... with an incredible story and a phenomenal visual presentation. I logged in 50+ hours into that beauty. Fan-bloody-tastic.

Also, for Gamecube, definitely delve into Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.

I liked it a lot, just not the "OMG best over looked game EVER" hype from its fanboys.

It just felt like Zelda-lite. And buy that I mean you're fighting the same handful of enemy's over and over with only two weapons (staff and the one shooting disc thing) and no items, very few puzzles etc.

Enjoyable, but nothing overly special in the action RPG/adventure genre IMO. Just a solid 8/10 or so game.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. So far I have:
Okami
Dragon Quest VIII
Skies of Arcadia GC
Tales of Syphonia GC
Champions of Norrath
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
all Sly Cooper 1 and 2 (skip 3)
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2
Dark Cloud II
Xenosaga 1 2 3
La Pucelle Tactics
Phantom Brave
Manhunt
God of War II (when it's a Greatest Hits)

And I bought FFXII off a recommendation. I plan to buy 3-5 games a month (whatever $50 or so will get me... amazing what $50 gets you in last-consoles games ).

How about more 1st and 3rd person shooters? More world explorations killing characters (because Jak doesn't kill "monsters" per se, at least they don't look that monstrous). I think I got the RPG thing covered Anything like Morrowind, Fable, and Oblivion for the PS2?

I own it so that's the first game I'll play once the Action Replays get here

If you want to keep improving your weapon and such, you can play forever in Disgaea/Disgaea 2.

I can see the criticisms against weapons vareity (though I think you can count hovercraft too), but I actually enjoy the gameplay mechanics (more exploration/adventure), story (futuristic fantasy), and voice acting to Zelda.

We'll see how my opinion changes when/if I finish it, but right now I'd give it close to a 10.

May I ask where you find the time to play so many games that are SOOO long?

I just mean, these days I would love nothing more than to spend hours per day to play long games, but since time is getting more and more scarce, really long games are actually a turn-off.

I don't have that much time to play. About 5 hours a week. But if I'm going to buy a game, I want the most bang for my buck. One of these days I'll finish each game

In terms of long games, as an MMORPG FFXI tends to suck people in for months or years.

Well, there's always the Grand Theft Auto games. They're all pretty long and have a lot of exploration and shooting. They're all good, but San Andreas was my favorite.

I'm not into online games. Wireless WiFi is too expensive. One thing I did wish is that the XBOX had an external hard drive so I could use the new version of XBOX Live and purchase and download games. I'm not really a sit-down-for-hours gamer, I'm a sit-for-5-minutes-at-a-time-10-times-a-day gamer.

Gauging "bang for your buck" in terms of game length (hours) is not really a good idea, in my opinion.

Okay, so I have about the same allowance of time for videogames as you do then.

But a lot of these games mentioned in this thread are only long because they're padded with redundant mechanics that dilute the experience instead of enhancing it. I'd die a happy man if I never have to level-grind ever again. Like, Skies of Arcadia is a great game, but holy fuck on a stick, there was a random encounter almost every 3 seconds - on the Dreamcast version, anyways.
Also, when a game is really long, I end up taking longer breaks from it, and when I go back to it I end up forgetting a lot the gameplay mechanics, and I just give up because I've become too detached from it, and yet too far along to start over.

I'd much rather buy a game that moves along at a decent clip for 10-15 hours and is varied enough to be re-playable, than to sit through a 30-40 hour game that becomes redundant and boring half-way through. The 15-hour games ends up being a lot more satisfying since I actually end up finishing them, and so I actually feel like I get more "bang for my buck" with those.

It is for me personally, I'm just a button-masher I don't care what the game is, driving, golf, RPG, platformer, action, adventure, board game, music, singing, trivia, compilation, 1st/3rd person shooter... like them all. Sometimes I like to sit me and my controller down in the bean chair and just mash away.

Of course I don't buy EVERY 50+ hour games, but of those I buy, I want them to be as long as possible. I review games once I know they are long to see if they are my cup of tea. For example I'm not into MMORPGS (I think I got that right... Massive multiplayer online RPG... yep ) so no matter how long they are, I don't buy them. Wow, FFXI, etc.

Don't worry, they fixed that for the Gamecube version. Now random encounters occur only every 3.5 seconds.

-ROTFL-

Now that we got some good long games, keep the long game suggestions coming but I'd also like to request ANY-length game suggestions.

Cons:
- Stealth
- Mario/Zelda/Metroid-like skills (hit the head 3 times, then the torso 5 times, then the pinky finger 1 time to kill)
- Dying if you fall
- XBOX
- Cutscenes that last more than 3 seconds

Metal Gear Solid...

The upcoming game, Odin Sphere (for the PS2) seems kind of up your alley. Though I'm not sure how hard or easy it will be.

A new Burnout game (Dominator) just came out for the PS2, and they seemed to have simplified it from previous instalments, but kept in everything that makes the game great - the Burnout series have always had loads of long-ass gameplay in them - very replayable.

GTA:San Andreas is perfect for this - HUGE, long, varied, and you can save at any of your "homes" at anytime between missions, which don't take too long to complete.