Lowered Monster Difficulty: Difference between revisions

This is especially obvious when the heroes don't have any powers or anything technically to distinguish them from any of the other humans that were easily killed.

 

* '''You can see it coming.''' Early in the movie or show, [[Monster Delay|the monster hides in the shadows, and kills its prey without even being seen.]] It can also [[Offscreen Teleportation|be anywhere it wants to be as long as nobody was looking at it.]] Now it can be detected from a distance, and moves a lot slower. The heroine can outrun it long enough for an escape plan.

* '''It takes its time to kill the main characters.''' Non-important characters like police officers are killed in seconds. For the main characters, it just ''stands'' there and roars, or makes threats or evil jokes, and even when it attacks, it tends to miss a lot. The villainous equivalent to [[Kill Him Already]].

If the monster becomes less difficult when there are many of them, that's [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]] - of course, contrast with the fourth clause above. Related: [[Strong as They Need to Be]], where the heroes' powers fluctuate as the plot demands.

 

 

 

Contrast [[Team Rocket Wins]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** Considering that after the fight was over Roberta just needed a little help up and Revy was out cold for hours, it wasn't really that impressive of a "hold her own".

** Hansel and Gretel are a better example: after showing both skill and deviousness when fighting a bunch of [[Mooks]] one of them {{spoiler|tries to take on the leader of a fierce attack squad by ''stepping out into the open to kill her with an ax''}} and the other {{spoiler|just stops paying attention and gets shot in the back}}.

*** There is a explanation for both, though; {{spoiler|Gretel was up against a whole [[Badass Army]] instead of just mooks, and their whole strategy was making him angry, confused and tired so he wouldn't be able to think straight (Balalaika is seen issuing these orders). And Hansel wasn't paying attention because she thought she was already safe. She had no idea that Balalaika knew where she was, after all. And remember, although skilled, they are both very [[Sanity Has Advantages|unbalanced]].}}

** Another example is that of Uryuu Ishida, who can in the beginning of the story kill one Hollow with one arrow, and later on gains a new type of bow which allows him to fire one thousand and one arrows per second, allowing him to kill hordes of Hollows in mere seconds.

* Also seen with the Boomers in ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]].'' Curiously, their armor also seemed to get weaker as attacks that merely bounced off early on do more and more damage the longer they are on camera.

* Major 'boss' fights in the ''[[Claymore]]'' anime take several episodes to defeat, and as a result the weakening of each boss fits every bullet point of this trope to a tee. Even the obligatory constant taunting.

** Especially odd in Gilgamesh's case. Canonically, he is the single most powerful Servant, PERIOD. It's generally agreed that, while not the most powerful character in the [[Nasuverse]] (Zelretch and Archetype Earth can probably beat him), against any other Servant there is no reason he should ever lose. The only reason Enuma Elish is survivable at all is because he's deliberately holding back its full strength. The guy is deliberately lowering his own difficulty, mainly due to his ''galactic''-sized ego. If he was a bit less arrogant and a bit more of a [[Combat Pragmatist]], he'd wipe the floor with everyone.

*** However, he could potentially destroy himself if he used more power, Ea being an Anti-World Noble Phantasm and all.

* Bakemon grew much weaker over the course of ''[[Digimon Adventure]]''. When they first appeared, it took two Champion-level digimon and some assistance from Jyou to take on a single Bakemon. (Okay, so that was kind of a [[Giant Mook]], but the regular-sized Bakemon still were rather competent.) When they return as part of Phantomon's army in the Myotismon saga, they still require the chanting in order to be weakened, although this could be attributed to power in sheer numbers--''maybe''. But by the time Myotismon is defeated (right before coming back as VenomMyotismon), they are apparently so weak that the Digidestined's Digimon can each take out multiple Bakemon single-handedly at their rookie stage.

** This could have less to do with the Bakemon being weaker, and more to do with the Digidestined's Digimon becoming stronger.

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* A few of the monsters from the [[Godzilla]] series suffer from this (notably King Ghidorah), but none worse than Hedorah. In ''Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster'', he's arguably Godzilla's most powerful foe in the entire original series (with the possible exception of Mechagodzilla). Decades later, in ''Godzilla: Final Wars'', he's killed in about 20 seconds.

* ''[[Ip Man]]'' shows the fourth clause in his fight against ten Japanese pugilists. Immediately before that, in Master Liu's {{spoiler|final}} 3v1 fight, the Japanese pugilists were clearly working together to prevent him from comboing any of their number down. However, when the titular hero goes to bat, none of them interfere when he pulls off his [[Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs]] [[Finishing Move]] on any of them. It would perhaps have made the fight more "realistic" to have them interrupt. It would also have further increased Ip Man's [[Badass]] quotient if he had done [[The Bourne Series (film)|Jason Bourne]]-style [[Offhand Backhand]] "wait your turn" strikes to stop interlopers. Although it may be a [[Justified Trope]] if you believe that martial artists can sense intent, as Ip Man's being on a [[Tranquil Fury]] [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] would have given him enough violent intent to make his opponents hesitant about bumrushing him.

* One of the most jarring cases of this occurs in ''[[Jurassic Park]] 2''. Dinosaurs who are ruthlessly efficient and accurate when taking down most of their victims do mind-baffling stupid things when facing the lone woman and little girl in the area such as patiently waiting for the little girl to finish her gymnastics routine which ends with the Raptor kicked away somehow, despite how small she is and how little momentum she had accumulated or fighting amongst each other for the 'right'(?) to kill the fleeing woman.

** The raptors also suffer badly from this in the first [[Jurassic Park]] movie as well.

** By contrast, the Raptors in the novels remain dangerous over both books, even when they're not directly threatening the protagonists. The T-Rex actually becomes more dangerous in the second novel, when {{spoiler|our heroes make the mistake of taking a Rex infant. Then they give it back. Then the Rexes try to kill them anyway, because they're in their territory.}}

** Niobe and Ghost outright kill several Agents in the canonical ''Enter the Matrix'' game. They could still possess someone else; but still so much for "nobody has ever beaten one."

** The "upgrades" are increased speed and strength in exchange for reduced intelligence. That makes them better against Neo (if only barely), but less effective against everyone else.

* The critters in ''[[Pitch Black]]'' are a prime example of this trope. At the beginning of the film, they are clearly crawling around while there's still sunlight visible. Later on, a dimly luminescent glass jar can send them screaming away.

* Roger Ebert called this the "Hero's Death Battle Exemption" and cited the movie ''[[Prophecy (film)|Prophecy]]'' as an example. In this movie, a killer bear shredded normal humans in seconds, but was considerate enough to let the hero stab it in the head multiple times with an arrow, which took ten times longer than it had killed anyone previously.

* Averted in ''[[Tremors]]''. The first few victims were killed and sucked through the ground without giving them a chance to escape. By the middle of the film, we had two of of them going after a single person, and even one coming up directly under her and she still managed to escape. By contrast, a few Graboids learn and plan, and all refuges become either temporary or a second form of slow death as they work out how to get their prey.

 

* The only reason Indian Joe from the ''Tom and Huck'' movie with Jonathan Taylor Thomas doesn't come out on top is he acts like a spider: He surveys his prey, walking s l o w l y toward them, and if they run away, he follows at a leisurely pace. Even when he's trying to take revenge at the end, even when he momentarily catches Tom (who pulls free and runs off). This, despite the fact that he's been shown to vanish in a split-second when he confronts Tom halfway through the movie (so obviously he moves fast). He lost only to a sort of very odd hubris.

* The Demon in ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street|Wes Craven's New Nightmare]]''.

 

 

* The monster in any [[James Byron Huggins]] novel. In the first act, the genetically-engineered super-dragon will be destroying tanks and if it escapes it could destroy cities, while the third act it can be killed by some strongman with a viking axe and a couple of grenades. Same thing in ''Hunter''; the monster rips apart heavily fortified labs and squads of armed guards only to die from being lit on fire in single combat with the hero.

* The more [[Our Demons Are Different|Denarians]] you see in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', the easier they get to kill. The first one took three [[Church Militant|Knights of the Cross]] to take down. By the time we see three more, the Denarian leader versus one Knight is pretty even. More than a dozen pop up, and they're not much more than ordinary mooks. Partially justified, as the dozen were picked for desire rather than skill, but the drop in capability is still pretty drastic.

 

 

** Not only Slayers, but normal humans Giles and Wood ([[Badass Normal|badass normals]]), Dawn (sort of a [[Badass Normal]]), Xander (sort of a [[Badass Normal]] just due to years of experience), and Andrew and Anya (just normals, not badass at all) are able to dispatch some of them, sometimes without even hitting anywhere near the heart.

** Writer/creator [[Joss Whedon]] even [[Lampshade Hanging|mentioned]] this in the episode's commentary, [[Hand Wave|handwaving]] the problem by saying that that "isn't what it's about."

* Daleks, from ''[[Doctor Who]]'', tend to suffer from a strange form of this. Depending on the writer, episode and situation, the Dalek can be a godlike mass-murdering killmachine immune to bullets, missiles and everything else - or capable of being defeated by having their eyestalk covered with a hat.

** The new series tries to have it both ways. In keeping with its new action-dramedy look, it goes the godlike, mass-murdering killmachine route with the Daleks, even trying to make their [[Your Mileage May Vary|truly ridiculous design]] look threatening. And of course, the thing about the Daleks is that there is only one thing they ever do with other species: "Exterminate!" Despite this, ''every'' Dalek two-parter in the new series has relied on the Daleks having the Doctor, his companions, and other important characters at their mercy halfway through the story, gearing up to "Exterminate!" the hell out of them, and then deciding "Maybe later." At one point, they put it off for ''no'' apparent reason other than plot necessity.

*** In what is a rather ''brilliant'' way to mess with the fourth wall, the audience is what saves their lives. Whenever the characters turn around, the angels only ever move just close enough to not get into the cameras field of view. It's also more apparent when the characters are inside the Tardis and the camera is outside of it, the angels can still only move when the lights go out because they revert to statues when the camera sees them. This is also the way the angels could have beaten the Doctor, because it all happened before the cameramen got there.

** The Cybermen acquired a large collection of weaknesses during the run of the original series, but the treatment of their aversion to gold amounts to Serial Lowered Monster Difficulty. In the Tom Baker story "Revenge of the Cybermen," gold was described as the perfect non-corrosive metal that killed by plating the Cyber breathing apparatus. Gold dust was the key, and man had invented he glitter gun. By "Earthshock," the Davison Doctor was able to scratch open a Cyberman's chest plate using the point of Adric's gold star. Then in "Silver Nemesis," even round gold coins were enough to do the trick when used as arrowheads.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

{{quote|''If the foe is a super-strong monster that could kill or maim the hero with a single blow, it rarely strikes to inflict damage directly. Instead it slams the hero, or grabs him and tosses him around!''}}

 

* ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]''

** Played straight in the Monolith FPS with the Aliens.

* Igor, the second boss in ''[[Cave Story]]'' reappears right before the final boss. The interesting part is that he has the same amount of health and does the same amount of damage, and is indeed exactly the same as when you met him earlier. The only difference is that you have [[More Dakka|bigger guns.]]

* ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' has an interesting example. The plot requires you to fight the [[Final Boss]] at one point before the end, and he's even more difficult than he is then, not just because you haven't had time to [[Level Grinding|grind levels]] or find the [[Infinity+1 Sword]], but because he has many more HP and uses his ultimate attack almost immediately. Beating him then is one of two ways to get [[Multiple Endings|the developer's room ending]], but it isn't practical unless you're using a [[New Game+]]. (The other way to get the ending is to choose to fight him as soon as the game starts, an option only available in a [[New Game+]]; if you do so, he's only as strong as he is at the end of the game, so beating him in the [[Hopeless Boss Fight]] is definitely worth some [[Bragging Rights Reward|bragging rights]].)

** Also, in ''[[Crysis (series)|Crysis]]'' it's a major plot point that the largest alien war-machines (referred to as Exosuits in-game and as Hunters in the game files) have an energy shield that makes them indestructible and thus capable of single-handedly wiping out a few platoons of U.S. troops. However, in ''Crysis: Warhead'', those same Exosuits somehow lack their signature energy shields, and you fight and destroy a few of them as "boss battles" throughout the game. Even the North Korean nanosuit soldiers are seen destroying an alien Exosuit.

* In ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]'' the final boss, the Hivemind, suffers from this, as well as [[Anticlimax Boss]]. In a cutscene it instantly kills someone with a brutal horizontal sweep of one of it's giant tentacles. Despite the fact that this tactic would be equally effective against you, the Hivemind inexplicably only attacks with slow, highly telegraphed 'vertical' tentacle strikes that are easily dodged, and every couple of attacks it obligingly opens it's mouth so you can shoot it's weakpoints.

* In ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'', the recurring enemy Jr. Troopa has reduced HP resulting from having swum to Yoshi's Island and back in pursuit of Mario. This is somewhat mitigated by the addition of a spiked cap. Upon defeat, he then talks as though flight would have made the trip effortless.

** Of course, Jr. Troopa's entire schtick is that he's a one man [[Terrible Trio]], being substantially weaker than the heroes every time they encounter him. He's a tough fight, but it's difficult to lose to him.

** The last version of the game does not directly nerf them, but various rule changes hurt them so badly they are almost a joke now.

* An entirely different type of of "lowered monster difficulty" is in R&D games like ''[[X-COM]]''; you gain new technology that outclasses even the [[Big Bad]] aliens. This isn't [[Can't Catch Up]] as the examples there do not match the case: Your entire team gets better; none of your characters gets left behind. The [[Big Bad|enemies]] get more powerful by normal [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]], but your team gets more powerful faster.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Done at times in ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'', perhaps most obviously in the episode "Revolution". At first [[Mean Brit|Mad Mod's]] [[Mecha-Mooks|robot guards]] are so powerful that the Titans can't even defeat 2 or 3 of them- they're simply [[Made of Iron|too tough]]. When they wind up fighting an entire army at once all of a sudden the Titans [[Made of Plasticine|can rip them apart like tissue paper or knock them over like skittles.]]

** That might also count as [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]].

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