Line #11 PlayingWith/VillainForgotToLevelGrind


1	'''Basic Trope''': Heroes get stronger through [[TookALevelInBadass the hardships they face]], (or, if you're in a videogame, LevelGrinding) while villains don't get strong enough to match.
2	* '''Straight''': [[BigBad Emperor Evulz]] sends [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent Doom Komodo]] after [[TokenHuman Prince Bob]]. Doom Komodo is at Level 27, while Bob is at Level 1, getting Bob into a HopelessBossFight. Later on in Disc 2, Bob comes back with TheTeam of [[NobleBirdOfPrey Alice]], [[CanisMajor Emily]], [[CoolHorse Charlie]], and [[KingOfBeasts Dave]], all in their mid-30s, while Doom Komodo is still at Level 27.
3	* '''Exaggerated''':
4	** Doom Komodo is at Level 1, same as Bob, but uses an HPToOne attack. He comes back later at Level 1, while the heroes have reached the {{Cap}} of Level 100 and got the best {{Mon}}s.
5	** Doom Komodo has actually ''[[LevelDrain lost]]'' levels between fights.
6	** Doom Komodo is downgraded ''to'' a winnable BossBattle from being [[HopelessBossFight completely unbeatable.]]
7	* '''Downplayed''': Doom Komodo is a demi-god compared to Prince Bob during their first fight. When they have a rematch, Prince Bob has [[TookALevelInBadass taken many levels in badass]] and brought his team while Doom Komodo has not, and as a result Prince Bob beats Doom Komodo, but it's still an extremely difficult fight that almost kills Prince Bob.
8	* '''Justified''':
9	** Doom Komodo, just like the other enemies, can't increase in level, even though he's not one of the {{Mon}}s.
10	** Alternatively, Doom Komodo is the toughest being in his ecological niche; he has no reason to believe the hero will improve so drastically, and no good sparring partners to up his own game.
11	** Or, Doom Komodo does try to level grind, it's just that due to some form of AntiGrinding, he just can't grow fast enough to outrank the heroes by the time the heroes has come back better-leveled.
12	** Doom Komodo is [[OurVampiresAreDifferent a vampire who is incapable of any growth]].
13	** Doom Komodo is someone that had already trained and reached his maximum potential, so even if he trains, he won't improve much.
14	* '''Inverted''':
15	** The SortingAlgorithmOfEvil is in play, but it's the heroes who remain static while their opponents steadily grow in power.
16	** Doom Komodo starts as a pathetically weak BraggartBoss not much stronger than the surrounding enemies. But he's fought multiple times, growing stronger with every fight. Doom Komodo ends up giving the heroes a serious run for their money at the end of the game, when he [[TheStarscream swipes Emperor Evulz's macguffin]] and becomes the FinalBoss.
17	** The first fight against Doom Komodo is relatively fair. The second time around, he's [[OneWingedAngel literally become an absolute monster]] and changed his name to Doom ''{{Kaiju}}'', resulting in either [[HopelessBossFight a one-sided battle that Bob's team barely escapes with their lives]] or [[TheBadGuyWins a one-sided battle that ends with Bob's team dead]].
18	* '''Subverted''':
19	** Doom Komodo gets even stronger the third time around.
20	** Bob's party [[BossInMookClothing runs into Doom Komodo]] as a random encounter while the ''latter'' is level grinding.
21	--> '''Doom Komodo:''' "What? You didn't think you were the only one who gets stronger from fighting trash mobs, did you? I was going to spend my day fighting goblins, too, but now I think ''you'' might be worth more XP..."
22	** Bob and the party have grinded up in preparation for taking on Doom Komodo (who's still the same level), but because they're IncompletelyTrained they still lose.
23	** Doom Komodo has the same stats and moveset when encountered at a mid-30s level as when he's encountered at level 1... for his first phase. [[IAmNotLeftHanded Then he stops playing around.]]
24	* '''Double Subverted''':
25	** After Bob defeats a lot of the enemy's resources, Doom Komodo stays static between the third and final fights.
26	** Doom Komodo has [[DegradedBoss exactly the same stats as a random encounter]] as he did in his last boss fight, which Bob's party won. When he inevitably loses again...
27	--> '''Doom Komodo:''' Err... [[SoreLoser that fight didn't count!]] Just you wait, I'll get you good next time! (Uhh, which way was the PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling, again?)
28	* '''Parodied''': Doom Komodo is revealed to have been called back from his vacation for the second battle; he hasn't been training for the rematch.
29	* '''Zig Zagged''': Level 50 Lamia is easily defeated by the level 65 heroes. However, she then becomes a level 80 OneWingedAngel, but then she sends down high XP minions and Alice and Bob Level Up to Level 90 and defeat Lamia in one swoop. Then she becomes a Level 95 Extra Winged Angel and defeats the heroes. Then Alice and Bob go off to find her and go into Level 100 and defeat her.
30	** Doom Komodo's growth is [[PoweredByAForsakenChild based upon how many innocents he kills.]] With a typical playthrough he tends to become an escalating threat as [[SadisticChoice you usually prove incapable of defending both settlements]]. If you fail to do a good enough job you will be the one who can't keep up. However if you pull off a NoCasualtiesRun he will stay at constant power and become a joke. The [[GameplayDerailment easiest way to do it is not building defenses]] but keeping him chasing a [[BusFullOfInnocents refugee convoy filled with children]] while agile scouts do enough scratch damage to limbs to cripple him and specifically [[ViolationOfCommonSense /not/ killing the man eating monster.]]
31	* '''Averted''':
32	** All major enemies [[DynamicDifficulty scale in difficulty alongside the heroes' level grinding]], so that they always prove challenging.
33	** Doom Komodo [[UpgradedBoss gets stronger for the rematch]].
34	* '''Enforced''': If the audience is not given some semi-plausible reason to believe that the heroes will beat the villain the second time around, they will simply give up hope and stop playing.
35	* '''Lampshaded''': "In the three years since we first met, I've been fighting monsters and training for combat while you have been watching TV. Do you really think you're going to win this time?"
36	* '''Invoked''': Emperor Evulz wants to test the potential of a given group to judge if they are worth assimilating. He builds a copy of Doom Komodo stronger than the current group and sets them lose - if they are able to advance enough to defeat them they passed.
37	* '''Exploited''': Doom Komodo has a XanatosGambit going on - he drains the power of heroes that level grind and slaughters them. He skips straight to slaughtering the ones that don't level grind.
38	* '''Defied''': [[TheBrute Claidheamh]] plays DrillSergeantNasty and forces Doom Komodo to undergo TrainingFromHell.
39	* '''Discussed''': "ThisCannotBe!" " If you [[OrcusOnHisThrone hadn't been sitting around all this time]] practicing your {{Evil Laugh}} then it won't be."
40	* '''Conversed''': "It's like the villains in this game just sit in their chairs, twiddling their thumbs, while the heroes grow stronger and stronger until they can hope to challenge them directly!"
41	* '''Implied''': The villain avoids facing Bob after his defeat, instead throwing up seemingly insane defenses when the hero arrives, starting after the second battle where he manages to win.
42	* '''Deconstructed''': Doom Komodo is easily defeated by the heroes because they've been getting stronger while he stays static.
43	* '''Reconstructed''': Doom Komodo was so far ahead of the heroes that he either didn't bother to improve or had less room for improvement. He's still better than any ''one'' of the heroes so they ZergRush him.
44	* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': TheEmpire has been in power for so long that their forces have grown complacent and overconfident; this is translated into gameplay by having most major villains never gain levels, while more GenreSavvy villians ''do'' scale to prove a greater threat to the party -- and to players lulled into their ''own'' false sense of security by their own victories.
45	* '''Played For Laughs''': The PsychoRangers of Doom Komodo, Head Scientist Butcherstein, General Drake, Lamia, and Violet pops up several times, but retain their same laughably low levels throughout the entire game.
46	* '''Played For Drama''': Bob only survives the first fight because [[JapaneseBeetleBrothers Ichigo and Junpei]] save him. He makes sure to add {{Guest Star Party Member}}s and adds Dave, Charlie, Alice, and Emily, not to mention the TrainingFromHell.
47	----
48	->'''HERO''' strikes '''DOOM KOMODO''' for ''487 damage''!\
49	'''DOOM KOMODO''' realizes that the ''VillainForgotToLevelGrind'' AND DIES!

Context PlayingWith / VillainForgotToLevelGrind