History Main / ProlongedPrologue

* The first nine chapters of ''Manga/OshiNoKo'' (adapted into the first episode, which lasts 1 hour 20 minutes) turn out to be the prologue of the story.

*** The pre-title portion of ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' is even longer, clocking at around ''twenty minutes'' (precisely 23 minutes and 47 seconds, if you count from the moment the gunbarrel opens until the final frame of the opening credits). The movie begins with a [[{{Teaser}} literal cold open]] in snowy Norway which focuses on Madeleine's childhood and her encounter with the villain Safin. Action then shifts to Matera, Italy with Bond and Madeleine as adults on a romantic getaway, picking up where the previous film ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' left off. Then we ''finally'' get to see Bond in action after Spectre operatives attempt to kill him, and - after that epic beginning eventually concludes - the credits and title song.

->'''Gabe:''' In the same amount of time it's taken me to get bored of ''[[VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy|XIII}} Final Fantasy XIII]]'', I experienced ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted 2|AmongThieves}}''[='=]s entire narrative arc. [...]\\

->'''Gabe:''' In the same amount of time it's taken me to get bored of ''[[VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy|XIII}} Final Fantasy XIII]]'', I experienced ''VideoGame/Uncharted2''[='=]s entire narrative arc. [...]\\

* ''VideoGame/{{Tibia}}'' has you spend your first 8 levels on the [[NoobCave island of Rookgaard]] before you can even chose your [[CharacterClassSystem vocation]]. Hitting level 8 can potentially take weeks and quite a few players (nicknamed "The Rookguard" by the wider community) actually chose to stay on the island and call it their home rather than take [[YouCantGoHomeAgain the one-way trip to the mainland]] and "start" the game.

* VideoGame/{{Tibia}} had you spend your first 8 levels on the [[NoobCave island of Rookgaard]] before you could even chose your [[CharacterClassSystem vocation]]. Hitting level 8 can potentially take weeks and quite a few players (nicknamed "The Rookguard" by the wider community) actually chose to stay on the island and call it their home rather than take [[YouCantGoHomeAgain the one-way trip to the mainland]] and "start" the game.

** Rookguard is actually so iconic to the game that a serious outcry took place when Cipsoft announced they where going to introduce a new, much more beginner friendly starting island (Dawnport). You can still "start" on Rookgaard though by requesting it

* ''The Life and Opinions of Literature/TristramShandy, Gentleman'' is written as the autobiography of Tristram Shandy. It starts with Tristram developing as a young fetus, rapidly approaching his birth. While his mother is in labor, the book mentions Uncle Toby who is sitting in a chair. The book goes on to talk about Uncle Toby's life and character, and how he was a soldier until he was wounded in the groin by a cannonball, and then how he went insane and constructed a small replica of the battlefield he'd been wounded on, which he then blew to bits with small replica cannons. Tristram Shandy is ''born'' on page 92, when Uncle Toby suggests they ask someone to check and see if Tristram's mother is in labor. It's a incredibly funny and/or pointless book.

* ''{{Series/Revenge}}'' takes about nine minutes to get to the title card.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'' takes about an hour or two to get to its first chapter. Mario battles Bowser and gets knocked into Goomba Village, gets his hammer and fights a tutorial boss, meets his first partner, is introduced to badges, fights the Goomba King, makes it to Toad Town and Shooting Star Summit, finally learns {{Action Command}}s, fights another tutorial boss, and ''then'' he can finally start the first chapter.

* One of the most common complaints leveled against ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' is just how much the game holds your hand in the beginning. It doesn't really start to back off until you've reached the second island of four. It also takes you much longer to get your starter in this game than in previous titles, which means you spend a fair amount of time running around without any Pokémon whatsoever. This was a particular pain for people who wanted starters of certain genders or natures, as the average time to getting your Pokemon was ''half an hour'' and you would have to restart entirely to get a different loadout. The remakes ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' toned this down by having you rescued by the starters and choosing yours much earlier--while you still have the rest of the prologue, you did already have a Pokémon with you.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'':

* ''Literature/TheWayOfKings'' (first book of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): The book starts out with a prelude, which acts as a prologue for the entire series, and takes place [[DistantPrologue four and a half thousand years before the start of the rest of the book]]. Then there is the prologue, showing the assassination of King Gavilar from his assassin's point of view. Then the first chapter is Cenn's point of view, joining Kaladin Stormblessed's squad. Then finally the story proper starts on page forty-eight, with Kaladin's first chapter. The [[Literature/WordsOfRadiance next book in the series]] has a prologue showing Gavilar's assassination from his daughter's point of view, but it dives into the story much faster.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' episode "[[Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS2E8BusterAndBabsGoHawaiian Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian]]" opens with a TitleCard saying, "Hamton as 'Fléche de Lard'", but with no production credits. The entire first act is a behind-the-scenes story where Buster and Babs go to Creator/StephenSpielberg to complain that Hamton gets an episode and not them, still with no real title or credits. The second act starts with another minute of behind-the-scenes material in which Buster calls the writers about being put on a plane, and afterwards the episode's real title sequence and story begin.

* ''Literature/EpithetErasedPrisonOfPlastic'': The book opens with four prologue chapters, each focusing on a different group of characters -- Molly Blyndeff and her friends, Trixie and Phoenica; her {{big brother mentor}} Giovanni Potage; her older sister, Lorelai; and her speech teacher, Naven -- that mainly serve to reintroduce the main characters from [[WebAnimation/EpithetErased the webseries]] it [[ContinuationInAnotherMedium serves as a continuation of]], in addition to introducing the newer cast members before the main narrative kicks in. All in all, the "main" story doesn't start until a sixth of the way in.

* ''Literature/EpithetErasedPrisonOfPlastic'': The book opens with four prologue chapters, each focusing on a different group of characters -- Molly Blyndeff and her friends, Trixie and Phoenica; her {{big brother mentor}} Giovanni Potage; her older sister, Lorelai; and her speech teacher, Naven -- that mainly serve to reintroduce the main characters from [[WebAnimation/EpithetErased the webseries]] [[TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised it serves as a continuation of]], in addition to introducing the newer cast members before the main narrative kicks in. All in all, the "main" story doesn't start until a sixth of the way in.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' meets you halfway: You're limited to the great plateau until you complete all four shrines and get the parasail from the Old Man, but you're free to explore the whole plateau and do the shrines in any order you please.

While {{Literature}} and [[ComicBooks sequential]] [[{{Manga}} art]] readers may feel less worried if they know the length and structure of the work in advance (they can do so merely by glancing at the index), this does not hold true if the work is serialized, and experienced at the rate of its release. In that case, they may feel they have been cheated into emotionally investing themselves in a story whose apparent structure made them expect it to be much shorter than it really is; this is a [[NotWhatISignedOnFor violation of tacit consent]] in a fashion not unlike that of TheChrisCarterEffect.

* By the time the anime adaptation of ''LightNovel/ReZero'' gets to the point where Subaru resolves to [[TitleDrop start his life]] [[TrappedInAnotherWorld in another world]] [[TitleDrop from zero]], 18 of the 25 episodes (and only about a week in real-time) have passed. Of course, the series' gimmick (Subaru being sent back in time whenever he dies) means that a ''lot'' has actually happened during those 18 episodes, with Subaru repeatedly failing to save Emilia and co and suffering multiple {{Heroic BSoD}}s.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'':

* The first volume of ''LightNovel/InvadersOfTheRokujyouma'' is dedicated to introducing the titular invaders. In the eyes of some, ''the first seven volumes'' (which includes the entirely of the TwelveEpisodeAnime) are this, as they serve to set up the Blue Knight arc where the plot really gets going.

* The first three volumes of the ''LightNovel/SeireiGensoukiSpiritChronicles'' serve as an ExpositionDump that establishes the new world setting of the story, alongside who the major characters are. It's only the arrival of the "heroes" does the narrative change dramatically; even the {{Manga}} adaptation {{Lampshades}} this, where the narration states the story has reached "the end of the prologue".

** ''VideoGame/Persona3'' has a little over an hour of cutscenes (and one battle sequence) between the start of the game and your first opportunity to save.

** ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth''. They game doesn't become a Crossover between the above two games until after completing the first dungeon. If this doesn't sound like much, this is an ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' inspired game, so the dungeons are ''huge''.

* ''Literature/EpithetErasedPrisonOfPlastic'': The book opens with four prologue chapters, each focusing on a different group of characters -- Molly Blyndeff; her friends, Trixie and Phoenica; her {{big brother mentor}} Giovanni Potage; and her older sister, Lorelai -- that purely serve to reintroduce the main characters from [[WebAnimation/EpithetErased the webseries]] [[TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised it serves as a continuation of]], in addition to introducing the newer cast members before the main narrative kicks in. All in all, page 1 of the "real" story ends up being page 55 out of 330.

* ''Literature/EpithetErasedPrisonOfPlastic'': The book opens with four prologue chapters, each focusing on a different group of characters -- Molly Blyndeff; her friends, Trixie and Phoenica; her {{big brother mentor}} Giovanni Potage; and her older sister, Lorelai -- that purely serve to reintroduce the main characters from [[WebAnimation/EpithetErased the webseries]] [[TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised it serves as a continuation of]], in addition to introducing the newer cast members before the main narrative kicks in.

** ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth''. They game doesn't become a Crossover between the above two games until after completing the first dungeon. (If this doesn't sound like much, this is an ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' inspired game, so the dungeons are ''huge''.)

[[folder:Light Novels]]

* The first three volumes of the ''LightNovel/SeireiGensoukiSpiritChronicles'' serve as an ExpositionDump that establishes the new world setting of the story, alongside who the major characters are. It's only the arrival of the "heroes" does the narrative change dramatically; even the {{Manga}} adaptation {{Lampshades}} this, where the narration states the story has reached "the end of the prologue".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/BraveStory'' takes around a short novel's number of pages before [[spoiler:Wataru finds out about Vision and starts on his quest inside Vision. Administrivia/TropesAreTools - the prologue has plenty of foreshadowing, and it provides a ''highly'' appropriate context as to why exactly Wataru would want to go into Vision to change his fate anyways. It manages to give the reader plenty of time to get to know who Wataru is before he is thrust into another world with a task to accomplish.]]
* In ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales'', the Wife of Bath's "Prologue" (mostly a defense of remarriage) is ''longer'' than her actual story. The Friar, who is supposed to tell his tale after hers, gets rather fed up with the lengthy backstory.
* ''Literature/EpithetErasedPrisonOfPlastic'': The book opens with four prologue chapters, each focusing on a different group of characters -- Molly Blyndeff; her friends, Trixie and Phoenica; her {{big brother mentor}} Giovanni Potage; and her older sister, Lorelai -- that purely serve to reintroduce the main characters from [[WebAnimation/EpithetErased the webseries]] [[TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised it serves as a continuation of]], in addition to introducing the newer cast members before the main narrative kicks in.
* The prologue of Creator/CliveBarker's "The Great and Secret Show" is over 100 pages long, takes place 20 years before the main story, and concerns characters who play small but important roles in the plot. This prologue actually ''ends'' with the birth of the book's main characters.
* Most of the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' novels spend quite a bit of time setting up the story before it really gets going. ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Philosopher's Stone]]'' doesn't even ''get'' to Hogwarts until halfway through the book. Then again, the beginning was absolutely necessary to set up the plot for the entire series. Compare with some of the other books that take even longer (page wise) such as ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'' which doesn't see Harry arrive until page 171. The most egregious is ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'' where Harry and co. don't get to Hogwarts until page 200, and that's in tinier print than the other books. Not surprising considering it's the biggest of the books.
* ''Literature/TheIcelandicSagas'' generally tend to take quite a bit of time explaining the backstory and deriving the hero's genealogy before getting on with the main plot. This may explain a few things about both the Tolkien examples and ''Vinland Saga'' (see the Anime section), which derived considerable inspiration from them.

*** The pre-title portion of ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' is even longer, clocking at around ''twenty minutes''. The movie begins with a [[{{Teaser}} literal cold open]] in snowy Norway which focuses on Madeleine's childhood and her encounter with the villain Safin. Action then shifts to Matera, Italy with Bond and Madeleine as adults on a romantic getaway, picking up where the previous film ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' left off. Then we ''finally'' get to see Bond in action after Spectre operatives attempt to kill him, and - after that epic beginning eventually concludes - the credits and title song.