Ive played Geneforge 1 and completed it in no time whatsoever. Are the rest of the games too long or same as the 1st. I read somewhere that Geneforge 2-5 are 60 hours long each. That's too long for me. I can handle 30-40 hours but 60 is a bit too much no matter what the game is.

That actually depends on your playing style. I think it took me ~40 hours to beat Geneforge 2. But if you are a perfectionist you can easily spend much more than that. If you, however, want to accomplish the main goal only you can do it faster too!

I skipped many side quests and didn't explore particularly dangerous places. I decide to join Awakened quite early and tried to help them reach their goals as much as I could so some people didn't even want to talk with me. Instead of lengthy dialogs I got nice action ;)

Changing the difficulty settings matters a lot. You won't have to retreat every second fight to heal yourself if you play on easy. I'm not ashamed to admit that I do play on easy - fights are just average in Geneforge so I would get bored with them if they were very long and difficult. I really like the story and a fact that every single (even the smallest!) decision you make will bare its consequences. I want to savor those moments. Grinding countless and repetitive enemies is not for me...

There's nothing wrong with playing easy, especially since Geneforge is that way. I played on easy first time it was brutal. I got to find it out and I just completed on normal. People that jack the difficulty up high are only hurting themselves. People that play on easy not only are making the game easier to follow the story, but save everyone else by less questions/reloads to ask on forums.

Kudos!

My view on difficulty levels is: have fun.

I play everything on normal/medium but if I keep getting killed and the game is no longer fun then I will throw it on easy. Game are supposed to be fun - bottom line. If you aren't having fun and enjoying yourself then what's the point? Find the sweet spot and dig in!

I agree wholeheartedly. Fallout, Arcanum, the Spiderweb games, I love turn-based rpgs. But if constantly getting killed is getting in the way of my enjoyment of the story, I have no problem taking it down a notch (even if that new notch is "Easy").

Like has been said, it depends on your play style and just how much time you really want to invest in the world, story, and flavor. To me the more in a game (as long as the content is good, of course) the richer it makes the whole experience. If you've spent 40 hours on a game and enjoyed in immensely, what about going longer is not enjoyable, if the game carries on with good stories and gameplay and whatever else you've enjoyed up to that 40 hr. point? It's not like you have to finish it within a certain time frame. Personally, I'd rather spend 100 hrs on a great RPG doing every side quest (I'm a completionist anyway, this is how I do all games) than on four good-decent games that are only 30 hours each max content. The experience has the potential to be that much more enriched.

I agree, but the problem is when the early hours are fun but later hours lead to boredom. This can happen for some really long games, and many players (like me) are too stubborn to simply stop playing when they get bored. So sometimes it's nice to have an estimate of the length. Also, sometimes players are in the mood for a certain length experience, either looking for something quick to fill a bit of time or ready for a real long haul of a game. Knowing the approximate length ahead of time can therefore help players decide whether they want to play the game now, or wait until later to play it.

Fortunately, I never found myself bored with the Geneforge games, so the first concern is likely moot. Unfortunately, I am terrible at estimating how long it took me to play a game in hours, so I can't really help respond to the second concern.