Taught By Experience: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"A learning experience is one that tells you, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.'"''|'''[[Douglas Adams]]'''}}

 

See also the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]. Compare/contrast [[Hard Work Hardly Works]], [[The Only Way They Will Learn]], [[Sink or Swim Mentor]], and [[Wax On Wax Off]].

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* The first season of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' was a fairly ridiculous case: Nanoha became a mage when she was handed her [[Empathic Weapon]] and defeated the first [[Monster of the Week]]. She does this ''after school'', and without ''any'' training, she's stronger than another talented mage that had been training for his entire life ''within a week''. Then within a few weeks, she's an elite [[Rank Inflation|A rank]] mage firing a [[Wave Motion Gun]] from her staff. The manga actually provided a [[Hand Wave]] that she used said weapon to go through [[Training From Hell]] at all hours of the day.

** Also, it helps that she's crazy talented. Specifically, she's naturally ''powerful'', which means that she can make up for her lack of skill via sheer brute force when she needs to, [[Heroic RROD|though she would pay for doing that too much in time]].

** Ironic as he kept using Pikachu on Team Rocket, despite them using something that's shock proof (which they've done since, what, the fifth time he faced them? Out of [[Over Nine Thousand]]?) As Meowth pointed out in one episode, "You'd think he'd learn by now".

* ''Vagabond'' is about how [[Miyamoto Musashi]] goes from a naturally gifted [[Hot Blooded|hothead]] to a true [[Badass]] ''after'' he gains experience, being humbled before overcoming the challenge; when he's going {{spoiler|to fight all of the remaining Yoshioka}}, he actually thanks them (silently and by himself with a silent prayer) for giving him the past year to learn, develop and grow.

* The ''Quest For Glory'' series both subverts and plays this one straight. In the first game, you get to define the abilities your character starts with, and each class has specific skills that can or cannot be used. The only way to increase skill in something is to use that skill (which makes sense: you get better at climbing by climbing stuff, better at swordplay by swinging your sword and so on). The subversion comes later in the series, starting with the third game, where the Thief character can be taught the acrobatics skill and immediately becomes proficient in it within seconds (though not necessarily ''good'' at it, that takes practice). In the fourth game, Fighter and Paladin characters can read a book and instantly learn how to climb. Mages subvert this from the first game: finding a magic scroll and reading it ''instantly'' imparts the spell to the mage, although it is at a low skill level. At least half of every game in the series (there are five) is spent just practicing your skills.

** The skill level system itself is very vague. Having 10 points in Weapon Use means you can use your weapon, but you'll miss a lot, whereas having 100 points ([[Level Cap|in the first game,]] at least) means you'll rarely miss...but you'll ''still'' miss occasionally. Generally speaking, it's possible to complete the game with low skill levels (depending on the skill and the character, of course), but certainly not recommended. Getting that [[Last Lousy Point]] in a particular game can also be a frustrating experience, since skills level up slower as they reach the [[Level Cap]]. [[Quest for Glory]] 5 completely subverts the skill system, however: as long as you're the right class, you can do anything in which you have skill. The numerical values mean very little.

* In [[Monster Hunter]], there are no [[Experience Points]] to speak of... the experience belongs to the '''player'''. An experienced player with horrible newbie gear can and will be more successful than a newbie with great gear.

* Much like Monster Hunter above, [[Demons Souls]] and [[Dark Souls]] drill the players not just how to fight, but remember enemy placement, trap placement, enemy aggression range, weapon moveset, etc. An experienced player can tell what another players' rough stats are from what he/she equips and then deduce what needs to be done to counter it, usually in order of seconds. There are more than enough anecdotes of seasoned players zipping through the game in a fraction of the time they required to do it the first time around.