History Main / AbsurdlyHighLevelCap

* In ''Kingdom Wars 2'' from Springcomes, the maximum level for units and castle developments is Level 30. Good luck reaching that. That's because the natural level cap is Level 10. To go above this requires rare Enhance Stones and each level beyond 10 requires increasingly more Enhance Stones. A huge complication is that these stones can only be gained through a SummoningRitual which requires a summon scroll. These in turn are only available roughly once a day and what comes out of a SummoningRitual is randomly generated.

* The power level stat in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', Essence, has an soft cap of 10. Most magical beings (including the majority of player characters) begin their existence with Essence of 2 and have relative caps. The most common way to increase Essence is through age and extensive meditation -- until a character is 100 years old, they may reach up to Essence 5 with each increase taking months equal to the new rating. To reach Essence 10, the character must be ''several thousands'' of years old and devote a ''year'' of nothing but meditation for the final enlightenment. Characters can go on world-saving (or destroying) adventures even at Essence 5. Theoretically, one can go for higher Essence ratings than 10, but the authors do not see the point of providing rules for those eventualities.

Note that this is not just about games with really big numbers as the level cap, but for games where you won't get anywhere near the cap without absurd amounts of LevelGrinding; a level cap of 999 wouldn't count if you can be reasonably expected to be at least level 950 by the time you reach the endgame. A level cap of 999 when you are expected to reach that level at the middle of the game would instead count as its opposite trope, AbsurdlyLowLevelCap. Conversely, a level cap of simply 30 would be absurdly-high if you only need to be level 10 to beat the game.

* ''Videogame/RatchetDeadlocked'': Not really a level cap, but since HP is upgraded by gaining experience, it counts as a variation. In Challenge mode, your HP can be upgraded all the way to ''999''. For comparison, the maximum HP obtainable in the previous games was [[Videogame/RatchetAndClank2002 8]][=/=][[Videogame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando 80]][=/=][[Videogame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal 200]]. Needless to say, it'll take a lot of playthroughs to get there, even with ten XP-mods on your weapons.

** After patch 2.0, though, the level cap on paragon levels is entirely gone, meaning the player can keep leveling up into infinity. Even then, after a certain point, [[AntiGrinding the levels become mostly meaningless]]. Each paragon level now gives the player a chance to level up one of sixteen stats, and each one can only be leveled up fifty times, except for a base damage stat and a defense stat. By Paragon Level 800, the player will have maxed out every stat except the base stats, so grinding past that point will result in a (by that point) insignificant stat growth, when the players characters are so strong, they're basically unkillable.
* Done once again in ''VideoGame/DiabloIV''. The game has a level cap of 100. Levels 1-50 are normal levels, and levels 51-100 are "Paragon Levels." the amount of XP required to level up increases sharply after 50, and then skyrockets after level 70. For perspective, going fom level 1 to level 70 requires about 100 million XP, and going from level 70 to level 100 requires about 400 million XP.

* In nearly every edition of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the maximum level is 20, and it's quite difficult to get a character to that level in practice. Real life tends to disrupt the game, as you'd be lucky to have a group that can play once a week consistently. Even if you could, it takes about as many experience points to go from level 19 to level 20 as it takes to go from level 1 to level 9. This means it could be several months of playing before you get anywhere close to level 20; be grateful if you have a DM motivated enough to keep the game going that long.

** For all of 5th Edition's official game modules and content, a character starts at level 1 and will end up at around level 15 if they make it all the way to the end without dying. The expectation after that is that the party will want to start a new module with new level 1 characters; official published material for parties above level 15 is practically nonexistent. The power level of monsters tends to be [[SchizophrenicDifficulty very erratic at higher levels]], given that high-level monsters have increasing numbers of abilities that simply kill the target outright [[NoSavingThrow that can't be defended against]], on top of having very high HP, armor, and damage outputs. For all these reasons, getting a character to level 20 is vanishingly uncommon.

* Played with by the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise, starting with ''Call of Duty 4: VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' (well, the console versions; PC didn't get to do that until ''World at War''). Players are able to level up (the cap is different for each game), unlocking new weapons, support equipment, and [[RPGElements Perks]] as they go. At the maximum level, the player has the option to [[SelfImposedChallenge "Prestige"]], reverting to level 1, essentially starting again. Later games use this to unlock unique cosmetic elements and extra Custom Class slots, but ''[=CoD4=]'' simply let you start climbing the ladder again, up to five times, not really gaining much of anything for your trouble.

* This is a staple in many allegedly free-to-play games, where you begin to advance quickly but later on will slow down at a certain level, sometimes even extremely so, that it would take a year of grinding to reach one more level, when what you really want is the new abilities 5 levels on. This of course should entice you to buy master currencies or special items to speed up the progress.

* Games can have "proper endings" to the plot achievable at lower levels, and then a BonusBoss or even full-on BrutalBonusLevel that requires far higher levels to challenge, letting most players off with an ending while giving the hardcore players the additional challenge they seek.

* ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheShiftedSpires'': At around Level 80, and possibly before, the hardest enemy in the game, the BonusBoss at the bottom of the Pit of 100 Faggots/Trolls, can be taken down in one turn. The cap is 99.

* Nippon Ichi games like ''VideoGame/LaPucelle Tactics'' have ridiculous level caps where you can get to 9999 even though the maximum level needed to win the game is around a hundred. You actually do need huge levels to kill the BonusBoss, however.
** Even in the case of ''La Pucelle'', the BonusBoss in the original release is "only" level 2000, and can be beaten at a much lower level than that with good equipment and strategy. The enhanced re-releases add higher-level bonus bosses, but equipment and setup matter far more.

* This is a staple in many allegedly free to play games, where you begin to advance quickly but later on will slow down at a certain level, sometimes even extremely so, that it would take a year of grinding to reach one more level, when what you really want is the new abilities 5 levels on. This of course should entice you to buy master currencies or special items to speed up the progress.

** ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'', as a SpiritualSuccessor, largely follows this trend. The level cap is 99, but a straight run through the story will probably end in the 30s. If you go out of your way to do everything, you might crack 60. The game even has an achievement for hitting 50.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' makes a distinction between ''character'' level and ''class'' level; while class levels max out at 20 (or 10 for most prestige classes), the character level is limited only by the players' and GM's patience. If you manage to max out a class, and haven't gotten tired of the campaign yet, just add on another one. That said, most of the published Adventure Paths are designed to be completed around level 17.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'':
** The first game's 2.0.0 update raised the level cap to 50, even though all weapons and gear is unlocked by original cap of level ''20''. There are additional pieces of gear rewarded every five levels past 20, but said clothing has no unique traits that can't be found from others in the store. And assuming you gain experience in the most efficient way possible (winning ''every'' ranked match you play without ever going into overtime) it'll take you over 90 hours of play time (not counting time spent between matches) to go from level 20 to level 50.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'': The 2.0.0 update raised the game's level cap to 50, even though all weapons and gear is unlocked by original cap of level ''20''. There are additional pieces of gear rewarded every five levels past 20, but said clothing has no unique traits that can't be found from others in the store. And assuming you gain experience in the most efficient way possible (winning ''every'' ranked match you play without ever going into overtime) it'll take you over 90 hours of play time (not counting time spent between matches) to go from level 20 to level 50.
** ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' goes even further by having the original level cap be 99, despite being able to unlock everything by Level 30. Then the 2.0.0 update allowed any players that reached to get to that level cap to essentially prestige ala ''Call of Duty'' to reach a new level cap of 99★. Expect to spend several hundred hours to reach that cap. However, instead of clothing every five levels, every new level from 30 onward grants the player a Super Sea Snail, a useful item which can be used in lieu of cash to help augment and re-roll gear abilities.

* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'', you can plausibly play through the entire story on even the highest difficulty level at about level 80 or so, especially if you're playing online or multiplayer. The level cap is 200.
** It isn't as bad as it seems. There's no diminishing return. Rather, people rarely hit 200 because you have so many character slots. That and the fact that, even earning XP at the fastest possible rate, it takes close to 1000 hours to reach the Level 200 mark...
** To give an idea of how ridiculous ''Phantasy Star Online'' is for this trope, Level 200 requires 82 million experience points in a game where enemies on the highest difficulty seldom give more than 400 XP a pop. And thanks to the exponential experience requirements for level-ups, you pass the halfway mark to the level cap at Level 182...

* In ''VideoGame/{{Mabinogi}}'', reaching the level cap is most likely impossible, as the ideal way to level is by rebirthing back to level 1 every week or so, adding to the total level. Some say the total level cap may exceed 9000.
** Apparently, the "current level" cap is 200. The exploration level cap is definitely 25. But all that really matters for are those who seek to gain as much AP as possible in as little time as possible. The maximum you can get each week while still having a life outside the game doesn't even get close to the cap until your total is many thousands high and your character a veritable engine of destruction already.

* Not character levels, but the dungeon in ''VideoGame/{{FATE}}'' goes up to ''two billion'' floors, even though the [[ExcusePlot story mode's]] "FinalBoss" would typically reside in level 40 - 50. The actual character level cap is set at 99, so it's not a good idea to continue too far after clearing the primary quest, anyway.