Poll: Should you be able to fail a game's tutorial?

[Mafoobula]

I like a game that doesn't have dedicated tutorials, only a 10-second "this is how this mechanic is useful" situation. Perfect example: Starcraft II. Uh-oh, you've been dropped into a bad situation. Oh wait, you JUST got a new unit that is super effective against this exact kind of situation AND is really handy for this particular mission! Thanks, Starcraft II! Sure, maybe the very first level could be called a tutorial since it introduces you to the most basic "click to move here, click to gun down everything that looks at you funny" functions.

 

[Bad Jim]

I think the best way to teach is to add mechanics to the game one by one. Since that makes the game itself a tutorial, I'd say yes, tutorials should be failable. Challenging even.

That said, an explicit tutorial should be easy. It doesn't matter if losing is possible, but it should be very easy to anyone who pays attention. If I can't get past it, there is probably something the 'tutorial' is failing to teach me.

Honestly I've noticed that the Total War series is pretty bad in its tutorial systems. As from what I recall of the original Shogun:TW they first took you through the scripted and fail proof camera/UI tutorial, then immediately gave you a unit of archers to face a unit of swordsmen with the simple instructions of "Use the Art of War to defeat the enemy!" and wouldn't proceed in the tutorial until you'd done it (at least Medieval II gives you the option to auto-resolve the sieges to continue the map tutorial).

I remember that fight. It wasn't too hard if you used the terrain and skirmished properly (i.e. ran like a little ***** whenever they got too close).

M1:TW had a tutorial that was pretty good. Took you through all you needed to know, then gave you a final challenge that was an actual challenge.

I spent ages trying to beat those swordsmen. I think the issue was army sizes. Small numbers of archers firing at small numbers of swordsmen do not get many hits. So if your computer was slow and you turned down the army sizes, you would find it nearly impossible.

 

[DementedSheep]

Yes you should. The point into a tutorial is to teach you and to make sure you've actually understood it you should need to use what it has just taught you to progress. It shouldn?t be considerably harder than the rest of the game but that doesn?t mean you should be able to sleepwalk thru it. It just needs to actually explain things properly.