dtgreene: I think my order would be something like this:
1. Character creation, which should be kept minimal (choose a race or class for your character); also, the option to create new characters later should be present.
2. Access to town facilities (it seems most people here like action first; I'd rather know I have a place to rest up and buy supplies if needed)
3. First bit of action (while still having access to town; I *hate* it when games deny you the option to return to town (although I can still enjoy games that do that like SaGa Frontier 2)
4. Initial story exposition; I find that I need to get into the gameplay before I can even think about caring about the story.
Very much the opposite for me regarding #4, but that should already be clear. As for minimal character creation, find it very frustrating. Either fixed characters for story purposes, no creation, or some serious customization. Though best is probably story character(s) plus customization (say, fixed identity and backstory but customized skills), but of course that's darn hard to get right. And again something you'd go the opposite way about I reckon :)
We agree on needing to always have access back to town, at least.
dtgreene: Interestingly enough, Lufia 1 does something like this; when you start the game, you are thrown right into the final dungeon with a party of high level characters, and you get to fight the Sinistrals who serve as the main villains of the story. (It's worth noting that they actually managed to spoil the ending of Lufia 2, which is sort of an odd choice.)
Hmm, that's an interesting idea. Have a powerful but somehow flawed party thrown in the deep end, that the player will be certain to fail with, no matter what, but let them get as far as they can, then have that failure act as backstory, the land's best hope have failed, now you're their last hope to succeed, sort of thing.
