Overrated and Underleveled: Difference between revisions

When applied to equipment, it's the [[Penultimate Weapon]]. [[Redemption Demotion]] can be seen as a variation of this. Also [[Bag of Spilling]], in which a previous playable character doesn't retain their weapons/skills.

 

* In ''[[Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscura]]'', at the end of the game, you can add {{spoiler|Arronax}} to your party. He equips no weapons nor armour, and most of the time prefers fists to his (quite decent) magic. This may, however, just be a result of a glitch. {{spoiler|The dude single-handedly destroyed advanced technological civilization and was bad enough to be generally regarded as his world's Crystal Dragon Satan. It can be Lampshaded in that he had few occasions to practice his powers during the last two thousand years. This also happens to the other Banished villains - for example, a half-man-half-dragon creature whom the collective of most powerful mages of the world defeated after days-long battle.}}

** In general, most of the recruitable NPCs avert this. They're all set at static levels, and the locations you find them are often within their realm of ability.

** Inverted by [[Fire Emblem Tellius (Video Game)|Pelleas]], a character who sits out most of the battles. When he finally ''does'' join a battle, he admits that he's never actually fought before, and is so scared his legs are trembling... and yet he starts out as a Level 12 Dark Sage. While he ''is'' still underleveled compared to your other characters, that's pretty impressive for someone who's never had a chance to do any [[Level Grinding]].

* 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.)

** 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 past -- and most of his fighting skills. He doesn't actually learn new attacks; he "remembers" ones he already knew from before he lost his memory.

** 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.]]

* Justified in ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'', where Cloud Strife is introduced as SOLDIER First Class, and is clearly much weaker than SOLDIER Third Class, and is only stronger than the regular MP. The reason? {{spoiler|Cloud was ''never'' in SOLDIER, and is repressing his actual past due to trauma and being experimented on by Shinra}}.

** However, by the end of the game, Cloud is, in fact, more powerful than any other SOLDIER, including Sephiroth.

* ''[[Final Fantasy X (Video Game)|Final Fantasy X]]'' has this occur very blatantly in a plot-relevant [[Mini Game]]: While the original members of your Blitzball team are certainly not the best players out there in the long run, the extremely-hyped, won-the-championship-many-years-in-a-row Luca Goers are a highly competent, tough to beat team... at level 1. They also have pretty much the worst stat growth in the game, rendering them ineffective by the time players' levels are in the teens. The first, story-mandated, match against them needn't be won, which is good because winning largely involves praying they never get the ball, but by the second or third league season, they shouldn't even pose a challenge. The Al Bhed Psyches, on the other hand, start and remain a formidable team, and their starting goalie is a prized recruit for players who seriously pursue Blitzball; however, the story never actually makes much of their abilities, even having them try to win by cheating in a [[Cutscene]]-only match. They're also the first team the pathetic Aurochs defeat in ''ten years'' in the storyline, making it even more confusing once you play them normally.

** Another occurrence in ''[[Final Fantasy X (Video Game)|Final Fantasy X]]'' is Auron. The cutscenes present him as incredibly [[Badass]], and he's already done the whole Pilgrimage thing once, so in all logic would have done the inherent [[Level Grinding]] too. But since he's one of the main characters, he's the same level as everyone else. Of course {{spoiler|coming back as a revanant might have something to do with that.}}

* 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]].

** The fact the Ancient turns out to be {{spoiler|Tarkus}} means he's been afflicted by this trope twice.

** The characters being level 1 holds no actual significance. The first game had no leveling system. Level 1 is only relative, since they are still Space Marines. Also, being in the Death Watch is no significant demonstration of skill. It is not an elite unit, but one put together from multiple units. If you look at the actual Death Watch Kill Team stats from the game, they are basic Space Marines with access to higher grade equipment.

* 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. <ref> The meta reason takes this trope literally. In the game, all NPCs are leveled based on when the player first encounters them. And Ulfric is the 3rd character you see in the opening sequence. So, you're essentially fighting what would be a challenging enemy, ''if you were at level 1''.</ref>

 

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