Games Where The Only Way To Win...Is To Lose?

[Zenn3k]

Global Thermonuclear War

oh, and Tic-Tac-Toe

 

[Shikua]

No Jade Empire? You straight up get murdered by your old teacher half way through the game and have to fight your way through the spirit world to come back to life.

 

[jdogtwodolla]

There is that one part of Kirby Superstar when you first board the Halberd and fight the Mecha-Lobster. I'm not sure if you can actually bring it's health down to zero or what that would actually do before they blow your ass off the ship.

 

[sageoftruth]

In FF2 (The good one), the Dark Knight, Cecil must face himself in combat. In order to become a paladin, you must refrain from attacking your foe and let him hit you, to show your merciful side. Once he has beaten you, you are reborn as a paladin.

 

[greasedweasel]

Also the first run in with Saturos and Menardi that takes place three years before the main events of Golden Sun is also a no win battle.

I remember wondering at the time, if you spent hour upon hour grinding bats and rats in that opening section, whether it would be possible reach a high enough level to actually win that fight. I doubt it, but I'm sure someone out there must've tried.

 

[Snownine]

Oh, and Megaman X and Super Metroid. I have no idea how I forgot those earlier. I imagine more will likely come to me later.

 

[SweetxVicious]

Technically this is a "lose to win" situation for the main character, but

Spoiler

anyone who has played Persona 3 or Persona 3 FES to its completion knows that, in the end, the MC dies in order to save the rest of the party and, indeed, the world. If suicide (of a sort) isn't the ultimate lose-to-win, then I don't know what is. Well, that and the fact that in order to get the "true" ending of the game, you have to forgive Ryoji instead of killing him. If you choose to kill him on the 31st of December, the game ends early and you get the bad/incomplete ending. Whereas if you choose to forgive him, the game continues on for another month and you get to experience the final boss and the "true" ending - which is still a lose to win situation.

Besides that, I can remember a certain boss fight from Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness pulling the "lose to win" trope.

 

[Beautiful End]

Hmm there is a fight in DA:O where you are suppose to lose but think you can win that and the game progresses it?s just hard and pointless since you just end up skipping a fun quest.

Are you talking about the one where you rescue Princess Uninteresting and then get stopped on the way out by a pack of guards?

Because you can't win that fight. I've tried. I killed every enemy except the boss guard lady. She has infinite health. You can beat her ridiculously long health down to nothing but she'll never die.

Nope, you can beat her.
But then you miss out on the opportunity to witness Sten and Oghren try to pass themselves off as circus performers.

...What?

DANG IT! I didn't fight her because I didn't waste my potions and power on her and I ended up escaping Fort Drakon by myself. If I would have known this was a choice...

UGH! That's what I get for trying to be a hero. :l

OT: Well, most games have already been mentioned (DA:O, MGS3, FFIX, etc.) So...Megaman X? At the beginning, you face a boss that has no health bar, is incredibly powerful and incredibly fast. You can attack him all you want but he's still gonna wreck your shit.

Also, "That was the first time I died".

 

[snappydog]

Spoiler: Kingdom Hearts

The game assumes you'll lose to Leon and Cloud on your first try, so there's no game over - you just move to the next cutscene.

Spoiler: Don't think this really needs spoilers since it appears so early in the game, but... eh.

I actually beat Leon the first time I fought him because I kept resetting whenever it looked like I was going to lose! You get a different cutscene, but Sora just faints out of sheer stupidity and plot device-icity.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Spoiler: Kingdom Hearts

The game assumes you'll lose to Leon and Cloud on your first try, so there's no game over - you just move to the next cutscene.

Spoiler: Don't think this really needs spoilers since it appears so early in the game, but... eh.

I actually beat Leon the first time I fought him because I kept resetting whenever it looked like I was going to lose! You get a different cutscene, but Sora just faints out of sheer stupidity and plot device-icity.

I read about the "alternate cutscenes" but after resetting for a while I got tired and went down the regular way. I was trapped inside the Access. Shop save point and stepping outside triggered the fight straight away, I couldn't return to the 2nd District to level up some more. In any case the spoiler tags are there just to keep up with the post format. I'm tidy that way.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Tales of Destiny.

Battling to escape from Leon Magnus. In order to see the rest of the game, you absolutely must lose to Leon. Winning this battle beats the game.

I was going to count Tales of Symphonia because there are several supposed to lose battles, but none of them are winning means losing battles.

 

[kyuzo3567]

The final boss in the second mission of Ninja Gaiden. You can actually win, but you must be perfect and it will still take a good 20+ minutes. Goddamn Doku, I found you always more annoying that Alma

 

[Terminate421]

In the ending to Halo: Reach there really is no victory. It's done quite well in fact

 

[Exius Xavarus]

In the ending to Halo: Reach there really is no victory. It's done quite well in fact

I like when games do that for their endings. Going out in one final battle to take as many bastards with you as possible.

I've never played it because I couldn't find it when I did own a PSP, but doesn't FFVII: Crisis Core do something to the same effect?

 

[Callate]

I came to the unfortunate conclusion that the only way to beat the final boss in Bookworm Adventures 2 was to not use healing potions through several deaths so that I could save up enough of them to have a chance of surviving through multiple stages of automatic status effects.

(Nothing else in that game is as hard- it was a wretched decision on someone's part!)

 

[Scarecrow]

Ohh, I just thought of an example.

There was a really neat bit in that 2008 Prince of Persia game where you're up against an illusionist. The only way to win is to throw yourself off a tower. It makes sense in context... kind of.

That was going to be my example. That game gets some flak, but it had a lot of cool ideas, like that puzzle fight. Took me a little while to work it out. >.>

 

[Subscriptism]

Hmm there is a fight in DA:O where you are suppose to lose but think you can win that and the game progresses it?s just hard and pointless since you just end up skipping a fun quest.

Are you talking about the one where you rescue Princess Uninteresting and then get stopped on the way out by a pack of guards?

Because you can't win that fight. I've tried. I killed every enemy except the boss guard lady. She has infinite health. You can beat her ridiculously long health down to nothing but she'll never die.

You can beat it, just put it on easy and tank her. I've done it.

 

[Fijiman]

The only one I can think of is the beginning of Saints Row the Third where you end up getting caught.

Global Thermonuclear War

oh, and Tic-Tac-Toe

Ha! That's funny.

 

[Dethenger]

Easy answer: Don't you have to die in the very beginning of Demon's Souls?

Yeah you do. There's another one in Dark Souls too; Seath the Scaleless kills you and then you wake up in prison. Apparently you can get round it using a glitch, don't know whether you can progress normally if you do that.

Not a glitch, you just need to jump off the elevator right.

Also, in Kingdom Hearts, you are intended to lose your fight with Leon so he can take you, but even if you do beat him the cutscene just shows Sora pass out from exhaustion.

 

[DementedSheep]

Ohh, I just thought of an example.

There was a really neat bit in that 2008 Prince of Persia game where you're up against an illusionist. The only way to win is to throw yourself off a tower. It makes sense in context... kind of.

That was going to be my example. That game gets some flak, but it had a lot of cool ideas, like that puzzle fight. Took me a little while to work it out. >.>

To be fair as Elika herself points out that was actually kinda stupid because she could have been incapacitated.

off topic: This is probably going to sound weird but one things I actually really like about that game is the way the "prince" and Elika move together when platforming and fighting. It was nice to watch. I think the way they had the companion NPC as actually part of your moves and combos rather than just uselessly following you was great. Too bad it was so repetitive, easy and the dialogue wasn't the best.