History Main / DoWellButNotPerfect

* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', the Samaritan works as a fact-checker in his {{secret identity}}. He has an ultra-tech device do the work while he goes out on his superheroic rounds, with occasional errors allowed to slip through as part of the facade.

* In ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed Pro Street'', Sector Shootout events task you with going as fast as possible through four sectors of a multi-lap circuit, in order to score points. No racer is awarded points unless they beat the previous record score for the respective sector. Players desiring to get high scores and easily dominate will have to drive slowly for the first lap and gradually go faster for the remainder of the race, instead of driving at their maximum capacity throughout.

** On the flip side, another common tactic is to wait until about a minute after the first person to finish to hand over the paper so as to avoid false accusation of cheating just in case.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'''s first task is to defeat Ifrit within a selected-by-you time limit. The catch is that the test is described as a "test of judgment", so completing it too soon means you could not accurately estimate your abilities and subsequently gave yourself too much time. In other words, scoring well on this test requires finishing with ''less'' time remaining -- a perfect score is reached if you finish with ten seconds or less remaining on the clock.\\\
In the Japanese version, you have to kill Ifrit and ''escape the dungeon'' before you run out of time, making the whole experience more of a test of time management rather than rationality (plus it serves as a ChekhovsGun for something you'll be doing later in the story).\\\
Even if you give yourself the lowest amount of time possible, your score will still drop if you kill Ifrit too soon. The best score requires you to finish with ''seven seconds'' or less on the clock, which means most people will end up letting Ifrit beat on them for a while (you can ''still'' get a game over if he's talking when the timer runs out, though).\\\
However, you can cheat the system in the English version and avoid this trouble by taking note of how much time you have remaining when you defeat Ifrit. Then, when the naming screen comes up, stay on that screen and keep an eye on your watch until time's up, then continue gameplay as normal. There, now you have the best possible score, a giant hellbeast at your beck and call, and a smug sense of superiority.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'': In "The Festival of the Hunt" minigame, the goal is to earn the most points of all the competitors by killing monsters in the streets. If you (playing as Zidane) win, you get 5000 gil. If Vivi wins, you get a useless Tetra Master card. Letting Freya win, however, nets you a decent lightning elemental-absorbing accessory that teaches your party members a few useful skills/abilities. To let her win, just put the controller down for 12 minutes or kill yourself in the first battle you come across.\\
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That said, the toughest monster in the Festival of the Hunt, the Zaghnol, has two items worth [[VideoGameStealing stealing]] and [[GoldenSnitch gives about enough points to single-handedly win the competition]]. By avoiding lesser battles, entering a certain area with 4:30 left on the timer, and making Zidane take a fall against the Zaghnol (or teaming up with Freya, which splits the points between them), the player can get all of the items.

This can also apply to computer players, where the A.I. is purposely programmed to not play perfect so that the player actually has a fair chance to win, but while still providing a challenge. A good example is button mashing, where even the most skilled human button masher can be easily outsped by a computer, or beating the world champion at chess, because [[HumansAreFlawed Humans Aren't Perfect]]. Otherwise, natural ArtificialStupidity will take care of that. For more general [=NPCs=], compare to TacticalSuicideBoss and PlotInducedStupidity.

** Another version of this trope starts appearing in ''Elite Beat Agents'' and ''[[LongTitle Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Tamashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2]]''. EBA introduced a vs. Ghost mode, in which you challenge the best saved score you have on a particular song -- this manifests as a vs. battle. If you do too well in setting a high score, you will have a lot of trouble beating yourself.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'': If you want to unlock Trish's EX costume in the ''Special Edition'', you have to beat Sanctus Diabolica in Mission 20 of Lady/Trish's campaign with a B Rank or lower in order to play as Trish during the [[CreativeClosingCredits playable credits]]... and then you have to kill at least 20 enemies there. Otherwise, perform too good enough to achieve an A Rank or above against the boss will cause you to play as Lady instead.

* In ''[[PuzzleFighter Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo]]'', if you want to fight Dan, for the first six rounds you have to finish every match with a time of 61 seconds or more, a maximum chain of 3 or less, a maximum power gem size of 19 or less, and never end with a super finish ([[CherryTapping finishing attacks have to be 29 counter gems or less]]). You'll fight Dan after the 6th round if all of these conditions are fulfilled.

[[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere Describe Do Well, But Not Perfect here]], but be sure to [[SelfDemonstratingArticle inculde]] at least one error!

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': Dawn, Ash's traveling companion in Sinnoh, struggles early on to compete in the Coordinator Circuit because she's too focused on perfecting her performance, and not on having fun with her Pokémon. This winds up causing her to fail to clear the qualifying round--twice--despite her efforts, because the Pokémon giving those performances go unseen. Her FriendlyRival Zoey points out that Dawn needs to loosen up and have fun. Dawn takes that advice to heart and does much better in her contests.

* Some games may ask you to get a particular combo score as a secondary objective (for one specific example, getting a perfect score on ''Action Taimanin''[='=]s missions on Hard difficulty requires you to get a 30-hit combo), a task that will be difficult if you've overleveled your characters/abilities to the point you kill enemies in one or two hits.

[[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere Describe Do Well, But Not Perfect here]], but be sure to inculde at least one error!

* Many superheroes need to learn to do this in order to fit in with friends and/or protect their secret identities. For example, in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Dashiell "Dash" Parr's power of SuperSpeed prevents him from participating in school track competitions until he learns to hold back enough to finish in second place.

* In ''Series/{{Hustle}}'', the episode "A Bollywood Dream" sees the group's current mark realise that he's the target of a scam because the scenario was too perfect moments before he loses his short-term memory in an accident. Seizing the opportunity to con the same mark twice, the group decide to re-do the con making it a bit more imperfect as they acknowledge that a man who seeks perfection would know how hard it is to achieve. With this in mind, they adjust their scam to make the characters involved less prestigious, such as the director having a less notable reputation or their actress having studied at a minor college rather than a more famous one, while keeping a focus on their original agenda.

* In ''Series/{{Hustle}}'', the episode "A Bollywood Dream" sees the group's current mark realise that he's the target of a scam because the scenario was too perfect moments before he loses his short-term memory in an accident. Seizing the opportunity to con the same mark twice, the group decide to re-do the con making it a bit more imperfect as they acknowledge that a man who seeks perfection would know how hard it is to achieve. With this in mind, they adjust their scam to make the characters involved less prestigious, such as the director having a less notable reputation or their actress having studied at a minor college rather than a more prestigious one, while keeping a focus on their original agenda.