Oh, I'll be all for keeping any start as short and optional as possible.
One of my favorite examples of great introductory segment has always been the first Dark Souls (and sometime later the same could have been said about Elden Ring, too): short to the point, with all the essential information you need, tense and atmospheric to enjoy at a slow pace if you are a first timer, but at the same time it can basically be skipped in a couple of minutes once you are familiar enough with what you are dealing with... AND it releases you immediately into the "open world" where you are free to engage with the rest of the game as you like.
