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There are many ways to convey that, for a time, that an enemy is beyond the ability of the player to defeat. Emphasis upon the enemy's power for a long time before the player actually attempts battle, without ever actually showing that power, is one method. Another stratagem is to show the opponent in action against someone other than the player. Still another variant is the unwinnable battle, in which the opponent cannot be defeated and the player slowly realizes that nothing done will have any impact upon the outcome.
While playing Fossil Fighters recently I came upon an example of the latter, though I shall speak vaguely to avoid spoilers. An enemy came at me billing himself as able to defeat anyone with his latest vivosaur, and I entered combat. Every attack I made missed and all of his attacks did enormous damage. I got the point early on, but it was still necessary to have multiple rounds pass while this enemy annihilated my team in order to progress. The point could have been made in some other way that I was incapable of winning, but instead I got to fight a hopeless battle with no purpose once the point was made.
If the unwinnable battle MUST be used in a game, why can't it simply be decided instantly? The enemy makes one move and wins - that's simple and keeps time from being wasted. Or, as a reward to anyone with the urge for copious grinding, why not make the battle just barely possible if the characters are grossly overpowered? Or have a reward of some sort for doing well against the enemy, before its true power is unveiled and used to eviscerate the party? I just don't like watching my characters be completely powerless against an enemy to illustrate a point that could have been conveyed in a faster and less repetitive fashion.
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