Unbeatable Boss battles?

[Machina Prince]

Now we've all come across this one: you get to a certain part of the game when suddenly you are attacked by a powerful opponent of some sort. You enter the battle phase, use your strongest attack or magic, and find that you did...0 damage. Then the foe does an uber attack that does 9999 damage, and you die. Turns out that was a battle you were meant to lose for story purposes. What's your take on that? I personally find this game mechanic humorous as opposed to when i was little.

Here's some examples, my favorite choices from the link below are Beatrix and Gadwin in Grandia, but my personal all time memorable unbeatable battle has to be Ramirez from Skies of Arcadia. So again i ask what's your take on these type of bosses and do you have any personal and memorable experiences regarding them?

k2irp7faWm0

[Rez09]

Honestly, though I know they annoy a lot of people, I don't mind them as long as it's at least semi obvious I'm not supposed to win. It generally works well enough with the plot and more effectively sets the person up as someone to be feared than someone in the game just telling me they are powerful.

As for fond memories, I think almost everyone remembers the rumor that Sunder and Balio were defeatable in BoF3 and spending hours trying to win that fight. Or, at least, I hope other people did. ._. It was one of the last great gaming rumors I encountered as a kid, along with the various ones in Pokemon RBY.

There's also the Gades fight in Lufia 2 which you are supposed to lose but can win. It was pretty awesome the first time I beat him, since it is an obviously rough fight and the game rewards you with the Gades Blade for winning it, which is completely awesome for a good while.

[Ayen]

I always liked them. In the case of Beatrix I like how the game makes it feel like you're supposed to win, so when you die (well, health goes down to 1), you think you're about to get a game over and then boom, clip. As opposed to the ones where you know from the beginning you're going to lose and then you're just like "Eeh, just kill me already."

[chionos]

I like/hate the fights that are supposed to be "unbeatable" but you can actually win either through immaculate strategy & skill or through power-leveling (usually before you should be power-leveling, e.g. lots of tutorial bosses). For instance, the first boss in Dark Souls. I think the first fight in God of War (maybe I'm remembering that wrong?). The first blitzball battle in FFX. I count Absolute Virtue back in the day in FFXI as one of these, even though technically it's not.

[Ayen]

I remember an unbeatable fight in Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden Memories where if you win the game just keep replaying the card match until you lose.

[Galuf]

i remember the Exdeath fight with Galuf. techincally unbeatable. but also unlosable. anyway thre is also that fight against the 4 black knights on FF2. and the fight against Nene at the begining of blue dragon. yeah they are kind of annoying when you waste al your items on them...


EDIT: there is this funny battle in pokemon colloseum where an old man fights the enemy with a pikachu. he is supposed to lose. but sometimes he actually wins. so after the battle hes like " oh no i cant beleive i lost" even when he won lol.

[Pete for President]

I only approve of these if they have the same abilities later on in the game, and the party has gotten stronger so they can be a fair match. I don't like it if they are cheesed with some kind of immunity or otherwise unachievable abilities.

[Masamunemaster]

Here is one I just got to again, Hope vs ushumgal subjugator in ff xii. You can see it working if you have enough damage output though.

[Spuuky]

My favorite is Keeleon in DQ4. I typically hate them, though.

[Perducci]

62515 All of my hate.

[VeloZer0]

I'm shocked no one has mentioned Lavos in the Undersea Palace. Easily the top of my list.


(Yes, I know it is possible to win in a New Game+)

[Skyblade]

I'm shocked no one has mentioned Lavos in the Undersea Palace. Easily the top of my list.


(Yes, I know it is possible to win in a New Game+)

Theoretically possible to win in a standard New Game, as long as you grind a lot and are very lucky.

[WildRaubtier]

does the spider bot in Dollet in FF8 count? that's great

[chionos]

Sure does. Although it's actually beatable, it's hard enough to be next to unbeatable.

[Skyblade]

Sure does. Although it's actually beatable, it's hard enough to be next to unbeatable.

I don't know that "hard" is the word for it. It just takes forever.

[Pumpkin]

I like them as long as I know they're unbeatable, otherwise I waste my items and junk and it is no fun

Or the fights that give you an unbeatable one and then like follow it up with a beatable one but you're low health and everything. I can't think of an example of this offhand but I feel like it's happened to me

[Christmas]

62515 All of my hate.

Could not agreed more!! Teepo!! Why!!?? Fuck you, horse face!! :mad2:

[Wolf Kanno]

I don't mind them overall. I think the only games that bothered me with them are Dragon Quest, since it is rarely telegraphed to you and so you are more likely to waste a good item or two in the fights, or games like Star Ocean 2 where the game just straight up makes the fight impossible by setting all your damage to 0. I totally could have won the duel with Dias. :mad2:

The ones I like the most are the ones that are meant to be unbeatable but are secretly winnable if you know what you're doing. Especially if the game rewards you handsomely for doing so. Gades from Lufia 2 was already mentioned, but I also love the Grahf fights in Xenogears or the one against Hammer that are all actually beatable and reward you with rare items and great XP. Suikoden is also pretty good about this as well. Suikoden III has the highest volume of ''unwinnable'' battles in the early chapters but a surprising number of them are beatable. I think only two of the duels in the game and one boss battle against Yuber in Hugo's chapter are the only actual unwinnable fights in the game.

[Galuf]

I think they are ok at the start of the game or it's like FF6 where you go somewhere you aren't mean to ( the Guardian). At the start it can show the power of your foe, or if there's some other reason like they got a super magical item or they are way more technologically advanced than you, unbeatable boss battles in those situations can help give you the feeling of their power. Like Wolf kanno said though, when it isn't pretty obvious and you waste a bunch of items and stuff it sucks!

Damnit Christmas strikes again! I've already commented in this thread 6 years ago!

The pikachu in Pokemon colosseum is still my favourite example of it though, the fact the battle is purely 2 AI fighting but somehow they still made it the Old man can win when they could have easily just scripted the fight.