History Main / LowLevelAdvantage

Compare AntiGrinding.

** The mons tend to learn moves faster at lower EvolutionaryLevels. Therefore, sometimes it's better 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 their evolved forms, so it's better to not evolve them until after their previous form has learned all the attacks it needs. Some moves can only be learned if a Pokémon is at a particular stage of development, and if it evolves too early, they won't be able to get it at all.
*** This was actually a plot point early on in the [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} anime]]. Pikachu was able to beat Lt. Surge's much more powerful Raichu by using a strategy involving a very fast move that Raichu never learned. Surge had evolved it too soon.

*** This was actually a plot point early on in the [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} anime]]. Pikachu was able to beat Lt. Surge's much more powerful Raichu by using a strategy involving a highspeed move that Raichu never learned. Surge had evolved it too soon.

** 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. Some moves can only be learned if a Pokémon is at a particular stage of development, and if it evolves too early, they won't be able to get it at all.

* The masters in ''VideoGame/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.

** 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. Some moves can only be learned if a Pokémon is at a particular stage of development, and if it evolves to early, they won't be able to get it at all.

** In ''VideoGame/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.
*** The above only applies to the remakes from 'Dawn of Souls' and up. The original NES and Origins versions averted this: the stats each class gained on level-up were determined by a table, each level having certain 'guaranteed to go' stats. Every time you levelled, you automatically gained a point in each of those stats, as well as having a 25% chance for each of your other stats to go up. The only character who actually suffered from this trope was the Black Belt, who gained 4 magic defense (a hidden stat) per level, while after class change, the Grand Master only gained 1 magic defense per level, presumably as a result of a bug. Having a ribbon (all elemental resistances) equipped made it moot though.

*** If you ''do'' level up, it's best to wait until you have Bonus abilities, which award an extra point (in the case of HP, an extra 10) to that respective stat upon leveling.
*** In fact without those Bonus abilities, enemy stats generally increase faster than your party's, not to mention that enemies will gain new attacks at higher levels, making the game harder if you level.

*** Due to the game's LevelScaling system, this is referred to as "[[http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Leveling#The_Leveling_Problem The Leveling Problem]]". The enemies of the world only level up when the player levels up. Pretty standard for a game with level scaling so far. However, you can level up after 10 skill increases. Upon leveling up, your are given the option to increase your Attributes (Strength, Intelligence, etc.) and receive multipliers based on which Attributes govern the skills you increased in order to gain that level. If you make poor choices in leveling up, your character will become relatively ''weaker'' than the game's scaling enemies as your level progresses.. Naturally, many, ''many'' {{Game Mod}}s exist which balance out this aspect of the game (though they are only available to PC players). Another aalternative is to simply ''never level up''. Leveling up only occurs when you sleep, and there is no actual need for your character to sleep. (Though it provides free healing if done at a bed.) Meanwhile, your ''skills'' will continue to increase through use. Due to one quest requiring you to sleep, it is possible to beat the game's main quest at ''level 2''. The result is the world being saved from a horde of extremely feeble monsters by a [[WeakButSkilled strangely competent]] insomniac.

*** Due to the game's horrifically broken LevelScaling system, this is referred to as "[[http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Leveling#The_Leveling_Problem The Leveling Problem]]". The enemies of the world only level up when the player levels up. Pretty standard for a game with level scaling so far. However, you can level up after 10 skill increases. Upon leveling up, your are given the option to increase your Attributes (Strength, Intelligence, etc.) and receive multipliers based on which Attributes govern the skills you increased in order to gain that level. If you make poor choices in leveling up, your character will become relatively ''weaker'' than the game's scaling enemies as your level progresses. Essentially, unless you play as a full blown MinMaxing {{Munchkin}} to minimize EmptyLevels, the ''game gets harder'' as you level up. Naturally, many, ''many'' {{Game Mod}}s exist which balance out this aspect of the game (though they are only available to PC players).
*** If you don't feel like being a Munchkin, another alternative is to simply ''never level up''. Leveling up only occurs when you sleep, and there is no actual need for your character to sleep. Meanwhile, your ''skills'' will continue to increase through use. Due to one quest requiring you to sleep, it is possible to beat the game's main quest at ''level 2''. The result is the world being saved from a horde of extremely feeble monsters by a strangely competent insomniac.

*** Another issue with the system is the fact that your allies during the main quest are some of select few humanoid [=NPCs=] that ''don't'' level up with the player. If you delay too long, allies are rendered useless and {{Escort Mission}}s are near impossible. On the other hand, if you immediately jump into the main quest, you'll find your allies overpowered, rendering things too ''easy'' and having said allies basically win by themselves. The same goes for summoned creatures--overpowered if acquired early, little more then [[WeHaveReserves cannon fodder]] when used later.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' refers to this as [[http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Leveling#The_Leveling_Problem The Leveling Problem]].

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', the enemies of the world [[LevelScaling only level up when the player levels up]]. However, you trigger the level-up procedure by sleeping and there is nothing stopping you from continuing to increase your skill levels (which determine your ''actual'' power) in the meantime. Although the game does restrict a few things to higher levels, it is entirely possible to complete the main quest at Level 2. This can all result in the land being saved from a horde of extremely feeble monsters by a strangely competent chronic insomniac.
*** Avoiding leveling up is also advantageous because ''entire classes of enemies disappear from the game world'' if your class is too advanced. All of the scamps and skeletons or whatnot will be replaced with elite mooks wearing daedric armor who can kill you in two hits if your armor is trash. Many, many user mods have balanced out this aspect of the game.
*** 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 Divines themselves (say level 40 or so), it's more or less impossible to get through fights without resorting to the use of a GameBreaker (which there are plenty of, and thereby render things too easy, but still long and drawn out).
*** The fact that your allies during the main quest are some of select few humanoid [=NPCs=] that don't level up with the player hardly helps--if the player delays too long, allies are rendered useless and escort missions near impossible. On the other hand, if the player delays too little, he may find his allies overpowered, rendering things too easy and having said allies basically win by themselves. The same goes for summoned creatures--overpowered if acquired early, little more then [[WeHaveReserves cannon fodder]] when used later.
** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' uses the same mechanic as Oblivion where the more you level up, the less common early enemies will be. Usually the game is a lot better than it's predecessor as you wont see bandits running around in glass armor and mugging people for pocket change. "Usually". As with raiders regular draugr and skeletons would disappear and be replaced by more powerful draugr. Not too bad but this gets worse and worse as you get stronger and stronger, culminating in [[BossInMooksClothing Draugr Deathlords]] appearing in every dungeon except the dungeons near Riverwood, which are kept at a low level intentionally. Deathlords have several Thu'um including Unrelenting Force (which can lead to your death if you're tossed of a high staircase) and Disarm (which is hell on the console versions as the weapon can clip through the corners and become lost). And then there are the Draugr Deathlord Overlords, who are bosses in their own right.

** VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' uses the same mechanic as Oblivion where the more you level up, the less common early enemies will be. Regular draugr and skeletons would disappear, replaced by more powerful draugr, culminating in [[BossInMooksClothing Draugr Deathlords]] appearing in every dungeon except the dungeons near Riverwood, which are kept at a low level intentionally.

** The "[[GameBreaker Danger Mario]]" setup 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.

* 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.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

* Since ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' and ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' determines invasion and summon matchups by [[CharacterLevel Soul Level]], your ability relative to other players you fight is increased by finding better equipment and spending [[PracticalCurrency Souls]] to upgrade it instead of leveling up. Some {{griefer}}s take this to the extreme, using [[LowLevelRun low-level runs]] and GoodBadBugs to [[{{Twinking}} twink insanely powerful late-game weapons and armor]] for [[cCurbStompBattle urbstomping people only hours into the game]]. This was even worse in ''I'', as Invaders could get a lot of Humanity to increase their defense without raising their level. Later entries and ''Bloodborne'' make various attempts to counter this:

* Since ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' and ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' determines invasion and summon matchups by [[CharacterLevel Soul Level]], your ability relative to other players you fight is increased by finding better equipment and spending [[PracticalCurrency Souls]] to upgrade it instead of leveling up. Some {{griefer}}s take this to the extreme, using [[LowLevelRun low-level runs]] and GoodBadBugs to [[{{Twinking}} twink insanely powerful late-game weapons]] and armor for curbstomping people only hours into the game. This was even worse in ''I'', as Invaders could get a lot of Humanity to increase their defense without raising their level. Later entries and ''Bloodborne'' make various attempts to counter this:

[[folder: MMORP Gs ]]

* Since ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' and ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' determines invasion and summon matchups by [[CharacterLevel Soul Level]], your ability relative to other players you fight is increased by finding better equipment and spending [[PracticalCurrency Souls]] to upgrade it instead of leveling up. Some {{griefer}}s take this to the extreme, using [[LowLevelRun low-level runs]] and GoodBadBugs to twink insanely powerful late-game weapons and armor for curbstomping people only hours into the game. This was even worse in ''I'', as Invaders could get a lot of Humanity to increase their defense without raising their level. Later entries and ''Bloodborne'' make various attempts to counter this:

* Since ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' and ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' determines invasion and summon matchups by [[CharacterLevel Soul Level]], your ability relative to other players you fight is increased by finding better equipment and spending [[PracticalCurrency Souls]] to upgrade it instead of leveling up. Some {{griefer}}s take this to the extreme, using [[MinimalistRun low-level runs]] and GoodBadBugs to twink insanely powerful late-game weapons and armor for curbstomping people only hours into the game. This was even worse in ''I'', as Invaders could get a lot of Humanity to increase their defense without raising their level. Later entries and ''Bloodborne'' make various attempts to counter this:

* In ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'', if your character is below level 30, Chime Maidens would not spawn automatically in [[spoiler:Nightmare Frontier and Nightmare of Mensis]] unless you used a Sinister Resonant Bell to summon them or having a Co-Operator present. Without the presence of Chime Maidens, the other players cannot invade your world. Also, since your weapon level and upgrades do not affect the summoning range. A purposefully under-leveled character with late-game weapons and upgrades can [[CurbStompBattle obliterate new players without them]].