History Main / ExponentialPotential

* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' gets in on the action with ''Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger''. The Red Ranger's mecha forms a head and torso, and his other [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters eight teammates]] have mecha that can become either an arm or a leg for it, a la [[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 Transformers Scramble City combiners]]. That makes a whopping '''1680''' unique combinations, and of course only a handful make it onscreen.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. You have over ''[[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters seven hundred]]'' choices for your Mons, and nearly all of them have about a dozen or two potential attacks for their move list. And that's just from leveling up; include the attacks that can be gained from [=TMs=] and breeding and things get crazy.

Ah, you just opened up your newest game and have been EasingIntoTheAdventure. Maybe there's some ElementalRockPaperScissors, or StandardStatusEffects, but you can handle that. Then you get a new spell!

* ''VideoGame/LostMagic'' gives you up to eighteen runes, which you can also combine, either in twos only or also in threes. This gives you a potential '''5832''' spells, out of which '''400''' are in the game, and the bosses and you can do ''everything''. Terrain change, buff, debuff, shooting, summoning, nuking, tanking, capturing, walls, traps, StandardStatusEffects, Roulette, etc..

* ''VideoGame/RadiantHistoria''. Scrolling trough them every turn or so can get annoying sometimes.

** ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' dialed this back by giving him a large ''arsenal'' but not anything combinable. He could still qualify, as he has 40 weapons to choose from and is able to equip four at once. Further, his SuperMode can [[AllYourPowersCombined combine the traits of two weapons]] that share an equipment slot, such as [[MacrossMissileMassacre Launcher]] plus [[KillItWithIce Freeze]] producing a freeze missile launcher.

A few levels later, you are the SquishyWizard equivalent of Series/MacGyver and have a spell for every situation, effect or possibility. Or a weapon, or a tool, or a shiny rock made from lifeforce. One of the reasons for LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards.

* This is the entire premise of ''SuvehNux'': Learn part of the language of magic and build sentences that do just what you want.

** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' takes ''Double''[='s=] two-slot format and ramps it up. Where ''Double'' had three options for each half, ''Build'' has ''30'' each, for '''900''' combinations. Throw in some additional promotional options and the combos could reach over a thousand. The series balances this by mostly sticking with the 30 matched sets and not using mismatch forms very much, and even some of those matches get their day in the limelight in tie-in projects rather than the show proper.

* Modern ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series relies heavily on {{Swiss Army Hero}}es with MultiformBalance, and can fall into this when the hero is given more forms than they know what to do with.

** ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' dialed this back by giving him a large ''arsenal'' but not anything combinable. He could still qualify, as he has 40 weapons to choose from and is able to equip four at once. Further, his SuperMode can [[AllYourPowersCombined combine the traits of two weapons]] that share a slot, such as [[MacrossMissileMassacre Launcher]] plus [[KillItWithIce Freeze]] producing a freeze missile launcher.

** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' takes ''Double'''s two-slot format and ramps it up. While the number of options per slot that will appear on the show is up in the air, 10 have been confirmed and the toy TransformationTrinket has been preprogrammed with sounds for over ''30''; putting the number of combos anywhere from a hundred to a ''thousand''.

** ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' had ''three'' slots by ''five'' options each for '''125''' forms, before his own SuperMode and additional promotional powersets.
** ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' dialed this back by giving him a large ''arsenal'' but not anything combinable. He could still qualify, if you consider that his belt has four slots (each representing one of his limbs), each possessing ten weapon options, meaning he has just shy of '''10,000''' combinations;[[note]]There's a single matched pair that throws off the count slightly[[/note]] or over '''''14,500''''' if you count not equipping any weapon in a slot. Further, his SuperMode can [[AllYourPowersCombined combine the traits of two weapons]] that share a slot, such as [[MacrossMissileMassacre Launcher]] plus [[KillItWithIce Freeze]] producing a freeze missile launcher.

** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' takes ''Double'''s two-slot format and ramps it up. The series hasn't even started yet as of this writing, and we're looking at a double-digit number of options per slot; putting the combinations in the hundreds.

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, you have FireIceLightning as damage types. You have spells to directly damage health, magic, and stamina...''in two subtly-different varieties''. You have levitation. Jump boosting. Buffs and debuffs for all 20-whatever skills. Demon and undead summoning. Lock opening. Telekinesis. And more. All of these effects can be custom-made based on target, duration, and area of effect, and combined as much as you want, even in impractical combinations such as "set yourself on fire for 5 seconds and heal yourself for 50 points of damage a second for five seconds". And this isn't even including spell mods.
** Granted, setting yourself on fire for one point of damage for one second is a FAST way to raise your Destruction skill... And coupled with insta-healing that damage will boost Restoration skill... Add more stuff and you can train a whole bunch of disciplines together.
** And then there is alchemy. Each ingredient has from 2 to 4 (mostly 4) possible effects, you can combine 2-4 of them for a potion (the potion will have any effect shared by 2 or more ingredients) which brings a huge amount of possibilities, only negated in Morrowind by being only able to use potions on yourself. Upped in Oblivion where you can create "poisons" and apply them to weapons.
** Morrowind allowed for literal exponential potential. Try making a potion of improve alchemy, then another, then 3492348 more, buying the 1G ingredients, and occasionally selling a 394389G potion. Then make an enchanting potion, and give yourself a suit of armor that gives you virtually unlimited of every stat, renders you totally invisible, etc. Then enjoy the ending cutscene when you teleport to the final boss and one shot him.
*** Even in later games where you can't make a potion that improves your potion making, you can make a potion that improves your item enchanting and enchant an item to improves your potion making and do it over and over until you have insanely powerful enchantments.

* ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' features an absolutely massive SkillForest with over ''1300'' nodes for passive boosts; as you build your way through the passive skill tree you gain more and more choices for what to put your next skill point into. And then there's the active skills, which you gain access to by buying skill gems and [[SocketedEquipment slotting them into your equipment]]. Oh, and those skill gems can be augmented by support gems that augment whatever active skill gems they're linked to.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' gives each class a wide variety of skills that they can put their hard-earned [[SkillScoresAndPerks skill points]] into. Unfortunately, this wide variety, combined with how rare skill points are (each character only earns one per level), means that it's all too easy to screw up your characters' builds and end up with a bunch of [[MasterOfNone Masters of None]] or otherwise-suboptimal combatants. Sure, you can give a character a SkillPointReset, but depending on the game they can lose anywhere from two to five levels that are ''not'' easy to grind back up, meaning that you must make a careful judgement about whether the lost levels will be worth the respec. All this in a game series that's already NintendoHard if you do make wise choices for your characters' builds.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' gives each class a wide variety of skills that they can put their hard-earned [[SkillScoresAndPerks skill points]] into. Unfortunately, this wide variety, combined with how rare skill points are (each character only earns one per level), means that it's all too easy to screw up your characters' builds and end up with a bunch of [[MasterOfNone Masters of None]] or otherwise-suboptimal combatants. Sure, you can give a character a SkillPointReset, but depending on the game they can lose anywhere from two to five levels that are ''not'' easy to grind back up, meaning that you must make a careful judgement about whether the lost levels will be worth the respec. All this in a game that's already NintendoHard even if you do make wise choices for your characters' builds.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' gives each class a wide variety of skills that they can put their hard-earned [[SkillScoresAndPerks skill points]] into. Unfortunately, this massive variety, combined with how rare skill points are (each character only earns one per level), means that it's all too easy to screw up your characters' builds and end up with a bunch of [[MasterOfNone Masters of None]] or otherwise-suboptimal combatants. Sure, you can give a character a SkillPointReset, but depending on the game they can lose anywhere from two to five levels that are ''not'' easy to grind back up, meaning that you must make a careful judgement about whether the lost levels will be worth the respec.

* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
** The franchise flirted with it for a few years. The Heisei Riders are often {{Swiss Army Hero}}es with MultiformBalance, but ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' could {{Power Copy|ing}} and take on ''any'' of their forms, plus his own SuperMode.

** ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' dialed this back by giving him a large ''arsenal'' but not anything combinable. Fourze could still qualify, if you consider that his belt has four slots (each representing one of his limbs), each possessing ten options, meaning he has just shy of '''''10,000''''' combinations[[note]]There's a single matched pair that throws off the count slightly[[/note]], and his SuperMode can [[AllYourPowersCombined combine the traits of two weapons]], such as [[MacrossMissileMassacre Launcher]] plus [[KillItWithIce Freeze]] producing a freeze missile launcher.

** 'Series/KamenRiderFourze'' dialed this back by giving him a large ''arsenal'' but not anything combinable. Fourze could still qualify, if you consider that his belt has four slots (each representing one of his limbs), each possessing ten options, meaning he has just shy of '''''10,000''''' combinations[[note]]There's a single matched pair that throws off the count slightly[[/note]], and his SuperMode can [[AllYourPowersCombined combine the traits of two weapons]], such as [[MacrossMissileMassacre Launcher]] plus [[KillItWithIce Freeze]] producing a freeze missile launcher.

* ''EternalDarkness'': To a lesser extent, as it uses a similar system -- combination -- but has fewer runes.

* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' flirted with this for a few years. The Heisei Riders are often {{Swiss Army Hero}}es with MultiformBalance, but ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' could {{Power Copy|ing}} and take on ''any'' of their forms, plus his own SuperMode. After him, ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' could mix-and-match his powers, two slots by three options each, for nine forms plus some {{Super Mode}}s. Then ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' had ''three'' slots by ''five'' options each for '''125''' forms, before his own SuperMode and additional promotional powersets. Thankfully, ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' dialed this back by giving him a large ''arsenal'' but not anything combinable.
** Fourze could still qualify, if you consider that his belt has four slots (each representing one of his limbs), each possessing ten options, meaning he has just shy of '''''10,000''''' combinations[[note]]There's a single matched pair that throws off the count slightly[[/note]], and his SuperMode can [[AllYourPowersCombined combine the traits of two weapons]], such as [[MacrossMissileMassacre Launcher]] plus [[KillItWithIce Freeze]] producing a freeze missile launcher.

** And then there is alchemy. Each ingredient has from 2 to 4 (mostly 4) possible effects, you can combine 2-4 of them for a potion (the potion will have any effect shared by 2 or more ingredients) which brings a huge amount of possibilities, only negated in Morrowind by being only able to use potions on yourself. Upped in Oblivion where you can create "poisons" and apply them to weapon.
** Morrowind allowed for literal exponential potential. Try making a potion of improve alchemy, then another, then 3492348 more, buying the 1G ingredients, and occasionally selling a 394389G potion. Then make an enchanting potion, and give yourself a suit of armor that gives you virtually unlimited of every stat, renders you totally invisible, etc. Then enjoy he ending cutscene when you teleport to the final boss and one shot him.

* The ''FreedomForce'' games offer highly customizable powers, but it doesn't reach the level of frustration described here: A single character generally only has half dozen at most.

A few levels later, you are the SquishyWizard equivalent of {{MacGyver}} and have a spell for every situation, effect or possibility. Or a weapon, or a tool, or a shiny rock made from lifeforce. One of the reasons for LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards.

* ''GuildWars'' suffers a bit from this, as there's the same types of spell -- basic poison remove, basic status recovery, etc. -- in each expansion pack. The expansion packs were also stand alone games though, so they had to make sure someone who just picked up one of the expansions and it alone still had access to some of the basic effects.

* ''{{Magicka}}'': Essentially the main point of the game. You are given 8 different elements and can combine them up to five times to create different spells. You also choose how the power is released -- casting on yourself, your weapon, the area around you, an arc in front of you, or in a blast in front of you. You get all of these by the end of the tutorial, and without mana, the only limitation is that combining certain elements (lightning and water, for example) tends to blow up in your face and how fast you can cast the spell before dying.
* ''MapleStory'' went from four starting classes to ''ten'', and the first five of the ten classes has at least two [[PrestigeClass independent branches]] as it develops.

* ''{{Scribblenauts}}'' is like this to an extent. You have literally anything in the game's dictionary at your disposal, up to the limit on the number of objects imposed by your object bar. The ''player'' is the one who figures out new ways of doing stuff--the first time you try shooting your space shuttle or your mech with your shrink ray opens up a whole world of new solutions. Many are redundant, however.

* Obscure PS1 RPG ''VideoGame/ShadowMadness'' has this bad. Despite a level cap of 15 the game has the requisite number of spells expected of a JRPG of the era which means that characters often gain 3 or 4 per level, combined with the games awful menu not really describing what any of them do and a generally obtuse naming scheme it becomes nearly impossible to suss out what spells are actually worth using without taking notes.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'': While at first your arts and weapons are limited by the class you're currently in, your original "Drifter" class can use the arts of ''any'' other class that you've mastered, meaning that eventually you'll be able to mix-and-match nearly every art in the game. Oh, and when you master all the classes in a particular branch of the class tree, you can also equip the class-specific weapons in any other class, allowing for hundreds of potential configurations.