Games with intros that make you quit

[shrekfan246]

I've seen that countless times, and the way the guy says "Oh shit, I have a bag of milky ways!" and then starts tearing open the bag right before the dude starts freaking out just never gets old.

OT: The two KotOR games. I love them, but goddamn are the intro levels long and boring.

A lot of the JRPG's I've played tend to be poorly paced at the beginning, too. At least for my liking... Kingdom Hearts, Persona, Final Fantasy... the games I've played from the Tales series do a pretty good job, and I suppose being a DS game gives The World Ends With You a bit of an advantage because it's not really designed to be an 80-hour long game (I think. I haven't finished it yet). Though none of them have really made me stop playing.

I think KoTOR 1&2 are the only ones that have really made me just go "Oh right, the beginning sucks." and then turn it off. At least, it's all I can think of right now.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

Kingdom Hearts 2. Jesus, that intro is boring. Although I liked Roxas and his friends, I didn't play Kingdom Hearts to hear about the end of summer vacation and homework. It picks up near the end when you meet Axel, so at least there's that.

As much as I love the game, I'll also have to say Kingdom Hearts II. I usually play past that point once and then before the second battle with Axel happens I save so I don't have to replay that beginning part. It's even worse when you have to do all those jobs.

 

[Catfood220]

I've got a friend who was really really put off by the long walking intro to Batman Arkham Asylum as you return The Joker to the asylum and refused to play the game for a long time.

He eventually got bored enough to give the game a second chance and admitted that it was a good game.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

A game intro has never made me want to quit before...

Though, the whole starting bit of Pokemon is boring if you've already done it a a few times before.

-Wake up
-Meet professor
-Choose starter
-Battle rival
-Leave town
-Come back
-Get running shoes
-Leave for good

 

[Parkway91]

Dragon Age Origins.

While not necessarily an intro, the fade has made me quit several times. It's just so incredibly boring.

Very much this. I dread having to go in there. Longest, most boring mission.

 

[Faladorian]

Mostly on replays.

I happened on the topic whilst booting up KOTOR II, and as brilliant as I think the rest of the game is, I have to admit that the mining facility drags on waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.

So what games have you played that did this?

I actually started a thread about this exact topic a few days ago. Specifically about Pokemon.


Pokemon Platinum to be exact. I had the emulator running on fast-forward, and the dialogue was so copious that the intro still took 20min.

I was finally free... i fought one Bidoof and then i was back with the professor and Dawn. Then, Dawn decided to start giving me a full tour of the town, building-by-building.


Needless to say i shut the game off that instant.

 

[Easton Dark]

No... I don't want to do the Deus Ex intro again... the Statue of Liberty suuuuucks.

I have never played past that in Deus Ex. It made me dislike that game.

 

[irishda]

Fuck that Half-Life tram intro. Fuck it sooo hard. I was playing through the game back in the day, and I accidentally deleted my save file. So I had to play through that opening again, only I refused to play it for a long while because I didn't want to have to deal with that opening.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Final Fantasy VIII... although it is good at times, running around Balamb Garden just gets boring and repetative, and that part of the game is far too linear! I suppose the first time playing it you don't notice because you are too busy trying to understand the slightly complicated junction system (well, it was when I was 13) but now it just fills me with dread, and I often put it off until a day I am feeling a lot more patient...

Also, Half-Life and Half-Life 2... All that running around the labs in Half Life, and they don't even teach you all the core mechanics... why not have a crouch session, and a jump session to teach the basics there...? No, they wait until after the intro! :/

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

MGS4. I playing it through 3 times, the third time was a serious run, all stealth, no kills, no alerts, so I could get all the awesome items. By the time I'd finished that I was already a little bit jaded, but then I go to play through again with my awesome stuff, and they take it away for the first chapter. That was enough for me to just load the last save, fire the Tanegashima once, and call it a day.

 

[TheCommanders]

I'm rarely annoyed by intros the first time I play a game. Ironically (or is it coincidentally?) it's the games that I love (and therefore play multiple times) where the intros start to annoy me, particularly if they are long. Mass Effect 1 & 2, Skyrim (and oblivion a while back), and many more...

 

[Vkmies]

Fuck that Half-Life tram intro. Fuck it sooo hard. I was playing through the game back in the day, and I accidentally deleted my save file. So I had to play through that opening again, only I refused to play it for a long while because I didn't want to have to deal with that opening.

It's a genius opening in it's own way, and the way Blue Shift uses it for a few crossovers is amazing. I think it's one of the best intros ever, but I agree on the fact that after the second-> time or when you don't care about the story and the world, but just the gameplay, it does get extremelly tedious and annoying.

 

[Severin90]

Assasins creed II..
It takes a ridiculous amount of time just to get enough upgrades that makes you feel like a legit assassin. I simply cant understand why you just cant jump back and forth, from you current progess, in your memorycodex to different assassination attemps just to play around and experiment how stealthy you can do it, instead of starting over ..
I dont know but i feel like either i missed something or its just a missed opportunity..

 

[zidine100]

the latest example for me is, if you count a op for a game, mana khemia


nothing kills my interest in a game more than a emo looking guy screaming to a Japanese song.

half life, TRAM, it was cool the first times but ughhhh..

virtually any game with a enforced tutorial, aka look over here, click to shoot it, select attack to attack, You can jump over things with the jump button! ughhhhhhh that grinds my gears.

 

[Ziame]

both KOTORs. I just hated Taris /Peragus. so dull and uninvolving

 

[ServebotFrank]

Final Fantasy VIII... although it is good at times, running around Balamb Garden just gets boring and repetative, and that part of the game is far too linear! I suppose the first time playing it you don't notice because you are too busy trying to understand the slightly complicated junction system (well, it was when I was 13) but now it just fills me with dread, and I often put it off until a day I am feeling a lot more patient...

Also, Half-Life and Half-Life 2... All that running around the labs in Half Life, and they don't even teach you all the core mechanics... why not have a crouch session, and a jump session to teach the basics there...? No, they wait until after the intro! :/

The game assumes you took a look at the tutorial level when you select new game. Did you not see it your first time playing? I liked Half Life's 2 intro as you at least had a possibility of dying and it was really good with immersion. I fail to see the point of complaining much about either of two games in terms of bad intros since you can skip the levels. Well...You can't in the original Half Life but you can in Source at least.

OT: Much as I love Persona 3 and 4. I hate the intros. 3 suffers from throwing too much exposition at you so it takes about three hours before you're granted freedom to do whatever. 4 tries to make it interesting by throwing in a really long intro sequence to get the player invested. However on your second playthrough this really feels like a drag.

 

[Scrustle]

Obvious answers: Several Zelda games (especially TP) and Oblivion.

Pokemon games are also a pretty big culprit. Come to think of it JRPGs in general seem to have this problem, although I can't really think of any JRPG that I've played through more than once apart from Pokemon. I guess that shows how bad they are, they make me want to quit first time out!

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

The game assumes you took a look at the tutorial level when you select new game. Did you not see it your first time playing? I liked Half Life's 2 intro as you at least had a possibility of dying and it was really good with immersion. I fail to see the point of complaining much about either of two games in terms of bad intros since you can skip the levels. Well...You can't in the original Half Life but you can in Source at least.

I had the PS version of HL, but can't remember a tutorial level... I do remember that after 'the event' the popups appeared with how to duck and jump... not that I hadn't already made Gordon jump and crouch everywhere already... part from boredom and part from laughing at the funny things that the other scientists say when you excitedly rush around, jumping like a kid with ADHD!

I agree... 2 was a lot better... and you had things like putting the rubbish in the bin that was original. Also there was a lot more suspence and atmoshere, but the train rides are still rubbish...! :/

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Obvious answers: Several Zelda games (especially TP) and Oblivion.

Pokemon games are also a pretty big culprit. Come to think of it JRPGs in general seem to have this problem, although I can't really think of any JRPG that I've played through more than once apart from Pokemon. I guess that shows how bad they are, they make me want to quit first time out!

I agree about the JRPG front... but too be honest they are big long linear games anyway, usually, so replayability isn't really a factor in a JRPG... doesn't neccesarily mean they are bad, it's just not part of the genre!

The only one I can think of that I have played that goes against that is FFX-2, which was a lot shorter than most JRPG's, but due to the expansive new game+ that allowed further customisation, and the fact that without a guide you would always miss something (% complete on each chapter helps with this) so there is a lot more emphasis on replay.

But I agree though... starting something like Golden Sun, or Dragon Quest again, after completion, always bores me... the thought of having to do the micky mouse quests at the start, where battles are just selecting attack over and over, to baddies that are boring and numerous, without all the cool interesting characters that come later, always turns me off!

 

[Ghoti]

Alright, let's just run off my growing list of "Games that can kiss my ass because of terrible intros":

Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy XIII
KotOR 2
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts 2
Fire Emblem 7
Tales of Symphonia
The Legend of Zelda- Skyward Sword (I love this series, I hate this game)
Metroid Other M
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn
Eternal Sonata
Golden Sun Dark Dawn

And those are just off the top of my head. I have a very low tolerance for insufferable intros. If a game isn't going to respect my time, then I'm not going to bother playing it.