Best Opening Sequences in Gaming

[BloatedGuppy]

Pretty self explanatory topic. What games do you feel had the best openings? Doesn't necessarily need to be the very first few moments, but it does need to either open the game as a whole, or a chapter of an episodic game. For instance, perhaps you feel the escape from the prison in Oblivion was boring, but your final conversation with Uriel Septim was enthralling. You could put just the conversation. Of course no one in their right mind would ever think that, it was just an example.

For bonus points, or if you just prefer shitposting, you can substitute the WORST opening sequences.

I'll kick us off with a couple. Beware of spoilers if you've not played the games in question.

 

[tippy2k2]

I love Tales from the Borderlands!

To keep with that theme, I present Borderlands 1!

It does a great job of introducing the characters while capturing the two things the game is about; humor and violence!

Spoiler: Borderlands

It's much longer and requires you to actually play (rather than a movie) but Bioshock has an excellent beginning as well.

Spoiler: Bioshock

Excellent use of game-play while telling a story. By the time that first Splicer shows up, you should be pooping yourself just a little bit...

EDIT: SON OF A *****!

I forgot the intro to my favorite game, The Last of Us

Spoiler: The Last of Us

The intro is similar to the Bioshock one where you have some gameplay with it but if for some reason the zombie apocalypse started tomorrow, I imagine this is EXACTLY what it would be like. No one knows what the hell is going on and there is nothing but chaos as people panic. You also get a great glimpse into Joel and what made him the person that he became...

 

[Sassafrass]

Spoiler: Final Fantasy X's intro is fairly kickass

Spoiler: This part from the opening of ME3

Spoiler: I'm also a fan of FF 8s intro

Those are the three that stand out for me. Those and the Borderlands intro, that shit was the shit.

EDIT: I forgot the Witcher 2 intro.

Spoiler

This was amazing.

 

[Pyrian]

Mostly holds up after all these years, dated graphics notwithstanding:

Spoiler: Deus Ex

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Your final conversation with Uriel Septim. Listening to Sir Patrick Stewart's wonderful voice is just so damn enthralling.

Borderlands. Pretty much all of them. I'm not a particularly big fan of this grindy franchise (although Tales From the Borderlands was probably one of my favorite games from the past year), but they just seem to get how to do an introduction. The "Short Change Hero" sequence for Borderlands 2 and the "Busy Earning" sequence for Episode 1 from Tales are probably my favorites of the bunch.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Casting another vote for the Borderlands intro. It's a very cool (and effective) way of gearing you into the game's groove.

Another powerful way of kicking off a game: the opening moments of The Last of Us. Waking up alone in the middle of the night as this little girl, looking around for dad, catching glimpses of the incoming catastrophe, tagging along helplessly with the grown ups and the awful denouement tell a story unto itself, while helping bookend Joel and Ellie's journeys perfectly.

I like the opening cinematic of Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. Two people (royalty) are playing chess by a fire. The chess game is intercut with scenes from a battle that dramatize each chess move (a pawn is moved, a knight rides forth, etc). As the game continues, the battle scenes take over the intro and the chess scenes sort of disappear. The battle continues to unfold in an increasingly chaotic fashion until a single knight remains standing over the dead. He looks aroud (cue sad music), opens the palm of his hand, and lets a king piece fall to the ground. So it's not just the mere analogy of chess and warfare, but also the message that there's no "winning" a war so much as the comparison of losses. Which, I think, is a solid, earnest way of opening up a war game.

And as always, shout out to the opening tours of Half-Life and BioShock.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The Last of Us opening is very good. It achieves a lot in a very short span of time without ever feeling cluttered. And eventhough the outcome is very predictable for anyone who has glanced the boxcover, it still pulls off its shocker terrifically.

The opening to Half-Life 2 is another good one. It's the only time you get to sort of experience the day-to-day life in City 17. No guns or action, just you observing the citizens living under constant oppression and the threat of death. It really has that World War 2 Polish ghetto vibe down.

As for a bad one... Okami. Great game, but that opening is one of the worst things about it. Twilight Princess is also a hard one to sit through. And obviously I can't leave out Kingdom Hearts 2.

 

[DefunctTheory]

I'm going to have to go with the crowd here and say that Borderlands, as a whole, probably has the best openers in recent game history, if not ever. Excellent song choices, well choreographed, perfect thematically... just really top notch work.

And you can skip them, which is a bonus, though I don't know what kind of monster would do that.

Since we all agree on that, I shall commence shit posting - Fallout 4 has the absolute worst opener I have experienced in recent memory. Just dreadful and boring and disappointing and boring and terrible.

 

[Barbas]

The intro cinematic for Freelancer was pretty great, IMO. I very much enjoyed the first cutscenes and missions, too. Heck, I think the whole thing got started off pretty good.


Stepping off the boat for the first time in Morrowind was the highlight of the year when I first played it. Man, I have never seen an experience in that league. I still can't put my finger on why I love it so, which is a shame, because every time I mention something in the same old way it does it a disservice by making it sound increasingly stale. So instead, I'll just say: you can go anywhere, you can do anything, there are no limits. See that silt strider? You can climb it, you can bang it, you can set it on fire. The great thing about not having rag-doll physics is that item placement and furnishing just works.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Another cool intro: Tales of the Abyss. The cinematic that is, not the actual gameplay tutorial.

As for a bad one... Okami. Great game, but that opening is one of the worst things about it. Twilight Princess is also a hard one to sit through. And obviously I can't leave out Kingdom Hearts 2.

You mean the intro cinematic or the 5 hour trudge as Roxas? I'm guessing the latter. I like the KH cinematic intros myself. They recap all preceding chief plot points within the span of a J-pop song, which is more than I can say for other JRPGs.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

A couple:

Spoiler: Really, this one is more the music than anything else, but the rest is quite good too

And the name entered is a hint as to what the rest of the game is structured similarly to.

Spoiler: Gnignis sdrawkcab si nuf

 

[Scarim Coral]

I love Tales from the Borderlands!

To keep with that theme, I present Borderlands 1!

It does a great job of introducing the characters while capturing the two things the game is about; humor and violence!

Spoiler: Borderlands

Spoiler: I raise you Borderlands 2

Ok sure it abit more inconsistant (why did he plan to blow them up even before finding the vault?) but I still think it's an awesome intro and it nicely showcase each of the characters ability!

Other than Borderlands, there is always Super Smash Brothers Melee!

Spoiler: Melee intro

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

The in-game intro to Outcast still sends shivers up my spine. It manages to set the mood of being alone in an alien world while on a hopeless mission perfectly. Also, Ulukai is a hilarious name.

 

[The Madman]

Thief: The Dark Project


Not only one of the coolest intro cinematic out there, the first level and even the optional tutorial are both damned near perfect. Lord Bafford's Manor is a fun introduction to the game as well as suitably challenging and full of secrets for multiple playthrough, meanwhile the tutorial makes sense-story wise and helps enhance your experience by teaching you the basics without being condescending or overstaying its welcome.

Amazing game, amazing opening sequence. Sometimes I still imagine how cool a modern Thief game would be, then reality comes crashing down upon my shoulders alongside a floodgate of disappointment, leading me to smash my head against the wall repeatedly till I've forgotten again. Such is life.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Yo!
One of the best cinematics to ever grace the 5th gen.

Now that's how you do a fucking intro. Man it's old and I still get chills watching it.

And the winner for the best fan servicey intro goes too!!
Stellar, hilarious animation.

 

[Lufia Erim]

Bayonetta. I remember seeing that intro for the first time and i was in awe. It was funny and fun to watch. It was the first thing that came to mind when i saw the title.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Limbo and Portal come to mind for being very simple and right to the point. You just wake up trapped in this environment, no explanation or cutscene needed. It shows that games don't need cutscenes or dialogue to tell stories. They don't need to copy cinema. Gameplay and environments are fine storytelling tools.

Well, cinema doesn't need dialoge to tell stories either. That doesn't mean it isn't nice to have it. Just depends on what kind of story you're trying tell.

And honestly, if there's one game that hinges on dialoge, it's Portal.

Now that's how you do a fucking intro. Man it's old and I still get chills watching it.

Back in the day I would imagine my perfect Resident Evil 2 movie to have this opening.

 

[Zhukov]

Most of my favourites have already been mentioned, so I'll throw Bioshock Infinite onto the heap.

*snip*

Man, I gotta say, without dialogue to distract you the animation in Telltale games really starts to fall apart.

It makes me slightly aroused to think what they could do if someone gave them an actual budget and maybe time in a motion capture studio.