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What is the longest opening to a game before you can actually play it?

ElectricBlanketFire

ElectricBlanketFire

What year is this?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,860
I started playing Metroid Dread again today to test out the Rookie/One Shot modes and was annoyed that I couldn't skip the opening cutscenes.

That made me think, "I wonder what the longest opening to a game is before you can actually play it?"

Well…what is it? Things like pressing start or changing in-game settings don't count obviously.
 
The Unsent

The Unsent

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,438
I think Yakuza 6 was quite long because it recaps Yakuza 5 and shows all the characters on a beach, in a dream.
 
RingoGaSuki

RingoGaSuki

Member
Apr 22, 2019
2,443
Pokemon Sun/Moon, takes like an hour to get your first Pokemon and actually battle anything. They're near unreplayable for me due to that.
 
jokkir

jokkir

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,171
Isnt DQ7 notoriously long

Edit - Oh wait, until you can actually hit buttons idk then
 
RadzPrower

RadzPrower

One Winged Slayer
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Jan 19, 2018
6,049
Haven't played any in a while so I don't remember, but Metal Gear Solid seems like a franchise that'd pull this sort of stuff. Then again, they really tended more to have final cutscenes that were basically full-length movies rather than frontload anything...
 
Okabe

Okabe

Is Sometimes A Good Bean
Member
Aug 24, 2018
19,939
Uhhh hrmmm

Assassins creed 3 opening was 3 hours long sooo

that
 
PAFenix

PAFenix

Unshakable Resolve
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Nov 21, 2019
14,686
I recall Xenosaga 1 lasting so long in the opening cutscene that my wife had to leave the room on my last attempt to play it with her.
 

cecilpaladin32

Member
Apr 24, 2018
3,608
PAFenix said:
I recall Xenosaga 1 lasting so long in the opening cutscene that my wife had to leave the room on my last attempt to play it with her.
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I came into this thread to say that I remember a friend saying that one of the Xenosaga openings took forever. I always put off playing those games and never got around to them, myself.
 
Tavernade

Tavernade

Tavernade
Moderator
Sep 18, 2018
8,633
Kingdom Hearts 2 felt like the Roxas opening was eight hours long. I'm sure it was shorter, and it's important to the plot, but still.
 
Ashes of Dreams

Ashes of Dreams

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May 22, 2020
14,464
Yeah it depends on what you consider "actually play it". Persona 4 has been mentioned a few times and it's like... three hours of guided prologue. But there IS gameplay within that prologue so I don't know if that counts. Same to Kingdom Hearts II and Xenosaga. Those games have LONG opening segments but there's walking around and tutorial battles and stuff. Gameplay is happening.
 
Kito

Kito

Member
Nov 6, 2017
3,157
Kingdom Hearts 2, because I don't consider any of the controllable portions of the first few hours to be playing anything of value.
 
DigitalOp

DigitalOp

Member
Nov 16, 2017
9,289
It's def GoW3

I remember cuz I chose the wrong difficulty and had to restart it twice

You CANNOT skip the intro video, took fucking forever
 
Garmonbozia

Garmonbozia

Member
Oct 27, 2017
591
Doesn't count with what OP is determining, but the opening for MGS5 is soo slow. Just terrible in replays.
 
PAFenix

PAFenix

Unshakable Resolve
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Nov 21, 2019
14,686
cecilpaladin32 said:
I came into this thread to say that I remember a friend saying that one of the Xenosaga openings took forever. I always put off playing those games and never got around to them, myself.
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Yeah, that's not to disparage it. I played (only the first one) back in high school and loved it, and just wanted to play it again with the wife since she's never seen it. I just......forgot about the length of the cutscene lol

We weren't expecting an entire anime-episode length with credits rolling as people floated through space and Kosmos getting booted up XD
 
dkeane

dkeane

Member
Oct 27, 2017
871
Didn't Metal Gear have an opening where you just watch Snake smoke cigarettes for a while? My memory sucks.
 
RadzPrower

RadzPrower

One Winged Slayer
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Jan 19, 2018
6,049
Kito said:
Kingdom Hearts 2, because I don't consider any of the controllable portions of the first few hours to be playing anything of value.
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Boring perhaps, but doesn't fit the actual question...when do you get to actually PLAY...not when do you get interested.

If that were the question, I'm sure there's games out there that are a dozen hours before they get good.
 
Reven Wolf

Reven Wolf

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,563
I know it's not the longest but ME3 feels like an eternity before you are given direct control (even longer before you actually get to choose where to go.

Okami was definitely up there.

Honestly anything where you can't skip cutscenes is pretty painful.

I had forgotten how eternal Monster Hunter World feels.

I appreciate that those cutscenes take time and effort but the option to skip should be mandatory imo.
 
xmonkeyofevil

xmonkeyofevil

Member
Jun 9, 2019
481
With absolutely zero input from the player? Daikatana has a 10 minute cutscene to start the game, and it's not even an interesting one. It's even worse if you play the N64 version, which is like three or so minutes longer than the PC version.
 
zswordsman

zswordsman

Member
Nov 5, 2017
1,771
It has to be MGS4. Persona 4 is probably close but I'm sure you don't even move snake until multiple 20 minute cutscenes.
 
Window

Window

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,284
MGS4 had the in-universe TV channels you could flip through for a few minutes, followed by a cutscene followed by gameplay where you walk for a few seconds followed by more cutscenes.
 
kurahador

kurahador

Member
Oct 28, 2017
17,565
Nothing recent, but I remember FFXIII-2 opening being super long with bunch of stuff happening providing you zero context. It was terrible. Thankfully the game isn't as bad.
 
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