History Main / PenUltimateWeapon

* Strangely, the ''KingdomOfLoathing'' has ''three''. At about level five, you get to smith your class's "Epic Weapon", which has a high power, gives a large stat boost and (for some classes) doubles the duration of buffs that they cast. Soon after that, you get to turn it into the "Legendary Epic Weapon", which has even ''more'' power, a larger stat boost and triples buff duration. During the final part of the Nemesis Quest, the LEW upgrades to the Ultimate Legendary Epic Weapon when fighting your nemesis's OneWingedAngel form. The [=ULEW=] all have the highest possible weapon power (coupled with a lower-than-normal requirement to equip), large stat boosts, all the benefits of the older forms and give access to a special combat move when equipped - and for buffing classes, the buff duration is quadrupled.

* ''GranTurismo'' 3 has the late game professional events, notably Like The Wind. For completing this event, you get the Mazda 787B. [[SarcasmMode Yay, yippie woop-de-do, a LeMans Prototype as my reward]]. Too bad that this is an S-License event--and endurance races are available [[FridgeLogic once you have an IA License]]. Said endurance races reward you with a far superior [[InfinityPlusOneSword Formula One car]], that is, [[RandomlyDrops if you have the luck to earn it thanks to the crappy in-game prize system]].

* In ''LufiaII'' the Sky Sword you can find in the Ancient Cave and the Dragon Blade you can buy for an insane amount of money in the casino are stronger than the legendary Dual Blade.

* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind]]'': While Chrysamere is hailed as the best long sword in the game and is a true {{BFS}}, it is slightly inferior to the [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Hammer Of Plot Advancement]] Sunder, which at no point is described as anything but a tool to achieve the final task (it ''is'' a hammer). According to the GuideDangIt, the InfinityPlusOneSword are supposed to be Goldbrand and Eltonbrand, but those are StatisticallySpeaking even worse than Chrysamere. The true InfinityPlusOneSword is [[spoiler:a custom enchanted Daedric Battleaxe, using [[AGodAmI Vivec's]] [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu soul]].]]

* [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-zagged]] in ''FinalFantasyXIIRevenantWings'', where the [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Anastasia]] seems like this when you start finding better weapons for Vaan, until you clear the BonusDungeon, which powers it up a bit for every time you clear it. By Powering it up enough it becomes an InfinityPlusOneSword, and depending on how much you power it up (or not) can be viewed as PenultimateWeapon, InfinityMinusOneSword and InfinityPlusOneSword all in one.

** Ironically, in the rerelease, he gets screwed by the ''lack'' of this. Everyone gets a great upgrade to their weapon, making their last weapons obsolete. Frog gets a weapon that is slightly worse than the Masamune. Worse, since the Masamune is a plot item, you lose it {and the upgrade} every new game, though you ''do'' get to keep the new item from the BonusDungeon, which is probably the point of it. He does get the Champion Badge (an improved Hero's Badge), which needs to be used with... the Masamune. It also halves all his MP costs.
*** Yup, that's exactly the point. His upgrade weapon isn't a new Penultimate Weapon, it's a new InfinityMinusOneSword (the Dinoblade outclasses the Brave Sword, and thus becomes Frog's default weapon for 90% of a NewGamePlus).

The reality is, just because [[FamedInStory everybody you've ever met]] [[LegendaryWeapon hailed your shiny weapon as the mightiest in all the world]] doesn't always mean that they're ''[[ShroudedInMyth right]]''. Or, perhaps that sword truly was the most powerful sword in existence... when [[CutscenePowerToTheMax cutscenes call for it]]. Sure, it may be able to slice the entire palace in half, but when you're actually playing the game, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation the new one just happens to have 5 more attack points]]. And don't get too attached to that new sword you found - expect to find [[InfinityPlusOneSword a weapon that outclasses]] ''that'' in, or for clearing, the BonusDungeon.

** Likewise, Lloyd's Material Blade in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' is outclassed quickly by the Ninja Sword found in the last dungeon (to add insult to to injury, the FinalBoss is also weak to it) and two sidequest rewards (the Valkyrie Saber and the Kusanagi). Lloyd's Devil Arm should [[InfinityPlusOneSword outclass all of them]] unless you have been running from most of the fights.
*** Even sadder, the [[JokeWeapon paper fans]] you can buy in Luin are at least as good as, if not better than, the Material Blade.
*** Funnily enough, the scene where Lloyd gets the Material Blade is accompanied by this quote: "I doubt you have a blade in your possession that can match it." Guess what? You can get one of these sword sets before that point.
**** Well, now, let's be fair to poor [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dirk]]. Lloyd [[DualWielding uses two swords at once]]. Dirk is almost certainly referring to how Lloyd doesn't have a sword that ''matches'' the one he's just received from Kratos, thus why he proceeds to give him another one that becomes the other half of the set.
**** The Material Blades also allow you to use the LimitBreak, as they are the two component swords of the Eternal Sword. And they [[RuleOfCool just look cool.]]
** In ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfEternia Eternia]]'', the Eternal Sword might also still count depending on when you get it. As it was only the ultimate weapon in terms of sheer power, sacrificing other stats for it. Not to mention its Time element weakens it against certain enemies. The game had a few other weapons like it too. The true InfinityPlusOneSword was the Last Fencer. While not as strong in terms of sheer strength, it had no element, and the advantage of raising all stats at once. It also may or may not be named after one of titles Cless gets in Tales Of Phantasia. So um... TakeThat?
* Although the Dragon Sword is implied to be the InfinityPlusOneSword of the first ''BreathOfFire'', it is outclassed by not only the Trirang and the Emperor's Sword, but one weapon you can ''buy'' from a store, the Flame Sword.

* The Ultimate Bat in ''{{Earthbound}}'' is an Infinity Minus Four Weapon; there are actually four more bats in the game with greater offensive power, three of which are discovered in the course of normal gameplay. The Legendary Bat is quite strong, but the super-rare Gutsy Bat is the true InfinityPlusOneSword, not because of its raw power but its higher CriticalHit chance.
* Albel Nox's Crimson Scourge from ''StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime.''

**** Not sure that "skilled" is quite the right word to use for "exploiting glitches and cheating like a riverboat gambler."

* The Silver Sword of the Gith is unquestionably the most powerful weapon in NeverwinterNights2, but this doesn't make it good -- it's untyped, has stat bonuses for every stat (but middle-level at that), and offers a variety of narrow benefits. Monks especially find it frustrating -- while it gives a bonus to unarmed combat, it has to be equipped for this, so the monk is now armed.

* Alucard's Sword in ''{{Castlevania}}: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]''. When you get it back, you may or may not have found a better sword (or a certain rod and shield combination). The ''real'' ultimate weapon is the [[RandomlyDrops rarely dropped]] Crissaegrim, which has lower attack power than the Alucard Sword but does more damage per swing anyway due to DeathOfAThousandCuts.

* This can happen in ''Borderlands'' with Atlas guns. They're supposedly the best you can get, but due to the random weapon generation system, its easily possible to get much better guns from the piles of skag vomit you see everywhere. Or in the same damn chest.

* The Eternal Blade in ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'' is outclassed by some BonusDungeon weapons. It doesn't stop other [[TalesSeries Tales games]] from using it as a proper Infinity Plus One Sword. ''VideoGame/TalesOfEternia'' reverses this, as it's the Excalibur that serves as the PenultimateWeapon to the Eternal Blade.

* The Ultimate Bat in ''{{Earthbound}}'' is an Infinity Minus Four Weapon; there are actually four more bats in the game with greater offensive power, three of which are discovered in the course of normal gameplay. The Legendary Bat is quite strong, but the super-rare Gutsy Bat is the true InfinityPlusOneSword.

The reality is, just because everybody you've ever met [[FamedInStory hailed your shiny weapon as the mightiest in all the world]] doesn't always mean that they're ''[[ShroudedInMyth right]]''. Or, perhaps that sword truly was the most powerful sword in existence... when [[CutscenePowerToTheMax cutscenes call for it]]. Sure, it may be able to slice the entire palace in half, but when you're actually playing the game, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation the new one just happens to have 5 more attack points]]. And don't get too attached to that new sword you found - expect to find [[InfinityPlusOneSword a weapon that outclasses]] ''that'' in, or for clearing, the BonusDungeon.

* ShadowHearts: All the games have a penultimate weapon (The first game even had penultimate armor) available in the last two dungeons, usually in chests and some obtained in the trials. These weapons can't be found anywhere else, so once you sell them, they're LostForever. Some of the trials require less damage done to win, so these are worth holding onto. Karin in Covenant actually gets two, one got at the end of Disc One, and the other found in the penultimate dungeon. The real ultimate weapons are usually found in side quests.

** To make the Crissaegrim even more [[GameBreaker game-breaking]], it's possible for ''two'' of them to be dropped. Since they're one-handed, so you can [[DualWielding dual wield]] them.

* Happens a lot in {{Maplestory}}. Considering the [[AbsurdlyHighLevelCap max level]] being lv 200 and the highest level equipment available overseas in the Korean version being 140, there will always be much room for game designers to add better, and stronger equipment in the future.

So you just found out that TheDragon is [[LukeIAmYourFather the hero's father]] and got the Final Ultimate Maximum Infinity Sword, now you just got to TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and... wait, what? Why is this random sword you found better than the supposed "ultimate weapon"?