Foregone Victory: Difference between revisions

{{quote|"How many players are with us today?"

''Player chooses "1"''

 

We've all been in the situation where, try as we might, a certain part of a game [[Nintendo Hard|seems]] -- [[Unwinnable|or is]]—impossible to get past, or [[Hopeless Boss Fight|supposed to be so.]]

 

When a boss battle is a '''Foregone Victory''', it is often a [[Anticlimax Boss]]—but not always; essentially, the '''Foregone Victory''' is to the [[Hopeless Boss Fight]] as the [[Anticlimax Boss]] is to [[That One Boss]].

 

* In ''[[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire]]''/''Emerald'', you cannot lose against Zigzagoon/Poochyenna when saving the life of the Professor at the beginning. Even if you just use the Buff/Debuff move against them over and over... it will flee, like a scared Latios.

** Also played with in ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'': you can actually faint Reshiram/Zekrom, but the dragons just get back up and fight you again until you catch them. [[Anti-Grinding|And you don't get any XP.]]

** It's the same idea with ''Wario Land 2'', but he does lose coins when he gets hit in that game, so that probably counts as "losing" (or rather, winning less), because Wario is greedy by nature. It's impossible to get a Game Over in this game, however.

* In ''[[Castlevania]]: [[Castlevania: Symphony of the Night|Symphony of The Night]]'', the Richter vs. [[Dracula]] fight is a '''Foregone Victory''' (the easily-obtained Holy Water item crash kills him in 3 uses, and even if you suck badly enough to get your lifebar completely depleted, Maria runs in and casts a spell on you that makes you invincible for the rest of the battle), but the specifics do affect the stats of the main character Alucard.

** Made almost too evident in the "boss fight" at the end of ''[[Escape from Monkey Island]]'', where both the hero and the villain regenerate health far too quickly for either one to be able to win. Not unwinnable, though. There's a trick to it. As always.

** And of course, when your party is stronger than the map enemies by a certain amount, they'll automatically win any battle they get into. Literally.

* Krystal's "battle" against the galleon right after the first [[Cutscene]] in ''[[Star Fox Adventures]]'' is unlosable; any hits you take simply result in screeching by the CloudRunner. No health is lost. (There's no health meter until you're actually on board, as a matter of fact.) You do, however, have to attack.

* {{spoiler|The final battle against Izanami}} in ''[[Persona 4]]'' is similar. After you beat the boss twice, you find out [[The Battle Didn't Count]] either time, and then have a scripted second rematch always ending with a similar [[Combined Energy Attack]]. {{spoiler|The Main Character doesn't die this time, though.}}

* The Ember trial in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' sounds like a tough test in which you literally have to fight for your life with your social skills. But whether or not you win the trial (you get a [[Bragging Rights Reward]] if you do), the end result is the same: a [[Duel Boss]] fight.

* In the [[Boss Rush|Arena]] on ''[[Kirby]] Super Star'', one of the fights is about as close as you can get to a '''Foregone Victory''' while still having the potential to lose. Waddle Dee can't move and has no attacks—but you could still lose if you tried hard enough, because he does still deal [[Collision Damage]].

** Mind [[Subverted Trope|enemies also take collision damage]], so just running into him will still be a victory unless you are weak from a previous fight.

* You can't die in the [[Fake Action Prologue]] of ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', which takes place before Varric narrates the real story. It serves to show Varric is an [[Unreliable Narrator]].

* Beating GLaDOS in ''[[Portal 2]]'' is this, and also a [[Zero Effort Boss]]. Of course, anyone who's [[Interface Spoiler|read the chapter list]], or even the achievements, knows that this isn't anywhere near the end of the game.

 

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[[Category:Video Game Difficulty Tropes]]