Favorite or most peculiar cases in games where you play against something or someone that can't be defeated at the start of the game?

[Marco_STFX]

It's a bit convoluted, But it basically refers to those cases where at the start of the game, You play a battle (I use the word 'Battle' to simplify things as the Gameplay varies with genre) and despite anything, You are forced to lose, As this becomes the excuse for the game story and its development.

This becomes more frustrating when you are able to play normally, But no matter how well you play you still lose, And even becomes absurd in genres such as RPG games with new game plus.

I don't remember too many myself, The least I remember are RPG's where the outcome is completely forced and somewhat bad.

 

[χKai]

Final Fantasy 2, Famicom.
Usually, people find some way to glitch or cheat the game somehow to win the first fight, but in this game there is literally nothing you can do to cheat the system or get around the fact that your characters are gonna die.

I think I saw a video on it recently where someone figured it out, but either way you just end up as if you had lost anyway.

The perfect bullshit introduction to a bullshit game.

 

[RageBurner]

Trillion, God of Destruction on the Vita comes to mind. The whole idea behind of the game is this, defeating this undefeatable monster called Trillion. RPGs in general do this in spades with the temporarily undefeatable baddie trope, too, like

Spoiler

Zio in Phantasy Star 4

 

[Rox00]

Two cases of this comes in mind:
One case I love of this idea will always be Mega Man X with the first fight against Vile no matter how skilled you are as narratively speaking it just shows how weak X is compared to Zero but him giving the prep talk to X that he hasn't reached his full power yet and he'll get stronger, maybe just as powerful as himself one day. Which pays-off hard when by the end of the game you are able to fight against every threat the game throws at you and X gets back at Vile for the beginning of the game.

My actual favorite would be Thracia 776 that plays hard with this idea throughout the early game but the one section that involves the idea is an escape and one of the maps is a flat out run for your life chapter because of one of the enemies (future recruitable character) who is pretty much impossible to kill due to him being too powerful for any of your units to handle (assuming you did the Gaiden chapter) so the only thing you can do is get as far as you can while dealing with the forces who can be just as problematic. Narratively speaking it just serves to show the power of the empire at the moment as you are still far from getting the best gear and stats but like Mega Man X, you do strike back hard against the enemies once ready for it (the real enemy is still Thracia 776 logic though lol).

 

[χKai]

Two cases of this comes in mind:
One case I love of this idea will always be Mega Man X with the first fight against Vile no matter how skilled you are as narratively speaking it just shows how weak X is compared to Zero but him giving the prep talk to X that he hasn't reached his full power yet and he'll get stronger, maybe just as powerful as himself one day. Which pays-off hard when by the end of the game you are able to fight against every threat the game throws at you and X gets back at Vile for the beginning of the game.

My actual favorite would be Thracia 776 that plays hard with this idea throughout the early game but the one section that involves the idea is an escape and one of the maps is a flat out run for your life chapter because of one of the enemies (future recruitable character) who is pretty much impossible to kill due to him being too powerful for any of your units to handle (assuming you did the Gaiden chapter) so the only thing you can do is get as far as you can while dealing with the forces who can be just as problematic. Narratively speaking it just serves to show the power of the empire at the moment as you are still far from getting the best gear and stats but like Mega Man X, you do strike back hard against the enemies once ready for it (the real enemy is still Thracia 776 logic though lol).

Ever tried using the Hadoken in the first fight against Vile?
Big surprise: it doesn't affect the ride armor at all

 

[Guinea]

Bowser in Super Mario RPG is unbeatable, you gotta break the chain.

Um... shit! I know there's other games I've played with an unbeatable fight at the start, but I'm drawing a blank.

 

[χKai]

In Tales of Symphonia, there's a boss you can fight that has slight dialogue changes if you somehow manage to win at a super early point in the game; then the 2nd phase will wreck your shit. But, if you're in a NewGame+, you can somehow manage to beat him either with true skill and mastery of Symphonia's mechanics, or through divine intervention.

The dialogue changes are subtle and slight, very off-to-the-side of the rest of the events at the time.

 

[Guinea]

I can think of a fight at the END of a game that's unwinnable: Halo Reach.

 

[Boo Man]

One guy that's annoyed me recently is "Fox Face" on the PS2 game Shadow Hearts.
he shows up anywhere randomly. You have to fight him alone and he has endless HP or something.
So you can only run away like a coward..
worst thing is his encounter rate, it feels like every 3rd battle you run into this guy.
i haven't beaten the game yet but he's trolled me the whole time so far

 

[Dr.Kisaragi]

Radiata Stories against Ridley first round of knight tournament.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

I prefer unbeatable fights, rather than having to win the fight and the cutscene just saying "actually the enemies won the battle, fuck you player."

Radiant Historia, you are meant to lose against Palomides, cause that's what kickstarts the whole time travel thing, you get to kill him in a bunch of timelines later on.

Mary Skelter Finale, you have to fight Guillotine and Iron Maiden at the start of the game, its impossible to win, but you get multiple revenge matches against them later on.

Devil Summoner 2 Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abbadon, the 1st time you fight bimbougami you are supposed to lose and get all your luck stolen, you get your revenge match later.

 

[Guinea]

Radiata Stories against Ridley first round of knight tournament.

That's hilarious. Only because I read the mangas before playing the game, so I lost on purpose because Jack lost in the manga. Glad to know I would've just wasted my time if I actually tried to win.

 

[jon2]

Lufia and Lufia 2

Basically the Sinistral Gades first fight; unless you overgrind (which is a PITA) you'll never defeat the bloke