@RoboBlue:
Wait, so originally it was more than just a bunch of fetchquests at first? …And they removed the good bits? That sucks!
Yeah.
On the PSX version, there are two major sections to the opening - the first is going back and forth between the port, the castle and the ruin and talking to people. This can take over an hour for a first timer, but if you've played it before it can be done in ten minutes (as an example for one thing, you talk to maribel, then an item shop owner, then a hermit, but the hermit is the only person you actually HAVE to talk to - so once you know that you can skip the others). There's one REALLY annoying bit where you have to speak to a specific NPC who is nobody special and you're not told about to continue the game, which can catch a lot of first timers out (it did to me back in the day)
Once you've gained access to the ruins, the second section of the opening is solving a number of puzzles to get to the map room. There are no monster encounters, so you can take your time working out the puzzles.
On the 3DS version, they have taken out some of the back and forth. However, since they have shifted from the old school world map to the DQ8 style 3d movement, walking between the three points actually takes longer. Added to the that, the second section with puzzles have been removed totally, replaced by fetch quests that require you to leave the dungeon, walk to the other side of the island to pick up some items, and then go back again (literally no brain required).
So the unenjoyable part, although ostensibly cut back, ends up being just as bad because of the extra journey time and the new fetch quests, and the puzzles, the only enjoyable part of the whole opening, has been completely removed.