History Main / OverRatedAndUnderLeveled

* In ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'':
** Dias is the classic version, a legendary swordsman who frequently calls party members weak. Once joining the party, he is quickly outclassed by Claude. In Dias' case, this trope was somewhat turned back; in the [[VideoGameRemake PSP remake]] he was vastly improved, and more on the level of badass the game makes him out to be.
** Also happens to Albel Nox in ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'', who is level 29 ([[AllThereInTheManual according to the guide]]) when you fight him, and level 24 when you get him.
** And Ashlay in ''VideoGame/StarOcean1'', who is a grizzled and aged veteran, swordsman known the world over, personal friend of most of the world's royalty... and joins at level 15, only to be very quickly overshadowed by Ratix. However, unlike most examples of this trope, there is an easy way to justify this though: Much of the story of his skills were in the past, by now he's obviously past his prime thanks to being almost ''sixty'' years old ''and'' he only has the use of one arm (in the remake, he is flat out ''missing'' the arm.) Ashlay actually plays this trope [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome fairy realistically]] too ― Sure he knows a lot of technique, but [[CrutchCharacter isn't very good long-run]] because he literally is an old man. His knowledge of techniques DOES have one perk though. He can't use them anymore, but if you recruit him he can teach the main character several powerful sword skills he cannot otherwise get.
** Adray, praised as a great magician and swordsman, Fayt absolutely destroys him in swordplay and Sophia outclasses him in magic to the point of seeming like a Goddess by comparison. Justified as she had [[spoiler: genetic engineering for that purpose]] and Fayt had been training with videogames his whole life and [[spoiler: had the destructive gene]]

** In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'', we have [[spoiler:Ammon Jerro]], who is stated by several characters to be "a wizard of some power," others to be "a powerful sorcerer," and still others "an extremely powerful Warlock." In-game, he only has Warlock levels, and is fairly powerful, but all the descriptions of him suggest that he is, in fact, every single frelling spellcaster class available short of Bard, and should technically have more levels than the game suggests is possible. When you actually fight him, his summoned help is ever-so-slightly harder to beat than he is.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'':
*** The final boss of the Mages Guild questline, [[OurLichesAreDifferent Mannimarco, "King Of Worms."]] While in the lore Mannimarco is by far the most powerful {{Necromancer}} in the series [[spoiler: and a PhysicalGod after [[TimeyWimeyBall the warp in the west]] at the end of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall'']], here he's more or less a more powerful generic [[OurElvesAreDIfferent Altmer]] necromancer set to be 7 levels above the player until level 36 or higher (his level scaling stops at level 42).

* Rather disappointingly enforced by paladin Artix of ''VideoGame/DragonFable'' In his own movie (Artix VS The Undead), Artix was shown to slay hundreds of Undead with a swipe of his sword. In game however [[spoiler: he is a level 3 Paladin who seems weaker than your main character, bar his four-hit Light combo]]. Justified when you find out while talking to Artix [[spoiler: that after fighting a deadly creature summoned by a Master Necromancer, he sealed the monster inside his battleaxe and as a result of the battle lost 30 levels. Implying that before the battle, he was still very much a badass at level 33]]. Even at level 3, his four-hit combo is extremely powerful, and turns most fights at lower levels into cakewalks. Add the fact that the increase in damage from level 3 to 33 is generally at least 1000% and you realize that he was originally probably capable of taking out the player's full-grown dragon.

* Zero, the "Legendary Hero" from ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'', was violently awoken from his 100 year rest and has forgotten most of his fighting techniques. True to his series heritage, he recalls most of his techniques [[PowerCopying after beating a boss and mimicking its attacks.]]
* ''VideoGame/KanColle'': Despite Johnston's historical showing where her historical counterpart ''unambiguously'' pulled off a feat rivaling or even surpassing Yuudachi, her surface combat stat in-game is pitifully low, only barely higher than Sammy B. (which only puts her pretty much dead average in night battle power compared to other DD) even though a ''Fletcher''-class has way more firepower than destroyer escorts. This is probably because the developers chose to give her other roles instead, including the ability to perform OASW without any gear in her ''base'' form [[note]]All other ships that can do that like Sammy B., Jervis, Isuzu, and Tatsuta all need remodels to pull this off[[/note]] ''and'', with right gear, having AACI that's among ''the'' strongest in the game, at least rivaling the ''Akizuki''-class.

* Luna, from ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur 3'''s Chronicles of the Sword Mode, is a recurring boss from the first half of the mode who wields the titular ''[=SoulCalibur=]''. She joins 2 chapters before the end, is average level, has a class with unexceptional growth rates AND she has the ONLY moveset in the entire game without a known [[AIBreaker anti-AI move]], near required against Chronicles of the Sword's [[TheAIIsACheatingBastard cheating AI]]
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' uses different stats and AI for allies compared to enemies. This can be clearly seen in Gaussian's story arc, where the previously incompetent Longbow allies that you've fought with for a few missions now are suddenly much, much tougher when you have to fight them instead.
** Vanguard also demonstrate this. The player will usually fare better against the Rikti than Vanguard does, but when the player has to fight Vanguard during a civil war they are suddenly so much more deadlier that you wonder why they couldn't do anything without your help before.
* [[spoiler:Tezkhra]], the last playable character in ''VideoGame/TheReconstruction'', is a ''god''. Yet he moves at approximately the same speed as dirt and most of his abilities are {{Useless Useful Spell}}s, making him more trouble than he's worth most of the time.
* Every single character in the ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II'' campaigns. Tarkus and Avitus are warriors almost as accomplished as the legendary Davian Thule, [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep the Force Commander]] and Thaddeus are highly successful despite their relatively young age, and Cyrus is older than all of them, ''trained'' most of them, and was even a member of [[ChurchMilitant The Inquisition]]'s Death Watch. All of them are level 1. ''Chaos Rising'' introduced Jonah (powerful enough to survive direct, solo contact with the Tyranid HiveMind, yet no stronger than the player), while ''Retribution'' has the former right-hand of the Chapter Master and a Space Marine so renowned he is known only as [[RedBaron The Ancient]] (level 1 again). The fact the Ancient turns out to be [[spoiler: Tarkus]] means he's been afflicted by this trope twice.
** The characters being level 1 holds no actual significance. The first game had no leveling system. Level 1 is only relative, since they are still Space Marines. Also, being in the Death Watch is no significant demonstration of skill. It is not an elite unit, but one put together from multiple units. If you look at the actual Death Watch Kill Team stats from the game, they are basic Space Marines with access to higher grade equipment.

* The prequel novel to ''VideoGame/GuildWars 2'' is about the FiveManBand [[spoiler: (well, it's five by the end of the book)]] who took down several [[TheDragon Champions]] of the [[EldritchAbomination Elder Dragons]], and nearly succeeded in taking out one Elder Dragon himself. In the game proper, the tutorial mission and lvl 1-20 story missions of each race feature the player fighting alongside one of the group's members, where they are marginally stronger or equally strong as the low level player.
** Interestingly, this may be due to the same (unexplained) game mechanic that effectively de-levels high level players while they're in low level areas. So while your level 80 player character will still have more skills and traits, he too will be OverratedAndUnderleveled if you want to help your friend with his new character. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality But at least you can still have fun in the low level areas this way.]]
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}: the 3rd Phantom'', character levels are determined by when in the storyline they first appear. Since the four senior captains are encountered first (but don't join you until later), these legendary warriors have starting levels lower than captains hundreds of years their junior (though their high statistics make them more powerful, even at low level, than many other characters).
** The game's dialog will also assume that the main character is weaker than pretty much everybody else, when in fact the opposite is true. The lieutenants in particular are bad about this; pretty much all of them talk down to the main character, when in fact they can't hold a candle compared to him/her, even when they first appear.
* ''VideoGame/{{XCOM}}'' is infamous for this. Your troops, [[InformedAbility supposedly drawn from the best of Earth's special forces]], are pathetic chumps who stormtroopers could give a run for their money. Of course, one could argue that the aliens are just that good at their job... if your soldiers didn't constantly panic and drop their weapons.
** ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' and its sequel avert this. Your soldiers have a standard 70% Chance to hit, and generally good chances to avoid panicking. The former is amazing by real life standards and the latter is good as well, considering that the game takes place in an alien invasion.
* In ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'', Aya is touted as Bayek's equal as a warrior. During the moments you play as her however, since none but the most basic of Bayek's abilities carry over and she's restricted to a set of leveled gear she ultimately comes off as mechanically weaker.

* A rare TabletopGames example is Van Richten, the famous monster hunter of ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}''; Van Richten literally ''wrote the book'' on hunting monsters, with a career of adventuring and monster killing spanning decades and dozens of monsters, from vampires to mummies to werebeasts to ghosts to golems to ancient dead and worse besides. And what level is he when you meet him in the 2e adventure of "Bleak House"? A whopping ''level three''. Even considering that in the days of AD&D, levels were harder to gain, and that Van Richten lived his career by the creedo of "kill smarter, not fight harder"[[note]]he would research his targets before fighting them, allowing him to negate many of their strengths and amplify their weaknesses, so as to minimize their ability to fight him back, something he encourages in his guidebooks - and something that many [[GameMaster Dungeon Masters]] would award full experience points for anyway[[/note]], that's still distinctly underwhelming. One of the fan sourcebooks includes an array of differently leveled Van Richten's, aiming to portray him what he would have been "more realistically".
* In ''VideoGame/ChaosRingsIII''. Al is introduced as a high ranking explorer. When he's brought into the party he's not much stronger than the rest of the team. One of the other members in the party actually calls him out on this, and he responds that he's high ranking because of his experience, not raw power.

* ''VideoGame/LegendOfLegaia 2'' [[AvertedTrope Averts]] this with Kazan, an old, highly trained martial artist who joins the team literally 15 levels higher than the rest of your party (a young man with a few years of combat training and a young woman with none) and stays that way until they catch up with him. He quickly makes work of every enemy they encounter for the next few dungeons.

** Justified in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', where Cloud Strife is introduced as SOLDIER First Class, and is clearly much weaker than SOLDIER Third Class, and is only stronger than the regular MP. The reason? [[spoiler:Cloud was ''never'' in SOLDIER, and is repressing his actual past due to trauma and being experimented on by Shinra]].
*** However, by the end of the game, Cloud is, in fact, more powerful than any other SOLDIER, including Sephiroth.
*** Sephiroth, for that matter, massively averts this when he is briefly on your team for a flashback sequence (where "SOLDIER First Class" Cloud is yet weaker still); he is literally invincible, has high-level magic attacks that can destroy entire teams of enemies with ease, and is strong enough to kill a dragon in two hits (although at higher levels, you can kill those dragons in one). He is so powerful that you don't actually control him at all- he attacks on his own, and he's there partly to showcase what a badass he is, and partly just to show you up. He will sometimes kill ''every'' on-screen enemy before you have a chance to do ''anything''.
** Continuing with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', we have the character Beatrix. Being the general of an entire army, she can take quite a few hits from the party before she falls, [[spoiler: and in fact [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose can't be defeated at all]]]]. However, in the short time you fight alongside her, she is just about as strong as just any other party member, and it shouldn't take more than a few hits to K.O. her. Of course; she doesn't have as much health as she appeared to have.
*** Though this is in part due to a glitch; her HP, stats and '''abilities''' are identical to when she's a foe (save for the plot-convenient version of Stock Break she uses to end the battle). A glitch in her two strongest attacks mean they don't register as special attacks rather than regular attacks, greatly reducing her usefulness.
*** However, Steiner can actually learn Beatrix's moves - including [[ThatOneAttack Shock]] (which was pretty much an instant-kill attack). By the time you get Shock, it's actually ''stronger'' in your hands than when ''Beatrix'' uses it due to mixture of the aforementioned glitch as well as the fact that Steiner's stats will get higher.
*** And speaking of Steiner, he too gets hit by this trope fairly hard: he's consistently billed as Beatrix's equal, even accidentally wounded her in a sparring match once, yet at the beginning of the game he's on first level.
** This applies to half of the main characters in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. The former guardians Lulu, Wakka, and Auron supposedly had all completed most or all of the pilgrimage, and LevelGrinding that entails, prior to the beginning of the game, but all start at effectively level 1. The monsters at the Calm Lands, which all three Guardians supposedly made it to, could have killed all three guardians with a sneeze at the beginning of the game.
*** Auron at least may deserve a little slack here. It's not unreasonable to presume that one doesn't walk away from [[spoiler: dying]] without suffering a few physical setbacks.
*** Also, Wakka and Lulu's previous journey ended in a tragic premature death of their summoner, and they may have blocked out much of the experience due to grief and guilt. This is driven home during an optional fight with [[spoiler: Lady Ginnem]], when Lulu confronts her regrets.
*** This also occurs very blatantly in a plot-relevant {{Minigame}}: While the original members of your Blitzball team are certainly not the best players out there in the long run, the extremely-hyped, won-the-championship-many-years-in-a-row Luca Goers are a highly competent, tough to beat team... at level 1. They also have pretty much the worst stat growth in the game, rendering them ineffective by the time players' levels are in the teens. The first, story-mandated, match against them needn't be won, which is good because winning it usually involves taking advantage of the fairly simple blitzball AI and Tidus's unique special moves. By the second or third league season they almost never even pose a challenge. The Al Bhed Psyches, on the other hand, start and remain a formidable team, and their starting goalie is a prized recruit for players who seriously pursue Blitzball; however, the story never actually makes much of their abilities, even having them try to win by cheating in a {{cutscene}}-only match. They're also the first team the pathetic Aurochs defeat in ''ten years'' in the storyline, making it even more confusing once you play them normally.

** There are quite a few examples in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII''. They include a sky pirate and his partner, who is described as a "master of weaponry" but is only two levels ahead of your character when you recruit him. What's worse, said 2 characters are actually the worst characters to use their starting weapon types which they're implied to be most adept at using, mostly because their attack animations with those weapon types are by far the slowest in the party.

* Garr in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII''. The story presents him as a extremely powerful warrior with skills way above the strongest warriors in the world. He always joins the annual Warrior Tournament as a solo entry, while the standard is to register a team of three. Balio and Sunder, the duo of two [[HopelessBossFight Hopeless Boss Fights]], tremble by just being stared by him. He eventually joins your party in the third battle against the duo, and after killing them, casually remarks that he was eventually planning of disposing them. After all that insane [[CharacterShilling shilling and hype]], he turns out to be, in-game wise, a bog-standard standard MightyGlacier that does nothing particularly impressive and is easily outranked by Ryu. He has a plethora of Fire spells but his magic is so low that even his strongest spells can't match the power of his standard attack.

** Averted by the royal families in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates''. Between amazing bases, growths, and being perfectly specced for their jobs, they all come across as the BadassFamily of RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething the story says they are. Although this does have elements of Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, since this makes it very hard for other units to compete for a place on your team when a royal fills that niche - to the point where they're collectively considered a high-TierInducedScrappy in some circles, and not using any of the royals is commonly considered a SelfImposedChallenge.

->''"I don't mind that Greybor [[FlatCharacter doesn't shut about being a professional assassin]]. I do mind that he doesn't shut up about it while being weaker than [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits a bored nobleman, a conscripted street urchin, an amateur serial killer]] and my [=f---ing=] [[LoyalAnimalCompanion attack elk]]."''

* Used in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'': Carth is "one of the Republic's best pilots," "a hero of the Mandalorian War and a legendary soldier." He's only a couple clicks higher than your starting character, possibly justified in that being a crack pilot doesn't mean much in on-the-ground fighting (the bulk of your game). Bastila? The paragon of Padawans and key to the war effort - at ''less'' of a starting level than you will be at that point, which is also handwaved by her being an adept of Battle Meditation, an exceedingly rare ability that, by augmenting her allies' fighting prowess, boosted her reputation. The "near-killed-and-left-with-amnesia" excuse shows up to explain why [[spoiler: you, the ex-Dark Lord and galaxy-feared Badass]] are a rather pathetic fighter for a few levels and also further explains why your "exceptional" compatriots seem so mediocre in comparison. And in the second game, damage and age are used to explain the low starting levels for [[spoiler:Canderous, who becomes the Mandalore]] and the droids when Exile finds them.
* Your second batch of dossiers in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' includes the assassin Thane Krios. In a bizarre quirk of GameplayAndStorySegregation, Thane ''is'' very useful for taking on Collectors in missions, as his specific powers are formidable against them, but when it comes to the game-ending SuicideMission, he's a complete MasterOfNone story-wise. [[spoiler:He's ill suited for leading ''any'' of the available specialty roles (tech expert, fire-team leader, or biotic barricade) and his defense score towards holding the line is nothing special.]]

** Jack, supposedly the most powerful human biotic ever born, is actually inferior to virtually all the other biotics in your team due to her bad power set.
*** Not helped by her CutscenePowerToTheMax intro which shows her blowing up the heads of mid boss level enemies with ease, something you can't remotely come close to doing even against the exact same enemies.

* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has Sten, whose [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep name signifies]] that he's actually a military commander from a culture [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy renowned and feared for martial prowess]]. He's also a seven-foot-tall HornedHumanoid. He's actually one of the ''weakest'' party members.

*** Wynne is an accomplished mage and Senior Enchanter who is a veteran of fighting darkspawn. When she joins your party, she is at the same level as your main character (who may be a mage several decades her junior). [[spoiler:Which is justified by her having been killed and brought back to life between when you last saw her at Ostagar and when you recruit her in the Tower.]]
*** Loghain is touted as a veteran of a number of wars, as well as a master swordsman. After dueling him near the climax, [[spoiler: the player may potentially recruit him. Unfortunately, his power in the duel comes from bonus HP from being a boss and two amazing NPC-only rings. Bereft of those in the player's party, he will almost certainly be the weakest member by far due to the atrocious allocation of his stat points. The fact that Alistair, whose build you could optimize for most of the game, leaves permanently if you recruit Loghain, renders him even worse by comparison, and only attractive for narrative reasons.]]

* ''VideoGame/DragonAge'':

*** Wynne is an accomplished mage and Senior Enchanter who is a veteran of fighting darkspawn. When she joins your party, she is at the same level as your main character (who may be a mage several decades her junior).
*** Loghain is touted as a veteran of a number of wars, as well as a master swordsman. After dueling him near the climax, [[spoiler: the player may potentially recruit him. Unfortunately, his power in the duel comes from bonus HP from being a boss and two amazing NPC-only rings. Bereft of those in the player's party, he will almost certainly be the weakest member by far due to the atrocious allocation of his stat points.]]

** The update that introduced rank VI and supersonic jets showed the American F-100 Super Sabre, the Soviet Mig-19... and the British Gloster Javelin, which was a '''subsonic''' night interceptor, quite underleveled compared to the other two (but it was contemporary, so it was initially assumed to be comparable for the first tranche of rank VI jets).

* In ''VideoGame/WarThunder'' many vehicles that in real-life were effective if not dominating can struggle because of game modes not favoring their intended role or the matchmaking putting them against comparable adversaries that they did not face historically. Due to how vehicles are balanced, though, sometimes they might even become basically useless. One example are high speed supersonic interceptors such as the English Electric Lightning or the Lockheed F--104 Starfighters, which in reality were tasked of quickly scrambling and climbing to intercept high altitude Soviet bombers, but in-game are put in compressed dogfights against more agile and technologically advanced fighters.
** Sometimes the developing company, Gaijin Entertainment, seems to ignore the real-life capabilities when introducing aircraft. For example, the update that introduced rank VI and supersonic jets showed the American F-100 Super Sabre, the Soviet Mig-19... and the British Gloster Javelin, which was a '''subsonic''' night interceptor, quite underleveled compared to the other two (but it was contemporary, so it was initially assumed to be comparable for the first tranche of rank VI jets). A more recent example is the "Apex Predators" update of December 2022, which introduced rank VIII with the F-16 Falcon, the MiG-29... and the Tornado IDS. Presented as a comparable counter to the other two right from the cinematic trailer, the Tornado was in reality a strike aircraft with no possibility to compete in-game (countries that operated it, such as the UK, Germany and Italy, don't have a counter to the F-16 spam). Even if Gaijin introduced its interceptor variant first, the Tornado ADV, it would have been in the same situation of the aforementioned Lightning as its role was different from what happens in game (and the Tornado ADV was even underwhelming as a platform).

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'':
** Siegfried is introduced with a lot of fanfare in the Orleans singularity as being basically the greatest dragonslayer in history, to the point that about half the story is dedicated to successfully restoring him to health so that he can kick ass again. When you actually pick him up, he's a StoneWall whose [[SituationalSword anti-dragon skills]] are pretty much required for him to do ''any'' meaningful damage to them, and he doesn't even get a TacticalRockPaperScissors boost against any of the dragons in Orleans. This ended up creating the "SAVIOR OF FRANCE" joke, as the majority of players instead used whatever Assassins they could scrounge up (since Assassins ''do'' get that boost against the mostly Rider-class dragons), typically Sasaki Kojirou, and left Siegfried collecting dust.
** This applies to a ''lot'' of guest servants in the main story, barring a small handful like Jeanne and Caster Cu (who show up very early) as well as Merlin and Super Orion (who are just that good). No matter how FamedInStory they might be, they can be somewhat underleveled, lack Fou statboosts, and are overall probably inferior to your main party, much less the Servants you can borrow from friends.

** This applies to a ''lot'' of guest servants in the main story, barring a small handful like Jeanne and Caster Cu (who show up very early) and Merlin (who is just that good). No matter how FamedInStory they might be, they can be somewhat underleveled, lack Fou statboosts, and are overall probably inferior to your main party, much less the Servants you can borrow from friends.

** And Ashlay in ''VideoGame/StarOcean1'', who is a grizzled and aged veteran, swordsman known the world over, personal friend of most of the world's royalty... and joins at level 15, only to be very quickly overshadowed by Ratix. However, unlike most examples of this trope, there is an easy way to justify this though: Much of the story of his skills were in the past, by now he's obviously past his prime thanks to being almost ''sixty'' years old ''and'' he only has the use of one arm (in the remake, he is flat out ''missing'' the arm.) Ashlay actually plays this trope [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome fairy realistically]] too ― Sure he knows a lot of technique, but [[CrutchCharacter isn't very good long-run]] because he literally is an old man.

This can sometimes be explained by a simple matter of not leveling the newcomer properly, but usually a heralded "strongest character" simply never is for long, or is certainly not as useful as their strength would suggest. Maybe programmers are underestimating gamers. Sometimes it can also be explained another way, such as they're weakened by something, commonly, age. (You're not as strong at 50 as you were at 20.)

* In ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'':
** At the end of the game, you can add [[spoiler:Arronax]] to your party. While he's at the maximum possible level allowed by the game engine, he equips no weapons nor armour, and most of the time prefers fists to his (quite decent) magic. This may, however, just be a result of a glitch. [[spoiler:The dude single-handedly destroyed advanced technological civilization and was bad enough to be generally regarded as his world's Crystal Dragon Satan. This also happens to the other Banished villains - for example, a half-man-half-dragon creature whom the collective of most powerful mages of the world defeated after days-long battle.]]
** In general, most of the recruitable [=NPCs=] avert this. They're all set at static levels, and the locations you find them are often within their realm of ability.
** Franklin Payne (GentlemanAdventurer!) is hyped continent-wide for his famous and daring expeditions. By the time you qualify to invite him, any gunslingers currently in the party could have been better developed and better equipped, and all other character types are more effective in their specialty and still broadly useful. Franklin is a nice chap for such a GloryHound, and entertaining to listen to, but he's a little late for the TrueCompanions.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAge'' has Sten, whose [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep name signifies]] that he's actually a military commander from a culture [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy renowned and feared for martial prowess]]. He's also a seven-foot-tall HornedHumanoid. He's actually one of the ''weakest'' party members.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'':
** [[spoiler:Rose]] was one of the original Dragoons, and arguably the strongest considering she was [[spoiler: the only one to survive the final battle]]. Since then she has had 11,000 years to train. So why is she no stronger then two (admittedly competent) soldiers when she joins the party after all that training?
** Kongol, a former enemy boss, is also something of a disappointment when he joins you.

** Cloud in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' is extremely useless unless you put a ton of effort into raising him properly. Despite being pretty strong in his own game, he joins your party at level 1 and he can only use his special abilities from the Soldier class if he has a certain sword equipped, which is pretty weak compared to other weapons. Most of the time, you are better off raising Cloud with whatever job classes you have available rather than stick to his default class.
*** Thunder God Cid, however, is just given to you without any effort at all and very much ''does'' live up to his name and legend. He very easily becomes the most powerful PC in the game, to the extreme that the rest of the game can be solo'd by him and him alone.
*** Ezel from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' is touted as a character who can make any law cards that can easily nullify whatever laws are set in battle and is someone that is quite elusive. However, Ezel is just a reskin of the Alchemist class. He only has two abilities (one which makes you immune to status ailments once and another that puts all enemies to sleep) and can't change classes at all. Despite Ezel having extremely high magic power, he posses no abilities that are based on it. Along with being extremely slow, physically weak, having low HP, and can't even walk into water due to a glitch, Ezel may look like a powerful character but is absolute crap in battle. Even if Ezel joins your clan, he won't give you law cards for free, thus you still have to barter with him to get the cards you want.
** Al-Cid in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2''. He's a powerful opponent when you fight him, but he loses several levels once he joins your clan. He is the only human in the game that can use a gun in battle, which would have made him extremely awesome, but like with Ezel in the above example, Al-Cid can't change classes and most of his abilities revolve around the gimmick of females present in battle. If you don't have many female units in the clan, Al-Cid will become useless quickly.
* Quattro Bajina in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ'' is a variation on this, he's one of the best pilots in the game(He usually is. In fact, here he's probably second in ''Z'' only to [[Anime/SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss Kei]] ) but rather than getting his own top of the line mobile suit, he's got the OK Hyaku Shiki, which is not very good compared to the units you get late game. [[GameBreaker UNLESS you do what many do and put him in the]] ''Anime/TurnAGundam''.....
** Quattro in general really. It's most prominent in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Gaiden'', where his stats are some of the worst in comparison to other Gundam main characters including normal pilots like Kou Uraki and even Loran Cehack. And like in Z, he only get the Hyaku Shiki, and Sazabi is an Easy Mode only unit that is decent at best.
* Rather disappointingly enforced by paladin Artix of ''VideoGame/DragonFable'' In his own movie (Artix VS The Undead), Artix was shown to slay hundreds of Undead with a swipe of his sword. In game however [[spoiler: he is a level 3 Paladin who seems weaker than your main character, bar his four-hit Light combo]]. Justified when you find out while talking to Artix [[spoiler: that after fighting a deadly creature summoned by a Master Necromancer, he sealed the monster inside his battleaxe and as a result of the battle lost 30 levels. Implying that before the battle, he was still very much a badass at level 33]]. Even at level 3, his four-hit combo is extremely powerful, and turns most fights at lower levels into cakewalks. Add the fact that the increase in damage from level 3 to 33 is generally at least 1000% and you realize that he was originally probably capable of taking out the player's full-grown dragon.

* Leon in ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny'' is supposed to be an elite military warrior, carefully trained since childhood to be a prodigy general. Yet when he joins the party, he's at the same level as the low-level thieves (+ country bumpkin) he easily wiped the floor with moments before.
* Kratos in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' is supposed to be a powerful, experienced mercenary, adept at both blade and magic, but when he joins he's only a level or so higher than the rest of the party (which at that point consists of only [[KidHero random schoolchildren]]) and knows only a handful of weak techniques. (Of course, there is a spoilerrific reason for this.) Later in the game he is replaced by another character, Zelos. Despite being a pampered noble, [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Zelos is effectively Kratos in combat]]: they have the exact same skills, weapon proficiencies and combat role, with only a few minor differences in stats (Zelos' are lower) and attack style (Zelos is better at using certain attacks). [[spoiler:Oddly enough, when you have to ''fight'' them, even if they just left your party in the previous cutscene, [[RedemptionDemotion they're suddenly tough enough to match the entire party all over again]]... [[FridgeBrilliance but, of course, they're]] [[LetsGetDangerous using their Angelic powers during those fights]].]]
* ''[[VideoGame/AlterAILA Alter A.I.L.A. Genesis]]'':
** Erin is an interesting version of this. She is not a bad character by any means. She is a healer with a healing ability which can, with proper equipment, be made capable of activating every two rounds and heal the party completely, rendering many battles easy so long as you can avoid a TPK for two turns. For players that don't like using a lot of healing items she is arguably the strongest character. However, her strength comes entirely from her ability to quickly heal the party, she is otherwise underwhelming in health and especially damage. The FridgeLogic kicks in here, because in the early game, the time when everyone insists she is powerful, she always fights alone. A solo Erin, before drives made it possible to speed up her healing, would easily get overwhelmed and killed before she could build up resources for a heal or do much damage. Effectively she is only powerful when put in a team and the only times the plot calls her out as powerful is the times she isn't with a team. Plus no one ever mentions her ability to heal when mentioning her danger, despite this being the only thing that makes her a viable character at all.
** The bonus characters are all [=NPCs=] that were either bosses or allies who were powerful in cutscenes, but they all start at level 1. The only saving grace is that they have [[MagikarpPower lower EXP requirements and good stat growths]], meaning they can easily surpass the main party members.
* Jade from ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' is advertised as one of the most powerful and feared sorcerers in the world, but is hit by a bad guy's special item early in the game which causes him to lose access to all but his most basic spells. He spends the rest of the game gradually breaking the seals on his magic, which by a crazy coincidence happens at more or less the same rate as the other, less-experienced characters are learning new skills. Crazier still, after he remembers all his old abilities and regains his old stats, he keeps gaining new ones at the same rate. He joins your party for a short while before this, and [[ATasteOfPower he's a good 40 levels higher than your party by that point]] (assuming the player isn't grinding). He drops to around the same level as you when his artes are sealed.
* The ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series of tactical {{RPG}}s has more instances of this than can be conveniently listed. The reason is primarily a result of the games' mechanics -- since [[{{Permadeath}} death is permanent]] in this series, late recruits exist primarily to give the careless and the inexperienced a fighting chance in the later levels. As a result, the experienced knights, powerful generals and legendary warriors of the world (who come later in the game) are almost invariably weaker than the rank novices, random mercenaries, and inexperienced students (who join early) raised to the same level. Almost without exception, a character who starts out at level 5 and is raised to level 15 will be far stronger than a character who starts at level 15, even if the character who starts at level 15 is renowned for his peerless strength and skill. (The only exceptions are GameBreaker units who join on the final chapter of most games.) This doesn't make these characters useless by any standard, though--in many cases, their stat deficiencies still leave them as very competent fighters, and they consistently boast high weapon ranks, letting them use powerful swords and staves. Complete aversion in the franchise are relatively rare, though there are a handful of outliers who provide some level of story justification.
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem Mystery of the Emblem]]'':
*** Hardin is the leader of a band of exiled soldiers who have been escorting their princess and fighting a guerilla war against the Macedonian Army for some time. You'd expect him to be a prepromote or at least very high-level, but he's only a level 6 cavalier, albeit [[DiscOneNuke an unusually strong one]]. His four subordinates are pretty unimpressive at base level, and in the original game, two of them are some of the weakest characters in the game.
*** Minerva in the original NES game, WarriorPrincess of Macedon and famed as [[RedBaron The Crimson Dragoon]], is a level 1 Dracoknight, and due to the way the game calculates stats, she has the same stats as a generic enemy in her class (she's still very strong, but it can be rather disconcerting to compare her to another Dracoknight). Every game afterward gave her some buffs to be more fitting of her reputation. Her elite subordinates, the Whitewings, also aren't particularly high-level in their original appearance, with two of them being more MagikarpPower than anything.
*** Jeorge is notable for being renowned as the "greatest sniper on the continent" but is a prepromote who's average and not really noteworthy statwise aside from his very high bow rank. This is explained in-game, however: due to the high-class nature of his bloodline, people have been spreading ridiculously exaggerated rumors about him, leading to this false reputation.
*** Zig-zagged with Gotoh. He was the original EleventhHourRanger in the series, and in the original NES game his stats definitely befitted his legendary status, having 20's in most areas, which was the maximum at the time. In the remake, ''Shadow Dragon'', however, stat caps are higher than 20 but Gotoh's base stats were left unaltered, leaving him to fall victim to this trope. He's never playable in either version of ''Mystery of the Emblem'', probably to avoid this trope.
*** Despite taking place after the first book, the second book of ''Mystery'' doesn't take your stats from a playthrough of the first book into account, instead simply giving characters preset levels and stats. Consequently, while just about everyone has gone up a few levels and gained about the right stats for those levels, the ''amount'' of levels they've gained is considerably less than what you'd expect--most notably, Marth has gone from level 1 to level 3. While some of this could be explained with them having lost their skills in the three years in between, it doesn't work as well for characters who stayed frontline troops or have been actively involved in other events, particularly the Whitewings.
*** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemNewMysteryOfTheEmblem'' is notable for this, due to growth rates and enemy strength being hugely inflated across the board; consequently, just about every character to join after the Sable Knights will be struggling to survive past their join chapter. Astram is one of the most notorious cases, due to the fact that he's recruited from the enemy side. This means that you can compare this guy, who is supposed to be the WorldsStrongestMan, to the soldiers he commands... and holy ''crap'' does he not stack up well. On the highest difficulties, he can be one-rounded by every single one of them. [[https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/345171686640975882/503361863526907904/9OGWIPw_d.jpg?width=600&height=368 Even the thieves.]]
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'' mostly averts this, with FamedInStory characters like Galzus, Ced, Saias, Xavier, and Eyvel all being about as strong as you'd expect for characters of their status (though Saias does suffer some RedemptionDemotion). Amalda, Conomor, and Diarmuid are on the weak side next to similarly-leveled units of their classes, but are still entirely competent fighters. Olwen is the most significant counterexample, being quite weak at base apart from her signature tome, but even she has a level of justification: she's been fairly sheltered and lacks experience.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' has Cecilia, who, despite being the Mage General of Etruria, has very mediocre stats (most significantly, her 10 Speed, which isn't enough for her to double anything that isn't an armor knight, is one of her higher stats). Compare that to Perceval, the Knight General, who has 18 Speed without HardModePerks, and even Douglas, the Great General and a MightyGlacier, has 8. The base parameters of her class (high movement, good rescuing capability, an ArmorPiercingAttack with the option to hit hard on fliers, and staff use to cure status and heal allies) make her an alright SupportPartyMember, though.
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade The Blazing Blade]]'':
*** Karel is FamedInStory as "the Sword Demon", and many characters talk about his incredible feats like wiping out whole armies and slaying giant monsters. In reality, he has fairly mediocre stats for his level and is in a rather bad class (footlocked FragileSpeedster swordsman in a game that heavily favors mounts, raw power and durability, and axes), meaning that him wiping out whole armies is a tough sell. He's actually outclassed in every stat but Speed by Harken, who [[MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers replaces him if certain conditions are met]] and is mostly just treated as a fairly experienced knight. His appearance in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' depicts a much more experienced Karel who is a far stronger warrior--albeit one who suffers badly from LateCharacterSyndrome.
*** The penultimate chapter, "Victory Or Death", introduces Renault, a mysterious, high-level Bishop with rare equipment and the ability to heal numerous units at once--initially, he may be seen as a godsend thanks to the [[RespawningEnemies continuous stream of high-level, dangerous enemies]] present in the level. However, his magical abilities are absolutely atrocious, implied through [[RelationshipValues support conversations]] to be because Renault was a former mercenary who renounced his violent ways and embraced religion as [[TheAtoner penance]]. The process of discovering this, unfortunately, requires bringing a ''seriously'' underpowered character into [[BossRush the most dangerous part of the game]].
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Path of Radiance]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'':
*** Lucia and Bastian, Elincia's retainers. While both have excellent growth rates, they also have atrocious base stats for their high levels. The third, Geoffrey, is ironically the lowest leveled despite being the head knight, and his base stats are much better suited to his level.
*** The trope is notably averted with Stefan, who, while a much higher level than the rest of your team at that point, has a stat spread that's more than adequate for his level (except for his paltry Luck score). This trend continues in the sequel, where he's among the last units you recruit in the game, but is no less effective than his fellow swordmasters (still has low Luck, though). It might have to do with his [[GuideDangIt recruiting requirements]] and the implication that he's [[HeroicLineage descended from a legendary member]] of [[KingOfBeasts the tribe]] that produced one of the PurposelyOverpowered Laguz kings that joins in the final chapter.
*** Then this gets completely defied by the Greil Mercenaries when they make their grand return in ''Radiant Dawn''. FamedInStory and the heroes of the previous game, they'd be a disappointment if they were anything less that absolute badasses more powerful than any other unit you have... so they're absolute badasses more powerful than any other unit you have. Despite the enemies scaling appropriately, the Greil Mercenaries have a ''much'' easier time with combat than any of the previous groups you control, and their chapters are made difficult mostly by virtue of [[EscortMission escortees]] or [[TimedMission time limits]]. Even once perspective shifts back to the other teams and they get enough experience to reach the same level, the Dawn Brigade and Royal Knights will struggle to outclass the Greil Mercenaries.
** Averted by the royal families in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates''. Between amazing bases, growths, and being perfectly specced for their jobs, they all come across as the BadassFamily of RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething the story says they are. Although this does have elements of Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, since this makes it very hard for other units to compete for a place on your team when a royal fills that niche - to the point where they're collectively considered a high-TierInducedScrappy in some circles, and not using any of the royals is commonly considered a SelfImposedChallenge.
** Played with in regards to the Knights of Seiros you can recruit in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses''. Despite being experienced knights, the best of the best, they join you at a level considered appropriate for the story. That said, they arrive already in an Advanced class regardless of level, and their statline reflects this. They also tend to arrive well-suited for that job and often carrying powerful equipment (Catherine is a DiscOneNuke for exactly this reason) so all up they're hardly a disappointment. Likewise, the protagonist's father, Jeralt, is a famous mercenary known as the Blade Breaker, and former captain of the Knights of Seiros, but in the prologue, he's only a Level 3 Paladin; he's definitely the strongest unit on the map on non-[[HarderThanHard Maddening]] difficulties, but isn't as powerful as he should be. Also applies to [[PlayerCharacter Byleth]], since you start at level 1 despite having over ten years of experience as a mercenary.
* ''VideoGame/{{Langrisser}} 2'' employed this to hair-pulling extent, where Leon, a Level 6 Knight Master, joins you as a computer-controlled unit for one battle and then offers to join you. If you accept, he loses nearly 30 levels on the spot. (To add insult to injury, several party members leave you and appear at least 10 levels higher as enemies the very next stage.)
* If a writer wants to put a little effort into [[HandWave explaining]] this, they often use [[LaserGuidedAmnesia amnesia]] as a vehicle:
** In ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'', the main character's {{backstory}} involves him being among the baddest of badasses, but he gains amnesia before the game starts and forgets most of his past -- and most of his fighting skills. He doesn't actually learn new attacks; he "remembers" ones he already knew from before he lost his memory.
** Zero, the "Legendary Hero" from ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'', was violently awoken from his 100 year rest and has forgotten most of his fighting techniques. True to his series heritage, he recalls most of his techniques [[PowerCopying after beating a boss and mimicking its attacks.]]
** Played extremely straight in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' - The Nameless One doesn't so much learn new skills as he remembers what his previous incarnations knew... and some of those were ''absurdly powerful''.

* ''VideoGame/KanColle'': Despite Johnston's historical showing where her historical counterpart ''unambiguously'' pulled off a feat rivaling or even surpassing Yuudachi, her surface combat stat in-game is pitifully low, only barely higher than Sammy B. (which only puts her pretty much dead average in night battle power compared to other DD) even though a ''Fletcher''-class has way more firepower than destroyer escorts. This is probably because the developers chose to give her other roles instead, including the ability to perform OASW without any gear in her ''base'' form [[note]]All other ships that can do that like Sammy B., Jervis, Isuzu, and Tatsuta all need remodels to pull this off[[/note]] ''and'', with right gear, having AACI that's among ''the'' strongest in the game, at least rivaling the ''Akizuki''-class.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' actually zig-zags this trope quite a bit, often starting you at level one with no abilities by putting you in control of a different character, while playing the trope straight and explaining ''why'' it's played so.
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'', Sora enters Castle Oblivion just days after beating the final boss of the first game. If you remember, by then Sora had become quite the capable fighter, but [[spoiler:Marluxia]] informs him that right as he entered Castle Oblivion, he forgot all of his abilities and had to re-learn them. However, at the end of Chain of Memories, Sora is [[spoiler:put to sleep for a year, having his memories also siphoned off during the events of 358/2 days]] and by the events of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', is level one again and has to re-learn all his magic while also picking up new tricks. [[FridgeBrilliance It's easy to assume he still knew these; just didn't immediately remember them right off the bat.]] ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' justifies Sora and Riku being rewound to level one because they must "restart their training".
* Magus from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' is an infamous case, as he is an incredibly powerful dark wizard with [[BarrierChangeBoss powerful magical barriers]] when he fights against the party, but upon joining becomes a run-of-the-mill spellcaster who has to learn all of his Dark spells over again. This is justified by having the game's BigBad drain him of most of his power shortly before he joins the heroes, but [[WatsonianVersusDoylist we all know]] it's really thanks to HealthDamageAsymmetry.

* In ''VideoGame/DefenseOfTheAncients'', many of the heroes, according to their backstory, ought to be powerful beyond belief already, but for balance everyone starts at level 1.

* Luna, from ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur 3'''s Chronicles of the Sword Mode, is a recurring boss from the first half of the mode who wields the titular ''[=SoulCalibur=]''. She joins 2 chapters before the end, is average level, has a class with unexceptional growth rates AND she has the ONLY moveset in the entire game without a known [[AIBreaker anti-AI move]], near required against Chronicles of the Sword's [[TheAIIsACheatingBastard cheating AI]]
* Feena from ''VideoGame/Grandia1'' fits this as well. She's supposed to be a legendary explorer and adventurer, and everyone is in awe of her, but once she joins you she's not particularly powerful compared to anyone else apart from the fact that she's the first playable character to have magic (which the others can start learning shortly afterwards).

* Terry from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'' suffers from this; in his first appearance, he is stated to be an extremely skilled swordsman and defeated several soldiers in Arkbolt that your own party beat as a team, and then proceeds to defeat a Hackasaurus that previously defeated said soldiers before your own party can do anything about it. When he joins you for real, he's likely a few levels lower than your party, with his only abilities of note being that he is already in an advanced job (which you likely have access to anyway) and has good equipment; statistically, he is weaker than the Hero or Carver. Furthermore, prior to having him join, [[spoiler:he is fought as a boss battle where he is tougher than when he's in the party purely because Dhuran the Dread Fiend is empowering him, rather than any power of his own.]]

* The trope occurs in the first ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' game. Several [=NPCs=] who offer to join you early on (Xzar and Montaron, with Khalid and Jaheira following shortly after) are supposedly experienced adventurers, yet upon joining the party they are all revealed to be no more powerful or better equipped than the player character, a novice going out into the world for the first time.
** By the same token there's also Gorion, who's only Level 9 despite being stated to have regularly run with ''Elminster'''s crew back in the day.
* At Ostagar in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', it takes an ogre and several waves of darkspawn forces to finish Duncan off in a cutscene. In the Fade sequence, it takes you a couple of minutes at most (to kill Duncan). Justified in that [[spoiler:it's not really him, but a demon guarding the main boss of the level]].
** Wynne is an accomplished mage and Senior Enchanter who is a veteran of fighting darkspawn. When she joins your party, she is at the same level as your main character (who may be a mage several decades her junior).
** Loghain is touted as a veteran of a number of wars, as well as a master swordsman. After dueling him near the climax, [[spoiler: the player may potentially recruit him. Unfortunately, his power in the duel comes from bonus HP from being a boss and two amazing NPC-only rings. Bereft of those in the player's party, he will almost certainly be the weakest member by far due to the atrocious allocation of his stat points.]]

* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarI'', your ally Odin has a reputation as a "man of great strength." He's weaker than all your other party members, including the SquishyWizard, although he ''can'' use the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Laser Gun]].
* Every single character in the ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II'' campaigns. Tarkus and Avitus are warriors almost as accomplished as the legendary Davian Thule, [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep the Force Commander]] and Thaddeus are highly successful despite their relatively young age, and Cyrus is older than all of them, ''trained'' most of them, and was even a member of [[ChurchMilitant The Inquisition]]'s Death Watch. All of them are level 1. ''Chaos Rising'' introduced Jonah (powerful enough to survive direct, solo contact with the Tyranid HiveMind, yet no stronger than the player), while ''Retribution'' has the former right-hand of the Chapter Master and a Space Marine so renowned he is known only as [[RedBaron The Ancient]] (level 1 again). The fact the Ancient turns out to be [[spoiler: Tarkus]] means he's been afflicted by this trope twice.
** The characters being level 1 holds no actual significance. The first game had no leveling system. Level 1 is only relative, since they are still Space Marines. Also, being in the Death Watch is no significant demonstration of skill. It is not an elite unit, but one put together from multiple units. If you look at the actual Death Watch Kill Team stats from the game, they are basic Space Marines with access to higher grade equipment.

* Kanon of ''VideoGame/WildARMS2'' harasses you all throughout Disc 1, often being called a WakeUpCallBoss due to how strong she is. When she finally joins you, she's alot weaker. However, it's justified in that the heroes really beat the ever-loving crap out of her so that her bionic implants were destroyed and [[InsufferableGenius Marivel]] had to fix them. This could explain her loss of power. She also happens to notice that she's been weakened. She's still the second most damaging character in the game once you unlock her special moves, however.

* Since the party characters in each timeline of ''VideoGame/RadiantHistoria'' don't overlap 100%, the levels of those characters that don't appear in both timelines tend to lag behind those that do (As all experience gained remains even if you go back and forth in time or change timelines, probably because doing otherwise would have been very difficult to program). This is especially true of Rosch, who isn't playable in a significant fraction of the timeline he ''is'' a member of the party in, what causes him to lag even further behind.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** While certainly not in the [[InfinityPlusOneSword majority of cases]], a handful of "artifact" class weapons and items throughout the series tend to fall into this. Despite being items of [[LegendaryWeapon legend]], often crafted by and associated with [[OurGodsAreDifferent divine beings]], they often aren't even as powerful as generic items of the same time which have been [[ItemCrafting custom enchanted]] by the player.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'':
*** The final boss of the Mages Guild questline, [[OurLichesAreDifferent Mannimarco, "King Of Worms."]] While in the lore Mannimarco is by far the most powerful {{Necromancer}} in the series [[spoiler: and a PhysicalGod after [[TimeyWimeyBall the warp in the west]] at the end of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall'']], here he's more or less a more powerful generic [[OurElvesAreDIfferent Altmer]] necromancer set to be 7 levels above the player until level 36 or higher (his level scaling stops at level 42).
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
*** Ulfric Stormcloak, should the player pursue the Imperial questline. The game practically treats Ulfric as a king-slaying, [[LoudOfWar Thu'um throwing]], MemeticBadass, if dialogue is to be believed. Yet when an Imperial-Alligned Dragonborn storms his castle, his own [[TheDragon Dragon]] is harder to kill than him. The meta reason takes this trope literally. Up until patch 1.6, all [=NPCs=] were leveled based on when the player first encounters them. And Ulfric is the 3rd character you see in the opening sequence. So, you were essentially fighting what would be a challenging enemy, ''if you were at level 1''. Even with the patch to buff his health, his outfit possesses a whopping '''7''' armor rating (the weakest item in the weakest armor set in the game gives an 8), so any decently-skilled character will wipe the floor with him. Humorously, if one uses the console to spawn Torygg (the king he murdered) and set them to attack each other, Torygg will win most of the time, even if Ulfric shouts him down.
*** Lord Harkon, BigBad of the ''Dawnguard'' DLC, claims that the Vampire Lord transformation will make you "a lion among lambs". Regular city guards can defeat you easily in this form, and you're often better off as your normal self, as the Vampire Lord cannot use equipment (other than certain rings) and doesn't have access to your regular set of spells. It can be useful in areas where you're deprived of your regular equipment, such as Cidhna Mine. If you manage to get it as early as you can, [[DiscOneNuke it can be extremely useful early on]] for caster characters, who in the early game struggle to hurl more than one or two firebolts before running out of Magicka - the Vampire Lord form gives you a decently powerful projectile with a low mana cost that also heals you. It's only later on in the game, when you properly level up your crafting skills, that [[ClippedWingAngel its usefulness falls off]], but then again, Destruction magic in Skyrim is underwhelming in general due to the lack of an enchantment to increase its damage. Werewolves suffer the same problem in the lategame, where their claws no longer compare to a good blade and their lack of armor cripples them severely, considering that they are melee-oriented.
*** Several of the Daedric artifacts are talked up as world-shakingly powerful, which they don't live up to. For example, the Rueful Axe is described by its creator as "incredibly powerful" and guards will remark on how it could cut through ''gods''. While it's got good base damage, it's far from the most dangerous of its type, and its enchantment adds stamina damage, which is hardly that exciting. Adding to the problem is the fact that most of these artifacts, for no discernable reason, do not benefit from smithing perks, meaning that you can upgrade them by only ''half'' of what you could do with a regular weapon. For that reason, the most useful Daedric artifacts are ironically the ones that are not combat-oriented at all.

* Your second batch of dossiers in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' includes the assassin Thane Krios. In a bizarre quirk of GameplayAndStorySegregation, Thane ''is'' very useful for taking on Collectors in missions, as his specific powers are formidable against them, but when it comes to the game-ending SuicideMission, he's a complete MasterOfNone story-wise. [[spoiler:He's ill suited for leading ''any'' of the available specialty roles (tech expert, fire-team leader, or biotic barricade) and his defense score towards holding the line is nothing special.]]
** There's also Samara, a thousand-year-old Asari justicar and accomplished biotic. Apart from CutscenePowerToTheMax, she is not particularly more powerful in gameplay than other biotics [[spoiler: although she is one of two people who can sustain the biotic barrier in the final mission]].
** Jack, supposedly the most powerful human biotic ever born, is actually inferior to virtually all the other biotics in your team due to her bad power set.
*** Not helped by her CutscenePowerToTheMax intro which shows her blowing up the heads of mid boss level enemies with ease, something you can't remotely come close to doing even against the exact same enemies.

* ''VideoGame/SwordAndFairy7'' has a PhysicalGod as a party member, while the rest are just trained magic-using humans. In cutscenes he {{Flash Step}}s around before anyone can react and knocks people out [[TapOnTheHead with a single chop]]. In gameplay, he has some high-damage skills and FlashStep instead of dash, but otherwise he's no stronger than the other characters.

* VideoGame/GodEater 2: Rage Burst introduces Livie, a remarkably experienced God Eater who is used as a one-woman kill squad whenever a God Eater goes missing in the field. She can sync up with ANY God Arc, something exclusive to her and her alone due to her unique biology. But when she is forced onto your party, she has next to no Personal Abilities and the ones she has are inefficient and not that good at keeping herself alive in combat.

* Any late-game recruit in ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' gets hit with this, but it's particularly stark with Lyseria and Gandar. The former is half-giant whose magic power was so great that she [[SealedGoodInACan sealed herself]] so that [[PowerIncontinence her power wouldn't destroy the world]]. The latter is the most powerful sorcerer on Earth, who Odin specifically orders Lenneth to recruit so that nobody else (particularly Hel, queen of the dead) can get his power. However, due to showing up extremely late (the penultimate chapter for Lyseria, the final chapter for Gandar), and having base stats only marginally better than Mystina (who shows up at roughly the halfway point of the game, just after a PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling opens up), most players prefer using Mystina and taking advantage of HardModePerks to perform more [[EliteTweak tweaks]] to Mystina instead.
* ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' has a few examples:
** Jubilost Narthropple is supposedly a legendary explorer, journalist, cook and author who has travelled the length and width of Golarion, writing up stories on its lands, people, customs and food for years if not decades. When he joins your party in-game he's level 5 (which is fair enough if he's avoided combat for most of those adventures), an alchemist (a class with a skill-set that isn't very conductive for exploring and writing), and hasn't got a single rank in Knowledge: World, the actual skill used for knowing customs and for cooking. Mechanically, Linzi is likely to be better at the things Jubilost are supposedly famous for, despite being a NaiveNewcomer and a bard college drop-out in-story.
** Amiri's call to fame is that she slew a Frost Giant and took his weapon as her own. She joins the party at level 1, a point at which it is ''extremely unlikely'' she'd be able to so much as scratch a Frost Giant, nevermind slay one. [[spoiler:This disrecepancy actually gets adressed in-story: Turns out Amiri simply found an already dead Frost Giant and looted his sword, and then made up the story that she killed him.]]
* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'':
** Siegfried is introduced with a lot of fanfare in the Orleans singularity as being basically the greatest dragonslayer in history, to the point that about half the story is dedicated to successfully restoring him to health so that he can kick ass again. When you actually pick him up, he's a StoneWall whose [[SituationalSword anti-dragon skills]] are pretty much required for him to do ''any'' meaningful damage to them, and he doesn't even get a TacticalRockPaperScissors boost against any of the dragons in Orleans. This ended up creating the "SAVIOR OF FRANCE" joke, as the majority of players instead used whatever Assassins they could scrounge up (since Assassins ''do'' get that boost against the mostly Rider-class dragons), typically Sasaki Kojirou, and left Siegfried collecting dust.
** This applies to a ''lot'' of guest servants in the main story, barring a small handful like Jeanne and Caster Cu (who show up very early) and Merlin (who is just that good). No matter how FamedInStory they might be, they can be somewhat underleveled, lack Fou statboosts, and are overall probably inferior to your main party, much less the Servants you can borrow from friends.
* In ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'', Aya is touted as Bayek's equal as a warrior. During the moments you play as her however, since none but the most basic of Bayek's abilities carry over and she's restricted to a set of leveled gear she ultimately comes off as mechanically weaker.

* Terry from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'' suffers from this; in his first appearance, he is stated to be an extremely skilled swordsman and defeated several soldiers in Arkbolt that your own party beat as a team, and then proceeds to defeat a Hackasaurus that previously defeated said soldiers before your own party can do anything about it. When he joins you for real, he's likely a few levels lower than your party, with his only abilities of note being that he is already in an advanced job (which you likely have access to anyway) and has good equipment; statistically, he is weaker than the Hero or Carver. Furthermore, prior to having him join, [[spoiler:he is fought as a boss battle where he is tougher than when he's in the party purely because Dhuran the Dread Fiend is empowering him, rather than any power of his own.]] He's so notorious for this that fans frequently call him [[FanNickname "the Voucher"]], because the only thing even remotely useful about him is being required to recruit Lizzie, who is vastly more valuable and will almost assuredly take Terry's place in your active party.

* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', Siegfried is introduced with a lot of fanfare in the Orleans singularity as being basically the greatest dragonslayer in history, to the point that about half the story is dedicated to successfully restoring him to health so that he can kick ass again. When you actually pick him up, he's a StoneWall whose [[SituationalSword anti-dragon skills]] are pretty much required for him to do ''any'' meaningful damage to them, and he doesn't even get a TacticalRockPaperScissors boost against any of the dragons in Orleans. This ended up creating the "SAVIOR OF FRANCE" joke, as the majority of players instead used whatever Assassins they could scrounge up (since Assassins ''do'' get that boost against the mostly Rider-class dragons), typically Sasaki Kojirou, and left Siegfried collecting dust.
** This applies to a ''lot'' of Guest Servants in the main story, barring a small handful like Jeanne and Caster Cu (who show up very early) and Merlin (who is just that good). No matter how FamedInStory they might be, they tend to be somewhat underleveled, lack Craft Essences or Fou statboosts, and are overall probably inferior to your main party, much less the Servants you can borrow from friends.

* The ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series of tactical {{RPG}}s has more instances of this than can be conveniently listed. The reason is primarily a result of the games' mechanics -- since [[FinalDeath death is permanent]] in this series, late recruits exist primarily to give the careless and the inexperienced a fighting chance in the later levels. As a result, the experienced knights, powerful generals and legendary warriors of the world (who come later in the game) are almost invariably weaker than the rank novices, random mercenaries, and inexperienced students (who join early) raised to the same level. Almost without exception, a character who starts out at level 5 and is raised to level 15 will be far stronger than a character who starts at level 15, even if the character who starts at level 15 is renowned for his peerless strength and skill. (The only exceptions are GameBreaker units who join on the final chapter of most games.) This doesn't make these characters useless by any standard, though--in many cases, their stat deficiencies still leave them as very competent fighters, and they consistently boast high weapon ranks, letting them use powerful swords and staves. Complete aversion in the franchise are relatively rare, though there are a handful of outliers who provide some level of story justification.

*** By the time you get him, he is level 15+. By Dungeons & Dragons standards, this is actually an extremely high level, especially for anything that is remotely a caster. People forget this because 3.5 started developing an unhealthy obsession with epic levels where you character is functionally a demi-god.

** And Ashlay in ''VideoGame/StarOcean1'', who is a grizzled and aged veteran, swordsman known the world over, personal friend of most of the world's royalty... and joins at level 15, only to be very quickly overshadowed by Ratix. However, unlike most examples of this trope, there is an easy way to justify this though: Much of the story of his skills were in the past, by now he's obviously past his prime thanks to being almost ''sixty'' years old ''and'' he only has the use of one arm (in the remake, he is flat out ''missing'' the arm.) Ashlay actually plays this trope [[RealityEnsues fairy realistically]] too - Sure he knows a lot of technique, but [[CrutchCharacter isn't very good long-run]] because he literally is an old man.

* ''VideoGame/KantaiCollection'': Despite Johnston's historical showing where her historical counterpart ''unambiguously'' pulled off a feat rivaling or even surpassing Yuudachi, her surface combat stat in-game is pitifully low, only barely higher than Sammy B. (which only puts her pretty much dead average in night battle power compared to other DD) even though a ''Fletcher''-class has way more firepower than destroyer escorts. This is probably because the developers chose to give her other roles instead, including the ability to perform OASW without any gear in her ''base'' form [[note]]All other ships that can do that like Sammy B., Jervis, Isuzu, and Tatsuta all need remodels to pull this off[[/note]] ''and'', with right gear, having AACI that's among ''the'' strongest in the game, at least rivaling the ''Akizuki''-class.

*** Ulfric Stormcloak, should the player pursue the Imperial questline. The game practically turns Ulfric into a king-slaying, [[LoudOfWar Thu'um throwing]], MemeticBadass, if dialogue is to be believed. Yet when an Imperial-Alligned Dragonborn storms his castle, his own [[TheDragon Dragon]] is harder to kill than him. The meta reason takes this trope literally. Up until patch 1.6, all [=NPCs=] were leveled based on when the player first encounters them. And Ulfric is the 3rd character you see in the opening sequence. So, you were essentially fighting what would be a challenging enemy, ''if you were at level 1''. Even with the patch to buff his health, his outfit possesses a whopping '''7''' armor rating (the weakest item in the weakest armor set in the game gives an 8), so any decently-skilled character will wipe the floor with him. Humorously, if one uses the console to spawn Torygg (the king he murdered) and set them to attack each other, Torygg will win most of the time, even if Ulfric shouts him down.