Overrated and Underleveled: Difference between revisions
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** Said special ability (item, actually) was stated to cost a good chunk of an entire nation's budget.
** It should at least be noted that he joins your party for a short while before this, and he's a good 40 levels higher than your party by that point (assuming the player isn't grinding). He drops to around the same level as you when his artes are sealed.
* The ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series of tactical [[RPG
** Karel in particular since in ''Fire Emblem 7'', he is referred to as the "Sword Demon" and his supports with Dart and Karla show how skilled he was, yet a well-leveled Lyndis or Guy can outclass him. In ''Fire Emblem 6'' though, he has actually grown far more but can still be outclassed by Rutger or Fir if leveled correctly.
*** Karel is an [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower]] - he's got the best growth rates, but he can only use it once. You'll notice that in Fire Emblem 7, he joins at a lower level than in Fire Emblem 6, [[Fridge Brilliance|So obviously he was training]].
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* The SNES Tactical RPG ''[[Langrisser]] 2'' employed this to hair-pulling extent, where Leon, a Level 6 Knight Master, joins you as a computer-controlled unit for one battle and then offers to join you. If you accept, he loses nearly 30 levels on the spot. (To add insult to injury, several party members leave you and appear at least 10 levels higher as enemies the very next stage.)
* If a writer wants to put a little effort into [[Hand Wave|explaining]] this, they often use [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|amnesia]] as a vehicle:
** In ''[[Vagrant Story]]'', the main character's [[Backstory]] involves him being among the baddest of badasses, but he gains amnesia before the game starts and forgets most of his
** Zero, the "Legendary Hero" from ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'', was violently awoken from his 100 year rest and has forgotten most of his fighting techniques. True to his series heritage, he recalls most of his techniques [[Mega Manning|after beating a boss and mimicking its attacks.]]
** Played extremely straight in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' - The Nameless One doesn't so much learn new skills as he remembers what his previous incarnations knew... and some of those were ''absurdly powerful''.
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* ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'' has this problem with the final [[Guest Star Party Member]] {{spoiler|Leon}}. Throughout the game he's hyped up as the Emperor's [[The Dragon|Dragon]], yet when he joins you his HP and MP are rather pathetic compared to your party's at this point, with no magic skills whatsoever, and poor weapon skills as well. Leveling him up is fairly easy, but it's also rather tedious.
* In [[Defense of the Ancients]], many of the heroes, according to their backstory, ought to be powerful beyond belief already, but for balance everyone starts at level 1.
* Adell in ''[[Disgaea]] II''. Although he starts the game at Level 1, as appropriate for an RPG hero, he's already traveled all over the world of Veldime looking for Overlord Zenon, whom he's sworn to
** You could explain this through the game's [[Fourth Wall]]-lessness, where Adell should be level 1 as it's the start of the game.
** [[Disgaea]] also contains a mechanic that allows a character's level to be reset to 1 in exchange for higher base stats. It's possible he Reincarnated just before the beginning of the storyline.
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* This occurs in the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series, most obviously near the beginning of the first one. Several NPCs who join you early on are supposedly experienced adventurers (Khalid, Jaheira, Xzar and Montaron), yet upon joining they will be the same level as you (likely 1 or 2) and only carry basic starter equipment.
** By the same token there's also Gorion, who's only Level 9 despite being stated to have regularly run with ''Elminster'''s crew back in the day.
* {{spoiler|Tezkhra}}, the last playable character in ''[[The Reconstruction]]'', is a ''god''. Yet he moves at approximately the same speed as dirt and most of his abilities are [[Useless Useful Spell
* Merik in ''[[Dungeon Siege]]'' is talked up as a magical badass, but when you finally meet and recruit him he turns out to be a plain nature mage... who is lower level then you. Especially bad if your main character is a nature mage himself.
* In the original ''[[Phantasy Star]]'', your ally Odin has a reputation as a "man of great strength." He's weaker than all your other party members, including the [[Squishy Wizard]].
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** Explained away in-game as having to summon the champions every time a new battle starts, creating a fusion of the summoner and champion who has to learn how to use their powers and abilities again. Killing minions and champions presumably assists this process.
* Since the party characters in each timeline of ''[[Radiant Historia]]'' don't overlap 100%, the levels of those characters that don't appear in both timelines tend to lag behind those that do (As all experience gained remains even if you go back and forth in time or change timelines, probably because doing otherwise would have been very difficult to program). This is especially true of Rosch, who isn't playable in a significant fraction of the timeline he ''is'' a member of the party in, what causes him to lag even further behind.
* Ulfric Stormcloak in [[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]], should the player pursue the Imperial questline. The game practically turns Ulfric into a king-slaying, [[Loud of War|Thu'um throwing]], [[Memetic Badass]], if dialogue is to be believed. Yet when an Imperial-Alligned Dragonborn storms his castle, his own [[The Dragon|Dragon]] is harder to kill than him.
* Rodi, one of your three main characters in ''[[Shining the Holy Ark]]'' was the first boss and managed fairly well against the combined might of three "experienced" mercenaries. However we he joins your party he's back down to the low levels. [[Handwaved]] with the fact some rocks falling on his head caused [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|amnesia]].
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