History Main / LowLevelAdvantage

[[AC: Tabletop Games]]

* ''{{ADOM}}'' has numerous optional quests that are LostForever above a certain level. These include: [[spoiler:killing Kranach (vanishes at level 6), the Pyramid (levels 13 to 16 only), the Minotaur Maze (levels 22 to 27 only), and Keethrax (unavailable after the unicorn quest unless you've already been assigned him)]]. Also, the Small Cave gets exponentially harder as you level up; past level 6 or so (which you'll reach VERY fast in there if you survive that long), you're toast.

* ''{{ADOM}}'' has numerous quests that are LostForever above a certain level.

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* The masters in ''BreathOfFireIII'' teach skills, but each master teaches each skill only once (skills can then be transferred among party members). The reason to avoid leveling without masters is that they adjust your stat gains on leveling.
* ''DragonQuestVI'' and ''DragonQuestVII'' rely on the player winning battles against decently challenging enemies to gain job levels and consequently skills from advancing. Each area has a maximum level at which job points are awarded; if a character exceeds this maximum level, they will not be awarded job points and not advance. Therefore, grinding early on can lead to some big trouble in class developing.

** The "[[GameBreaker Danger Mario]]" setup simply stops working at very high levels, as the game forces you to upgrade HP (pulling you out of permanent danger) because you maxed out flower and badge points.

* In ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', it is advantageous not to level up much on Taris (before you get your Jedi powers) since you get better stat bonuses as a Jedi. This doesn't mean you can't gain XP though, just that you can't click "level up"
** In the second game, some people actually take it to themselves to purposely keep Mira at a low level so she gets more jedi powers.
* ''TheElderScrolls IV: {{Oblivion}}''. Enemies all over the game world [[LevelScaling only level up when the player levels up]], but because you activate leveling up by sleeping after gaining a certain amount of experience, it is possible to avoid leveling up. The trick is that while doing so, you can still individually increase skills in such a way that you're over-powered compared to the enemies you fight. Although the game restricts a few things to certain levels, the main quest can indeed be completed at level 2. Combining the increasing monster difficulty with the fact that careful metagaming and [[MinMax min maxing]] is ''required'' to avoid a chronic EmptyLevels effect, the game is a lot easier for an insomniac amateur than a well rested expert.

** There's also the issue of damage being capped (via both available magicka and a limit on stats), while health is not. Basically, once the player reaches a certain threshold, their damage stops increasing, but the health of enemies around them isn't, leading to long, drown out and incredibly dull fights with not only bosses, but with a simple leveling mook. However, monster damage is not in fact capped, meaning that as the player reaches the point where they were supposed to be able to challenge the nine divine themselves (say level 40 or so), its more or less impossible to get through fights without resorting to use of a GameBreaker (which there are plenty of, and thereby render things too easy, but still long and drawn out).

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', enemies don't level with the player, but as the player increases in levels, tougher enemies will spawn more frequently. When the DLC ''Broken Steel'' is added, this will include the [[BossInMookClothing Super Mutant Overlords, Feral Ghoul Reavers, and Albino Radscorpions]]; all of which have high durability and damage.

* In the card game ''[[{{TabletopGame/Munchkin}} Munchkin]]'', some of the more powerful monsters will allow low-level characters to retreat without having to make a die roll to successfully run away.

* ''{{Xenogears}}'' has the character Emeralda, who has a certain side-quest in Disc 2 that [[spoiler: turns her into an adult form]]. After that quest, she has insane stat growth with every level up. If you keep her level low at the beginning and do some grinding after the quest, then she can be even more powerful than her own HumongousMecha.

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* In the card game ''[[TabletopGame/Munchkin Munchkin]]'', some of the more powerful monsters will allow low-level characters to retreat without having to make a die roll to successfully run away.

* Here's a marginal example in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': The final boss - Sephiroth - gets a severe stat-boost if you've hit the level cap at 99. Anything below that, and he'll use his original stats, meaning that the ideal conditions for taking him on is Level 98...
** He'll also get a massive HP boost if you've been spamming KOR on the two bosses before him.
** ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' also does this. If you are leveling up to get that one move that you can spam like crazy, guess what? Your opponent also levels with you, and probably gained some move that trumps yours.
** Safer Sephiroth [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII had the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII highest HP]] of any final boss of Final Fantasy. But there's still nothing stopping a player from spamming KOR.

* ''{{Earthbound}}'' features an event where Ness can gain two level-ups with unique bonuses. However, his level must be below the {{cap}} to get one or both of them.

* You get a title in ''TalesOfSymphonia'' for remaining below a certain level when you defeat a boss. Also, later titles boost growth rates more (though a NewGamePlus carrying over titles will lead to even better stats than just not grinding as much.).

** ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' has two places where this mechanic can be abused. In the Pit of 100 Trials, your resources will be stretched thin, but if you go in at a low level, the regular level-ups will heal you and reduce the strain. Also, near the end of the game, there is a place where two bosses must be fought sequentially without an opportunity to heal. However, if you time it so that you level up after the first fight, you will have all your HP and FP back for the second boss.

* In ''StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'', there are some trophies to be earned if the player beats certain bosses with minimal levels.
** The most obvious example of this being the trophy asking you to beat the boss of the game with all three of your party members at level one. And before you ask, no, he doesn't scale with your levels. He's just as hard as usual. Needless to say, just being able to challenge him like this requires quite a commitment from the beginning of the game.

* In ''{{Fallout 3}}'', enemies don't level with the player, but as the player increases in levels, tougher enemies will spawn more frequently. When the DLC ''Broken Steel'' is added, this will include the [[BossInMookClothing Super Mutant Overlords, Feral Ghoul Reavers, and Albino Radscorpions]]; all of which have high durability and damage.

* In ''[=~Star Ocean: Till the End of Time~=]'', there are some trophies to be earned if the player beats certain bosses with minimal levels.

[[quoteright:300:[[TheElderScrolls http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jalyssbethesda-emptylevels_9220.gif]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D31rhjKHytg Jalyss accidentally levels]].]]

This trope represents {{RPG}}s where there are particular advantages to refraining from LevelGrinding. In {{MMORPG}}s, this feature is known as AntiPoopSocking. This can exist when there are benefits that are LostForever if you try immediate grinding, but also when there are tactical advantages caused by a level gain. Or when the game uses LevelScaling.

* In ''FinalFantasyVI'', most Espers give a special level up stat bonus. Therefore, it's best to save all your level ups for when you have some Espers with stat bonuses.
** The leveling in ''FinalFantasyVIII'' was a whole element of strategy because the enemies level up with you. The game can be beaten at disgustingly low levels. (There are no-level-up runs.) Despite no-level-up rounds... party members may ''still'' have maxed out stats and Ultimecia will be at a ridiculously low level on her first form.

** In ''FinalFantasyI'', your stats growth was affected by your current class, so you got the best stats by leveling up as little as possible before the class upgrades.

** In ''FinalFantasyIII'', all of your stats except max HP change upon changing classes. You gain HP based on your Vitality stat when you level up, so it's best to wait until you open the Karateka or Ninja classes which have the highest Vitality to do a lot of your LevelGrinding if you want to have more HP at the end. Similarly, you might want to unlock and change to the initial job classes as soon as possible to avoid weak HP gains from being Onion Knights.
* Here's a marginal example in ''FinalFantasyVII'': The final boss - Sephiroth - gets a severe stat-boost if you've hit the level cap at 99. Anything below that, and he'll use his original stats, meaning that the ideal conditions for taking him on is Level 98...

** ''Final Fantasy Dissidia'' also does this. If you are leveling up to get that one move that you can spam like crazy, guess what? Your opponent also levels with you, and probably gained some move that trumps yours.
** Safer Sephiroth [[strike:has]] [[FinalFantasyXII had the]] [[FinalFantasyXIII highest HP]] of any final boss of Final Fantasy. But there's still nothing stopping a player from spamming KOR.

* In ''Fallout3'', enemies don't level with the player, but as the player increases in levels, tougher enemies will spawn more frequently. When the DLC ''Broken Steel'' is added, this will include the [[BossInMookClothing Super Mutant Overlords, Feral Ghoul Reavers, and Albino Radscorpions]]; all of which have high durability and damage.

This trope represents {{RPG}}s where there are particular advantages to refraining from LevelGrinding. In {{MMORPG}}s, this feature is known as AntiPoopSocking. This can exist when there are benefits that are LostForever if you try immediate grinding, but also when there are tactical advantages caused by a level gain. Or when the game uses EmptyLevels.

* ''CaveStory:'' Many players insist that the level 2 Blade is better than the level 3 Blade: it does much more damage per second, provided you SpamAttack from very close. And the Nemesis is a LethalJokeItem that gets worse as you level it up: At level 1 it's one of the most powerful weapons in the game, and at level 3 its status as a weapon is a pure formality. And it levels up from a single experience pick up.

* ''CityOfHeroes'' goes even further, leveling up doesn't just restore all your health and endurance but also grants you a large short-duration buff to every stat you have all at once. Also if you were dead during a fight that you team wins, if you soaked up enough XP from the victory to level-up you will be revived as well. It's rather amusing to get back up in the middle of a major battle and be stronger than before. The end result is that it is often best to be close to, but not at, a new level on mission start, so you can actually take advantage of the buffs.
** Because you get a sizable XP bonus for finishing a mission, this can frustratingly leave you with the nice power surge, and nothing to beat up before it wears off.

* The masters in ''BreathOfFireII'' teach skills, but each master teaches each skill only once (skills can then be transferred among party members). The reason to avoid leveling without masters is that they adjust your stat gains on leveling.

* ''AdventureQuest'' and ''DragonFable'', due to almost all the enemies being level-scaled, often rather harshly.

* ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'' Subverts this trope: it allows the player to manually lower their level (which translates to shrinking their HP pool in combat). Lower levels grant higher drop rates. But actually gaining levels is still very advantageous: you can lower them further to further increase droprates and they are still useful in actually tough fights.
** Also, it's not actually that ''lower'' levels increase droprates -- it's the ''amount you've artificially lowered your level by''. A 'naturally' level 1 character has the worst droprate, not the best droprate; a level 100 character with a 99-level handicap has the best one.
*** Furthermore, each level also permanently increases Bravery (the stat used to determine whether or not you can equip items) by 1, so leveling up is always useful, or rather, even more useful, since it already was always useful.

* Resource management is a key feature in the mini {{Roguelike}} DesktopDungeons, and levelling up will restore your HitPoints, ManaPoints and status. Hence, a widely-used tactic is to start fighting a boss while a few XP short of a level-up, burn through your resources, and then go squish a low-level monster for a mid-fight heal.

** ''PaperMario: The Thousand-Year Door'' has two places where this mechanic can be abused. In the Pit of 100 Trials, your resources will be stretched thin, but if you go in at a low level, the regular level-ups will heal you and reduce the strain. Also, near the end of the game, there is a place where two bosses must be fought sequentially without an opportunity to heal. However, if you time it so that you level up after the first fight, you will have all your HP and FP back for the second boss.

* In ''[=~Pokémon~=]'', the mons tend to learn moves faster at lower EvolutionaryLevels. Therefore, sometimes it's best to keep them from evolving until they learn their final move, which can be five to 10 levels lower than in the evolved form. Also, Pokemon that evolve using stones, with the exception of Eevee, have a very limited movepool in its evolved forms, so it's better to not evolve them after their previous form has learned all the attacks it needs.