Absurdly High Level Cap: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Golden Sun (Video Game)|Golden Sun]]'''s last level for learning is around level 54, with the maximum level being at 99. However, the [[Bonus Boss]] in the second game is a challenge no matter what level you are. This is because the first two ''[[Golden Sun (Video Game)|Golden Sun]]'' games were originally intended to be one, but were split to fit on the cartridge. The "Final Boss" of the first game was originally intended to be a [[Disc One Final Dungeon]] boss.

* [[Nippon Ichi]] games like ''[[La Pucelle Tactics]]'' have ridiculous level caps where you can get to 9999 even though the maximum level needed to win the game is around a hundred. You actually do need huge levels to kill the [[Bonus Boss]], however.

** ''Phantom Brave'' [[Serial Escalation|escalates]] since you can level both weapon AND character, meaning you can beat the final boss (and probably the first bonus boss) if you have the optimum skill/weapon/created character loadout for such a task at around 40/40, some have gotten it as low as 30/30 (Pump those weapon HP skills!) And not only is the max level 9999, but, while the highest character re-creation level in Disgaea gives you 10 extra skill points per time, Phantom Brave can give you as many as *255* skill points each time. A character that has gone to 9999 twice at 255 points each will likely hit the 'true max.' It also supports an extra digit in the stats column. (at this point any attack resembles the scores from Gigawing) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1P2L3W5RtE Here as an example is a 9999999 attack mage].

* In ''[[Fallout 3 (Video Game)|Fallout 3]]'' and ''[[The Elder Scrolls]] [[The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion (Video Game)|IV: Oblivion]]'', you can complete your main quest within a few character levels if you wish. The majority of the games are effectively side-quests. Because the game world levels with you, leveling and quest completion is almost entirely divorced. The best weapons and statistic caps are relatively easy to obtain before completing roughly 2/3rds of the content.

* In ''[[Star Ocean Till the End of Time (Video Game)|Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]]'', the [[Final Boss]] is beatable before level 80, but levels cap at 255. There are ''three'' [[Bonus Dungeon|Bonus Dungeons]] containing numerous enemies and bosses that can help you get to 255. There are even battle trophies for doing this.

** 255 is the typical level cap in the ''[[Star Ocean]]'' series. ''[[Star Ocean the Last Hope (Video Game)|The Last Hope]]'' breaks this tradition by dropping it down to 200; however, earning half of the Battle Trophies of a character bumps it right back up to 255. Then again, when you're trying to defeat [[Bonus Boss|bonus bosses]] with millions of HP, and earn Battle Trophies that require inflicting max damage, you'll want every last stat point you can get.

** ''[[Mario and Luigi Bowsers Inside Story (Video Game)|Bowser's Inside Story]]'' also about halves the effect of each level up after 50, making it even more pointless. Doesn't help that you need to keep resetting the final dungeon to even find enemies worth fighting for more experience. However, once you get to "rainbow rank" you can kill most bosses in one hit.

* In the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series, you'll likely reach the end of the storyline around level 50, while the level cap is 99. There are usually a few [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]] that require you to level grind a bit, however.

** ''[[Kingdom Heartscoded (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts Re:coded]]'' has a level cap of 99. While that's not unusual, the amount of EXP required for higher levels is. In total, about ''10,000,000 EXP'' is required to get all the Level Up chips.

** In ''[[Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories]]'', it's possible to beat it at level 40 and 25 fairly easily with Sora and Riku respectively. The level 99 cap is made worse with the absence of [[Bonus Boss|bonus bosses]].

* In ''[[Digimon World 3]]'', the level cap is 99, but most Digimon can achieve their unnecessarily powerful top-level Digivolutions by about level 60-70. While the final boss does require massive offensive and defensive power to beat, by that point in the game you have access to items which can boost your attack power and other parameters without having to fight, so it's entirely possible to beat him at level 30.

** In ''[[Digimon World 4]]'', the cap is 999. Even playing through all three difficulty levels, you're unlikely to reach 300.

** ''[[Mass Effect 1 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 1]]'' has a level cap of 60, which is impossible to achieve in one playthrough (because levels 51-60 are unlocked by beating the game) and difficult to achieve in two (because of the ridiculously high amounts of experience needed to gain the last 10 levels<ref>fun fact: it takes more XP to level from 59 to 60 than it does to level from 1 to 45</ref>).

** ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]]'' averts this, though; the level cap is 30, which is easily reached in one playthrough. Plus, if you [[Old Save Bonus|import a level 60 character from the first game]], you [[Restart At Level One|Restart At Level Five]], making it easier to hit the cap, especially if you have the [[DLC]].

* ''[[Dragon Age (Video Game)|Dragon Age]]: Origins'' has a level cap of 25, which is impossible to reach without the [[Level Grinding|Elfroot grind]] or [[Good Bad Bugs|Ostagar exploit]]. Getting to level 20 gains you a class-specific achievement, while new characters in the "Awakening" expansion start at level 18. "Awakening" itself is an aversion, however; if you import a level 25 character, it gives you just enough content to go up to the increased cap of 35 before the [[Final Boss]].

* ''[[Dragon Age II (Video Game)|Dragon Age II]]'' plays it utterly straight again. The level cap is 50, which is currently reachable only through a (now fixed) bug exploit; in a single playthrough, you can go up to level 25, tops, which is about one fourth of the XP needed to reach the cap. The likely explanation is that the cap was set with future [[DLC]] campaigns in mind, but even with all the DLC, getting to the cap is impossible without the aforementioned bug.

* Present in the ''[[Suikoden]]'' series as a whole. In fact, it may be one of the more extreme examples. You see, in the series, each new level requires 1000 EXP to reach--the catch is that the amount of EXP awarded to a character after any battle is calculated based on the character's strength/level vis-a-vis that of the defeated opponents. Fairly soon, monsters that gave a good chunk of EXP required to reach a level will give out a mere pittance, and even the hardest encounters in the game will eventually yield a mere 5 EXP per encounter (the average minimum possible EXP). When, precisely, this happens depends on the individual game in the series, but it's usually somewhere in the 60s or 70s, for a game where the level caps at 99. Only the most determined Suikoden players will see characters that have reached level 99, and probably no one has done it legitly with the large number of playable characters (since not all of the [[108]] are playable) ...

* The level cap in ''[[Legend of Legaia (Video Game)|Legend of Legaia]]'' is 99. Even with extreme grinding, the levels granted are stingy, and you'll probably beat the game somewhere between levels 35 and 40. If you want to beat the obnoxiously difficult [[Bonus Boss]], you'll want another ten or twenty levels on that. If you want to complete [[That One Sidequest]] and actually get usable Juggernaut magic, you are ''required'' to be at level 99. Even grinding every single day for a few hours, that can take years.

* In ''[[Mabinogi (Video Game)|Mabinogi]]'', reaching the level cap is most likely impossible, as the ideal way to level is by rebirthing back to level 1 every week or so, adding to the total level. Some say the total level cap may exceed 9000.

** Apparently, the "current level" cap is 200. The exploration level cap is definitely 25. But all that really matters for are those who seek to gain as much AP as possible in as little time as possible. The maximum you can get each week while still having a life outside the game doesn't even get close to the cap until your total is many thousands high and your character a veritable engine of destruction already.

* Name any Idea Factory/Compile Heart game. [[Cross Edge (Video Game)|Any]] [[Record of Agarest War|game]] [[Hyperdimension Neptunia|they made.]] Chances are, the level cap is going to be at 999.

* In ''[[Dragon Quest I (Video Game)|Dragon Quest I]]'', the level cap is 30 at 65535 EXP, but you can curbstomp the Dragonlord well before then, around Level 24 (you need a minimum of Level 20 to have the least chance at beating him).

** And in Dragon Quest IX, the level cap is 99; you'll be needing over 65535 XP ''per level'' when you get much past 50! Oh, and did I mention that XP is not shared between vocations (classes), so you could be a level 99 warrior but only a level 1 mage? And you can reset back to level 1 if you want, in order to get more skill points and a "special" item related to the vocation...

* In ''[[Anachronox (Video Game)|Anachronox]]'', the maximum level is 99. Reaching this level, however, is nigh-impossible. Enemies don't usually respawn, so you can't kill them over and over for experience. Add on to that the fact that the game uses [[Dynamic Difficulty]], and it's basically a useless cap.

* ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]'' has the usual level cap of 99, but the endgame level is around ''80'', higher than pretty much every other game with that cap. You'll also want to hit the cap for some [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]].

* ''[[Halo Reach]]'', while having the average-ish 50 ranks, requires 20 ''million'' experience points to hit the level cap, the distance between rank 49 and 50 being 3 and a half million alone.

* Both ''[[Demons Souls (Video Game)|Demon's Souls]]'' and ''[[Dark Souls (Video Game)|Dark Souls]]'' have a level cap in the 700s range (712 and 792 respectively). ''Demon's Souls'' has a requirement of 8,844,424 souls to make the leap from 711 to 712 and ''Dark Souls'' has a requirement of 11,938,030 souls just to make the leap from 791 to 792. Both games have you normally ending your first playthrough in the low 100s with their 60,000+ soul requirement. And due to the [[Diminishing Returns for Balance]] of raising stats in both games, it is utterly unnecessary.

* The obscure [[PS 1]] JRPG ''[[Guardians Crusade]]'' had a level cap of ''65535'', even though you'd probably be facing the end boss at around level 50. The reasons for this have been lost in the mists of time.

* Played with by the [[Call of Duty (Video Game)|Call of Duty]] franchise, starting with ''Call of Duty 4: [[Modern Warfare]]'' (well, the console versions). Players are able to level up (the cap is different for each game), unlocking new weapons, support equipment, and [[RPG Elements|Perks]] as they go. At the maximum level, the player has the option to [[Self-Imposed Challenge|"Prestige"]], reverting to level 1, essentially starting again. Later games use this to unlock unique cosmetic elements and extra Custom Class slots, but the early games simply let you start climbing the ladder again, up to five times, not really gaining much of anything for your trouble.

* ''[[Labyrinth of Touhou]]'' can be beaten with characters in the 100+ range. The post game [[Expansion Pack|Plus Disk]] content will probably require a level upwards of 500. The actual level cap is far higher than that.

* ''[[Eve Online]]'' has close to 400 skills, which while only have 5 levels each, can take upwards of a month or more to max each skill.

* The level cap in ''[[Soul Blazer]]'' is 50. That sounds low, but the amount of experience required to get there is impractically high; you have to reach the cap of 99,999,999 (that's one less than one hundred million), when the strongest enemies give a mere 4,000. For comparison, level 25 requires a total of 150,000 experience -- and at that point your attack and defense are the highest they can get without accessories, and your HP bar has already reached its maximum length and changes color instead to signify additional HP.

* [[Parasite Eve (Video Game)|Parasite Eve]] has a weird case of this. The cap is 99, but you learn your last ability in the early 30s, and the high 30s require a ridiculous amount of EXP (around ''200,000!''). However, once you reach level 38, level requirements become far, ''far'' lower (a mere 4,500 EXP).

[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]

[[Category:Absurdly High Level Cap]]