7 Unskippable Openings You Never Want to Play Through Again

Games like to shout about their replay value, but too many have long unskippable openings you have to play through every single time you start up another game. Here are just a few that don’t play as well the second, third, or millionth time around…
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[@alexharrison2743]

"Oh. Oh no... I need to play Skyrim again." is one of THE most relatable things I've ever heard 😂

[@amberwhipple2106]

Me yesterday after watching this video

[@steverob5]

I've definitely got a save file for Fallout 4 at the point where I'm just about to leave the vault, so I can replay the game without having to do those first 15 minutes AGAIN (plus it allows you to recreate your character as you leave the vault - bonus!)

[@adjustedcoyote7234]

That... that's genius

[@nathanglasser6845]

I definitely need to do that, for both Fallout 4 and Skyrim

[@firebladeentertainment5739]

sadly the RNG of fallout is fixed with that approach it only starts the RNG with a fully new game thats why i got a mod that also allows me to skip the Fallout 4 intro

[@philiphunn194]

Same here, although mine starts just as I've left the vault, just in case one of the many mods I'm itching to install breaks the vault door so I can't get out.

[@theubiquitouspotato]

@@nathanglasser6845 skyrims got a mod for that, its called alternate start worth getting unless your after achievements

[@frozenscouse]

As any veteran Skyrim player will testify, the game literally creates a save file for you automatically after the cart scene, but before character customisation

[@jackercooper4078]

yuup, at least you cut that part short

[@Guntherson220]

Was literally about to say that.

[@jaredcrabb]

I didnt actually know that, I make a manual save.

[@gos358]

I'm the type to start a new game as a whole and watch the cutscene each time, mostly because I didn't know about the save, yet it doesn't bother me at all

[@frozenscouse]

some people like to watch it over every time they start a new game, nothing wrong with that, I do sometimes but most times I dont

[@fendrel]

ironically, Ellens complaints about the slow start of ACNH is what made me finally reset my island after not touching the game for 2+ years

[@avisions]

Hope you enjoy the guilt trip character complaining at you.

[@4rkain3]

Yeah. I really want to restart mine because I want to have that nice fresh start after having missed so many events over the past years. Missing those events is what kept me from playing again.

[@terrabits]

"Will you play a stealthy archer, or will you be a mage this time, for twenty minutes, before re-specing to be a stealthy archer?" Somewhere, Rob Pearson feels extremely called out, and he does not know why. 😁

[@wouldiwasshookspeared4087]

I felt seen by that comment.

[@Stratelier]

Luke spoke that like a true Skyrim veteran.

[@dearone1]

There is no other way to play Skyrim, it simply cannot be done

[@mayhemmcfly4229]

Oh, Loincloth Rob knows and senses the 'call out'. But he doesn't 'learn', and he doesn't care to start. On a side note, do _YOU_ know the way to Solitude?

[@esteban280889]

Pretty sure Rob has even made that comment before

[@AiyrenAmbrosia]

Ellen slapping Luke to reset him was way funnier that I had expected xD

[@FCGroningen1987]

I wonder how many takes it took to get it to look and sound right.

[@AiyrenAmbrosia]

@@FCGroningen1987 waarschijnlijk teveel 😂

[@thembill8246]

It looked fairly real.

[@Banquet42]

"That's great Ellen, I think we got it." "No, I am an artist, I WILL keep going until I get it just right..."

[@chefbreccia2642]

And more realistic than I expected.

[@ARUCARDFTEPES]

Not really an un-skippable opening, but un-avoidable intro mission: When you have to introduce yourself to everyone in town in Harvest Moon type games. There's always at least one person I can never remember where/how to find them.

[@mattball8622]

I still remember the first episode of campaign two of Critical Role where the first in-character line was "You're finally awake" and every Skyrim player took 1d4 psychic damage courtesy of Sam Riegel being a massive troll

[@LAnimeMaster]

I remember them all laughing at that as they too knew exactly where he pulled that from.

[@dancingcarapace]

Sam Riegel: Well versed Voice Actor and professional troller of nerds

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Gotta love the CR players/voice actors.

[@wouldiwasshookspeared4087]

My two loves, CR, and OXBox

[@TUdi320]

Ellen referencing hbomberguy was something I absolutely wasn't expecting, and in the Deux Ex section no less!

[@merepseu]

I'm sure she shares his utter contempt for *_Cutscene Jensen._*

[@ddjsoyenby]

same.

[@KidTheFail]

Not only did it suprise me, it also made me really happy, my worlds colliding is a favourite of mine

[@merepseu]

@@KidTheFail I suspect the Deathloop episode of Show of the Weekend may just blow your mind.

[@MillicentOak]

Was a bit of an oof

[@a.p.2019]

Skyrim's "Another Life" mod is dope - last playthrough, I started out having to break out of Markarth. At level 1, there was no way I could fight off the hordes of soldiers and I had to swim down the river and its many waterfalls to survive. So cool.

[@StealthMarmot_]

Best mod for replay value in Skyrim, I hope they do something like it in Elder Scrolls VI, which should be coming out in like 2036. The only improvement I could suggest is making new openings and starting points unlockable through playthroughs by finishing questlines.

[@sierrarobinson2316]

i did the got beat up and left for dead section on that mod once and it dropped me on solstheim. It was really fun even if i was basically running from ash spawn and rieklings.

[@a.p.2019]

@sierrarobinson2316 Dang now that sounds hectic 😂😂

[@sierrarobinson2316]

@@a.p.2019 it consisted of a lot of "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" 😅

[@eldritchcupcakes3195]

@@StealthMarmot_too optimistic, they’ll be able to revive your frozen body in 3036 before we get a gameplay trailer

[@wildandcrazygal]

I was seriously pissed off when I played Phantom Pain and I saw that wheelchair and couldn't use it. I had totally forgotten it. Just seeing it now has me furious all over again.

[@tatanslayer2017]

Fortunately with skyrim you at least get a save right before the character customization, so assuming you don't overwrite/delete it you can start right there next time and save yourself the 5 minute cart ride

[@whitewolf3051]

What about Fallout 4? Does that do the same thing, or do you have go through the whole thing?

[@vickymc9695]

Can also add the skip patch if you're on PC

[@tatanslayer2017]

@@whitewolf3051 I'm not sure about fallout, I never liked it enough for a 2nd playthrough

[@homerman76]

@@whitewolf3051 I've you can setup a save before character creation, but doing so locks the rng of the entire game 🤔

[@leahbeth8335]

Honestly, even sitting through the post-creation bit gets really fucking old.

[@ildanach]

I have to say... that slap looked frickin convincing.

[@Richtor]

I used to be in QA at an EA studio and I had some random task that had me watching the intro to Skate over and over again. I was initially excited to work on Skate, because I was volunteering from another game team, but after the first 2 runs through the unskippable opening FMV I was pretty much ready to quit. It was a LONG day.

[@judechauhan6715]

One mod I installed for Skyrim once I think made horses better, faster, more health, more stamina etc. I also had live another life on but chose the vanilla start because i'd done so many starts without it that it was almost new to me again. Whatever mod it was, the horses start riding up the mountain and so I just got infinitely stuck in that cart, never died of course but never truly lived either.

[@jbo4547]

"Never truly lived". Damn lol

[@DemstarAus]

This was like reading a cryptic crossword clue, or one of those headlines where some punctuation or an extra word would really help.

[@judechauhan6715]

@@DemstarAus Yeah my bad I guess it kinda helps if you have the context of having played skyrim modded but 'Another Life' is a mod that allows you to choose many different starts to the game instead of the normal one. I chose to go back and use the default start but another mod (something that made horses in the game quicker) messed up the scripting so instead of taking 10 paces along a road and turning, these now quicker horses ended up sprinting halfway up a hill and flipping the cart.

[@heathernicol3026]

My brother accidentally saved over his main Skyrim file, and in a fury he reset and started again. He was only half paying attention to the opening cart scene… until he realized it had gone off the rails. We haven’t figured out why, but the entire entourage wound up juuuuuust slightly to the side, so the wagon tried to drive up the wall around Helgen and got stuck. ^__^

[@butwhataboutdragons7768]

The mod Immersive Weapons was, sorry IS well known for absolutely mauling the cart ride. The physics go nuts, the cart jumps around outrageously, with a 98% chance of breaking something. Usually the cart kills the Imperial Captain, who has quite a few lines, and without her alive the scripts don't work and the game has no idea what to do. There are only a couple of ways to fix this issue.

[@vexile1239]

@@butwhataboutdragons7768 or it could've been a bee

[@kuno3336]

One time Alduin just... didn't land

[@alyssabaerne9508]

@@vexile1239 the famousactual ingame bug for bugging even the opening on afully vanilla skyrim.

[@chillhour6155]

That still happens ?..faaaaaaAAaaak

[@forceofnature26]

My favorite part of MGSV's intro is that while you're flopping around on the floor, Ishmael is basically sprinting ahead of you, leaping over chest-high walls, and basically rubbing your face in his working limbs....and butt

[@waltlock8805]

That should be your first clue that Ismael isn't real (he's a combination of your imagination and the third child's telekenisis). The real Big Boss was never in a coma there. We actually have Word of Kojima that Big Boss was only in one coma. Once you understand that EVERYONE in a MGS game is an unreliable narrator, it begins to make more sense.

[@Amaritudine]

@@waltlock8805 * spoilers to follow * Turns out Ishmael IS the real Big Boss. He stayed at the hospital undercover to help ensure his doppelganger got off to a good start.

[@waltlock8805]

@@Amaritudine I played through the whole game, including The Man who Sold the World. I'm convinced Ishmael wasn't there. There's some pretty good lore videos on the topic. That's part of the beauty of MGS. So many questions, so few answers.

[@justinroux1610]

@@waltlock8805 isnt the theory that the player character is actually he medic from sons of liberty and hes just going over the past events of what happened

[@waltlock8805]

@@justinroux1610 At this point I think the main theory is that Ground Zeroes is part of the hypnotic training the medic is going through (people actually thought that was training a body double before MGS V released). The main story of MGS V is what it seems to be (except a tape from Ground Zeroes shows Miller working with Skull Face).

[@errtothebear]

Mass Effect 2. I can only take so much of Miranda yelling at me through the intercom 😂😭

[@bumbyonline]

honestly every mass effect game’s opening. some are better than others but all of them take forever to get me somewhere i have the freedom to actually play freely

[@Debatra.]

Can't forget about your "introduction" to vampire society in VtMB. One of the more popular features of the Unofficial Patch (besides rendering the game playable) is the ability to skip the intro cutscene. You can also skip the tutorial, but going through it at least gets you a free lockpick and some XP.

[@Kartissa]

And if you're careful, a free pistol. Just don't loot the thugs until you've returned Jack's gun to him. Not that the pistol is any good, but still....

[@TinKnight]

I've gotta say, I steadfastly love how the OX team have always been consistent about providing spoiler warnings in basically every list video. None of the other major channels seem to do so (if we're lucky, they include it in the description, but I don't want to pull up the description before every video). Anyway, thanks for including it, even when we're talking about the opening sequences!

[@hotduelist]

They're some of the best at this because they're real people playing games. A lot of other listicle videos are just people paid to Google whatever prompt they're given.

[@Sir_Him]

Wow, Ellen mentioned the Outsider without staring into his black eyes. The Outsider jar must be working.

[@LordMogatron]

Ellen putting up the big Christmas tree in Animal Crossing: Behold my works, ye mighty, and despair!

[@brokko_le3]

I actually love rewatching the intro of half life. It's so atmospheric. Very tranquil.

[@notcarolkaye]

Same. I've probably played that game many times and I never got tired of the intro.

[@ethanlivemere1162]

There's also the fact that you don't actually need to do anything during the tram ride, so you can just boot it up and do something else for a bit. Or, if you know how to use the console, you can just load into the first map of Unforeseen Consequences (though you'll also have to give yourself the HEV suit using commands)

[@Schwartzwindhero123]

I'd say Kingdom Hearts 2. Don't get me wrong, I love Roxas, but literally two hours of photo hunting, annoying odd jobs, painfully easy struggle fights, and looking for the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town really makes me wish they added a "Skip to Sora" option on replays.

[@laterferaligatr2947]

Agreed. KH2 is my favorite in the series, but I didn't play Chain of Memories until years later, so my first playthrough I was like who tf is Roxas...but I enjoyed it...the 1st time. And 4 of my favorite worlds of the series (Timeless River. Space Paranoids. Pride Lands. Land of Dragons.) are in this game But subsequent playthroughs have made me dread that long ass 2 hour opening slog. Fighting Axel is the only highlight

[@kyuubinaruto17]

I'm glad someone said it. It's fine the first time, but it's so slow I hate the Roxas section.

[@ryutheslayer123]

I cannot tell you how many times as a young lad I replayed the KH2 openings JUST so I can get dual wield Roxas for that one fight. I think out of that entire whole sequence, I only didn't like Day 3

[@piddypineapple6165]

yeah true kh2 has a pretty long intro(even if you skip the cutscenes) but I learned to tolerate it after a while

[@seeleyboothfan2]

I just typed this out myself and included the Destiny Islands of the first game being a second to this. It sucks because I actually like Roxas's character more than Sora after playing 358/2 days lol.

[@katfromthekong414]

The Fable games also had a fondness for long opening scenes. In Fable 3 you had to pick your clothes, walk after your aggravatingly slow walking butler, meet your boyfriend and then decide if you want to kill him or a bunch of villagers, before doing more aggravatingly slow walking.

[@Vinemaple]

Well TBH that's just setting you up for the way the whole game, or every Fable game, goes

[@katfromthekong414]

@@Vinemaple isn't that the purpose of every opening sequence? That doesn't make it less tedious on replay....

[@ChristophBrinkmann]

​@@VinemapleExcept for the first two, yes, every Fable game. Also the third one was really short, so that one isn't slow either, come to think of ir

[@little_valkyrie]

Excuse you! The opening of Dishonored is glorious! And playing hide and seek with Emily is the best damn part.

[@ChristophBrinkmann]

The best part is seeing the religious fascist in the warehouse fully infected and whining about how it's Corvo's fault he's there.

[@Nogdev]

Luke and I share the reaction on learning that there's a neutral ending to Dishonored. Goddammit Ellen, now I gotta abandon my perfect sneaky ways! Edit: I made the comment before reaching the Phantom Pain section, and man oh man Luke's "That's another opening we don't want to see" is got to be one of the OX's best. So impeccable was the timing and the context it was made in!

[@AngelBeatYunara]

The Peragus mining facility in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 definitely springs to mind.

[@robber233]

Great game, best star wars story, torturous first level. In short i agree.

[@jeremygilbert7989]

Agreed. Peragus drags on for an interminably long time, even when you've played through it a dozen or more times and know exactly what to do and where.

[@TheLurkingWriter]

I love that game but it's comforting to know I'm not alone with that opinion.

[@DJMarcO138]

It's what prevented me from ever finishing that game, lol.

[@Calekoflight]

I don't really remember the beginning of 2 that well but I have fond memories of doing the Endar Spire and all of Taris insisting I stay at level 2. Bendak Starkiller is particularly tough at level 2.

[@jessicastrike5640]

Arkham Asylum. I love the game, it’s a masterpiece in almost every conceivable way but the opening where you slowly walk Joker into the Asylum takes sooooo long. The first few times it is dripping in atmosphere but that wears off with more and more replays as you just walk slowly through security etc

[@MatthewDoel32]

Not to mention once you’re in the game proper and you’ve played it a few times, certain voice lines REALLY get annoying. Special mention to “don’t let him hit you, you idiot”.

[@shivamnarayan1450]

That slow opening trudge was literally the only thing that put me off from playing Arkham Asylum for years. Apart from that, it was a thoroughly enjoyable game.

[@ARUCARDFTEPES]

I think it applies for most well crafted, cinematic type openings. They are designed to dazzle you, or enhance the immersion, but after the first time the effect weakens.

[@Foxtail190]

Kotor 2 comes to mind immediately. Paragus station is a very long intro for a game that very much encourages multiple playthroughs.

[@MadMikeRyan.]

I think Peragus would have been much more enjoyable if it leaned even further into the survival horror-esque nature of the chapter. It's one of the better intro chapters I've seen in gaming. The one thing it does best is how it incorporates your character's skills and enables different methods to advance through the station based on your abilities, which is something most RPGs aspire toward for their prologues but KOTOR 2 implemented it really well, better than Dragon Age ever did.

[@patwilson9186]

Okami has a 30 minute, un-skipable series of cutscenes

[@ishura19]

You forgot to mention "that requires you to continuously press X for the entirety of those 30 minutes".

[@KeithFraser82]

"Too short."

[@local_cryptid]

And I wouldnt skip it even if I could! 😤

[@JallenMeodia]

The brilliant part is that the Attract video that plays on the main menu (remember those?) was just the opening cinematic. So if you booted the game up for the first time and you watched the cool cutscene and then started the game, you watched the exact same thing again.

[@pirksaddict]

"Okami isn't slow, it's LANGUID...". One of my favorite Zero Punctuation Reviews...

[@roguebanshee]

Oblivion's opening tutorial/dungeon crawl made me store a save at the end of that dungeon just before activatíng the final gate that finalizes your class/race/birthsign combination.

[@nicholasfarrell5981]

At least Oblivion gave you Patrick Stewart to listen to.

[@CorwinAlexander]

That was the start of the "prisoner" saves in Fallout New Vegas, Skyrim and Fallout 4. "You're finally awake" [save]

[@shaneroffey5638]

Same

[@ghostreader3692]

Me too!

[@insaincaldo]

Not counting it getting brought up in videos like this, I've only seen the Skyrim intro on my first playthrough and when I installed the last DLC, which wasn't till last year. Now it's just "You.. Who are you?"

[@jeremyc4215]

"Or will you be a mage this time for 20 minutes before re-specing to be a stealthy archer?" ROFL. So true.

[@ArcturusDeluxe]

To be honest I never really had the need to skip these sorts of intros. I don't tend to go back and replay games immediately and the intros (assuming they're at least decent, which I'd say most of these intros in this video are) are good to get you immersed back into the setting and overall vibe of the game after having not played it for a while. It'd be nice if they had the option to skip for people who want that of course!

[@naomiskilling1093]

Also most of them also contain very plot relevant bits which you may have forgotten if its been a hot minute since you played the game (Skyrim sets up the Civil war and dragon plot line, Dishonored is literally the whole reason the game is happening as is Deus Ex and Last of Us) so like I think its worth sitting through them a second or third time to get yourself reacquainted with the world and plot you're about to be spending potentially 60-100+ hours playing.

[@clev7989]

​@naomiskilling1093 very reasonable comments from both of you, my perspective is I despise these intros, but only when unskipable. I compulsively make new characters in games to experience the fun of a new playstyle. I also usually play only one or two hours of any given game at one time before taking a break. Needless to say, I'm a bit of an oddball when it comes to game lovers. Because of this I rarely get 20 hours into even giant rpgs before hitting the restart button. Intros like these can be a real deal breaker when going back to a game. My goal isn't to counter anything said, but rather explain and share my perspective as someone who feels differently.

[@mooreshmallow]

Kind of surprised Kingdom Hearts 2 didn’t make the list. I personally really like the prologue with Roxas, but it’s definitely a “Your mileage may vary,” kind of thing.

[@AnimatingClass101]

What a wind up from Ellen! Incredible “reset slap”

[@SigmaSyndicate]

Persona 4 (or it's remake, Persona 4 Golden) has one of longest intros to anything I have ever played in my entire life, ever. The intro is 4 hours long. 4 hours of *dialogue*, in a peaceful, quiet rural town, broken up by the occasional tutorial combat section where you use the only ability you're given, and the occasional tutorial exploration segment where you have to manually walk your character to the next bit of dialogue.

[@ellielacinoir602]

My mind immediately went to Breath of the Wild. Being stuck on the great plateau is VERY limiting, plus having to get all of the Shieka Slate apps from all 4 shrines, following the old man's cryptic instructions to find the temple of time, and sitting through that goddamn backstory cutscene took days for me and my brothers the first time, and it still takes me around 2 hours or so to complete. It's incredibly time consuming for what's basically a tutorial stage.

[@r.j.penfold]

You can skip the cutscenes at least.

[@ellielacinoir602]

@@r.j.penfold You can?.............

[@Nurk0m0rath]

I loved the opening of morrowind. Literally just walk off the boat, tell some dude who you are, and check out of the office for some coin to buy starter gear. There were tutorials in text boxes that you could read and then skip right over later. Oblivion's intro was fun the first time but rapidly grew tedious, and then Skyrim followed suit.

[@ComradeWolfman98]

I always have a save file for Skyrim that starts with the character creation

[@SanderEvers]

Yeah, it even automatically creates a save file at that point. Just don't remove it.

[@waltlock8805]

Live another life my friend. Live another life!

[@hollyhartwick3832]

@@SanderEvers - Yup. The "Prisoner" save. Never delete it. Universally useful, even on a no-mods system like PS3 and Switch.

[@detectiveprincegoroakechi4815]

this is the way

[@SecondSince]

Luke's *annoyed faces* in this video are great! We need a compilation of Annoyed Luke!

[@twixx1]

Omikron: The Nomad Soul immediately jumps to mind. Shortly into the game are the opening credits where you have to sit through an entire David Bowie song while treated to a variety of views of the city. Fun the first time, not so much the tenth.

[@doglover427]

The windup on that slap was so good 😂😂😂 A+ comedic timing

[@CleaverMama]

Hunting down the beacon on Eden Prime and disabling Sarens bombs was thrilling...the first time. Once you know you have to be playing on the hardest difficulty with no level ups using a gun you're not trained in to even have a chance of running out of time to disarm the bombs, you do start wishing you could skip straight to the vision. ... The unskippable vision they make you watch multiple times throughout the game.

[@TheOfficialPSI]

I feel like Mass Effect 1 itself is the unskippable intro to the rest of the trilogy.

[@jongofett]

I’d add Red Dead to this list (both but specifically the sequel) - it’s one of the most beautiful games ever but man that snowy chapter takes a very long time to get through I’d also suggest the opposite video: Game openings you want to replay but the game doesn’t let you (except by starting a new save file). First thing that comes to my mind is The Force Unleashed - getting to go on a rampage as Darth Vader against an army of walking carpets (and also some of your Stormtroopers caught in the crossfire) but there’s no way to play through it again without making a new save file. Kind of a cheaty answer but also Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - while there are levels that are replayable, a good chunk of the story can only ever be played (or seen for cutscenes) once. Almost literally every single Lego game was fully replayable before but this change was seemingly out of nowhere for no reason

[@indi90air]

Hearing talk of unskippable openings makes me think of Golden Sun for the GBA. I don't know exactly how long it takes before you leave Iaaac's village and actually start the game but I have played the game more than once so I can safely say I have spent too much of my life watching those scenes.

[@Whalewraith]

I must have been through that Skyrim intro 20 times. I start the game and make a coffee, it works out just right.

[@jameswaumsley7701]

Got to love Ellen dropping an hbomb reference during the bit on the game he did a 3 and a half hour video on!

[@dmolmalowski]

>bit on the game he did a 3 and a half hour video on! ugh, tedious.

[@pkrockinomega4184]

That was amazing😂

[@parkerpotter6149]

Fallout 3’s opening was amazing and enjoyable for the first few times but it starts to feel like an Vault-Tec experiment on human willpower!

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Still better than almost all of Fallout 76.

[@lacytaylor1501]

Bethesda games are seriously draining about intros, as someone who's played Skyrim, fallout 3, NV, and 4 multiple times. Also never finished the main story for any except 3

[@tobyricher2817]

Hbomberguy certainly has something to say about it.

[@valiroime]

@@michaelandreipalon359: That’s a pretty low bar. Wouldn’t take much to be better than that.

[@PristianoPenaldoSUIIII]

@@tobyricher2817 I've fallen asleep to that video enough that the phrase "officer mack is intestines now" just randomly pops into my head

[@HarbingerOfRespite]

Can't imagine I'm the only person who created a save file right when you get out of the cart in Helgen, right before the character creator pops up, so I could at least skip the two hour cart ride at the start. Any time I wanted to start a new game, I'd just load that save.

[@Ulrieth14]

Sarah's death was the saddest part but the rabbit scene was the best, especially with the reaction videos.

[@therunawaykid6523]

The intro to the last of us will always be one of the best beginnings to any video game ever imo and also devastatingly sad - one of the reasons the first game will always be better than the sequel to me such a well designed opening to a game

[@CharlesGriswold]

I use the Live Another Life mod for Skyrim. I was completely done with the cart ride about the second time I was forced to go through it again.

[@digitalcabbage910]

All hail the modding community. I can't play without LAL.

[@Slinkers.]

One of the greatest mods ever.

[@whitewolf3051]

No need for mods actually, after your first time, the game creates a save that starts right at the character creation scene. So if you want to create a new character, you can start from there by loading into that save file.

[@3possumsinatrenchcoat]

I tried to play a game of vanilla skyrim a while back when I got a new laptop. rabbits kept spawning in the path of the wagons and they'd go flying everywhere, always at a different point in the intro. and since the wagon would arrive at the gate sideways, or never at all, I couldn't even get to the character creator. this went on for a solid hour or more, with me praying it would work, just *once*, before I said screw it and downloaded this and like 50 other QoL mods. never again.

[@Maleketh42]

I prefer Skyrim Unbound, but same idea.

[@master2745]

I’m surprised Golden Sun: The Lost Age for the GBA wasn’t here. Not only do you have to enter a huge password to carry over information from the first game, but it opens with a giant wall of slowly scrolling, unskippable text. I think it’s about ten minutes before the game actually starts

[@shikniwho7215]

at least with emulator, you can try speed up the text but i think there a rumor the series may get a port to switch and maybe PC soon so i do hope they either merge or make it less painful to transfer the data...

[@igitaq]

There are two games that I played recently that don't necessarily have unskippable beginnings but have epilogues that are hours long. While playing both Greedfall and Cyberpunk 2077 it was at least six hours of play before the title screen appeared. It isn't until after both epilogues that the worlds really open up to exploration.

[@prointernetuser]

*prologues epilogues are after the end

[@Prakuza]

As much as I love it for story reasons, I gotta throw Kingdom Hearts 2 up there. Three hours of controlling Roxas before ever even seeing Sora and jumping into the Gummi Ship.

[@RijaMo]

Baldur's Gate 2. Irenicus' Dungeon. That prologue is lasered into my mind at this point.

[@beoweasel]

At least Irenicus' Dungeon has you doing things beyond walking.

[@thembill8246]

Yeah, I like that opening, but Minsc's raging against the cage, and Jaheira's anguishes screams when you find the remains of poor sweet Khalid... I hope Jaheira returns in bg3. She actually has a reason to still be alive, as an elf... At least a more straightforward one than Minsc.

[@daviddaugherty2816]

It's better than Candlekeep in the first one. Although, the journal entries for the rat extermination quest make that opening more than worth it.

[@rogerstewart5525]

I used to use a mod called dungeon be gone that let me skip it

[@michaelandreipalon359]

So good, you want to skip the suffering, I get it.

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

And yet, you convinced us to vicariously play through ALL 7 of those with you again just now! Admit it, one of you actually did get a hankering to replay one of these and decided that if you had to re-experience it then we all have to too! 😁

[@jerbar1280]

Another game that had a lengthy intro you can not skip is Valkyrie Profile. It's a great game that I often wanted to replay, but found that I had saved over the file that was just after the intro. In this intro, you had to walk through several 2D scenes, MOST of which had NOTHING you could interact with. However, if you just "ran" through them you would miss a couple of really important items, including a weapon that really helped with a boss later in the game. There were also ZERO choices on where you could go. Some of the scenes were only a few steps long before you hit another loading screen. I do not remember how long the intro was, but it felt like about 45 minutes.

[@furorceltica185]

Exactly. As much as it's amazing, the intro is unbearably long.

[@HylianFox3]

Love the callback to the "Times You Couldn't Hero Because Glass" video DAMN YOU, GLASS!!!

[@ExoAether]

Pokémon scarlet and violet have 3 separate unskippable cutscenes at the beginning of the game, followed by a long tutorial before you are allowed to start your adventure proper

[@SanderEvers]

Pokémon Sun & Moon was even worse.

[@maxxor-overworldhero6730]

@@SanderEvers No argument there. In fact, most of the newer games have gotten particularly bad about this.

[@deermcdeerface]

The Pokemon Legends Arceus tutorial has been long, I've played it for about 3 hours and I haven't left the tutorial yet.

[@davidmcgill1000]

@@SanderEvers In a way it feels like the cutscene never actually ended. Just one long cutscene through the whole game.

[@absollum]

@@SanderEvers I can't remember the first island actual name. It's just tutorial island to me.

[@galaxy-eyesgarchomp9478]

I'm surprised you guys didn't include Pokemon Sun and Moon in this list. Not only is the tutorial for catching a pokemon unimaginably slow, but it feels like it takes decades just to get to the first trial.

[@robber233]

Well at least its not sword/shield where the tutorial lasts from the start of the game to around...well the end.

[@whitewolf3051]

Wait, what?! Sword/Shield is that hand holding? Glad to have cancelled the preorder back when it came out.

[@galaxy-eyesgarchomp9478]

@@whitewolf3051 At least you can do things outside the hand holding in Sword and Shield. Sun and moon don't really give you the luxury. X and Y are worse.

[@kyuubinaruto17]

Never played it. How is it slow? The earlier games just had an NPC throw a Pokeball and catch it first try. Even if you do a full battle for the usual level 5 Pokemon it doesn't seem like you can stretch out just catching a Pokemon that much.

[@galaxy-eyesgarchomp9478]

@@kyuubinaruto17 Oh trust me, they can and they did. You're stopped every two seconds with dialogue before Kukui throws that damn poke ball,

[@Lorraine202]

The ACNH screenshots at every grand opening confetti is SO relatable

[@sillykristy]

For Fallout 4 and Skyrim, I use an alternate start mod. I did the same for Oblivion. There's an option in each one to go through the default game start, and another one to shortcut to the end of that start. Additionally, the one for Fallout 4 has an option that drops you into the vault after you wake up for the first time. On top of those, both have other start options that allow you to avoid the location (Helgen or Vault 111) where the main quest starts, allowing you to delay the mq.

[@FoxSenpie]

Fallout 4 isn't that long its just very boring so it feel like it takes awhile

[@RichardB42]

I don't know how many hours I have spent doing chores in Twilight Town to buy Roxas and his friends a train ticket at the start of Kingdom Hearts 2, but it's too many

[@catherineterry1111]

You don't have to do it Roxas will look embarrassed by having so little.

[@woe2you2]

The train section was one of the things I really looked forward to in Black Mesa, to see what they did with the place.

[@RoboSparkle]

As an Arkham Asylum speedrunner, I've restarted this absolute classic game so many times and, as entertaining as it is to listen to Mark Hamill be an absolute master for seven minutes, there are a lot of goons in that Asylum not currently suffering from Batman-related injuries, and we need to fix that asap. The modding community eventually gave us a patch allowing us to skip that opening when running the game, but I was a console runner, and my Xbox 360 did not have such an option available to me :(

[@nekoabi_]

I've had a KH2 save at the end of Roxas' week since I first started playing video games bc that intro, as much as I love Roxas, is just such a slog, even with the skippable cutscenes

[@revolver265]

8:01 that looked like it really genuinely hurt. Either that or you guys sold a stage slap really really well

[@JeedyJay]

The way to sell a slap that I was taught (in live theater) is to lift your hand near your face as though to defend, and the slapper hits that instead. On impact, you jerk your head away along the trajectory of the incoming slap. When doing it on video, I imagine you can just overdub a slap sound and skip the hand part.

[@revolver265]

@@JeedyJay I was taught that too, but Luke's got both hands on the clipboard. I guess you could, seems like the camera lens adds a helpful amount of lens compression

[@cowboyjazz]

the hbomberguy reference is truly the crossover of the century

[@ELiiSE_YT]

There's actually a workaround for the Dishonored one. If you finish the game, you can then select individual missions to play. Simply queue up mission one and you can play on through the rest of the game. I managed to get both endings with only one opening doing this.

[@CinderFallenAngel]

This is exactly why I use Alternative Start for Skyrim. I can get into the game quickly and pick up Helgen later.

[@kalythai]

Any version of Final Fantasy 6. The opening credits with the three magitech armors ***slowly*** walking towards the sleepy mining town of Narshe. This is unskippable.

[@TheBlackSeraph]

True, but that theme is awesome.

[@EMSTechs]

Yeah, but it's so good though. I almost cry every single time.

[@Stratelier]

In Skyrim's defense, the next time you create a new character, load up the save file named "Prisoner" instead of starting a "New Game", and you actually CAN skip the lengthy opening! The game created this unique save file automatically when you jumped _off_ the cart and into the character creator.

[@Dmobley9901]

I will say, this worked for me for years, the problem is that over time it can cause some complications, like characters not being in the right places, for example, for some reason every time I reloaded that save after a while to start a new character, Ralof spawned BEHIND me, instead of beside me like he's supposed to- But also if you're someone who experiments with modding every now and then, then there are issues with that, since you may need to start a whole new game anyways in order to avoid any sort of pre-existing conflicts from using modified, unmodified, and differently modified versions of the game across the same save-

[@_Lunaria]

In Skyrim's defense, just get Live Another Life mod, and never see that cart ride again (unless you pick that option, for some reason)

[@Dmobley9901]

@@_Lunaria Although that's only if you want to mod, or can mod.

[@_Lunaria]

@@Dmobley9901 If you dont want to mod, then yeah you need to suffer through that cart ride, but that is your own choise as the mod does exist and modding skyrim is really easy. If you cant mod, that means you are "playing" on a console and thus you deserve all the cart rides that exist.

[@Dmobley9901]

@@_Lunaria I get the appeal of the mod, I even use it myself on PC, although, I wouldn't curse anyone with that, even if PC is master race in this case.

[@deeemm411]

One example I can think of for long intros is Shin Megami Tensei 3. Yes most of that intro you're walking around naming yourself and other characters, but the point in which you can actually interact with demons and start fighting them happens about...20 to 40 minutes in, depending on how quickly you skip through the dialogue. But it does contain one of my favourite video game scenes ever...The Conception. Always hypes me up.

[@phantomnite]

Smt 3 and even 5 arnt that bad. They dont take eons to start, unlike persona

[@aiodensghost8645]

Holy cow... Luke's voice + cheap earbuds from 2018 = 1928 sounding radio... and I didn't know I needed it until I heard it

[@laam999]

Not a joke. Aquarium is a fantastic album, definitely worth fighting for!

[@Bronzescorpion]

The crazy thing about the MGSV intro is that they let you play through it twice in one playthrough. How exiting!

[@rjfrost7090]

What makes the second time you play through it different from the first?

[@ericb3157]

@@rjfrost7090 oh, just different "secondary objectives"...oh, and you don't get the Horse Chase segment.

[@Bronzescorpion]

@@rjfrost7090 There is a twist about the guy that is helping you. The twist is nice, but not worth playing that slow boring intro again.

[@Chris_Sizemore]

And instead of restarting Phantom Pain to experience this masterpiece of an intro, you can just choose to replay the mission. Which you probably do want to replay, even if it is only to see the flying Flame Whale again. To see if it makes any more sense this time. Which it could! Possibly. Probably not, but maybe!

[@superdupercooper5826]

I can’t believe they didn’t mention us

[@will493]

The big one that comes to mind is Peragus, where basically all the punch is taken out of the horror tone by knowing what happens.

[@ryanhoover6240]

I haven't played it in a long while, but Skyrim's Another Life mod gives you a whole range of other ways and places you can start the game in - I would highly recommend it! Also, about Dishonored.....there is a neutral ending?????? WHAT!?

[@marybdrake1472]

The thing about Skyrim's opening is that you can skip it if you don't delete the autosave that happens when you step down from the cart after the into sequence. I still have that autosave to the day and haven't had to sit through that opening since XD.

[@EatWave]

It is a hard save, at that. Nothing can ever overwrite the initial save automatically under any circumstances.

[@thepopeofatheism]

The hospital escape in MGSV is made worse by the fact that the games makes you play the whole thing again later! Except now there's an extra reveal at the end. Wooo....ooo....oo....

[@Z3WHA6]

Ughh...phantom pain in the ass. I actually delayed playing MGSV for a looong time because I knew about the intro. Nier Automata does something similar with their lengthy bullet hell intro section when you switch to 9S.

[@Aisene0910]

An oldie but a goodie: Baldur’s Gate 2 and Irenicus’ dungeon. There are mods to let you skip both the villain’s dramatic Shakespearean evil monologue, and other mods to let you skip his incredibly tedious evil laboratory. Adding insult to injury is that nothing other than your character - not your items, your last-game decisions, or even your party - carry over from the first game, so you could be escaping with characters you never used that the game tells you are trusted companions. You can pull that off with Minsc and Boo, but……..

[@KeithFraser82]

You don't even need a mod to skip to the end of the dungeon - just the cheat console. Reveal the whole map, then teleport the party to the far end of each section.

[@TheBlackSeraph]

I recently played Persona 5 Royal (having played vanilla P5 about 4 or 5 times), and it's one of my favourite games with a fantastic opening set-up. Yet, even knowing what I'm playing, that it's a story-heavy RPG based around a calendar time mechanic I began to notice how long the start dragged on and repeated itself before you could do anything other than catch public transport, eavesdrop and engage in story events. The game starts 23rd March(?), and it's 11 April before you enter Kamoshida's Palace, but you can't really do much except for rescue Morgana and not die. You can fight with Ren alone to a limited extent on the 12th but you don't really have a proper dungeon "gameplay loop" until you have Ren, Morgana and Ryuji from the 13th, and don't have free reign until Ann joins on the 15th. I don't think you have any time slots for reading or studying, etc. and SL aren't an option this early on (I think Igor gives you 1 rank of Fool). I still love Persona 5, but I don't remember Persona 4 taking this long to get to its core gameplay loop, and the several hour opening is one of the reasons why I am avoiding a NG+.

[@aureicaurea2230]

I never played P5R but it does take a while for P4G to finally drop you into the first dungeon. It probably helps that they spoon feed you two small fighting segments, but jesus they take forever.

[@phantomnite]

P5R does take a long time to properly start, which I personally say is after getting Ann. The opening Is a slog to get through. Same with all persona games though

[@definitelynotCmdrShepard]

This opening floored me, I'm constantly sitting around my room doing something completely unrelated when suddenly I look up and go "I should play Skyrim"

[@haydennoble9253]

Deus Ex: I actually remembered it as they were still together so I guess props to them for finding a way to keep things civil.

[@SyndicateOperative]

Fun fact: Sometimes I start up half life just to watch the intro sequence again. It's so good.

[@chaislaw5014]

I kinda of love yahtzee's version with Mesa base radio playing the Dandy Warhols , I am a scientist by request over and over interspersed with public announcements you kno only got made cos someone done fukt up.

[@AnnKdc]

Great fun! And a video I would watch over and over again, just for Ellen & Luke! 🤣🤣

[@johnpeterson9416]

I am old enough and played Half-Life so many times I know all the dialogue from the Black Mesa Transit system from memory. Of course the intro was not only a credit sequence and a way to build the narrative, but also a way to show off the (at the time) cutting-edge graphics.

[@M_Alexander]

Fun Fact about the Half-life 2 intro: when you throw the can, if you can bounce it off the guy and land it in the trashcan, he'll get mad and immediately forget about it. I wouldn't be able to repeat the act if I tried but by a complete fluke it happened the first and only time I played

[@richarddill692]

The opening from The Technomancer comes to mind. It's mercifully shorter than many others, but is very slow, and since you more than likely are going need at least 2 playthroughs to get all of the achievements, you'll have to sit through it multiple times just completing the game.

[@ThisChaoticKnight]

Ah, the good old Skyrim intro. I remember having a computer that didn't play nice with the game and always crashed towards the end of the intro. But only the intro fucked up. The gates to Helgan didn't open, the horse walked into a wall inside of Helgan and got stuck, the entire carriage and horse flew off into the woods and got stuck upside down somewhere, and so on and so forth. I had to play the intro on another computer before I could go back and play the rest of the game on my own computer. Those were some good ol times XD

[@baby_valyn7390]

I know Skyrim's opening by heart now 😅 I love it

[@saiyanfang1047]

Hadvar or Ralof is a mod

[@ianmills9266]

Hey you, you're finally awake

[@chefbreccia2642]

*SMACK* better?

[@nicholascross3557]

Fun Fact! The 'near-miss' technique so ably demonstrated by Ellen and Luke was originated by none other than John Wayne, yes, _that_ John Wayne, back in the really early days when he was just a stuntman. I always assumed he got fed up with actually getting punched for the movies.

[@ClamperDrew]

So true. I have not played RDR2 a 2nd time because I do not wanna go back through the snow level.

[@nicholaskoob2894]

Kingdom Hearts 2, Roxas' Summer Vacation. Wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't a day that encouraged you to grind poster placing at least 10 times.

[@harveyjackson2621]

Finding out that Ellen watches hbomberguy was definitely not what I was expecting to find out from this video

[@Cappocchi]

I think I need to go re-watch a 2 hour video about the Roblox "Oof" sound!

[@stephensmith5906]

Red dead redemption 2 fits this perfectly. The opening winter takes forever to get through

[@SixShooter14]

Yes, they must not have consulted Andy when writing this list. Though RDR2 did make the terrible snow level list

[@magiclapras]

Although it doesn't really count for this list specifically, Yu-Gi-Oh Duelists of the Roses has a long intro "cutscene". First laying down the basic plot of the game, then an argument between Simon and Seto. All before you've chosen what deck you want to start the game with. THEN there's more character dialogue, before you're finally able to play the game proper.

[@AfonsoEGM]

The beginning of Harvest Moon Back to Nature really overstays its welcome. Not only do you need to watch grainy black and white memories of your childhood, but after that you also must go on a tour through the city with the mayor on the present day. After all of that, it's off to a rough start with mining having only 4 inventory slots til you you can buy the good stuff. Gee, I got tired just typing it.

[@WillowundTara]

i found the last of us opening actually very powerful the first time. you play as a little girl (lets be real in most of the apocalyptic stories the parents die) and you definitely think she is the protagonist or deutagonist at least

[@CJTerry]

But she wasn't on the cover of the game... kinda expected her to die

[@therunawaykid6523]

Yeah it’s one of the best intros to any game ever imo