, gathering everything I could, getting all the best monsters for the Arena, boasting about big wins in the Casino, making the best items I could through alchemy and thoroughly beating the Epiloque quest. Dark Cloud 2 had this same sort of feel as well; the fishing, town reconstruction and modification, weapon building, etc.

In some of the more recent Westernized RPGs though, like Mass Effect, it's different. There aren't really any sidequests to speak of, at least none that take 3 or 4 hours to complete or can't be done alongside the main storyline. Mass Effect kinda makes the player sprint through, especially if you want to replay the game and use the opposite conversation choices.

I need to go back and replay Tales of Vesperia in a way that will maximize my party's fighting power and tackle every sidequest as they appear. That game was particularly terrible about having a sidequest pop up but nothing to alert you that one was available. I entirely missed out on the hot springs events and items because I didn't start the quest at the right time, and there was only one time to start it. >

Jam it back in, in the dark.