The opening hours of RDR2 are slow, snowy, and mechanically constrained. You cannot go anywhere or do much. This deliberateness is intentional: Rockstar spent 3+ hours establishing the gang as a family before beginning to dismantle it. Players who bounce off the Colter prologue miss the reason the Beaver Hollow chapters are devastating.

FFXIV's base game story is the weakest part of a great game. The fetch quests, the slow pacing — it is a real obstacle. But Heavensward's opening, which requires completing all of A Realm Reborn, is among the most emotionally effective in gaming. Knowing that Heavensward is the destination makes the patience investment rational.

Elden Ring's opening area is carefully calibrated. The Tree Sentinel directly in front of the first church is designed to teach a lesson about the game's philosophy: this game will not scale to your current level, and aggression without preparation will be punished. That early friction is the tutorial.