Do you like to start games where the first town or city is where the main character is currently living, and thus has some implicit familiarity with...Or do you like to come up with a plot device that puts the main character in a foreign setting from the get-go, to align with and reflect the fact that it will always be a new and foreign setting for the player.
I tend to like the latter, but I just realized that I make it so much harder on myself to come up with a plot device (and a more complex opening cut scene) that explains where and why the player is where they are. I was sitting here thinking "so the main char came near this other character's town, why did he come here, why did he come here...OH WAIT I could just make it HIS town that the OTHER character is coming to."
What's your preference and why, both as a player and as a developer?