Why do games insist on having long, boring ass intros?

Why do games insist on having long, boring ass intros?

Cause western devs need to set up their gay story
and jap devs need to explain their complex mechanics

>""""""complex mechanics""""""

Cause writers are so far up their own ass and want to feel like they are doing something that matters, so they make you sit through this garbage in an attempt to get you to fall in love with their "masterpiece"

I'm an aspiring author, and this is going to sound dumb but your post really just made me realize I don't need a long stupid intro and that I should get straight to the damn action

Thanks user, I'm going to run it by /lit/ right now

Western singleplayer games are designed as cinematic experiences, which means that the story rules all and the gameplay exists merely to link the story. In fact, even when you're playing, you're often at the mercy of the story. Half the time in The Last of Us when you are "playing" you're just slowing walking forward listening to characters talk and then finding a ladder.

Films tend to start slow and wait to introduce big action, so games do the same thing.

>game has a one minute intro cutscene
>drops you right in the action immediately

what games have you playing as soon as you press play?

Can't tell if sarcastic or not, but a game and a book are very different BUT not even a book needs a boring part - anywhere -.

not even a loading screen?

I feel like I know some but I don't remember

>DOOM 2K16

>complex mechanics
Nah Japanese devs handhold far more than necessary

Relative to Western games, yes. Sad as it may be.

Games that suffer from the problem of boring intros are typically based in the 3-act structure, which is also a standard model used by the majority of novels

Ninja Gaiden Black, Dark Souls come to mind right away

dark souls has an intro

Are you talking about the cinematic or the undead asylum?

>play game
>long intros and cutscenes
>completely fine with this, never skip
>replay game
>go to skip intro
>no skip
And then it's to the "never play ever again" list

It's usually games with shit gameplay that do that because they clearly want to put story above everything else even at the expense of gameplay and pacing, which are obviously important things in games.

This
Player agency is key to having FUN
The best games, regardless of what kind of story they have, immediately give the player a central role in progressing the narrative. You want to be in the driver's seat, not waiting for the tour to finish.

>play EDF games
>they hardly even have loading times let alone proper cutscenes

is that donald trump?

Write a long ass intro no one cares about, realize later it's terrible, then have your characters explain the intro later when the reader actually gives a shit. That's pretty much how writing works.

>what is kingdom hearts 1

This

who needs that when you're off to save earth

Muh cinematic experience

All you need to hear for the EDF story is:

>GIANT INSECTS?!?!

both, i guess

Shit games do, Breath of the Wild's intro is literally 2 minutes long.

EDF makes me very happy in that regard, I remember loving 4.1
>GIANT INSECTS
>NOW SPACE SHIPS
>THE SPACE SHIPS DROP INSECTS
>FUCKING ROBOTS
>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Truly in a field of its own, always gets me excited

It's story is also worth about 2 minutes of your attention.

I agree on the cinematic, but the Undead Asylum is pretty well designed, as you can die horribly during it and it goes straight into the action by making you fight dangerous enemies that can easily kill you right away, as well as an optional boss fight right away with a bonus weapon for those who can manage to kill it

So it can be a tutorial level for new players who want to take it slow, it can be a super fast beat down for players familiar with action games and don't want to take it slow, and it can be a challenging first stage and extra challenge for those who are returning players

>Cruise control
>""""""""""""""complex mechanics"""""""""""""
lmao

Shit gets rough at the end when everyone starts losing hope. I didn't expect to get hit with those heavy feels.

hahahahaha yes!

>tfw always loved open world western RPG games and assassins creed II type stories
>tfw Horizon seems right up my alley
>even the setting and aesthetic intrigue me
>slowly start watching more and more of it being played on streams
>watch the whole shitty intro to the generic predictable story
>completely ZERO reason to start the MC intro when she's a baby
>Lion King plagarism
>bland characters
>obvious where the end plot is going from the start
>witness firsthand all the dog-whistling narrative points setup to appease ess jay dubyas

I think this game is the last straw for me, I'm done with most western games and I'm going hard for glorious nippon. The Souls games are proof enough that the japs beat us at our own game. Time to forget about Horizon and get Yakuza and Nier.

>obvious where the end plot is going from the start
Where do you think it goes?

Wild rides are great. I can't think of anything similar though off the top of my head.

This always pisses me off, I understand taking a few minutes to set up the storyline and mechanics but Christ, games like Horizon take it to a whole new level.

>mfw considering getting EDF
Is it worth it?

You must have adhd, because that whole tutorial/setup segment was pretty short. I mean all you do is find the dorito device in the ruins, have rost give u tutorial on how to survive and then throw a rock at a kid (unless ur fucking gay and let bullies pick on you) and then boom you're a young adult!

Stop the evil white man tribe from creating the ultimate super technology death machine that will kill everyone because evil and stupid white men.

It's very mindless and infinitely more fun with a friend. Not to say the game isn't fine on it's own but it's enjoyable having someone experience it alongside you.

Alone it's quite a good purchase anyway, lots of levels and so on but don't expect AAA graphics.

Close enough.

Also the framerate can tank really fucking hard if that bothers you

that's way to predictable, you honestly don't think they're actually going to do that are you?

Protip it is

Note taken, thanks.

Tedious menus don't count.

Because most "top" videogame writers switched from being frustrated writers to frustrated movie directors

the plot is really like that?

Lots of RPG and Adventure games have intros that take a while to go through.

Also, that is one ugly kid.

Well, except it turns out the evil white men of the future were manipulated by the evil male AI built by evil white men long ago.

It's just like irl

Menu simulators are best games

As far as the intro goes, It'd be one thing if the world and other characters were fleshed out at least somewhat during Aloy's childhood, give us a reason to like Rost and show us why he cares for Aloy so much, show us why outsiders are looked down on and the basic social structure of the world. Instead the game acts like you should just know because you've already seen this same sort of basic story setup a million times before.

With something like AssCreed II, a 7 year old game, in regards to Ezio being born it shows his significance and position in the world from child to young adult and builds on his relationship with his family in the fucking very beginning section of the game, there is intrigue with what his family does and what his father may be hiding from him, it sets up Ezio's character well and showing him grow from a child had purpose for fleshing out his character.

There is no reason to show Alloy as a baby so extensively in the intro, it is just filler for a story that is trying to be more than it actually is.

>Game has long ass intro
>You don't give a damn about any of the 8 characters introduced
>You couldn't care less for the lore and world
>Nothing about the plot seems good enough to warrant my attention
>Finally get to the action
>Game is good
>This automatically raises my interest in the characters and story
>Lore slowly becomes intriguing and dialogues fun
>Have to replay/watch a video about the intro just to have the plot make more sense

Every RPG ever. Why can't they just give me the gameplay before anything AND THEN put in a long ass cutscene/dialogue/whatever?

You mean like Super Mario 64?

The intro was obviously meant to be a hommage to TLOU.

Yet another reason why Bloodborne is GOTY ever year

I was tossing some ideas around in my head and came up with a version of what you just said.

Skip act 1, go straight into act 2, and reveal act 1 in extraneous dialogue (no info dumps) and these little bits of info before each chapter.

Like there's a reoccuring scene where the protagonist is reading emails forwarded to them, and lots of them are stolen emails, some from law enforcement reports, others news bulletins, recordings sometimes, and even emails directly between characters from far away places

With a combination of these, act 1's events emerge, however some details remain unclear, as different sources will cite different information about the events, leaving it slightly unclear about what exactly happened

would you rather have no intro and no story?

Not being able to experience Bloodborne for the very first time again makes me depressed.

Western devs are hacks who can't make anything without regurgitating cinema

It even feels as if the game was desperate to show you the gameplay, like it was telling you "dude I have this intro because people say I should have an intro" while thinking to itself "come on, come on make it faster god damn it".

Bitch, that part took me maybe 45 minutes. Don't be such an impatient little homo.

Or you can just not have act 1 being boring as fuck. For all the shit people give Deus Ex's first level, it's actually a great introductory level. It just throws you into a mission - a very rookie mission that doesn't advance the plot much but sets the tone, and gives you the details later through dialogue and the various things you've described in that post.

How about just a good intro and a good story.

>Think about replaying Twlight Princess
>Remember all the goat herding and tutorial shit you gotta do before you can go to the fun fucking part of the game
TPs opening is so fucking trash. Skywards is also too fucking long.

>45 minute tutorial

Because most big budget modern games are critic bait and most 'critics' play the game for barely an hour so they cram as much cinematic bullshit into the start to make it seem like the game is so much bigger and exciting only for it to go absolutely nowhere by the end because by now you've already bought it and the joke is on you.

Intro cinematics more than a minute long shouldn't be allowed, ever.

Hmmm...you may be onto something here

I don't think I can spice up act 1 anymore than it is without it feeling contrived. The problem I have is that act 1 happens in a certain setting that isn't seen again for most of the book until literally 1 other part (that isn't even the climax, its just part of act 2)

So no matter what I did in it, it feels like act 1 is a bit of a waste of time to read, as it details a lot about circumstances that will soon be shattered, and an environment that will soon be left behind.

I have a -very- exciting short story that could make for a perfect replacement for act 1, however it does not lead into act 2, and is almost wholly disconnected from the plot of the story, but does star the same lead character.

Logically I could just insert this short story as the prologue, but then I'd still be left with the events of the original act 1 that would need to be conveyed, and I'd be right where I started the first time.

This is hurting my head and I really shouldn't be posting about this on Sup Forums anyway, thanks so much for your input though, I really do appreciate it, I'll think about all of this carefully

This.
AAA games are mostly cats in the bag deals.

Well if it's a book you have no obligation to make it start explosive. It may ensure some more people keep reading but it isn't necessary for quality.

A game is actually seriously degraded by taking hours to get going.

>wasting time talking about Horizons poor excuse for a story when Nier is right around the corner

>he didnt buy the japan release

Its a problem with storytelling in general, and is very much not limited to video games. If anything, video games are the most often to not have this problem of long tedious introductions that do not sell the actual essence of the plot that begins in act 2, choosing instead work so hard on establishing act 2 in act 1 that it just goes on and on and on.

This wouldn't be an issue, but act 2 is the majority of the story, and its the part that people actually show up to read, and its the part where most of the work goes in. If you don't have a strong act 2, you've failed. Video games can circumvent 3 act structure storytelling, as their worlds can be experienced rather than shown to the audience, so story can be presented with weird and non-traditional structures that allow them to skip the 3-act structure, or simply start in act 2 without any act 1 at all and it will still work because the gameplay is the focus, and you can info dump at all times with zero consequences to the overall plot of the game

This doesn't work in books though, because they aren't experienced, but instead the author is explaining it to the reader, which means info dumps cannot just occur all the time or else it becomes a spaghetti mess of information that can't be deciphered from the actual plot of act1/act2/act3, so you have to be very strategic, or make it known beforehand that a piece of text is NOT a part of the plot, by separating it from the rest of the next in some way.

Kind of hard to explain but video games have their own ways of telling stories that books and movies cannot emulate on any level, because video games give an experience that delivers an emotional experience, experience which can only be gained by the interactions between the player and the game world. Movies and books can't do this because movies show and books tell what's going on in order to deliver an emotional experience.

Thus the problem of long drawn out intros effects video games the least.

>he didn't pre-order the black box edition as well as purchase the japan release
>he didn't learn nipponese just to play without subs

You can't learn nipponese.

Dark Souls

Skyrim

why not?

Its true, I tried once and its impossible

Pretty sure the japanese release has a dub

It's just that alien. It's not even learning the thousands of kanji, it's the phonetic limitations and Lovecraftian grammar.

Shittest intro I've been subjected to in recent memory