History Main / ArcFatigue

** '''[[Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries Galar/Journeys]]''': 136 Episodes. In a rather interesting twist, ''Pokémon Journeys: The Series'' manages to avert this trope. Ash and Goh never stay in one place for very long, as the series takes place all over the world rather than staying in Galar getting the eight badges. Instead, each major battle that isn't against Team Rocket ''is'' part of the tournament arc. The World Coronation Series takes the place of a Wyndon Conference, with many trainers around the world taking part. The show has done a great job at keeping the pace up. In the west, where it [[ChannelHop moved exclusively to streaming on Netflix]], the latest dubs all release at once in parts, preventing any backlash about waiting for the plot to move on. The final tournament battles take 14 episodes cumulatively to complete, but in a change from previous series, it is bridged by episodes [[ADayInTheLimelight focusing on Goh and Chloe]] that aren't counted towards the tournament arc. Even after the tournament arc ended, it is quick to resolve the other characters' myth arcs in 3 episodes. It remains to be seen how the next series in [[VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet Paldea]] will fare, but the community has been giving praise to ''Journeys'' as one of the best series yet for the anime.

* While the art and storytelling of ''Franchise/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has significantly improved following the manga's shift from ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' to ''[[{{Seinen}} Ultra Jump]]'', many can agree that it came at the cost of significantly dragging out the pace of it, due to ''Ultra Jump'' updating monthly instead of weekly. Case in point, the first ''seinen''-oriented arc, ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'', took seven years, two months, and 17 days to tell its story, compared to previous parts only taking two or three years[[note]]For the sake of reference, the longest installment before this was ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]]'' at three years and seven months, only a little over half the length of ''SBR''[[/note]], and many readers lamented the fact that ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolion JoJolion]]'' was in print for ''nearly a decade'' before it finally settled on who its BigBad was.

** Ash is no closer to [[ToBeAMaster being a Pokémon Master]] than he was back during the first season, despite [[NotAllowedToGrowUp still being 10 years old]]; some say that he looks ''younger'' than [[LongRunners when he started]]. It doesn't help that with each new series, he hits a ResetButton on his team and his Pikachu's strength tends to fluctuate until later in that series. [[spoiler:It isn't until ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon'' where Ash finally sheds the label of "[[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut perennial choker]]" with a long-awaited Pokémon League Conference win in October 2019, becoming the Alola Champion in the process -- '''''22 years''''' after the show started.]]
** [[spoiler:After 25 real-life years, Ash's adventures finally come to a head in ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries''. He becomes recognized as one of the eight strongest Trainers in the world within the World Coronation Series, and ultimately ends up ''beating the undefeated Monarch Leon in the finals'', dethroning him and taking the title of Monarch for himself, thus now officially being recognized as [[WorldsBestWarrior the strongest Trainer in the world]]. If he isn't a Pokémon Master yet, he is still ''extremely'' close.]]

** The mystery behind [[FemmeFatale Ada Wong]] of the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series has dragged on [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 for]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 multiple]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 games]] and [[Anime/ResidentEvilDamnation a feature film]] (spanning over 10 years of in-story time) with not a single question answered about who she really works for, what her true goals are, or even what her real name is. Beyond a few PetTheDog moments and [[DatingCatwoman her fondness for Leon]], she's also received very little character development in as much time, making it difficult for a lot of fans to get attached to her or really care about learning her real story -- which, again, Capcom seems to have no interest in telling. Making it worse is that [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake the]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4Remake remakes]] of ''2'' and ''4'' heavily downplay her seductive FemmeFatale qualities, taking away what little charm and likability she originally had and making it ''that'' much harder for fans to care about Ada or understand Leon's attraction to her.

[[quoteright:297:[[WebComic/ElGoonishShive https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arcfatigue.png]]]]

* ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty'' treads into this territory. You have two or three chapters with the plot moving ahead, albeit not very fast, and then four to six of {{filler}} that can range from "pretty funny" to "[[BizarroEpisode What the hell did I just read]]." Add to that it's a monthly manga and the fact [[TheChrisCarterEffect it's taking forever to get answers]].

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': Ash is no closer to [[ToBeAMaster being a Pokémon Master]] than he was back during the first season, despite [[NotAllowedToGrowUp still being 10 years old]]; some say that he looks ''younger'' than when he started. It doesn't help that with each new series, he hits a ResetButton on his team and his Pikachu's strength tends to fluctuate until later in that series. [[spoiler:It isn't until ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon'' where Ash finally sheds the label of "[[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut perennial choker]]" with a long-awaited Pokémon League Conference win in October 2019, becoming the Alola Champion in the process -- '''''22 years''''' after the show started.]]
** [[spoiler:After 25 real-life years, Ash's adventures finally come to a head in ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries''. He becomes recognized as one of the eight strongest Trainers in the world within the World Coronation Series, and ultimately ends up ''beating the undefeated Monarch Leon in the finals'', dethroning him and taking the title of Monarch for himself, thus now officially being recognized as [[WorldsBestWarrior the strongest trainer in the world]]. If he isn't a Pokémon Master yet, he is still ''extremely'' close.]]

** The mystery behind [[FemmeFatale Ada Wong]] of the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series has dragged on [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 for]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 multiple]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 games]] and [[Anime/ResidentEvilDamnation a feature film]] (spanning over 10 years of in-story time) with not a single question answered about who she really works for, what her true goals are, or even what her real name is. Beyond a few PetTheDog moments and [[DatingCatwoman her fondness for Leon]], she's also received very little character development in as much time, making it difficult for a lot of fans to get attached to her or really care about learning her real story -- which, again, Capcom seems to have no interest in telling. Making it worse is that the remakes of 2 and 4 heavily downplay her seductive FemmeFatale qualities, taking away what little charm and likability she originally had and making it ''that'' much harder for fans to care about Ada or understand Leon's attraction to her.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' fell into this for some fans with Volume 4, due to how much time was needed to tell each of the main heroines' stories and do some needed CharacterDevelopment and world-building. However, [[FourLinesAllWaiting because the stories were all told simultaneously, it took the entire season to tell each of them]]. This continued into Volume 5 as it took the entire season to finally get the main heroines back together, which only happens in the final few minutes of the final episode.

** The mystery behind [[FemmeFatale Ada Wong]] of the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series has dragged on [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 for]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 multiple]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 games]] and [[Anime/ResidentEvilDamnation a feature film]] (spanning over 10 years of in-story time) with not a single question answered about who she really works for, what her true goals are, or even what her real name is. Beyond a few PetTheDog moments and [[DatingCatwoman her fondness for Leon]], she's also received very little character development in as much time, making it difficult for a lot of fans to get attached to her or really care about learning her real story -- which, again, Capcom seems to have no interest in telling.

** '''[[Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries Galar/Journeys]]''': 136 Episodes. In a rather interesting twist, ''Pokémon Journeys: The Series'' manages to avert this trope. Ash and Goh never stay in one place for very long, as the series takes place all over the world rather than staying in Galar getting the eight badges. Instead, each major battle that isn't against Team Rocket ''is'' part of the tournament arc. The World Coronation Series takes the place of a Wyndon Conference, with many trainers around the world taking part. The show has done a great job at keeping the pace up. In the west, where it [[ChannelHop moved exclusively to streaming on Netflix]], the latest dubs all release at once in parts, preventing any backlash about waiting for the plot to move on. The eventual final tournament battles takes 14 episodes, but in a change from previous episodes, it is bridged by episodes focusing on Goh and Chloe. Even after the tournament arc ended, it is quick to resolve Goh's character arc in only 3 episodes. It remains to be seen how the next series in [[VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet Paldea]] will fare, but the community has been giving praise to ''Journeys'' as one of the best series yet for the anime.

** '''[[Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries Galar/Journeys]]''': In a rather interesting twist, ''Pokémon Journeys: The Series'' is for the most part, averting this trope. Ash and Goh never stay in one place for very long, as the series takes place all over the world rather than staying in Galar getting the eight badges. Instead, each major battle that isn't against Team Rocket ''is'' part of the tournament arc. The World Coronation Series takes the place of a Wyndon Conference, with many trainers around the world taking part. The show so far has done a great job at keeping the pace up. In the west, where it [[ChannelHop moved exclusively to streaming on Netflix]], the latest dubs all release at once in parts, preventing any backlash about waiting for the plot to move on.

** The main romance between Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir has been incredibly slow to progress, not helped by the {{Flanderization}} of Marinette. As of its fifth season, the show has had THREE WhatIf episodes but has never allowed the two's relationship to progress in the 100+ episodes aired in that timespan. This led many to either [[AbandonShipping drop the duo]] or outright drop the series.

** The Arrancar Arc spanned Chapters 183-423, four publication years and an additional four anime years. Creator/TiteKubo had never intended it to be so long but ExecutiveMeddling insisted on the unexpectedly popular Arrancar each receiving ADayInTheLimelight. The arc slowed down to a crawl as even minion fights were given lavish screen time. The arc spawned the meme "Are they still in [[{{Spexico}} Mexico]]?" and the anime often interrupted the canon storyline in mid-action to insert {{filler}} arcs whenever it caught up to the manga.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': Ash is no closer to [[ToBeAMaster being a Pokémon Master]] than he was back during the first season, despite [[NotAllowedToGrowUp still being 10 years old]]; some say that he looks ''younger'' than when he started. It doesn't help that with each new series, he hits a ResetButton on his team and his Pikachu's strength tends to fluctuate until later in that series. [[spoiler:It isn't until ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon'' where Ash finally sheds the label of "[[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut perennial choker]]" with a long-awaited Pokémon League Conference win in October 2019, becoming the Alola Champion in the process -- '''''22 years''''' after the show started. In ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries'', he is the closest he's ever been to his goal, being recognized as one of the eight strongest Trainers in the world within the World Coronation Series.]]

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': The Internship Arc's total size is slightly more than twice the size of the previous longest arc, for a total of 46 chapters, the arc dragged on through an entire year, which is to say a lot in a manga with very short and to-the-point arcs. Adopting the "flashback in the middle of fights" trope that this manga mostly avoids certainly made the fights longer than what's usual for the manga (some of which were chapters long). The author himself admitted near the end of the arc that it was too long and many fans were vocal that the arc, while good, overstayed its welcome.

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
* InUniverse in ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'', sort of. The ''Letters Page'' reveals that the [=OblivAeon=] CrisisCrossover comes right on the heels of the already-lengthy and complicated Skinwalker Gloomweaver event.

* ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' runs into this during the last portion of the game - essentially, it's you having to refight the crystal bosses (with the option of fighting the Job Holders) again and again, with very little story in between. Many consider it the most boring part of the game, as the normally fun and energizing boss fights feel like a chore. Up until the last "cycle", that is, when all of the job holders start teaming up in unique themed groups and some story actually begins to wrap up.

** The most prominent case is the "Seventh Astral Era" quest chain, AKA the quests added after the original release of ''A Realm Reborn'' but before its first expansion ''Heavensward'', especially once the latter was released. Many complained about the need to actually reach the expansion content to play as its new classes for the primary reason that after the almost two-hundred quests of ''A Realm Reborn'', the Seventh Astral Era stretches on for ''another'' hundred -- every future expansion content cycle ended up with half as many main scenario quests as ''ARR'' and its patches did. Patch 5.3 streamlined the Seventh Astral Era to make it more approachable for new players, but it ''still'' goes on for a while - it was reduced from a hundred quests to eighty, but in practice is still ''ninety-one'' quests, because not only did it do nothing about the wholly-unnecessary requirement to complete three hard-mode versions of Primals you fought in the 2.0 story as a prerequisite to start the quests added in Patch 2.5, it also added a requirement to complete almost all of the Crystal Tower questline (including all three of its 24-man raids) before you can start one of the last quests of the chain, because of the Tower's relevance to ''Shadowbringers''.

** Phase 4 was quickly hit with this. After the release of ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' in Summer 2022, quite a few people began to complain about how aimless and meandering the next saga of the MCU was starting to feel, with no clear plot emerging beyond some extremely vague, confusing, and sometimes seemingly conflicting [[TheMultiverse multiverse]] stuff after nearly 70 hours of total runtime between the movies and [[Creator/DisneyPlus shows]] that made up Phase 4 up to that point. This wasn't helped by how Phase 4 is collectively longer than the previous three Phases ''combined'' and [[ContinuityLockout even heavier on continuity]] -- in order to keep up with everything would viewers need to have not only watched the previous 23 films prior to Phase 4, but also the various TV shows on Netflix and ABC (''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', ''Series/Daredevil2015'', etc.), and even past Marvel properties that weren't part of the MCU like the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' and the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy''.

*** Namek also had a limited cast of characters stuck on planet Namek, a world where the sky, water and grass/trees are all green with [[SingleBiomePlanet nothing but ocean archipelagos]], topped off with an eternal daytime due to multiple suns. It's also very underdeveloped: the local population is low and occupy about seven tiny villages across the entirity of the planet, and almost all of them are wiped out by the time the heroes even arrive (there's a total of three living Namekians for most of the story, none of whom do very much). It says a lot that the planet [[EarthShatteringKaboom starting to fall apart]] is one of the most interesting things that happens simply because the weather was different. By contrast the following storylines, Androids and Buu, were set on Earth, about the most diverse location imaginable.

** '''Kanto''' was only around 80 episodes depending on the inclusion/disregard of a couple banned episodes. However, it had one particularly long gap that occurred between the sixth and seventh gym badges at 27 episodes (29 if you count [[Recap/PokemonHolidayHiJynx "Holiday Hi-Jynx"]] and [[Recap/PokemonSnowWayOut "Snow Way Out"]]). There were also about 10 episodes of {{Filler}} after the eighth badge, which amounted to Ash basically sitting at home waiting for the Kanto League to start. It was around this time that Japan had realized that they had an anime hit on their hand, so they had to extend the series in some way before the release of [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver the Johto games]]. (Hence, the 36-episode-long '''Orange Islands''' which served as a substitute for an Elite Four arc.)
** '''Johto''': 158 episodes. Compounded by the fact that there was only one main quest ([[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Contests]] and the like would not be introduced until the next season). Some contend that the Whirl Islands {{Tournament|Arc}} and [[TheCameo Special Guest]] arcs could've been removed, but that would have had the tied-for-fourth longest gap between badges (27 episodes) succeeded by what would have been the ''shortest'' gap (1 episode, usurping Kanto's [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Boulder-Cascade's and Marsh-Rainbow]] gaps of ''2'').[[note]]The Whirl Islands arc, in total, lasted only 14 episodes, 15 if you count the battle with Jasmine.[[/note]]
** '''Hoenn''': 132 episodes. It was made less bad by [[TwoLinesNoWaiting the addition of Contests]], though a case can be made for the Petalburg-Rustboro and Dewford Island arcs, which [[SlowPacedBeginning were early on]] and paced slowly. The Team Aqua and Team Magma arcs suffered the reverse of this, as many felt they could have had more focus and buildup than they got, and the conclusion to their arc was seen as [[AntiClimax rushed]].
** '''Battle Frontier''': 60 episodes. Inverted in that most of the filler was in the beginning, leading to a faster pace with the rest of the arc.
** '''Sinnoh''': 191 episodes. As much as the above two-part saga in total. It also holds the record for both the longest and second-longest gaps between Gym Battles, with 31 episodes between Gardenia and Maylene and '''52''' episodes between Candice and Volkner.[[note]]Kanto actually has the third longest at 28 between Koga and Blaine.[[/note]] Granted, these gaps developed the buildup and resolution, respectively, of ''both'' the Contest and Team Galactic arcs, and further justified by the distance between those two Gyms, but that still meant that [[MythArc the main quest]] was demoted to '''[[ThirdLineSomeWaiting C-Plot]]''' status ''twice''.
** The '''Unova''' series averts this trope with its fast pace, but that results in the 142-episode saga suffering from [[EndingFatigue a different trope]]. Ash got all 8 of his badges in 84 episodes, though the gap between #3 and #4 was pretty long (27 episodes, T-4th). After the various filler and padding arcs,[[labelnote:Details]]In sequence: the {{mandat|oryLine}}ed [[TheBusCameBack reappearance by Sinnoh's female companion]], a few episodes with a [[TheDitz ditzy]] version of Ash (as opposed to the idealized and mature version) getting ''his'' 8th Badge, a short arc with Meloetta where [[BigBad Giovanni]] gives up his [[TheUnfought Unfought]] status, a pair of [[BreatherEpisode certified fillers]], and a two-parter with Iris and Drayden,[[/labelnote]] there was the stock-standard TournamentArc with a stock-standard length of 7 episodes[[note]]including the introduction to the eventual champion and the Axew-centered BreatherEpisode[[/note]] which was more [[BrokenBase contentious]] for its results than its pacing. This was followed by a 14-episode arc revolving around N and Team Plasma which [[BrokenBase people are heavily divided on]]. The quick pace ultimately resulted in the last 5 months prior to the release of [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY the Gen VI games]] having an Orange Islands/Battle Frontier-style round of pure, aimless island-hopping filler, only ''without'' a pseudo-tournament like those arcs had. The subsequent ratings drop [[SeasonalRot show the extent of the wear and tear]].
** '''Kalos:''' 140 Episodes. The next chapter of the series started off on a rough note with the drop in ratings that occurred during ''BW''[='s=] Decolore Islands arc. Its first season was subject to {{Filler}} and {{Padding}} after the first ten episodes. Serena was virtually pointless until ''finally'' discovering a goal for herself around 40 episodes in, and the Kalos gang was forced to take part in a [[{{Sidequest}} side-journey]] with a GuestStarPartyMember in Korrina for several episodes that hardly anyone got invested in due to there being no payoff in the end for helping her complete her quest to properly use a Lucarionite. It took until Ash got his '''seventh''' gym badge before Team Flare even appeared. At this point, the plot picked up momentum, especially when Ash's Greninja obtained [[SuperMode an exclusive form]].
** '''Alola''': Coming off the high from the ''XY&Z'' saga, the plot changed drastically from one where Ash travels from Gym to Gym to earn Badges to one where he attends a Pokémon School. Not only is Ash generally staying in one place, but the human cast size was the largest it had ever been with Ash and ''5'' other reoccurring classmates. The Island Trials were present as well, but the pace was a bit slower due to how many characters the show had to juggle. Of the 146 episodes, the first major arc that wasn't focused on a trial or obtention of a Z-Crystal were mostly [[SliceOfLife Slice of Life filler]]. The plot went by faster by the third arc, though the tournament arc lasts ''16 episodes''. Not bad [[spoiler:considering this is the one where Ash finally wins a Conference]], but this even includes filler with the gang facing a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere just to add some drama along to the climax.
** '''Galar/Journeys''': In a rather interesting twist, ''Pokémon Journeys: The Series'' is for the most part, averting this trope. Ash and Goh never stay in one place for very long, as the series takes place all over the world rather than staying in Galar getting the eight badges. Instead, each major battle that isn't against Team Rocket ''is'' part of the tournament arc. The World Coronation Series takes the place of a Wyndon Conference, with many trainers around the world taking part. The show so far has done a great job at keeping the pace up. In the west, where it [[ChannelHop moved exclusively to streaming on Netflix]], the latest dubs all release at once in parts preventing any backlash about waiting for the plot to move on.

** ''Franchise/MegaMan''. The [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic original series]]' writing was immediately recognized as a [[ExcusePlot cheap excuse]] to shoot a line-up of [[OfficialFanSubmittedContent fan-submitted]] [[BossBattle robots]]. But then came ''VideoGame/MegaManX'', taking place 100 years later and touting a more serious story connected to its predecessor; followed by ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' doing the same to it. They were 3 tandem series promising linking revelations... but since the [[CashCowFranchise first two]] were [[NoEnding not allowed to end]], little came beyond cameos and [[ShrugOfGod intentionally cryptic]] hints that went [[MindScrew nowhere]]. The lone applied connection that Wily built Zero was [[RecycledScript endlessly reused]] and stretched, with three separate, mysterious scientist villains hinted at as possibly being Wily showing up while Zero died [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist just as often]]. Like Sigma's [[VillainDecay continued existence]], attempts at drama devolved into [[MotiveDecay overused jokes]]. Ironically, the endpoint of all this in the ''Zero'' series was the only one that ''actually finished'' with a GrandFinale (which allowed it specifically to {{avert|edTrope}} the fatigue, and even then it got pushed into having one more game than intended), so fans were left in the awkward position of knowing how it would all end up, but not all of how it got there. At least you could count on loads of new bosses... until Capcom internal politics pointed towards the franchise dying with a whimper rather than any real resolution. The surprise resurrection of the Classic series with ''VideoGame/MegaMan11'' in 2018 at least shows there's still interest in the series, though the game being a SoftReboot that adheres to the {{status quo|IsGod}} meant no real narrative progress was made.

*** The overarching plot suffers from this, especially Ryu's [[BecauseDestinySaysSo endlessly mentioned destiny]] to become a "[[MeaninglessMeaningfulWords true martial artist]]." Being the [[{{Shotoclone}} lynchpin]] for countless installments and [[VideoGame/CapcomVs crossovers]], he is inherently not allowed to change much despite having personal growth as his big theme. This being the {{fighting game}} genre, character popularity also takes precedence over plot. Which means Ryu will regress in and out of his [[SuperPoweredEvilSide evil version]] without [[CanonDiscontinuity affecting anything]], villains will never be taken care of so long as enough players main them, and their victims don't have [[{{Retcon}} consequences]], [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist either]]. The writing may not be the main appeal of the games, but all the grand promises that go nowhere with [[ExcusePlot little attempt to innovate]] do wear out.
*** Some of the above can be laid at the feet at ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII''. The ''III'' series [[AudienceAlienatingPremise being such a huge departure]] from ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterII II]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha Alpha]]'' in terms of cast, setting, and tone, along with its mechanical complexity, might not be as hard a sell [[VindicatedByHistory nowadays]], but poor reception from more casual audiences effectively [[FranchiseKiller put the series on ice for nearly a decade]]. It's telling that both ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' were set between the events of ''II'' and ''III'' while [[TheBusCameBack bringing back]] many fan favorites who were left out of ''III''. However, this also meant that the story could never progress beyond what ''Third Strike'' established back in '''1999'''; the best players could ask for was the final([[JokerImmunity ?]]) defeat of Bison and setting up the Illuminati's rise to prominence in ''III'' proper. It wouldn't be until '''2023''' that the timeline would finally [[CliffhangerWall move forward]] with ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6''.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has four major quests which must be finished in order to get to the final part of the game. However, one of these quests -- "A Paragon of Her Kind" -- is practically big enough for a DLC campaign, being larger than the other three put together. There are roughly six dungeons which ''have'' to be completely explored (and more in optional sidequests); there's never a chance to TakeAThirdOption, even if both of the options are stupid or out-of-character for the player; [[spoiler:the good ending comes out of siding with the corrupt jerkass between the two potential kings, because the NiceGuy's conservative ways cause a violent revolt after the events of the game]]; the player has to do quite a bit of running back and forth between the dwarven capital and the aforementioned dungeons; and several of the characters introduced are quite simply unlikable.

** ''Stormblood'' suffers from this in its Ala Mhigo arc, in that it's almost treated as an afterthought despite events in Ala Mhigo being the catalyst for the expansion. Its problem is twofold: one, it decided to also deal with liberating a second country from Garlean occupation (the in-universe logic being to divide the Garleans' attention by forcing them to deal with two rebellions at the same time), and two, that second country ended up with far more time spent on it -- keeping in mind that you have to be at Level 60 to start the ''Stormblood'' story, you head for the Far East at Level 61 and don't come back until you've liberated Doma at Level ''68'', which leaves almost no room for Ala Mhigo to have any real story. What makes this even worse is that Lyse [[ADayInTheLimelight gets much more story importance]] with this expansion, but her CharacterDevelopment is almost entirely tied to Ala Mhigo rather than Doma, and what little she does get in Doma is overshadowed by other plot points like trying to gain Hien's assistance -- which means she spends almost 90% of the expansion never progressing past the "Lyse [[{{Wangst}} whines about feeling useless]]" phase of her development before very suddenly jumping to "Lyse is leading the Ala Mhigan Resistance", without even giving her any chance to prove herself worthy of the role until well ''after'' she's been thrust into it.

** One of the first cases is the very specific instance of dealing with Titan in ''A Realm Reborn'', because you spend much of the arc performing several quests dragged out far longer than they need to be (21 quests in total, even after the ''ARR'' storyline was slimmed down in a later patch) for what appears to be little more than [[SkewedPriorities an ill-timed banquet]] rather than the SecretTestOfCharacter it was supposed to be - even the dungeon you do during this part of the story is simply trying to help a goblin gather cheese, followed by too many quests spent simply walking back and forth between a small hamlet and a secluded hut, just far apart enough and with enough enemies in the way that the trips are annoying but not enough that skipping the return by teleporting is worth the gil, trying to get someone to please just give you a Goddamned bottle of wine already. What's more? At the end of this, you barely even get to ''see'' the banquet that ''you'' spent all that time singlehandedly preparing (you get a short scene of your character taking one bite of the meal as the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' victory jingle plays before the cutscene ends), and your advice for dealing with Titan ends up amounting to little more than "do your best". Many players felt they ''had'' to take the option to [[CatharsisFactor tell the Company of Heroes they will not be throwing a banquet this time around]] when they returned for ''Endwalker's'' role quest for Melee classes.
** One criticism of ''Endwalker'' is how the story grinds to a halt every time it chooses to focus on the Loporitts, largely because quests centered around them are more comical in tone, intended as {{Breather Episode}}s, which doesn't work because the two major times the story chooses to focus on them comes ''immediately'' after [[WhamEpisode very huge moments in the story]], which makes them feel inappropriately-placed on top of the fact that they, particularly the second time, focus on several quests that feel like filler.
* ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' series has the Tales of Ash arc, which started in ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2003 2003]]'' ([[CaptainObvious which was released in 2003]]), continued with ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXI XI]]'' (released in late 2005 for Japanese arcades before heading to the [=PS2=] the following year) and only ended in ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIII XIII]]'' (2010 for arcades, 2011 for consoles). Doing the math reveals that the arc basically lasted for ''seven-to-eight years''. Compare that to the Orochi and NESTS arcs, each of which lasted for three years. [[note]]''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters94 '94]]'' technically doesn't count, as that's its own self-contained story (though {{compilation|Rerelease}}s tend to lump it in with the rest of the Orochi Saga), and neither do ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters98 '98]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2002 2002]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXII XII]]'' due to the former two being non-canon {{Dream Match Game}}s and the latter being an ObviousBeta.[[/note]] This could be explained by Creator/{{SNK}} opting to abandon doing yearly installments on account of the growing costs of game development as well as wanting to jump ship to the Atomiswave hardware for their games [[note]]that, and the whole mess involving their bankruptcy in 2000-2001, but that's another story[[/note]]. Not helping matters was the fact that its star protagonist Ash was quite a polarizing figure not just due to his flamboyant personality [[note]]even more so than [[CampStraight Benimaru]]![[/note]], but also due to him inflicting TheWorfEffect on the likes of Chizuru and Iori ''and'' [[BroughtDownToNormal stealing their powers]] (forcing Chizuru to go back to CommutingOnABus [[note]]her last playable appearance prior to ''2003'' was ''[='98=]'', whereas her last canonical appearance was ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters97 '97]]''[[/note]] and Iori's moveset to undergo significant changes in ''XII'' and ''XIII''), not to mention being outright billed as a VillainProtagonist, meaning that fans were getting outright fed up with him. That said, [[spoiler:[[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap many were willing to forgive him for his actions in the end]] when ''XIII'' revealed that he was in fact a GoodAllAlong GuileHero who did what he did in order to protect his sister figure Elisabeth, even going as far as to pull a HeroicSacrifice to erase the BigBad of the arc--his very own ancestor--from existence]].

* While most fans don't mind as it's a spectacular game,[[note]]Most complaints about it stemmed from the fact that the last expansion was never released standalone but rather bundled in with a Collector's Edition of the game; it doesn't make much of a difference 20+ years on, where people are replacing old and worn [=CDs=] with a spiffy new digital copy or getting into a classic game they missed the first time around, but it did mean people who bought the game when it first came out in 1994 [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo had to buy the entire game again]] to actually finish its story[[/note]] ''VideoGame/TIEFighter'' has a bit of this problem once you get to the game's expansions. The original game is seven battles (chapters) long - the seventh battle has [[spoiler:Admiral Zaarin]] betray the Empire. Both of the expansions are three battles long, and you ''finally'' kill [[spoiler:Zaarin]] at the end of ''Battle 13'', the ''very last'' battle at the end of the last expansion. That's a rather sizeable chunk of the game spent fighting other Imperial ships instead of Rebels.

** The yet-unresolved continuing grand scheme of [[BigBad The Light]] became this in the second season. So the heroes foil the season-long plans of the Light -- surprise, all that was only Phase 1! And some other fans were already thinking this during the first season. Most of the show had a problem with this, actually: there are so many intertwining plotlines going on at the same time, all of them saturated with characters that only seem to be there for the sake of having another new hero/villain, that you can easily get lost between everything or get sick of it. Made all the worse that, by the season finale of Season 2, it's obvious what The Light's plan was: 1) use the Justice League's attack on Rimbor to alert the universe and The Reach to the presence of Earth as a major world; 2) use The Reach to instigate Mongul into bringing War World to Earth; 3) destroy The Reach's plans and give The Guardians a reason to try them for war crimes, in order to take them out of the picture; 4) ise The War World around Rimbor to alert the rest of the universe that Earth is hereby off-limits; and 5) complete the previous four objections in preparation for Darkseid ("Wherever there is Light, there is always a Darkseid") and the legions of Apokolips to invade Earth... Season 3 would have been Apokolips invading Earth. The show was canceled before this could possibly have become more complicated. It really doesn't help that, thanks to multiple hiatuses, the show spent more time off the air than on.

** To wit: forty-five new episodes aired in 2015, and only '''eight''' were plot-relevant.[[note]]Naruto died in Christmas of 2014, and Might Guy only used the Eighth Gate in July 2015; those events happened eight manga chapters apart.[[/note]]

* The manga version of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' started in ''1995'', and it ''finally'' came to an end with Chapter 95. In July 2013. Yeah, that's 18 years later. Especially egregious considering that the manga only recounts what happened in the 26 episodes of the anime plus ''Anime/TheEndOfEvangelion'' movie -- all of which has been resolved since 1997. Unlike other adaptations, the manga stayed very close to the original anime and it didn't add any additional content except for slight change of order and the infamous scene of Kaworu [[KickTheDog killing a kitten]]. Understandably in [[CreatorBreakdown a similar vein to the original anime]], many fans began to question the sanity of the artist.

** Phase 4 has been hit with this. After the release of ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'', quite a few people began to complain about how aimless and meandering Phase 4 of the MCU is starting to feel, with no clear plot emerging beyond some extremely vague multiverse stuff after nearly 70 hours of total runtime between the movies and shows that have made up Phase 4 so far.

* ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' has suffered from this ever since [[VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere the third game]], which was set [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture far in the future]] and concerned [[CorporateWarfare a semi-secret war]] between competing {{Mega Corp}}s and a shadowy conspiracy involved with both of them and the organization trying to keep the peace. Later games would go back to NextSundayAD settings, with the promise that they would show how the world got to that point... a promise which would be forgotten almost immediately with the introduction of [[VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar the Belkan War]] [[NonLinearSequel and]] [[VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar its aftermath]], where [[PlotTumor absolutely everything that has ever happened in the series since]] -- even retroactively, through [[VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizonLegacy a remake]] of ''VideoGame/AceCombat2'' -- [[HijackedByGanon has something to do]] with [[TheManBehindTheMan Belkan infiltrators]] who [[SoreLoser really didn't take their loss well]]. ''VideoGame/{{Ace Combat 7|SkiesUnknown}}'' does suggest that [[spoiler:the narrowly averted RobotWar]] is the precursor to the events of ''Electrosphere'' (and its direct prequel ''[[VideoGame/AceCombatAdvance Advance]]'') due to the factions involved coupled with some blink-and-you'll-miss-it nods, but [[spoiler:this merely means Belka's behind-the-scenes meddling in foreign affairs is indirectly responsible for all that]] as well.

** The main romance became this due to its repeated lack of progress as well as the {{Flanderization}} of Marinette. The show at this point (Season 5 in 2022) has had THREE WhatIf episodes, but has never allowed the two to progress in the 100+ episodes that have aired to date. This led many to either [[AbandonShipping drop the duo]] or outright drop the series.

** Hawk Moth remaining the main villain also applies to all of the above, with many believing that he has overstayed his welcome and the show's repeated attempts to justify his actions come off as [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic hollow]]. If that wasn't enough, he's drawn ire from those wanting the [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle love square]] to progress, since two of the aforementioned WhatIf episodes ([[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS03E22CatBlanc "Cat Blanc"]] and [[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS04E22Ephemeral "Ephemeral"]]) all but spell out that he is the single biggest obstacle to Marinette and Adrien getting together. [[spoiler:[[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS03E19Timetagger "Timetagger"]] reveals that Hawk Moth will not retain his position as the holder of the Butterfly Miraculous in the future, but how long it will take the show to catch up to that moment, or [[AmbiguousSituation what that moment will even entail]], is anyone's guess.]]

* The ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series faced this problem following the release of ''[[VideoGame/MetroidFusion Fusion]]''. The game is set after ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' with the Space Pirates virtually eliminated, and ends on the note of [[spoiler:TheFederation planning to weaponize Metroids for their own sinister purposes]]. For nearly two decades, none of the games released after ''Fusion'' built on the latter point, as all of them were either interquels (the ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Prime]]'' subseries and ''[[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]'') or remakes (''[[VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission Zero Mission]]'', ''[[VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns Samus Returns]]''), with ''Other M'' in particular merely reiterating ''Fusion''[='=]s big revelation earlier in the timeline. The nineteen-year stall would finally come to an end with ''VideoGame/MetroidDread''. [[spoiler: Except not really as that game focused on the Chozo race and Samus's personal beef with a megalomaniac Chozo trying to take over the universe. There's virtually no mention of the Federation in it and in the end all Metroids are destroyed... save Samus whose biology now contains Metroid DNA and allows her to ''become'' one. A good plot setup for later but still not following up on what was promised.]]

** The ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' arc lasted nearly fifty issues, or a year and a half in real time. By the end, even people who had liked the premise were pretty tired of Spider-Man acting like a jerk and [[IdiotPlot normally competent characters completely failing to notice Spidey was acting nothing like himself]] [[spoiler:due to being [[GrandTheftMe possessed]] by [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Dr. Octopus]]]].

* It's not as bad as some examples due to only taking up one book, but the plotline involving Leila stalking Ana in ''[[Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey Fifty Shades Darker]]'' starts to show signs of this. It lasts nearly the entire book (which is over 500 pages long) and yet nothing truly significant happens with it until the last third when Leila unexpectedly shows up at Ana's apartment with a gun. It doesn't help that it has pretty much [[TrappedByMountainLions no impact on the story in the next book]] and that the situation [[IdiotPlot could've been resolved early on]] if Ana and Christian had just called the police, instead of trying and miserably failing to deal with the problem themselves.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''. Endless Eight. ''Eight episodes'' of the exact same events with minor variations, adapted out of a single short story. Especially since the novels' "Endless Eight" only concerned one particular time loop (the last one), and was about at most 30 pages. Eight episodes equals almost three hours. This angered fans who wanted an epic six-episode ''Disappearance'' adaption (adapted out of a single ''novel'')... The latter did come out as a feature-length movie, however: [[ExaggeratedTrope the second-longest animated feature ever created, at 2 hours 43 minutes in length!]] (One minute shorter than ''[[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Final Yamato]]''.) In hindsight, though, many still wish they would've adapted the arc into the anime, rather than dragging out a chapter across eight episodes just so the arc could be adapted into a movie.

** ''The Culling'' in the ComicBook/{{New 52}}. The first eight issues (most of a year) were built to get to this crossover with Legion Lost, and at the end, they don't even manage to defeat the bad guy.

* ''Webcomic/{{Collar 6}}'':

* Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures: The ''Friends in High Places'' chapter has been going on since 2013 with over 600 pages at the time of writing with no indication of stopping. It wouldn't be so bad if things had actually happened during those six years, but the majority of it has just consisted of build-up (the cubi clan meeting, Piflak's party, etc.) or exposition.

A CliffhangerWall is a possible cause of this. See also FourLinesAllWaiting, which moves at this speed ''by definition''. Compare ExponentialPlotDelay (the fatigue gets worse as the plot progresses), EndingFatigue (when it seems like it will end, but it doesn't), ProlongedPrologue (when the work is moving slowly before the story proper even begins), and TheChrisCarterEffect (which is a possible audience reaction to this). See also SeasonalRot.

* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': Ever since the end of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', the franchise took ''six'' years to set up the confrontation between the heroes and [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''; ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}'', ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' and ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' all have subplots leading to the long-awaited battle. Needless to say, there were quite a few fans (and critics) who felt that the Thanos Myth Arc had been going on for way too long, and just wished it would finally happen so they could be done with it. Downplayed in that the aforementioned films mostly focused on major conflicts separate from the Thanos arc, with the ''Infinity War'' tie-ins being more fanservice than anything else.

** '''Kalos''' started off on a rough note with the drop in ratings that occurred during ''BW''[='s=] Decolore Islands arc. Its first season was subject to {{Filler}} and {{Padding}} after the first ten episodes. Serena was virtually pointless until ''finally'' discovering a goal for herself around 40 episodes in, and the Kalos gang was forced to take part in a [[{{Sidequest}} side-journey]] with a GuestStarPartyMember in Korrina for several episodes that hardly anyone got invested in due to there being no payoff in the end for helping her complete her quest to properly use a Lucarionite. It took until Ash got his '''seventh''' gym badge before Team Flare even appeared. At this point, the plot picked up momentum, especially when Ash's Greninja obtained [[SuperMode an exclusive form]].
** '''Alola''': Coming off the high from the ''XY&Z'' saga, the plot changed drastically from one where Ash travels from Gym to Gym to earn Badges to one where he attends a Pokémon School. Not only is Ash generally staying in one place, but the human cast size was the largest it had ever been with Ash and ''5'' other reoccurring classmates. The Island Trials were present as well, but the pace was a bit slower due to how many characters the show had to juggle. Of the 146 episodes, the first major arc that wasn't focused on a trial or obtention of a Z-Crystal were mostly [[SliceOfLife Slice of Life filler]]. The plot went by faster by the third arc, but the tournament arc lasts ''16 episodes''. Not bad [[spoiler:considering this is the one where Ash finally wins a Conference]], but this even includes filler with the gang facing a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere just to add some drama along to the climax.

** What can be summed up as the "Monster Association" arc or the Human Monster Saga in relation to Garou suffers from excessive {{Padding}} and redraws of already finished chapters. Beginning in July of 2017 with Chapter 78, the plot has fallen to a snail's pace because of the number of chapters spent on the Heroes fighting random one-off monsters that don't add much to the storytelling other than showing off the powers of the heroes. The "final battle" between [[spoiler:Tatsumaki and the Monster Queen Psykorochi]] started in early 2020, and they were only defeated in early 2021. To repeat, ''one battle'' lasted ''an entire year'', '''and that's not even the end of the arc as of yet''', with it continuing with [[spoiler:the rest of S-Class fighting the remaining Cadres]]. To say the least, while people agree that the arc has been chock full of some of the biggest revelations and most exciting fights in the manga, they're eager to finally catch up with ONE's original comic.

* ''Patapon: Toot-a-loot'' suffers from this ''[[ExaggeratedTrope in the prologue]]''. The prologue is a [[HowWeGotHere retelling of the events of the games leading up to the end of]] ''[[VideoGame/{{Patapon}} Patapon 3]]''. The events of the first game is covered quickly in about 5 or so pages, but the ''Patapon 2'' section is heavily in depth for some reason. By the time ''Website/SmackJeeves'' went down, the comic had just made it to the [[spoiler:final confrontation of the Patapons against Ormen Karmen at Pata Pole]] after spending just under 50 pages getting there. ''And we still only have one more game to go before Chapter 1!''