Interesting thread and a refreshing one in many respects. My experience is limited to BG, IWD, the first DA and NWN so can’t speak for the other games on the list.
I guess it’s subjective but I am a fan of what can possibly be described as a more ‘traditional’ introduction. Perhaps it’s a cliché but intrigue, nuance, immersion are some of the key things I like in a RPG intro (don’t get me wrong, a great mystery is hugely appealing but this whole Absolute plot line feels so complicated I haven’t got a clue who or what I am fighting…after a while I just stopped caring).
I didn’t enjoy the white knuckle ride intro to BG3 with its Hollywood big budget action movie vibe. Why am I on a mind flayer ship? Why did I fall out of the ship but something magically stopped me from landing on my head a matter of feet above the ground? Questions that after dozens of hours into Act 1 I still couldn’t find an answer for.
When you have seen mindflayers and devils and dragons in the prologue, realistically where does the game have to go? Killing rats in a tavern basement might be tedious but you also need a palpable sense of evolution to create a bonafide sense of achievement.
Apparently it is now possible to kill the Cambion at the end of the prologue…which feels a little ridiculous for a level 1 character who wakes up on a mindflayer ship…or is it just me?
