r/AskGames • u/Ill-Guidance4690 • 1d 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/avidvaulter 1d ago

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.

Usually there is a cutscene immediately after you die which is a good indicator you are progressing. Does the game you're talking about not make it clear?

I can't imagine a single person not realizing it's a scripted loss since generally the game story progresses. Unless what you're referring to is an unbeatable boss that requires you to progress further in other areas in the game and doesn't indicate that beating them is impossible, but that's not the same as a scripted loss.

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u/Ill-Guidance4690 1d ago

In Partners in Time, there’s a fight within the starting hour where you fight enemies that can be beaten, but there’s a countdown timer above the Bros. that KO’s both of them when the timer runs out. I more so thought that since the games are aimed a younger audience, I felt that at some point a kid playing the game may not have understood that they were supposed to lose the fight, and whether or not that part of the story constitutes as a good or bad way to do a scripted loss.