Tutorials should always have their own dedicated section in the game, accessible from the main menu. Or they should at least be skippable. FFX comes to mind, with Rikku's long winded description on how to use the sphere grid at the start of the game. I actually got stuck at that point, not knowing that to continue the story you actually had to talk to her again. I spent about 20 minutes padding about doing everything but talk to her, because I was too scared I would have to sit through that bull again.

Long intros, on the other hand, never work. MGS3 almost got away with it, but that was by virtue of the gameplay. I still felt like I'd just wasted a few hours of my time when I discovered that the whole virtuous mission was just a James Bond-esque precredit and I had to do it all over again.

And don't get me started on Kingdom Hearts II. Holy mother of God. They managed to create an unholy union of the (totally pointless) long intro, with the rest of the game being not much more exciting at all.