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Top 7... Painfully slow beginnings to great games

Not fast like a ninja. Slow like a sloth

Words: on April 26, 2010
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91 comments

  • CH3BURASHKA - April 27, 2010 12:08 a.m.

    What's this... Okami, is it?

  • NiceVibe - April 27, 2010 12:04 a.m.

    @Cyberninja Yea pulse is definitely jarring when you first get there. I just started Chapter 11 today and it caught me off guard when I couldn't win every battle no matter what.

  • Whoissheandwhydidshesayit - April 26, 2010 11:53 p.m.

    Personaly, i thought the beginning of FFXIII was great. Sure, it was linear, and the first two hours were a button... a button... potion... abutton... But once you got to Chapt 2, the pacing and gameplay really picked up. that was only about 3 hours in, not twenty.

  • Cyberninja - April 26, 2010 11:50 p.m.

    i just got to gran pulse in ff13 and all i have to say is i want coccon back now everything can kill me in under a minute and i like getting every tresure so i say the start is the best because its fair

  • Sabtos - April 26, 2010 11:12 p.m.

    I was so enthralled with the opening of Batman AA and how fucking awesome it was, that the third time I played through it I still barely realized how long it was. And now that it's been a few months since I've played it, I'm still in awe with how excellent that game was. I'm now not sure that Uncharted 2 should have taken most of the awards that year although I was for U2 at the time.

  • Sabtos - April 26, 2010 11:08 p.m.

    Sloths are awesome. Because they look hilarious. At all times.

  • NiceVibe - April 26, 2010 10:58 p.m.

    I had forgotten about Kingdom Hearts II, that opening was way too slow even though I did like Roxas.

  • Hexar - April 26, 2010 10:54 p.m.

    Kind of tough to write a slowest beginnings list when your number one is a game you haven't even touched. Next time lie. You didn't even try to half ass this one, you flat out come up front and state, I think this is what it's like but hell if I know. I'm honestly having trouble understanding why 20 hours would be such a problem to commit to since you obviously spend 5 minutes on your articles; where's that extra time go? Hell you have zero idea if the game even gets good at the 20 hour mark, but hey throw around some gossip that'll work, gotta publish something quick eh? (For the record I actually agree that it has a slow start, but the key difference being that I KNOW this, you don't.) And finally Heavy Rain didn't have a slow beginning, THE WHOLE DAMN GAME IS SLOW. Did you give up on that one too or did you forget that hours into it you're still doing the most mundane of tasks: making eggs, changing diapers, putting on makeup, etc.

  • KetchupMonster - April 26, 2010 10:53 p.m.

    Thats it I am buying Okami

  • lovinmyps3 - April 26, 2010 10:49 p.m.

    It takes about 20-25 hours for Final Fantasy XIII to show it's true RPG self, but I'd say it took about 2 hours before I was hooked.

  • meg127 - April 26, 2010 10:06 p.m.

    As soon as I saw this I knew FFXIII was going to be on it. So when I saw it as number one I just laughed. And believe it or not I enjoyed the first 20 hours. A lot.

  • Octoboy - April 26, 2010 9:46 p.m.

    It always amazes me how people can actually fail to see how important the beginning of Heavy Rain is to the game, regarding both gameplay and story. First, it lets you get used to the control scheme that isn't your average control scheme. You can experiment with all the basic controls within a safe environment without any pressure. You don't have to shave, you don't have to juggle, and nobody forces you to draw. But it's a nice tutorial blended into the exposition which would lead to the second aspect: the exposition. It's pretty easy to grasp: Ethan is happy, nice house, perfect family, great job, beautiful weather. 10 minutes later: family destroyed, marriage wrecked, new apartment (unpacked boxes), rain. It's not very subtle, really. But you can see that Heavy Rain's opening does have a purpose. And really, it's not that annoying. Sometimes I wonder how people want to play games these days. On the one hand, they complain about lacking depth and strive for more sophisticated games. At the same time, it seems, they can't be bothered to endure a 15 minute exposition to an average 8-10 hour game. Is that really that hard?

  • Schnipke - April 26, 2010 9:33 p.m.

    I HATE the begginig for the Kingdom heart games, it takes too long for the action to start,especially the second one, otherwise, they both are great games, at least to me that is

  • soccerclownking - April 26, 2010 9:29 p.m.

    I felt GTA 4 had quite a slow beginning, but, of course, turned out great

  • Imgema - April 26, 2010 9:04 p.m.

    I actually liked that part in Silent Hill 2. You start at the car near the tunnel that leads to the town, but its closed, so you have to take an alternate route by feet. If the town was only a few seconds away, it would give a sense of security because you know that your car is nearby and you can leave anytime. That would be bad for the game's creepy atmosphere. So, the way they handled it was great. When you finally reach the town, you know that you are far, far away from safety and its too late to go back. Sure it was a bit boring, but for me it was a very nice way to build up the atmosphere of the game. At least it wasn't a long cutscene, which can only be a good thing.

  • spacemonkey086 - April 26, 2010 9:04 p.m.

    so true. FFXIII had the longest intro i can ever remember. 20 hours before you can even change members of your party.

  • secretsearcher - April 26, 2010 8:42 p.m.

    Assasin's Creed 1 was all about the stabbing. But I will say that Altair was not a very likable character. He was a snobbish asshole, for reasons that the gamer doesn't learn till very far into the game. It's better, I think, to connect with your character at the start.

  • Hurricrane - April 26, 2010 8:41 p.m.

    as soon as I saw the title I knew FF13 was going to be number 1

  • FrozenImplosion - April 26, 2010 8:17 p.m.

    What about Last Remnant? I started that... played for an hour or two, and then gave up. At one point I actually fell asleep, like no joke. The battles are just so dull, you press one button and the rest is watching to see if your party members do anything helpful [which they didn't in my case]. That was probably just due to me not really understanding the game though, but still it took a while to even let you play the game.

  • jesusfrk15 - April 26, 2010 8:12 p.m.

    i didn't think that fallout 3 had all that slow of a beginning

Showing 41-60 of 91 comments

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