Would someone do me a favor and list the scripted unwinnable fights for me? That way I can stop wasting resources on these fights and just lose to move the story along. If someone's already got this in the thread, please point me to it.
There's scripted losses in the story, yes, but every fight is "winnable" and if you beat particularly difficult fights even though it's not "cannon" you'll gain special rewards.
An example of some of those fights would be the first version of the final boss of the Misty Woods area (when your party fights them the FIRST time in that mission, not the second)
It's less of a scripted loss, more of a "you don't NEED to beat this if you don't want to", but you CAN and you WILL be rewarded for it.
There's not many though, I think there's one in Misty Woods, one in Magic Weavers (though in my first playthrough I didn't even realize it was "unbeatable" because I got first try), I can't remember if there's one in Little Shroom City or not, but I don't think so, one when you visit Calamity Overlook the first time (Which I believe is the only one that's not replayable), and there's one final one in the final main mission.
Keep in mind, they're not true scripted losses, they're more like optional super bosses, all of which are beatable, yes, even on your first attempt when you first encounter them.
If you're fine with missing out on rewards, then yeah, you can just lose, but you WILL miss out on those rewards and on alternative dialogue/scenes.