Morrowind. Short and sweet, but intriguing. Gets the atmosphere right. The rest of Seyda Neen was a let down, but the opening was good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7moP28S3TEc

My all-time favorite intro - Conquest of the New World

No! This is the true badass Omikron intro.

final fantasy 7's opening
it starst witht he vastness of the universe before zooming in on one single planet then a city then oen person
to show how small everything is in the grand scheme of things

and in one swoop it sets up the game and tdrops you in the game with out half an hour of tedious z grade voice acting and plodding set up cut scenes

2 min was all it took
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DV_26f7-4E

not strictly an opening its the european ff 8 preview that came with the platinum ff 7
i always liked the music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njw8z5EI_S8

and these days those fmv's are our real time graphics

funny thing is that i dont even like jrpgs that much

metal gear solid also had a pretty memorable opener