A Long tutorial showing the most of the game's amazingness, but it should be optional (gets boring after the first 3 times)

I like the Morrowind one, I had no problems getting into the game or anything. And that said I was 15 when I first played it back in '02, having not played a single TES game before that, secondly I am not a native english speaker(it's a foreign language to me) and at 15 my english wasn't perfect. There were words I didn't understand, yet I got into game mechanics on my own after about 3 mintues or so.

Morrowind, Please.

Daggerfall and Arena Dungeons were to long for my tastes and kinda bland overall for Story or interest.
Oblivions and FO3's were good opening Story's but it was just far to long on subsequent play throughs.
and FONV's was short enough but I still prefer MW's Give me your Name, Rank and Serial Number and kick me out the door approach, you are a prisoner after all they need nothing of you other then your absence ! GET LOST !

I like both, but if they're going for a long intro again it should be made skippable.

Morrowind's tutorial just felt pointless, honestly, you get this short sequence where text messages appear on screen explaining some gameplay mechanics to you, but since it doesn't create an environment where you can actually use them, it really doesn't help much. Oblivion's approach was much more helpful, but too long to be unshippable. I didn't mind the tutorial dungeon the first few playthroughs, but after some time, it just got really annoying. I don't mind seeing another long tutorial, but I want the option to skip it. Perhaps Bethesda could go for something like New Vegas' approach where you have a short sequence for character creation, and then after that you're given a quest that functions as a tutorial, but if you so choose, you can say that you don't want to do it anymore, and end the tutorial. My one problem with this approach in New Vegas was since the tutorial quest had a small reward, when I made my second character, even though I didn't need a tutorial, I still wanted to do it in order to get the reward, really, the only reward completing a tutorial needs to have is learning how to play the game.

This isn't correct. We've been told we start as a prisoner again, and the sequence you are talking about results in learning a Dragon Shout because you are Dragonborn, not in learning that you are Dragonborn to begin with.

Good post. I like the idea of Morrowind. Short, simple and NOT annoying. Oblivions intro was too long and just plain boring. Skyrims intro needs to be short and easy.

No tutorial at all would be the best option for me. Hated Oblivion's tutorial, so damn long.

I chose DF, but here's my breakdown of the 3:

Oblivion-Worst of all. At level one, are you really going to be a better protector of the emporer than his blades? Felt very phony to me. If it had just been some rats/goblins and you came to know of the assassins later, it would have been much better. Also, you came out and bam, you're in the IC. I thought seeing the IC from a distance and had your anticipation build as you approached would have been a much better A-HA moment. Some of the tutorial was too simple, but I did like the mini games to intro you and some of the attention to detail, like the prisoner who starts off in the cell across from you.

MW-Very close to DF for me. The cut scene was very well done and when you come out of the ship, the water is that home run moment where you get real excited for what is yet to come. I think everyone remembers the first time they saw that water. While Seyda Neen wasn't a dungeon, I always thought it took the place of a dungeon. Plenty of small crabs etc to practice skills on. A little too much high end loot, between the warehouse, tree stumps and the shack. I thought the tradehouse could have been done better, along with a couple more quest givers. The cursed Ring quest was a waste. However, the tax collector and the ring quest were both done quite well and for a starter area, really got you into the game. Like a said, very close 2nd to DF.

DF-Decent cut scene, followed by a short dungeon crawl. What stood out for me was that you weren't in this comfortable little setting where nothng could hurt you. You end up all alone and with the music pulsing, you had a very real sense of isolation. There were a few spots where you could really get hammered. The first NPC, skeleton, skeleton/NPC at the end, plus the room with the rat/bat/imp. I thought the archer, behind the tables also threw something at you that you weren't expecting and you had to figure out a way to get to the archer, before they made you a pin cushion. Lastly, I liked the fact that I could just get into the game, wtihout having to worry about the MQ yet. I had some anticipation for things to come, even when I left. You got some decent starting gear and some gold along with some experience. This was my favorite, but I think you could make a case for MW as well. Oblivion's was a distant 3rd.

Long informative tutorial is nice on the first playthrough but on every run after that it's just an annoyance. So I'd say the shorter the better.

I agree.

Oblivion/Daggerfall without question, all it needs is an option to skip it.

Only problem I've got with using a final save at the Sewer entrance for new characters is that if you decided to use a fighter style character for the next character you play you then discover that you've tossed all your blunt weapons as you went along and you now going to have to buy new ones. Or you have a stealth based character and you spent your time in the tutorial dungeon leveling magic skills.

Not a game killer, but annoying all the same.

Besides, my game crashes about 50% of the time when I make a major change at the sewer gate. :brokencomputer:

Oblivion style the long dungeon and finally getting out and seeing then finally seeing the light was ones of the most epic thing i experienced in video games.

I loved the freedom of Morrowind's tutorial. I was thrown right into the world, with only a direction.

Oblivion's felt more forced, because so much had happened in the dungeon/sewer.

While I did like how Morrowind was so unceramonious(sp) and just kinda said "here's your task, now get out of here", I think a tutorial like that in Fallout: New Vegas would be really good

I liked the Morrowind start. I truely felt that I was lost in a new world with little knowledge of where I was or what I was doing, it felt perfect for an open world like the elder scrolls games

i preferred morrowinds. Short and easy - and i like to get thrown into the world.

Short, but skippable. I honestly wouldn't mind just reading an in-game manual or something to figure out how to play the game. Chances are, I'll have it figured out on my own within five minutes, though.

I'd like to know why tutorials tell you things like "push forward to go forward, push attack to attack", but neglect to mention "click on the tiny, almost unnoticed arrows on either side of a category/NPC name in order to sort inventory by item type" or "hold down activate button in order to continue drinking until fully hydrated".

I know the obvious stuff.....show me the obscure stuff.

I liked Morrowind's approach the best, because I feel like that might have been a little more lifelike, but if I had to have a "starting dungeon" I'd prefer Daggerfall's style. No hand-holding, and it left you to figure stuff out on your own. And yes, Privateer's Hold was not easy by any means for a beginning character, but compared to most dungeons it was a lot easier in terms of navigation and combat. But I loved the feeling in Morrowind of just being thrust out there in a strange world on my own to figure stuff out. It was very intimidating at first but very freeing compared to most games "intro" portion.

I went out and bought fallout NV because everyone on this forum refers to it, and I gotta say its got a pretty damn good intro. I really just hope skyrim adopts the optional tutorial, it'll be disappointing if they didn't

you know you could've just had a seperate save right at the exit of the dungeon, and then loaded that up and chose to create a new character before leaving, right?

thats what i did, and that made each character's intro to the world even shorter than morrowind's!

anyway... i dont really know what i want... morrowind's was interesting, just pushing you into a huge world with orders you didnt have to follow...

oblivion's was fun, though... the first couple of times, i do wish it was skippable and we didnt have to save at the gate to make it shorter, but still...

i kinda like arena's tutorial, simply because of the sheer difficulty so many people said it had... hell, i heard several people never made it out of the starting dungeon!

i'd love if skyrim had that kinda difficulty!

I haven't played DF, so it could be good.
I would like a short intro that give you just enough info about the game, but does not get boring after a few times(OB)

I bet you have to start fighting right after you get out of prison.
I liked Oblivion style, long but useful.

Tutorials are ancient.
Let us learn how to play by playing.