Did anyone else find that the intro was rushed?

Pegasus177 · June 2015

I played the Beta on console so maybe it had been shortened. I'm not sure. I'd have to imagine it wasn't as this is the foundation on which the players experience is built.
I don't know, maybe it was just me... But no sooner had the game started and I was following some random character through a unknown place. Killing some random enemies for some unknown reason, rescued some random guy and teleported to a new place... Without so much as a hint to explain why.
I think if I blinked I might have missed it.
I spent the following 30mins trying to work out what the hell had just happened and what exactly the back story was.

I originally had high hopes for this game when it was announced.
However I steadied my hand on its initial PC release. When I saw some of the negative feedback it had received I changed my mind on the purchase.
Now as with all games it has become common place to have a few errors at launch I accept that, however many complaints were directed at how hard is was to get involved in the story line.

Now don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed my experience on the beta and it's definitely made me reconsider buying this game.
I just think that this rushed intro causes you to begin your journey on the wrong foot and it's difficult to recover.

I think one of the things about skyrim that got you completely immersed was the intro. The game begins with you in shackles being walked to your execution.
The guards talking both to you and amongst themselves build the back story and you get a solid idea of where you are and what is happening in the larger scope of things. Then incomes the dragon and you witness a key event in the games story. The dragons have returned.
This felt absent in EOS and although you do piece it together after a while it doesn't capture you the way it should from the start.

Maybe I'm wrong.. Maybe this is just me.. But that's my opinion on it.
Aside from that I really enjoyed my experience with the beta and look forward to getting it again on launch.
What are your thoughts on this?

Ourorboros · June 2015

I think the game designers have to strike a balance between players who want total immersion and players not at all interested in the lore. As to you feeling like you were pushed too quickly without explanation, did you read the dialog? There is a great deal of story and explanation given. From your comments, it seems you are at one end of the game spectrum. It's up to you to decide if it's the good end or the bad end.

Enodoc · June 2015

Did you skip dialogue? I found that explained the situation quite well, if you took the time to listen to all of it.

Summary:
You're dead, your soul is missing, you need to rescue an old guy and escape your prison so the two of you can prevent a Very Bad Thing happening to the world, and so you can get your soul back.

I would say though that the worst thing about it is that they removed the original intro cutscene, which set the scene quite well. You can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-g-dLuPW2s

Roselle · June 2015

The only two things that mattered when I listened to the story (AD side):

Kate Beckinsale was talking to me

and

Monty Python thoughts

Ranique · June 2015

It wasn't shortened alot and it was changed on purpose. the biggest changes:
1: It is lyris who rescues you instead of an unknown prisoner, you meet the prophit where you used to meet Lyris.
2: you don't have the weaponary where you can choose your weapon. you just get a two handed weapon you have to loot.
3: the mops you fight have been changed to be better explaining the combat mechanics.
4: they skipped the mining tunnels. There was nothing in it but some more foes.
5: The prophet cell area has been changed.
6: The final area don't require you to interact with levers (or something like that) any more.

My reaction to the changes
1: is in my opinion a good change. It sets the story and the relation between lyris and the prophet better. Specially if you take time to read the dialogues.
2: the benefit here is that it learns you how to loot. The downside is the lack of choice.
3: this was really needed. I remember from the beta that I had trouble understanding the system of powerattacks.
4: the miningtunnels where boring indeed.
5: the prophet cell is much better now.
6: the levers removed here is good. you allready did it in the prophet's cell, otherwise it would be repetitive.

All in all it is a good change. Maybe slightly shorter, but also much better as a tutorial and it still sets the story just as well.

theroyalestpythonnub18_ESO · June 2015

The intro tutorial revamp was a dramatic improvement over the last one. As others in the thread have said, the issue isn't the tutorial, but the complete lack of any meaningful exposition beforehand, which kind of cancels out the improvements made to the overall narrative.

Sure, Lyris gives a pretty good overview of what happened to the player up until that point, but who is going to hold on to every bit of dialogue when trying to figure out the game for the first time? People who are eager to move forward, can easily opt out of listening to the info dump and lose the story entirely.

HobnailedBoots · June 2015

I think there's a degree of intentionality to the vagueness. They wanted the player to feel like they were creating their own story, so they didn't lock them into some pre ordained destiny like in Skyrim.