Lowered Monster Difficulty: Difference between revisions

Line 48:

* 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.

* In the second ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'' film, the Aliens are severely weakened. While the other films (include the first ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'') tended to vary exactly how powerful they were and the precise nature of their abilities, this one kneecapped them almost entirely for the sake of the [[Predator]] protagonist.

* ''[[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.

* ''[[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.

Line 84:

** 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."

** Normal vampires had similarly varying levels of capability. It would seem more likely the "ubervamps" weren't really any better than the earthly variety, just uglier. The first one was probably handpicked by the first so it was very hard -- like the vampire [[Big Bad|Big Bads]] in the early seasons -- while the rest were just common [[Mooks]].

* Daleks, from ''[[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~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.

* 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 the Doctor Who episode ''Blink'', the enemies can move so quickly that if you so much as blink, they'll rush forward and drag you decades into the past, but they will turn to stone as long as you're looking at them. Apparently, they lost their exceptional speed halfway through the episode, conveniently before the central characters arrive for the final scene. <ref>There's some question as to how fast they actually are. A character in the episode looks away from one for about a second to find it has crossed the room and nearly got him. In the final scene, they may have slowed down because they thought they had the lead characters trapped, [[For the Evulz|or to increase their fear]]. They are psychopaths, after all.</ref>

Line 112:

== Videogames ==

* Yellow Squadron from ''[[Ace Combat]] 4''. The first time they appear, they have [[Story Driven Invulnerability]] and can't be hurt (although their AI is nerfed to prevent them from killing you if you run, which is your mission objective once they appear; they're no better shots than regular enemy jets). The game even warns you against trying to struggle against them by instructing you to turn tail and flee ASAP. The second time, even a dead hit only succeeds in annoying them into leaving. The third time, Mobius One does down one of them, but [[Worf Had the Flu]]. In subsequent encounters, though, Yellow Squadron planes do get shot down honestly to the last, including their best pilot Yellow 13 in the penultimate mission. In the very last mission, the Yellow Squadron pilots are pretenders to the name who lack the skills of the original, thus getting defeated more easily despite their superior numbers.

* Yellow Squadron from ''[[Ace Combat]] 4''. The first time they appear, they have [[Story-Driven Invulnerability]] and can't be hurt (although their AI is nerfed to prevent them from killing you if you run, which is your mission objective once they appear; they're no better shots than regular enemy jets). The game even warns you against trying to struggle against them by instructing you to turn tail and flee ASAP. The second time, even a dead hit only succeeds in annoying them into leaving. The third time, Mobius One does down one of them, but [[Worf Had the Flu]]. In subsequent encounters, though, Yellow Squadron planes do get shot down honestly to the last, including their best pilot Yellow 13 in the penultimate mission. In the very last mission, the Yellow Squadron pilots are pretenders to the name who lack the skills of the original, thus getting defeated more easily despite their superior numbers.

** Also applies to Stonehenge from the same game. The first time it shows up as an obstacle, it's at the end of a mission where you probably were expecting a simple Mission Accomplished, you're forced to terrain mask by dropping into a naturally confined ravine, the [[One-Hit Kill]] shots come rather frequently and SkyEye can only predict the next round to less than 10 seconds, forcing you to stay inside the ravine. The second time, you are told in advance to expect it, the shots aren't as frequent so allowing you to actually do some useful bombing or dogfighting, SkyEye can predict the shots with enough advance warning and there are nice wide open plains to drop below 2000 feet with. The final time, the instakill shots only occur at the start and once you get in its face, it's all but a nonissue even above 2000 feet.

*** Unless of course, you fly [[Too Dumb to Live|in front of its barrel when it fires...]]

Line 119:

** Averted in the Rebellion FPS games, where the Aliens are highly threatening and tricky.

* Igor, the second boss in ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|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 (Video Game)|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 ~~Plus~~]]. (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 ~~Plus~~]]; 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]].)

* ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|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]].)

* Mendoza in ''[[Command and Conquer]]: Renegade''. He appears twice in the game before a climactic battle, only to be hurt a little and escape (even saying "I'll finish you later!" before flying off in a helicopter). He's invincible while escaping, and each time he returns, he's back to full health. When he finally fights a pitched battle against Havoc, he's at full health again, but as easily hurt as before.

* ''[[Crysis (Video Game)|Crysis]]'' has a fairly glaring example in the large alien robots called Scouts. Throughout the early part of the game they're shown as exceedingly deadly with ''one'' of them effectively killing off the players entire team (who all have his weapons and powers) with barely any chance for them to fight back. However when they eventually come after the player all three parts of the trope come into play they attack from plain sight forgoing the previous brutal ambushes they used, they don't simply grab and maul him in seconds like they did all his teammates, and simple machine gun bullets can suddenly kill them rather easily. By the end of the game the player is battling them in packs of up to a dozen with no real explanation for their sudden decrease in deadliness.

Line 167:

[[Category:Plot Armor]]

[[Category:Lowered Monster Difficulty]]

[[Category:Trope]]