This is a list of video games with the longest scripts, referring to the amount of text/dialogue contained in a game.
This list uses three methods to determine the length of a game's script:
- Line count - The number of lines of dialogue used.
- English word count - The number of English words used. For originally Japanese games, this refers to the length of the English translated script.
- Japanese character count - The number of Japanese characters used. On average, one English word is roughly equivalent to around three Japanese characters, though it can vary depending on the game.[1] The Japanese character count here is measured in kilobytes (KB, equivalent to 1024 bytes), due to Japanese characters varying in size from one to two bytes each.
The majority of games on this list mostly fall under the Visual Novel (VN) and RPG genres, due to their greater emphasis on storytelling and dialogues than other genres.
Overview
The length of video game scripts can vary, from early video games which often had hardly any dialogue at all, to feature-length scripts found in modern action video games with similar amounts of dialogues to movies (average 5,000-10,000 words), to longer RPGs with similar amounts of text as novels (average 50,000-100,000 words) to visual novel (VN) games which contain even more text and dialogues than most novels (some VN games have more text/dialogues than even the longest novels).
The amount of dialogues found in RPG and VN games is largely due to the longer length (compared to films) as well as the interactivity (compared to both films and novels); this allows many of these games to include interactive elements such as non-linear branching plots, multiple endings, and hidden/optional dialogues, which often require more writing/dialogues than the linear plots found in films or novels.
Comparison
English word counts for popular epic literature:[2]
- Mahabharata - 1.8 million words
- Worm - 1.68 million words
- Homestuck - 1.36 million words (adjusted)
- One Thousand and One Nights - 1.2 million words
- Bible - 1 million words
- Harry Potter series (7 books) - 1 million words
- Twilight series (4 books) - 591,434 words
- War and Peace - 561,304 words
- The Lord of the Rings series (4 books) - 550,147 words
- The Lord of the Rings trilogy (3 books) - 455,125 words
- Ramayana - 500,000 words
- Dune - 185,723 words
- Iliad - 147,317 words
- The Silmarillion - 130,115 words [3]
- Odyssey - 129,443 words
Video games
Note: Only add games with 50K words at least.
| Game title | Genre | Lines (thousands) |
English words (thousands) |
Japanese characters (KB)[4][5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rance X: Showdown | Strategy RPG / Tactical RPG | 11479 | ||
| Sengoku † Koihime X ~Otome Kenran ☆ Sengoku Emaki~ | Visual novel, Eroge | 9869 | ||
| France Shoujo ~Une fille blanche~ | Visual Novel | 144 | 5650 | |
| W. L. O. Sekai Renai Kikō | Visual Novel | 148 | 4570 | |
| Hello, world | Visual Novel | 85 | 4570 | |
| Sakura, Moyu. -As the Night's, Reincarnation- | Visual Novel | 4460 | ||
| We Without Wings | Visual Novel | 59 | 4330 | |
| Little Busters! Ecstasy | Visual Novel | 110 | 1300 | 4200 |
| The Legend of Heroes VII: Ao no Kiseki [6] | RPG | 4200 | ||
| Rumbling Hearts: Latest Edition | Visual Novel | 106 | 4150 | |
| Clannad | Visual Novel | 101 | 1300 | 4010 |
| YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World | Visual Novel | 99 | 1300 | 4000 |
| The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III [7] | RPG | 1111 | ||
| Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn | RPG | 57 | 1060 | |
| Fate/stay night | Visual Novel | 95 | 1000 | 3950 |
| The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel [6] | RPG | 3890 | ||
| To Heart 2: XRATED | Visual Novel | 3830 | ||
| The Fruit of Grisaia | Visual Novel | 67 | 1000 | 3820 |
| Rewrite | Visual Novel | 109 | 775 | 3650 |
| The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II [6] | RPG | 3640 | ||
| Steel | Visual Novel | 113 | 3560 | |
| The Legend of Heroes VII: Zero no Kiseki [6] | RPG | 3500 | ||
| Little Busters! Memorial Edition | Visual Novel | 105 | 3450 | |
| Planescape: Torment | RPG | 75 | 950 | |
| White Album 2 ~closing chapter~ | Visual Novel | 61 | 3410 | |
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai | Visual Novel | 45 | 3380 | |
| Umineko: When They Cry | Visual Novel | 40 | 950 | 2820 |
| Tsukihime | Visual Novel | 66 | 750 | 3170 |
| Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai! | Visual Novel | 86 | 3100 | |
| Dragon Age: Origins | RPG | 68 | 740 | |
| Icewind Dale II | RPG | 63 | 730 | |
| The Legend of Heroes VI: Trails in the Sky - Second Chapter [8][6] | RPG | 716 | 3100 | |
| The Legend of Heroes VI: Trails in the Sky [6] | RPG | 2910 | ||
| Little Busters! | Visual Novel | 75 | 2850 | |
| Muv-Luv Alternative | Visual Novel | 54 | 2800 | |
| Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru | Visual Novel | 40 | 2620 | |
| Muv-Luv | Visual Novel | 64 | 2550 | |
| Baldr Sky: Dive 2 "Recordare" | Visual Novel | 48 | 2470 | |
| To Heart 2: Another Days | Visual Novel | 2470 | ||
| Deus Machina Demonbane | Visual Novel | 2410 | ||
| Fate/hollow ataraxia | Visual Novel | 44 | 2300 | |
| Baldr Sky: Dive1 "Lost Memory" | Visual Novel | 44 | 2260 | |
| Higurashi: When They Cry | Visual Novel | 35 | 730 | 2270 |
| The Legend of Heroes VI: Trails in the Sky the 3rd [6] | RPG | 2180 | ||
| Chaos;Head Noah | Visual Novel | 32 | 2170 | |
| Baldr Force EXE | Visual Novel | 27 | 2040 | |
| Tokyo Xanadu [6] | Action RPG | 2010 | ||
| To Heart PSE | Visual Novel | 1850 | ||
| Steins;Gate | Visual Novel | 39 | 620 | 1830 |
| Chaos;Head | Visual Novel | 25 | 610 | 1800 |
| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic | RPG | 15 | 600 | |
| Katawa Shoujo | Visual Novel | 33 | 490 | |
| Mass Effect 2 | RPS | 25 | 450 | |
| Baldur's Gate | RPG | 23 | 434 | |
| Mass Effect 3 | RPS | 40 | 430 | |
| Ever 17: The Out of Infinity | Visual Novel | 25 | 420 | 1910 |
| Air | Visual Novel | 50 | 1740 | |
| White Album 2 | Visual Novel | 1660 | ||
| To Heart | Visual Novel | 1600 | ||
| Kanon | Visual Novel | 39 | 1540 | |
| Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shōjo | Visual Novel | 40 | 400 | 1570 |
| Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots | Stealth Action TPS | 33 | 400 | |
| Sharin no Kuni, Yūkyū no Shōnenshōjo | Visual Novel | 30 | 1120 | |
| Phantom of Inferno | Visual Novel | 1100 | ||
| Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life | Visual Novel | 30 | 400 | 790 |
| Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty | Stealth Action | 32 | 380 | |
| Metal Gear Solid | Stealth Action | 31 | 370 | |
| Fable II | Action RPG | 370 | ||
| Final Fantasy VII [9] | RPG | 96 | 344 | 1600 |
| Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable | RPG / Visual Novel | 340 | ||
| Shenmue | Sandbox Adventure | 42 | 330 | |
| Tales of Vesperia | Action RPG | 27 | 310 | |
| Xenogears | RPG | 300 | ||
| Cross Channel | Visual Novel | 42 | 300 | 1360 |
| Kagetsu Tohya | Visual Novel | 22 | 1150 | |
| Kara no Shōjo | Visual Novel | 25 | 1040 | |
| Nayuta no Kiseki | Action RPG | 820 | ||
| Kana: Little Sister | Visual Novel | 700 | ||
| Mass Effect | RPS | 20 | 300 | |
| Game of Thrones | Action RPG | 270 | ||
| Driver: San Francisco | Racing / Action-Adventure | 270 | ||
| Dragon Quest VII | RPG | 70 | 264 | |
| Sakura Taisen 3 ~Pari wa Moeteiru ka~ | Tactical RPG / Visual Novel | 260 | ||
| 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors | Visual Novel / Adventure | 37 | 250 | |
| Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney 4 | Visual Novel / Adventure | 240 | ||
| Sakura Taisen 2 ~Kimi, Shinitamou koto Nakare~ | Tactical RPG / Visual Novel | 220 | ||
| Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney | Visual Novel / Adventure | 80 | 210 | |
| Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 3 - Trials and Tribulations | Visual Novel / Adventure | 74 | 200 | |
| Neverwinter Nights | RPG | 200 | ||
| Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide | RPG | 200 | ||
| Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark | RPG | 200 | ||
| Deus Ex: The Nameless Mod | RPS | 13 | 200 | |
| Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 | RPG | 44 | 190 | |
| Deus Ex: Human Revolution | RPS | 18 | 190 | |
| Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal | RPG | 10 | 188 | |
| Chrono Cross | RPG | 180 | ||
| Lunar 2: Eternal Blue | RPG | 44 | 180 | |
| The Legend of Sword and Fairy | RPG | 170 | ||
| Final Fantasy IX | RPG | 38 | 170 | |
| Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra | RPG | 160 | ||
| Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 2 - Justice for All | Visual Novel / Adventure | 86 | 160 | |
| The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword | Action-Adventure | 160 | ||
| Final Fantasy VIII | RPG | 20 | 150 | |
| Final Fantasy XII | RPG / Action RPG | 21 | 150 | 600 |
| Xenon: Mugen no Shitai | Visual Novel / Adventure | 21 | 540 | |
| Deus Ex | RPS | 147 | ||
| Chrono Trigger DS | RPG | 140 | ||
| Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together | SRPG / Tactical RPG | 130 | 700 | |
| Final Fantasy XIII | RPG / Tactical RPG | 18 | 130 | |
| The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess | Action-Adventure | 130 | ||
| Dark Souls | Action RPG | 130 | ||
| Grand Theft Auto IV | Sandbox TPS | 80 | 130 | |
| Dishonored | Stealth Action | 130 | ||
| Final Fantasy X | RPG | 22 | 120 | |
| Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater | Stealth Action | 15 | 120 | |
| Snatcher | Adventure / Visual Novel | 24 | 110 | 530 |
| Star Ocean: The Second Story | Action RPG | 110 | ||
| Final Fantasy XIII-2 | RPG / Tactical RPG | 18 | 110 | |
| The World Ends With You | Action RPG | 110 | ||
| Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings | Tactical RPG / RTS | 23 | 105 | |
| Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time | Action RPG | 100 | ||
| Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker | Stealth Action | 21 | 99 | |
| White Album 2 ~introductory chapter~ | Visual Novel | 11 | 520 | |
| Metal Slader Glory | Adventure / Visual Novel | 17 | 510 | |
| Kishin Hishou Demonbane | Visual Novel | 450 | ||
| Assassin's Creed II | Stealth Action | 12 | ||
| Fallout 4 | RPS | 111 | ||
| Fallout: New Vegas | RPS | 65 | ||
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | Action RPG | 47 | ||
| Hitman: Absolution | Stealth Action | 45 | ||
| Fallout 3 | RPS | 40 | ||
| Halo 3 | FPS | 30 | ||
| The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | Action RPG | 30 | ||
| Clannad: The Past Path | Visual Novel | 16 | 98 | |
| Star Ocean | Action RPG | 95 | ||
| Kingdom Hearts II | Action RPG | 20 | 94 | |
| Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose | RPG | 90 | ||
| Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht | RPG | 90 | ||
| Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki | Visual Novel / RPG | 90 | ||
| Neverwinter Nights 2: The Wizard's Apprentice - Chapter II | RPG | 90 | ||
| Final Fantasy Tactics Advance | SRPG / Tactical RPG | 19 | 88 | |
| Breath of Fire III | RPG | 86 | ||
| Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete | RPG | 21 | 85 | |
| Sakura Wars V: So Long, My Love | Tactical RPG / Visual Novel | 84 | ||
| Grandia | RPG / Tactical RPG | 80 | ||
| Eternal Sonata | RPG / Action RPG | 80 | ||
| The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass | Action-Adventure | 8 | 80 | |
| Final Fantasy Tactics | SRPG / Tactical RPG | 13 | 76 | |
| Mother 2: Earthbound | RPG | 72 | ||
| Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift | SRPG / Tactical RPG | 13 | 72 | |
| Grandia II | RPG / Tactical RPG | 70 | ||
| Shadow Hearts II: Covenant | RPG | 16 | 70 | |
| Sakura Wars | Tactical RPG / Visual Novel | 70 | ||
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei | Visual Novel | 5 | 330 | |
| Umineko no Naku Koro ni Tsubasa | Visual Novel | 5 | 280 | |
| Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast | RPG | 4 | 75 | |
| A Blurred Line | RPG | 70 | ||
| Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City | Sandbox TPS | 70 | ||
| Final Fantasy IV: The After Years | RPG | 17 | 69 | |
| The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask | Action-Adventure | 68 | ||
| Shadow Hearts | RPG | 11 | 64 | |
| Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days | Action RPG | 13 | 64 | |
| Valkyrie Profile | RPG | 62 | ||
| Sakura Taisen 4 ~Koi Seyo, Otome~ | Tactical RPG / Visual Novel | 60 | ||
| Chrono Trigger | RPG | 8 | 60 | |
| Analogue: A Hate Story | Visual Novel | 59 | ||
| Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep | Action RPG | 12 | 55 | |
| The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures | Action-Adventure | 51 | ||
| Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride | RPG | 50 | ||
| Xenosaga: A Missing Year | Visual Novel | 50 | ||
| Shin Koihime † Musou | Visual Novel | 108 |
Video game series/compilations
| Game series/compilation | Lines (thousands) |
English words (thousands) |
Japanese characters (KB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| When They Cry (series) | 170 | 11700 | |
| Nasuverse (Tsukihime & Fate/stay night universe) | 205 | 11140 | |
| The Legend of Heroes VII | 8000 | ||
| Baldr Force & Baldr Sky | 119 | 6770 | |
| The Legend of Heroes VI: Trails in the Sky | 6500 | ||
| Fate (series) | 139 | 6250 | |
| Final Fantasy (franchise) (excluding XI) | 2280 | ||
| Muv-Luv | 119 | 5350 | |
| Baldur's Gate (series) | 98 | 1857 | |
| Higurashi: When They Cry | 85 | 5980 | |
| Umineko: When They Cry | 85 | 5720 | |
| White Album (series) | 5590 | ||
| Tsukihime & Kagetsu Tohya | 88 | 4890 | |
| Clannad & Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life | 135 | 1690 | 4790 |
| Baldur's Gate: 4-in-1 Box Set | 94 | 1680 | |
| Metal Gear Solid (series) | 144 | 1440 | |
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni & Kai | 80 | 1400 | 5650 |
| Baldr Sky | 92 | 4730 | |
| Chaos;Head & Steins;Gate universe | 71 | 4000 | |
| White Album 2 | 72 | 3930 | |
| Baldur's Gate II: The Collection | 67 | 1248 | |
| Mass Effect Trilogy | 85 | 1170 | |
| Icewind Dale: The Ultimate Collection | 100 | 1161 | |
| Metal Gear Solid HD Collection | 85 | 900 | |
| Compilation of Final Fantasy VII | 820 | ||
| Ace Attorney (series) | 810 | ||
| Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shōjo | 70 | 2690 | |
| Xenogears (series) & Xenosaga (series) | 730 | ||
| Sakura Wars (series) | 700 | ||
| Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition | 31 | 660 | |
| Sakura Taisen: Premium Edition | 610 | ||
| Neverwinter Nights & Expansions | 60 | 600 | |
| Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright Trilogy | 570 | ||
| Final Fantasy: Ivalice Alliance | 89 | 510 | |
| Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga | 27 | 509 | |
| Icewind Dale & Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter | 37 | 431 | |
| Xenosaga (series) | 430 | ||
| Chrono (series) | 410 | ||
| Kingdom Hearts | 73 | 360 | |
| Touhou Project (Windows Main Series + Spin-offs + Fighters) | 51 | 342 | |
| Xenosaga (series) | 340 | ||
| Star Ocean (series) | 310 | ||
| Sakura Taisen 1 & 2 | 290 | ||
| Lunar 1 & 2 | 65 | 270 | |
| Final Fantasy XIII & XIII-2 | 36 | 240 | |
| Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition | 200 | ||
| Shadow Hearts (series) | 33 | 165 | |
| Final Fantasy X & X-2: Collector's Edition | 35 | 160 | |
| Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence | 22 | 150 | |
| Mother/Earthbound Trilogy | 133 | ||
| The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition | 115 | ||
| Final Fantasy Anthology | 23 | 110 | |
| Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection | 23 | 100 | |
| Phantasy Star: Original (series) | 96 | ||
| The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Limited Edition) | 89 | ||
| Final Fantasy Chronicles | 14 | 85 | |
| Final Fantasy Anthology | 17 | 76 | |
| Resident Evil: Original Trilogy | 72 | ||
| Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy | 62 | ||
| Final Fantasy: Original Trilogy | 48 | ||
| Dragon Warrior: Erdrick Trilogy | 35 | ||
| Resident Evil HD Collection | 27 | ||
| Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls | 5.5 | 27 | |
| The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords | 15 | ||
| Dragon Quest | 15 |
See also
- List of video games with multiple endings
- List of largest game worlds
- List of best-selling video games
- List of video game franchises
References
- ↑ http://www.futureimplications.com/ratios/ratios.htm
- ↑ http://www.betterstorytelling.net/thebasics/storylength.html
- ↑ http://lotrproject.com/statistics/books/wordscount
- ↑ Visual Novel script sizes at VN Translations
- ↑ Visual Novel Text Sizes
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 List of script sizes, Kiseki Wiki
- ↑ https://www.siliconera.com/the-legend-of-heroes-trails-of-cold-steel-iii-script-is-2-4x-larger-than-the-witcher-iiis/
- ↑ Schreier, Jason. The Curse of Kiseki: How One Of Japan's Biggest RPGs Barely Made It To America. Kotaku.
- ↑ FF7Tools V1.3
