Some of the most beloved narrative moments in gaming history are those that took a long time to build up to. Games with long narrative arcs at the center of progression tend to be RPGs, as the format allows the player to directly take part in the story as it unfolds to its ultimate conclusion.
In some games, though, unnecessarily long introductory segments turn new players away before they ever get to experience the real meat of the narrative later on. Having to complete the same long intro with every new game is sometimes enough to make dedicated players turn off the game for good on their first completion.
Updated May 6, 2022 by Erik Petrovich: Story-based games that take their time getting to the point are incredibly common. In fact, it's a bit of a trope in gaming that RPGs and the like aren't fun until players get hundreds of hours in. There are some games that take ages to get good, but for the most part that's a bit of an exaggeration. MMOs in particular, like Guild Wars 2, suffer as players are typically guided linearly until the game trusts them to go their own way. Additionally, there are some games that don't get truly good for the first few hours because the true meat of the game is found beyond a satisfying introductory section like is the case with Inscryption.
14 Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2, like any MMO, takes its time to get to the meat of the game both in terms of gameplay and narrative. Players start out in zones based on their chosen race and progress through starter quests and self-contained storylines, all while slowly building their character's personal story.
After a good ten hours or so of getting used to the game's controls and getting through the first zone, players will finally start progressing their personal story through quests determined by answers to questions asked during character creation.
13 Inscryption
Inscryption is a fantastic game through and through, from the moment the game launches to its conclusion, and it's not included here because the first few hours of the game are necessarily bad.
Inscryption is a game with a lot hidden, so much so that new players really have no idea what they're getting into. The game starts out with the fantastic card game setting, but slowly things turn out to not be the way they seem - this is the moment when the game hits its stride, usually reached after a few hours of playing.
12 Bioshock Infinite
Bioshock Infinite is the third in the Bioshock series and probably the most well-known entry in the franchise. Instead of being based in Rapture under the ocean, though, Bioshock Infinite takes place far above in the sky city of Columbia.
The game takes its time getting to the point where players are given actual freedom of movement in the world, and though the story is interesting enough to keep it moving, the game doesn't truly start getting fun until more combat options have been unlocked.
11 NieR Automata
NieR Automata is a game that's hard to describe. It's an RPG at its core, with a mix of combo-based combat, bullet-hell segments, and a storyline so massive it's difficult to truly comprehend in just one game, let alone the series as a whole.
NieR Automata starts with a pretty epic introductory sequence where the player infiltrates a factory and downs a monstrous mech. It's a visually spectacular segment, but going back to it more than once gets stale very fast.
10 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion...
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is one of the most well-remembered RPGs of the early Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 era. Players going back into the game after all these years might be surprised to find out just how long the game railroads the player with required quests.
The initial escape segment is long enough by itself, but then it takes another few hours just to finish major parts of the main quest that allow more choices in the game.
9 ...And The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Just like Oblivion, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has a problem with the initial mandatory quests presented to the player. It might actually be worse than Oblivion because the iconic Dragonborn abilities aren't unlocked until many hours into the game.
The drawn-out introductory questlines in Skyrim have caused players to create mods that let you choose your start. The Alternate Start - Live Another Life mod is the most popular mod that changes the intro, as it offers a number of choices that customize each playthrough from the start.
8 The Witcher 3
While The Witcher 3 has some of the deepest and most complex lore of any modern RPG, it takes a while to get there. The tutorial segment at the School of the Wolf is skippable (for the most part), but the starting area of White Orchard takes a few hours to get through.
The rest of the game opens up exponentially upon leaving White Orchard. It serves as a decent introduction to the world and mechanics of The Witcher 3, but for players going through NG+ or doing a modded playthrough, it gets tedious quickly.
7 Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is among the most revered Star Wars games. It's mostly praised for its intricate and well-developed narrative, but the start of the game is among the most notoriously tiresome in all of video gaming.
Peragus is a zone that takes most players a few hours to complete. The relatively slow combat mechanics haven't aged well with time, so to many this introductory segment will feel longer and longer as time goes on.
6 Grand Theft Auto V
The story of almost every Grand Theft Auto game is generally second to open-world gameplay and combat mechanics. The story of Grand Theft Auto V is as bombastic as it is engaging. The introduction to the game usually takes a long time, but the fifth entry to the series is especially lengthy.
The ability to freely switch between characters is not unlocked until the player finishes the repetitive heist introduction. However, true freedom in the open world isn't truly achieved until deep into the game's main questline.
5 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is generally seen as a high point for the series. It gave Link and the world of Hyrule a high-resolution facelift for the first time, and sold very well for both the Gamecube and Nintendo Wii upon release, garnering a later HD remake.
The introduction to the game is the longest in any Zelda title, though. It takes upwards of two hours just to get out of the initial village starting area, and the first dungeon isn't even found until about three to four hours in a normal playthrough.
4 Dragon Age Origins
The story of Dragon Age Origins is one rife with intrigue, drama, character-to-character romance, and narrative progression, all guided by the player's choices. What the player has no choice about, however, is the incredibly dull and long intro to the game.
The Fade takes a very long time to get through normally, but it's also a common bug to be stuck there right after the intro cutscene. The game's story is great if the player can get to it before quitting.
3 Final Fantasy X
The tenth installment in the Final Fantasy series is one of the better 3D entries in the franchise. The best parts of the game are made available much later on in the game than most other Final Fantasy games, though that requires getting past the very long introductory areas.
It doesn't help that the introductory cutscene is a long one, too. Luckily players going back through the game can skip it, but it's the only skippable cutscene in the entire game.
2 Octopath Traveler
Octopath Traveler is a notable JRPG both for its beautiful take on the pixel-art graphics of the SNES era as well as its multi-pathed narrative focusing on eight different characters. The time it takes to get a full party and start the intro for each character takes hours upon hours, even for the most experienced players.
It's a game that suddenly gets a lot easier with a full party composition, but each character's introduction takes an hour alone – that means to finish the game's introductory segments, the player will need to spend at least eight hours in-game.
1 Divinity: Original Sin 2
The narrative of Divinity: Original Sin 2 is almost entirely dependent on the player's choices. It plays almost exactly like a game of Dungeons and Dragons in the virtual space, but instead of having every player ready to go from the beginning, you'll have to gather a full party in the introductory Fort Joy area.
The game's combat and exploration mechanics are incredibly well-designed, which makes it easier to take the tutorial area any direction the player chooses. After starting a few new playthroughs with mods or gift bags enabled, though, it gets a little bit dull.