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The Weekend Roundtable: Getting Started

  • Posted by Paul December 15, 2012 - 599 views

    What's the best opening to a game that you have played?

    Now, before you answer, allow me to clarify! By 'opening' I'm not really talking about the opening 'cut scene' or credits, or even necessarily the hand-holding tutorials that inevitably seem to clog up the start of games these days. No, what I'm talking about here is those precious opening minutes - stretching to hours - where you are stumbling around the game world, finding your bearings, and getting a sense of the task ahead.

    Take the much-heralded The Elder Scrolls IV: Morrowind as an example. There's a very brief scene on the boat to give your name and race, and a quick conversation in the Census Office to determine or make your class - but within moments you are thrust out into the big wide world with the somewhat scary line 'You're on your own now. Good luck!' It is at that point that - for the purposes of this discussion - the game 'starts'. That point at which you have to get on with finding your feet in a vast and extremely dangerous world. I still remember the sense of foreboding when stepping outside of the relative sanctuary of Seyda Neen - only to be totally 'owned' by a squib or rat. 

    In Oblivion it was stepping out of the Sewers, blinking into the warm light of a Cyrodiil day, the distant walls of the Imperial City in the distance. Even Skyrim did a pretty decent job of capturing that moment, as you step from the Helgen Sewers into a cold, frosty, mountainous world.

    But there's little doubt in my mind that the preponderance of lengthy opening cut scenes, followed by excessively patronising 'tutorials' - inevitably breaking any sense of immersion - have tempered that initial flush of excitement that you get when starting games.

    Very simply, you just don't get openings like Morrowind any more. Or do you? Perhaps I'm wrong, and there are plenty of examples of great and immersive openings to games. If so, please enlighten!

    So... what do you all think? Looking at games that have come out recently - say, the last couple of years - what has been the best opening that you can remember? What's your 'all time' favourite game opening?

    As always, I look forward to your thoughts.

Comments

16 Comments
  • Marc Mckinnon
    Marc Mckinnon   ·  December 17, 2012
    Oh I forgot about max payne 3!
  • Marc Mckinnon
    Marc Mckinnon   ·  December 16, 2012
    I was sold on far cry 1 when it came out.

    it was HORRIBLE :(
  • jeremy farrar
    jeremy farrar   ·  December 16, 2012
    very recently, Far Cry 3 has done a great job, it starts with wild escape and you actually "feel" the first kill..Def reccommend, and NO it's not Skyrim with guns
  • Marc Mckinnon
    Marc Mckinnon   ·  December 16, 2012
    My all time favourite beginning to a game would have to be Final Fantasy 9... but then I'm extremely biased in that regard as its the game that introduced me properly to rpgs... just like Iron Maiden will always hold a special place in my heart for teachi...  more
  • Kyrielle Atrinati
    Kyrielle Atrinati   ·  December 16, 2012
    Auroness, if you haven't tried it yet, try playing a Gunslinger and only use a revolver.  It's amazingly fun, and I was so much more effective in combat than I was when I used automatic rifles and things.
  • Paul
    Paul   ·  December 16, 2012
    Another that sprung to mind on further thought was Dragon Age Origins. The way each racial type had its own mini-intro story was innovative and interesting.
    Much better than the repetition you usually have. Wouldn't it be awesome if a future Elder S...  more
  • Alatar the Eternal
    Alatar the Eternal   ·  December 16, 2012
    James Bond Bloodstone's opening is also quiet good.It starts off when you parachute into a private yacht and sneak around the boat shooting people...and the ensuing chase on the motorboat.The gameplay became very dull as it was the same thing every missio...  more
  • Josh Marken
    Josh Marken   ·  December 16, 2012
    For me it was batman arkham city, they were pretty straight to the point, integrating tutorial with proper gameplay. Unfortunately not many games can do that (Mass Effect 2)
  • Dieter
    Dieter   ·  December 15, 2012
    The Witcher, you get a tiny fighting tutorial and afterwards you get thrown in an attack on your castle where you need to do important stuff and make choices that change the entire game. It's pretty difficult but a lot of fun.
  • The Nexus
    The Nexus   ·  December 15, 2012
    The best opening I can think of has to be that of Majora's Mask. You get to experience three full days in clock-town doing all sorts of things, and then it begins. You see the moon getting closer by the day, and at the third day, it's almost there. On the...  more
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