Starter Equipment/Playing With

Basic Trope: The player is given some basic equipment at the start of the game which they'll quickly replace with something better.


 * Straight: Bob starts out wearing nothing but the unique and useless "]" as armour, and armed with a ].
 * Exaggerated: Alice, a trained soldier, starts off with nothing but a ], a ] and a ].
 * Bob begins with full body armor and a giant sniper rifle -- but because it's Starter Equipment it's worthless anyway, Statistically Speaking.
 * Downplayed: Bob has the cheapest equipment available from the starting area's shop.
 * Justified: ] were made on the cheap by his mother. Hence there are no clothes like them, but they are neither valuable nor designed for combat. While there are obviously other ] lying around he sees no reason to pick them up when he finds an actual weapon.
 * Bob is decked out in full, modern combat gear -- but since he's fighting aliens, it's dramatically inferior to their equipment anyway.
 * Bob's a random peasant, so it wouldn't make sense to have him start with the Infinity Plus One Sword.
 * Inverted: Bob begins with the most powerful equipment in the game, which can be bought anywhere. However it breaks rather quickly when it's used.
 * Subverted: Alice immediately goes into the armoury and trades in her equipment for some actual weapons and armour and gets some for Bob while she's at it.
 * Double Subverted: Due to budget cuts, they can still only requisition equipment far inferior to what they'll find later.
 * Armor and weapons are next to worthless, since Bob still needs to level grind his magic/kung fu/etc.
 * Parodied: Bob is stuck in a Hopeless Boss Fight since his ] can't even harm a mildly agitated sheep.
 * Deconstructed: The game is Nintendo Hard because of the poor equipment at the start of the game.
 * Because the characters start with worthless weapons, they are forced to use stealth and the environment much more in the early stages.
 * Reconstructed: Once you get past that part it becomes more forgiving.
 * Zig Zagged: Some party members begin with better equipment than others.
 * Averted: The game has no improved equipment. Alice and Bob's weapons are all they'll need for the rest of the game.
 * Enforced: The devs tried starting you off at full power, but testers complained about the lack of advancement.
 * Lampshaded: "Don't I have anything better than this ]? I mean there's probably at least a kitchen knife somewhere in my house...."
 * Invoked: Bob makes sure to be underequipped compared to everyone else so that he can be The Hero.
 * Defied: Bob keeps a cache of weapons and armour just in case. It's roughly to the standards of mid game items.
 * Discussed: "I don't have anything but the clothes on my back and a ]!" "Stop complaining, we'll find somewhere that sells something better soon."
 * Conversed: "I hear that Bob's off to save the world with nothing but a ]!"
 * Exploited: Bob accepts the weaker weapons so that he can sell them, knowing they'll get better ones immediatly anyway.

OK, this Playing With Wiki page is a good start, but the best stuff's over on ]!