A Taste Of Power - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Taste Of Power

In "Prime" 1 and "Prime 2″ we were kind of going by that paradigm of “Let’s give the player some initial abilities up front to give them that ‘Wow, this is interesting; I’m doing a lot of different things’ [feeling] and then let’s take them away and settle into the “Metroid Prime” core gameplay. But in 3 we had kind of done that already. In 3 we were like, “Are we really going to take the abilities away again? What does that really prove? We’ve already done it in other games.”
—Mark Pacini, Game Director of the Metroid Prime series, on why this trope wasn't applied in the third game to MTV

When starting a game, often the player starts out with an extremely powerful party or character, which can easily slaughter anything it comes across, playing through a short battle or dungeon. The player is in no real danger of losing at this point, but this incredible power never lasts long. Once the introductory segment is complete, the player switches to the real party, usually at level 1 with basic starter gear.

The primary purpose of this trope is to get a player into a game and teach them the rules without overwhelming them with dangerous enemies early on. This can also give them a preview of the powers and skills they'll be acquiring later in the game. Common marketing wisdom is that you have to sell your game on the players in the first ten minutes, or you risk them not sticking around to get to the really good parts, hence A Taste Of Power to draw a player in.

Another advantage to A Taste Of Power is that the player gets to do something and have some fun while the scene is set and the story established, instead of sitting through an uninteractive opening cutscene or simply wandering around the First Town talking to people and trying to figure out what to do.

Frequently used in RTS games to allow the player to be given a tutorial in one siting.

This is sometimes done by means of a Jeigan Character, who leaves, is killed, or is depowered after the segment is over, weakening your fighting strength. It frequently ends with a Warmup Boss.

If some programming oversight allows you to retain some of this power, such as by removing the ridiculously powerful equipment from a temporary character, the result may make the game incredibly easy.

Compare Bag Of Spilling, where a player character's hard-won power is somehow lost between the end of one game and the beginning of its sequel. If you wind up having to fight the Jeigan Character later, you've been walking in Villain Shoes.

Examples: Video Games

Lufia and the Fortress of Doom starts the player off with a party of very high-level characters, taking on one of the most powerful beings in the game's universe. This turns out to be a flashback that sets up the story for the rest of the game.
- The prequel Rise Of The Sinistrals has the very same battle and ends with its immediate aftermath.
Chrono Cross begins with a dream sequence with Serge, Kidd and one randomly selected character, at a somewhat elevated level and powers. Perhaps uniquely, it's a premonition, and the party goes through the very same events later in the game.
Final Fantasy VI gives Terra a pair of soldiers and powerful Magitek armour until the Esper is found, at which point the armour is destroyed and both soldiers are lost.
- Note that you only get Magitek armour again for a single sequence.
  - Two sequences, actually.
The original version of Final Fantasy IV shows Cecil taking out monsters with powerful attack items in an automated battle at the start of the game. The DS remake changed this by placing the player into a real battle with the aforementioned attack items in the inventory, presumably assuming that the player has played the original and remembers the items.
Two of the Metroid Prime games begin with a fully suited-up Samus playing through a short level, after which she loses her extra abilities and the real game begins. This is now a Beam Me Up Scotty joke for the franchise; "Samus always loses her powers near the start of the game."
God Of War II begins with Kratos as a (slightly depowered) God, allowing the player to slaughter his way through the armies of Rhodes, before he becomes all the way depowered.
- He actually starts the story with fully godlike powers, but Zeus removes some of them with his first backstab, somewhere around a minute before the player is first given control.
Need For Speed: Most Wanted begins with a flash-forward featuring the player racing in a high-performance BMW which becomes disabled partway through the race. The game then flashes back six days to show how the player got to the race at the beginning before coming full circle and having the player lose the car in the opening race. Then the player must start the actual game by purchasing a more modest vehicle and working back up to overpowered racing machine.
- EA Games loves this trope, because the same thing happens in Need For Speed: Carbon. Instead of having the car for three and a half races, however, you're treated to a sort of intro to canyon racing that you can only lose if you stop trying, before your car is totalled.
- Similarly, in Need For Speed: Underground, when you begin a new career, you immediately start a circuit race with modded cars. After you win the circuit, it turns out the whole race was just your daydream, and your own car is completely unmodded.
  - The ending cutscene potentially (and eerily) makes this a dream-within-a-dream. It rattled this editor when he finished the game.
- In Need For Speed: Underground 2, you're in charge of delivering a high-performance car to someone. You can participate in up to 3 races before the car's owner gets pissed and demands you return it at once.
Makai Kingdom opens with the player taking control of the level 2000 "Badass freakin' overlord" (yes, that's his actual title) Zetta during the tutorial battle, who in the first subsequent cutscene ruins his entire life by accident and is rendered unusable as a playable character, despite still being the main character. When appearing — in book form — as a Bonus Boss in Disgaea 2, he is still the most powerful overlord in the multiverse.
Since the main hero in Suikoden V is a prince, he gets to spend much of the first part of the game with a party of strong allies, including the kingdom's most powerful bodyguard, a Jeigan Character who, true to form, is compelled to leave him midway through the game. (The hero still has his own personal bodyguard as a permanent tagalong, until plot events remove her from gameplay as well.)
Digimon World Dusk & Dawn feature a protaganist armed with powerful Ultimate level Digimon. However, a malignant computer virus causes them to be reduced to level 1 Rookies after the first few battles.
In Assassins Creed you start off with all equipment and a great deal of health. Sadly none of this is enough to stop you from failing the first mission and being stripped of everything.
Onimusha 3 starts Samonosuke off with the fully-powered versions of his three primary magic swords from the first game (Raizen, Enryuu, and Shippuu) only to rob him of all three by the second level, leaving him with naught but his regular, non-magical katana once again until he can find three new magical weapons. Completing the game gives you the ability to replay it but keep the three swords past the first level.
Command And Conquer 3 allows you to use the GDI's superweapon in the tutorial mission. Needless to say that you won't be able to use it again until much later into the game.
Tales of the Abyss has a powerful spellcaster join you during a seemingly Hopeless Boss Fight, allowing you to defeat it very easily. Shortly afterwards, aboard his ship, all his powers are suddenly sealed.
Subverted in Disgaea 2 in that it's one of your rivals who loses all their levels and gear. Etna (a level 1000 veteran of the last game), shortly after smacking Overlord Zenon around like a red headed stepchild, is sought out for a component needed to summon Overlord Zenon for the main party to beat down. She gives them the WRONG ingredient as a prank, but little did she know it would end up summoning her with her gear removed and all her levels gone thanks to that act of Laser Guided Karma. She then stalks the party so she can build her power back up, she's that angry about it.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a textbook example of this trope. After the (skippable) introductory scene with Richter Belmont, Alucard comes to Castle Drac with a full complement of his signature equipment... which is promptly swiped from him by Daddy's Dragon, Death. It's not until you've explored the entire castle twice that you can get back everything you lost.
Baldur's Gate had an illusionist at the very start of the game teach you group tactics along with several midlevel NPC friends (who weren't illusory) against swarms of illusory monsters that would have overwhelmed your character normally but which didn't deal any damage.
EarthBound has your player character start off with your bug-like guide, Buzz-Buzz, circling you around. You also have two somewhat helpful NPCs with you as well (Picky and your Dog), as well as one totally useless one (Pokey). Because of Buzz-Buzz's great and awesome PSI abilities, you are basically invincible for the first few minutes of the game. Then Buzz-Buzz gets swatted by Pokey and Picky's mom, who thinks it's a bug. Now you are all alone.
Chaos Legion starts the main character off with Thanatos as his legion, whose powers include wiping out everything and anything that happens to so much as look at you. You lose it once you meet the Big Bad at the end of the tutorial stage, and have to reassemble it.
The Hentai RPG "Knights of Xentar" starts your character at the lower-mid levels, with decent stats. However, the moment we're done with the introductory area, the plot depowers you and strips you nude.
In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the prologue level is played as Darth Vader. He plays like the normal player character would after being powered up to the max, with all the combos and powers available.
- However, by this tropers recollection, he can't jump.
  - He can jump, he just can't dash. The Dark Lord of the Sith is perfectly capable of leaping several feet higher than a normal human... he just can't move faster than walking speed.
In the older computer RPG Ultima VII part 2: Serpent Isle the player starts off with a good set of gear from the previous game, including the Infinity Plus One Sword from the previous game's Expansion Pack, the Blackrock Sword. This sword can kill any foe in one hit. Upon setting foot on the titular Serpent Isle with all of the amazing gear from the first game, you and your party members are struck by magical lightning that swaps all of your gear (and your party members themselves) with otherwise innocuous objects, leaving you alone, wielding such things as a loaf of bread and a jester's cap. However, each item is a clue to where the corresponding powerful item ended up.
Alter Echo grants the player all three forms in quick succession during the opening chapter, allowing the player to get used to the shapeshifting mechanics and using all three forms in tandem effectively. At the end of the first chapter, the resident super-villain steals all but your basic form until your ally restores your other forms after beating the second and third chapters.
Star Ocean: The Second Story has one of the two primary characters start out with a futuristic (and powerful) energy beam weapon. It doesn't take long for it to run out of energy, and the game doesn't provide a way to recharge it.
- During the battle tutorial in Star Ocean: Til the End of Time, the main character has a ridiculous amount of HP and MP, but has only about a tenth of that in the first real battle. This is explained in-game by the tutorial being a video game within the game's world. (This is also foreshadowing.)
Super Nashwan Power (http://www.nashwan.org/), from Xenon 2. Oh Oh, Oh Yeah!
In the first Splinter Cell: Double Agent mission, you are flouncing through the fjords, weighed down with a plethora of high tech gizmos. In the second mission, you're in prison and have to crawl through an air duct to snag a lock picking kit. Ouch.
- Not to mention that you're probably pining a lot for those fjords.
Kameo Elements Of Power begins with the titular character infiltrating the fortress of Thorn, the troll king, with three Elemental Warrior transformations intact. Instructions are given on how to transform and use the Warriors' abilities. The attack on the castle fails; Kameo loses her Elemental Warriors, and must retrieve them, along with several other transformations.
The first level of the Ryusei route in Super Robot Wars Original Generation lets you play as the best pilot in the game, although he's in the worst unit. He doesn't become permanently playable until the penultimate level. The Kyosuke route is a better example, featuring several levels with the equally Badass Sanger Zonvolt and his Grungust Type 0, who leave the party for most of the middle of the game. Since both of these guys show up as bosses in the mean time, it serves as a taste of the bad guys' power as well.
- The 2nd game does the same thing with Gilliam, Sanger and Elzam, oops, Ratsel for a nice chunk of the game.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories sorta does this. Vic is in the army and guess what he gets? Military hardware. That means while the Cholos and average thug is limited to baseball bats and pistols, you are cutting them down with your handy rifle received from unspecting patrols in your base (they will retaliate after the first patrol dies though.
Secret of Evermore gives the player character the bazooka, one of the strongest ranged weapons in the game, in the very first fight. However after going into an escape pod afterwards and landing on Evermore you lose the bazooka and have to fight your way to the next village with... a bone.
- Halfway through the game, this trope strikes again. You meet someone that found your bazooka, and he gives it back to you for free - with one round of ammo. Turns out you can't buy more ammo until the endgame...
  - Well, you can buy more ammo from the guy that sold you the bazooka, but the cost is extremely prohibitive (1000 gold coins for 10 shots, compared to 1000 credits for 50 shots later).
Parodied in the Sluggy Freelance storyline "Years of Yarncraft." When Torg first creates his character for an MMORPG, he's got a cool looking sword and some impressive armor. These are almost immediately revealed to be a cardboard cutout concealing the real character, who's only got some cheap clothes and a small dagger. The game then takes away Torg's dagger and gives him a stick.
Torg: "Well that didn't take long!"
Breath Of Fire 4 lets you play as the game's Big Bad at certain points in the story, usually near the beginning of each chapter. He's at a ridiculously high level and has the best equipment in the game, giving you a taste of what The Hero can do once he achieves the same level of butt-kicking power.
When creating your character in CABAL Online, your character is depicted wearing very impressive looking, high level equipment. Once your character is actually created though, you only have basic, dull gear.
Ecco The Dolphin: The Tides of Time: Ecco begins the game not having to breathe, as a token of the Asterite's power granted him in the first game. Once something wipes out the Asterite offscreen in one of the first levels, though, be prepared to see that oxygen bar start going down...
Kingdom Hearts II had a boss fight in which you fought with 2 Keyblades. It also had one with an inordinate number of reaction commands. The latter taught you how to use them. The former was just a teaser.
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, while it didn't exactly dazzle you with power, had the strongest of the 3 basic spells, a decent command attack, and several levels put on Zack for a level with a bunch of soldiers and a Behemoth.
Final Fantasy XII had you play as Reks who, while still only Level 1, had some very good magic, at least half a dozen NPC helpers, and a limit break (you don't get to use it, but meh). Then you change to his little brother Vaan. In this editor's opinion, it all went downhill from there. Also, you are introduced to the wonder and glory of the greatsword weapon class through the guest party character Vossler—you won't have effective greatswords of your own for quite some time.
The start of Scarface: The World Is Yours has the player take Tony through the film-ending mansion shootout and play around with an unlimited-ammo M16+M203. After the mission ends, Tony loses everything and is somehow made to lose the rifle too, forcing him to rebuild his reputation. The M16 does not become available again until much later in the game and it is no longer unlimited-ammo out of Blind Rage.
Legacy of Goku II uses a "flash-forward" version, taking full and clever advantage of a plot point in the show...the alternate future where the androids have destroyed everything. You play as Trunks, at a fairly high level (but unable to go Super Saiyan yet). And future (Bad Ass) Gohan runs you through the basics of your power and Ki Attacks, including, as mentioned, a failed attempt at going Super Saiyan. Then you're released to chase after Gohan just in time to see him killed by the Androids. Then in the cutscene, Trunks goes Super Saiyan in a rage, the screen flashes white, and you end up in the present, as Gohan, at Level 1, with none of the power or Ki abilities Trunks had in the future.
In the lesser-known FPS game, Chaser, the only gun you get in the first level is the G11 — a powerful and accurate assault rifle with a 50-round magazine and an attached mini-scope. After getting used to effortlessly pulverizing every Mook in sight, you're downgraded to low-power pistols and submachine guns.
Subverted in the Metal Gear Solid series. If you play on an easy difficulty in the first game, you will have access to a fully stocked submachine gun that can be used to the end of the game. In the fourth game, you start out with "Octocamo" (which allows you to blend into your environment instantly) and you soon acquire the "Solid Eye" VR system, tranquilizer gun and weapon midway through the first chapter.
- That being said, the Octocamo and Solid Eye are essential to completing the game. Without them, Snake is dead.
The Sega classic Wonder Boy : The Dragon's Trap starts you off in the labyrinth lair of Meka, the Dragon, equipped with Legendary Sword, Shield and Armor, bunches of Heart Containers, and mooks that drop heart refills nearly all the time, making it practically impossible to die at this point unless you do it on purpose. Then you reach and defeat Meka, and he leaves behind a Wisp that curses you, turning you into a lizard-man with a wimpy fire breath.
Ramza's first battle in Final Fantasy Tactics is fought at the courtyard of Orbonne Monastery, defending it from brigands with the help of two Knights, a Squire, Holy Swordswoman Agrias, and Fell Knight Gaffgarion. The party is monumentally overqualified for engaging the brigands, it's nigh-impossible to get a Game Over, and Agrias and Gaffgarion make short work of them with their skills. Upon the end of the battle, the game flashes back to several months ago, where Ramza is allowed only a few other Level 1 Squires and Chemists to accompany him on his mission.
- Unlike other battles, if Ramza is KO'd, then he gets flashing stars over his head indicating he will not be turned into a crystal, and the NP Cs complete the battle normally. It is in fact, ~~impossible~~ almost impossible to lose this battle.
Tales Of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World has the player start with Richter in his party, who can take down any of the first-dungeon enemies with ease. He leaves after about twenty minutes and only rejoins for four other brief periods in the game, and that's assuming you do the sidequests.
Tales Of Phantasia has the player start out with high-leveled party against high-level boss and then when it's over reveals it's just the prolouge. This troper was not amused.
- It's a strictly automatic animation, and it shows nothing - Alan's sword harmlessly bounces off Dhaos' guard, and Morrison's Indignation interrupt's Dhaos' spell.
The prologue of Tales of Innocence gives the player control of Asras for one easy battle. It might be a subversion - Asras controls are quite different from any other character you actually play, ~~even~~ especially his own reincarnation.
In Avalon Code, after receiving the Book of Prophecy, you use it to summon twin "Genesis" swords for a fight, which are very powerful. Immediately after, the Book runs out of power, and the Genesis sword becomes a rubbish rusty old sword.
In Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django, you start with the very powerful solar gun, Gun Del Sol. It is stolen from you a few screens later. You get it back near the end of the game, but it is damaged and uses 50 times as much energy as it used to.
In Captain Comic 2, you get unlimited fuel for your jetpack in the second to last level. The last level prevents you from using your jetpack at all.
In Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, you start the game in a battle where you have a level 50 Salamence squaring off against a level 50 Metagross. After the battle you realize that it was just a sim battle and you actually own a level 10 Eevee instead.
Tutorial of UFO: Aftershock consists of 3 missions during which you control characters (1 in first mission, 2 in second and 3 in last part) with early game weapons but with armour (at true beggining you have no armour for your soldiers) and mid/late game skills and abilities (probably most notable is Ranger wielding double laser pistols).
The first chapter of Riviera The Promised Land is Ein (our hero) and Ledah heading to the title country. Ledah carries one of the two Unbreakable Weapons in the game, heals far more health than he can be damaged for each turn, and is capable of doing about 200 damage a hit (which is usually instant death), and both characters are far stronger than their foes. Once you complete the chapter, Ein gets zapped away, ending up with his stats cut in half when he lands in Riviera proper.
Prototype begins with a scene featuring Alex Mercer rampaging through Times Square, showing off several of his powers. Then we flash back to three weeks prior, when his life bar was smaller and he didn't have the blade, hammerfist, or claws.
In two Tactics Ogre releases: Let us Cling Together and The Knight of Lodis, you play the first few levels with the support of very powerful, experienced units (the Zenobians in Lu CT, and Rictor + Orsen in Ko L.) You're separated from these powerhouses quickly, and left commanding nothing but a bunch of poorly-armed rookies.

Western Animation

Occurs in, of all places, Toy Story 2. The introduction shows Buzz Lightyear destroying hundreds of aliens with one blast of his laser, escaping from a giant spiked log, and battling Evil Emperor Zurg - then he's blasted in half. Then it's revealed that Rex is just playing a video game while talking with a toy Buzz Lightyear:
Rex: No, no. No, no, no, no. I'm never gonna defeat Zurg!
Buzz Lightyear: Sure you will, Rex. In fact, you're a better Buzz than I am.

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