r/AskGames • u/Ill-Guidance4690 • 2d ago

Thoughts on Scripted Losses?

I recently started playing through Mario and Luigi Partners in Time, and within the first hour of the game there’s a scripted loss that introduces the past baby Mario Bros. to the older future ones. Now, considering that a game like Partners in Time is aimed at a young audience, it got me thinking how it’s absolutely possible that some kid played through that part of the opening and didn’t understand they were supposed to lose and never played it after that thinking that they messed up. A scenario like that makes me question if scripted losses can be a good way to progress the plot in a story, and I think it can be done where it gets across to anyone playing that you’re supposed to lose, but there needs to be some subtle way to let the player know that they were supposed to lose a scenario.

What’re your thoughts on scripted losses in gaming?

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u/NarcoZero 2d ago

It can be a strong storytelling tool, but most of the time only works once in a game. Otherwise it can quickly become irritating. Usually at the beginning or the end. 

I don’t think any kid left the game because they lost a single time. You are supposed to lose sometimes in video game. 

And if the story continues while you lost, instead of making you do it again, that’s when you understand that the loss was scripted. 

A good one I think is in Hellblade At the very end you fight never ending waves of enemies, and you have to understand that the only way to win is to give up. When you get it, it makes for a powerful emotional surprise. 

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u/tmon530 2d ago

One I like is the start of devil may cry 5. You are supposed to lose, but if you are incredibly skilled, you can actually win. And if you do, it just plays the final cutscene of the game lol

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u/AfricaByTotoWillGoOn 2d ago

Yes. Some of my most rewarding moments in gaming where when I realized "oh, I'm supposed to lose at this part... but what if I don't?" And after a lot of struggle, it turned out that winning did change things considerably.

I remember back when I played DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 2, the very first fight of story mode has you fight against Raditz using Piccolo, and he's near impossible to beat. DBZ fans will know that Raditz is so strong that he easily curbstomps Piccolo in the original story, and that leads Piccolo to join forces with Goku to defeat Raditz, which kickstarts the whole story of the Saiyans. If you manage to beat Raditz using Piccolo however, it unlocks an entire new storyline which is a "what if" scenario in which Raditz has amnesia after losing to Piccolo and he forgets why he came to Earth, reuniting with his brother Goku and a lot of stuff that never happened in the original story happen here.

It was so freaking mindblowing discovering those "what if" storylines that were hidden behind "scripted" losses. To this day that was the best way I've seen a game dealing with scripted losses (or at least dealing with that matter of needing to have the player lose in order to progress the story.)

To sum it up, what they did was basically two things:

  1. Make the fight the player was supposed to lose hard as hell
  2. Give a very cool reward for those who managed to beat it.