The difference here, is that I have a chance to fight back, if I'm properly prepared. Plus, if I can get the right items, I could quite easily do the same thing to the gnome. Wands of Death work both ways, after all, and a Scroll of Genocide can keep the gnome from ever even spawning in the first place. There's a difference between having "a slim chance" and having "no chance." Between losing because you're simply outclassed, and being
scripted to lose.
I don't mind games where losing is an inevitability, so long as I can fight it for as long as possible and progress despite it. You cited Dwarf Fortress as an example. I'm
fine with the fact that "losing is fun," because the object of the game is to see just how long you can stave off losing. Risk of Rain is the same way, and I intend to buy it the next time I come into some free cash. Sure, the game loops endlessly, getting harder with every stage you progress until it finds a way to kill you. I'm fine with that, because it also lets you do awesome things like
this between start and death.
But being scripted to lose? Being killed because of arbitrary developer fiat? That ticks me off. Even in Elona, where the tutorial NPC, Lomias, is a
jerk for the reasons you stated, you're not put in a totally unwinnable fight. Even a snail, the slowest and weakest race in the game, can potentially run from the Putits, leave your home, go to Vernis, get your first pet, and come back to murder the putits and reclaim your home. Heck, if you start a class that allows for the Throwing and Evasion skills, you can use the rock you start off with to potentially kill the putits as a snail without even taking a hit in return. Elona even gives you an opportunity (or even several opportunities, depending on how lucky you are with spawns) to kill Lomias later, getting sweet, sweet revenge for his jerk behavior in the tutorial.
I've never played Dredmor or Desktop Dungeons, so I honestly don't know how those go. I'll have to take your word for it.
Point being, when you promise "skill based gameplay" but the second fight in the tutorial is
literally unwinnable through no fault of your own, you're not exactly leaving the best of impressions.
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