I think the issue is HOW the unwinnable battle is presented and not the fact it exists. I wanna say Xenoblade Chronicles 2 does it several times where you are just absolutely SPANKING the enemy. I mean just straight up handing them their sorry butts and the cutscene plays out where they just immediately hand wave you away like you were a fly the entire time.
Um. No. I was beating the crap out if you. Your bar was zero and you barely touched me. The cutscene should reflect that.
If they want it done right...the boss needs to be fast, your attacks do negligible damage and they hit you and you are practically half dead.
Now the cutscene makes sense. You really were a joke to them and that's how it played out in combat.
Also yeah ToD is on my top 10. PS1 was golden age of a lot of JRPGs.