Line #85 Main/UnderratedAndOverleveled


1	This trope is a form of GameplayAndStorySegregation in which a character is more powerful in actual combat than is justified within the story. A character is 'underrated' any time he would reasonably be expected to be weaker than his allies according to plot, whether this is due to lack of training, being too young/old for combat, using outdated/weaker weaponry, other characters commenting on this character being weaker and/or less skilled, or any other reason that would leave the audience questioning the character's strength.
2
3	A character is not 'underrated' if the plot draws attention to, or provides justification for, the fact that this character is [[BadassNormal able to keep up with allies that would otherwise appear to be more powerful than he is.]] This trope also does not apply to a character who starts out as weak in combat as one would expect from someone with no training and [[WithThisHerring poor equipment]], and grows strong enough to take on more powerful foes only after appropriate [[LevelGrind level grinding]].
4
5	This is most common in RolePlayingGames due to the tendency to start new characters at the same level as the rest of the party to avoid situations where the new character [[CantCatchUp Can't Catch Up]]. Sometimes, this will be all that stands between a useful GuestStarPartyMember and a laborious EscortMission. Thus, any character who is introduced late enough in the game is likely to fall prey to this trope. When your main character is introduced as as a powerful warrior at level 5 near the beginning of the game and proceeds to [[LevelGrind grow stronger]] through half of a game, he's going to be so powerful that it's difficult to justify any character being on-par with him unless they have a truly badass {{Backstory}}.
6
7	Contrast OverratedAndUnderleveled. See also ImprobablePowerDiscrepancy.
8
9	----
10	!!Examples:
11
12	[[foldercontrol]]
13
14	[[folder: Eastern [=RPGs=] ]]
15
16	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
17	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' features Palom and Porom, a pair of HalfIdenticalTwins with formidable WonderTwinPowers that allow them to wipe out regular encounters. They provide Cecil with [[GuestStarPartyMember some much needed support when he's separated from his main party]], despite being only [[ImprobableAge five years old]]. They're at least presented as magical prodigies, but their ability to take nearly as much damage as an armored, experienced knight captain with [[TheSacredDarkness the power of darkness]] is unusual to say the least.
18	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'':
19	*** The main characters battle an entire empire and win; they even have the empire soldiers comment on how powerful they are [[spoiler:while negotiating peace terms]]. Not long after this the main characters meet Strago and [[ChildMage Relm]]. Strago at least is justified as being pretty badass in his youth, but Relm is an 8 year old painter who somehow manages to make a strong party member. This is partially justified for both of them, as they are both mage characters whose gift with magic is justified by their [[spoiler:being descendents of warriors infused with magical power during the war of the magi]]. This, however, doesn't explain why Relm manages to be only a little weaker with her morning star than someone who was one of the world's top generals before she started to LevelGrind (Celes being a MagicKnight character herself).
20	*** While not as severe a case as the two listed above, Setzer may also apply. Setzer is a gambler. That's all there is to him. He gambles a lot and is good with airships. He joins the party right as the main characters are about to attack a major facility in the Empire's capital city, and proves competent with a sword (or [[DeathDealer throwing cards]]).
21	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': When you meet Cid Highwind your team consists of a {{BFS}}-wielding SuperSoldier, a BigGuy rebel leader with [[GatlingGood a gatling gun]] [[ArmCannon for an arm]], a {{Supernatural Martial Art\|s}}ist, the LastOfHerKind survivor of Magic-using {{Precursors}}, a {{Talking\|Animal}} {{Panther\|aAwesome}}-[[NobleWolf Wolf]], an {{Ambiguous Robot\|s}} Cat and, if you've picked up the {{Optional Party Member}}s, a HighlyVisibleNinja and a [[TheGunslinger gunslinging]] {{shapeshifter}}. Cid Highwind on the other hand? He is a pilot with aspirations of becoming an astronaut. Somehow this also makes him the DragonKnight of the game and just as good at kicking butt as any of the others.
22	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' does this with Eiko. While most of the strength of each character makes sense, Eiko is the second to last character received and the strongest healer in game... and is a little girl with no training. Her talent with Summoning is explained as her being the last of an ancient summoner tribe, but her power with healing isn't really explained at all. Though, considering that both of the summoners in the game are also healers one might presume that summoning and healing are both part of the same tradition. This still doesn't fully excuse a 6 year old with no combat experience being crushed by a giant multiple times in the first battle she ever fights and surviving.
23	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' contribution to the list would be Tidus. The main team includes 3 experienced guardians, two of which managed to fight all the way to the Calm Lands, one completing his pilgrimage entirely, a member of the ProudWarriorRace who has been presumably training to be a guardian for years, and a WhiteMagicianGirl who can summon a flying monster at will. Tidus is a blitzball player with presumably no combat training at all. Of course they all start out at effectively the same level.
24	*** Though the lines get blurred here because statistically all of the experienced guardians are OverratedAndUnderLeveled, since none of them are nearly as powerful as they would have to be to have survived monsters in the Calm Lands that they would have theoretically fought in their last Pilgrimages. It's possible that everyone is just weak in theory. Though early on if you take out an OptionalBoss two trained crusaders comment on your power in a way that implies that Tidus must have been at least somewhat competent despite his apparent lack of training.
25	** Continuing the trend, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has the {{Kid Sidekick}}s Vaan and Penelo. while in-story they're barely more than street urchins, gameplay-wise [[MasterOfAll Vaan has strength only beaten by Basch's and the strongest magical abilities of all male characters]], and Penelo is a spellcaster on the same (quite high) level as Ashe, leaving [[MasterofNone the mystical elf-like Fran]] in the dust. And that's not even considering the ridiculously over-the-top quickenings.
26	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has this as well. There is absolutely no explanation as to how Hope can be a better mage than [[spoiler:Vanille]], especially when Hope is a random kid with a boomerang, while [[spoiler:Vanille]] has years of experience and, before [[spoiler:she was turned into crystal]], was one of the most dangerous people in the War of Transgression. This is after being granted magic from a god-like being. Before Hope gains his magic.
27	*** Perhaps [[spoiler:being a crystal for a millennium]] harms one's strength, or even resets it back to baseline? Or when a person becomes a l'cie, the transformation enhances whatever skills you have to make you as powerful a warrior as possible. And since Hope had no real physical prowess it all went into magic.
28	* A big part of Leia's character arc in ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' involves her constantly seeing herself as TheLoad of the team. Those who use her in combat will be baffled by this, since she's always a useful party member right from the start, [[CombatMedic being good at both physical attacking and healing.]] She also has some of the strongest [[CombinationAttack Link Artes]] in the game.
29	* ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' averts this in [[DifficultyLevels Hard Mode]], where every einherjar starts at level 1, but plays it very straight in Normal and Easy modes. Arngrim is a OneManArmy [[{{Manga/Berserk}} Guts]] {{Expy}}, who starts at level 1 because he's the first character you recruit. Other characters who should be significantly less powerful, like Lawfer (who regarded Arngrim as an unmatched genius whom his own skills could never approach,) Kashell (a fellow mercenary who never received anything like Arngrim's acclaim,) and Lucian (a former childhood friend of Valkyrie's human form, who became a thief and probably has no formal training and little practical experience in swordsmanship,) all start at higher levels because they're recruited in later chapters.
30	* ''VideoGame/SepterraCore'' mostly averts this since all the characters, except the begining three, are trained combatants in some way. However, Led, despite being in the military, is not trained as a fighter and hasn't seen real combat, making her perhaps a little too skilled when she joins the others.
31	* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' manages to employ this without actually having [[CharacterLevel character levels]]. Characters gain stat points after each battle up to a limit set by the number of bosses you've defeated (making your power in combat [[AntiGrinding almost completely dependent on what point in the game you're at]].) Characters always join your party with stats appropriate to the point of the game where they're recruited, meaning that some characters who ought to be particularly strong, like the Four Devas of the Acacia Dragoons, join your party with lower stats than later-joining characters such as Orcha, the head chef at the castle they're stationed at.
32	* ''VideoGame/ResonanceOfFate'' manages a little of this combined with OverratedAndUnderleveled during the beginning of the game. Vashyron is an experienced war hero who taught the others everything they know about fighting, Zephyr is much younger, but was trained by Vashyron for some time and Leanne is the naive newbie and TheHeart. Logically one would expect that their combat strength would be Vashyron > Zephyr > Leanne, but the game starts them out as nearly identical in strength (though Vashyron does have a little more health, they're mostly interchangeable this early on). This wouldn't be too bad if the in combat banter of the first quarter of the game didn't make constant references to Leanne being inexperienced and supposedly weaker then the rest of the team.
33	* Averted in ''VideoGame/DhuxsScar''. The main characters are a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenary]], a traveling merchant, and a, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld supposedly]], teenage girl. These characters are exactly as strong as they should be according to their backgrounds. The mercenary with his high stats, and special abilities (including the only healing spell in the game) pretty much wins every battle single handedly. The merchant has 1/3 the mercenaries maximum health, does 1/4 the damage with regular attacks and doesn't have any special attacks to spend his MP on. Though he has some great abilities to help get cheaper or special items from merchants and can do comparable damage to the mercenary by throwing amulets only he can use, but the cost of purchasing all those amulets add up so rapidly that [[AwesomeButImpractical it's cheaper to let the mercenary deal with everything and put the savings towards healing items]]. Meanwhile the girl is every bit as worthless as one would expect from an inexperienced girl ([[SuperpoweredEvilSide usually]]), Her damage is so pathetic that if not overleveled many enemies will NoSell her attacks, she has the lowest health and defense and spends every single encounter [[DefendCommand defending]] and nothing else; to the point that having her in the party starts to feels like a game long EscortMission.
34	* A minor, and very subtle, example occurs in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon''. When [[spoiler:Lavitz]] is replaced by Albert, Albert has the exact same level as the person he replaces. Since Albert is a king trained in combat from a young age his combat strength wouldn't be ''too'' odd for when he starts, if he hadn't explicitly stated that he learned everything he knows about combat from [[spoiler:Lavitz]]. This seems reasonable until one [[FridgeLogic visits the fridge]] and realizes that [[spoiler:Lavitz]] was a much lower level when he joined the team, so if Albert had learned everything from him before the main game Albert should at most be equal to his ''starting'' level, not the level he was at when he was replaced.
35	* ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey'':
36	** Seth and Kalm are immortal beings who spent the nearly a thousand years fighting and developing as warriors, Jensen was picked by the strongest mage in the capital to be an ally for them, and Queen Ming (who is received only shortly later) is an immortal queen known for stopping an invasion of powerful magic beings single handedly with her powerful magics. Fighting along beside this team are... two little kids with no combat training at all. However the kids do join the party early enough that the main party isn't made too powerful by LevelGrinding. Also, Cooke is a WhiteMage who's physical combat skills are just as bad as one would expect from a little girl, and when Mack joins the party he is a MagicKnight who's magic ability at least is justified as it's heavily implied that [[spoiler:he was given spirit magic as a side effect of being possessed by the remains of a tribe with a gift for spirit magic]]. However, Mack is still a little too powerful physically for a little kid with no training running up and hitting you.
37	*** Some FanWank can help justify this further. It could be assumed Cooke's power with WhiteMagic is from her wanting to heal her sick mother. Presumably she started studying to try to help her mother recover, it would be in character for her even if it's never explicitly stated in game. As for Mack, well since [[spoiler:spirit magic]] has a heavy emphasis on strengthening yourself and weakening enemies one could possible claim that Mack's physical combat ability is actually partially a result of the same experience that gave him his magic, ie. his magic is making him hit stronger/faster then a young child should be naturally. Though that's pushing the limits of FanWank a bit.
38	** Completely, and skillfully, averted with Tolten. As a prince who presumably received training in combat throughout his upbringing he would be expected to be competent with a sword, and indeed the first time he is used in combat he is about equal to the rest of the party in strength and shown being capable of defending himself when forced to. However, by the time he becomes a regular party member he is the exact same level, making him far weaker than the others, who have been [[LevelGrind growing steadily stronger for another fourth of the game]]. He has to be placed in the back row where he can be protected to keep him alive through the first few battles and he can barely dish out worthwhile damage...luckily the combat system (ie, the ability to easily guard [[SquishyWizard low health and vulnerable allies]] in the back row from damage temporarily) prevents his low level from making him a liability that dies all the time, and the leveling system ensures he gains levels absurdly fast so he will catch up to a useful level in very little time. This fits very nicely with his characterization, he is depicted as too afraid to fight, or stand up for himself, alone, and has to learn how to be a stronger/braver man just as he has to gain xp in combat before he is an equal to the rest of the team.
39	* Averted in ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime''. Several characters you meet throughout the story will not have their levels increased based on story progression; the only way for a character to level up is through combat. This includes permanent party members like Sophia, who will be at level 1 when she's recruited permanently at a time when the rest of your party members' levels should be somewhere in the upper 40s.
40	* In ''VideoGame/EmbricOfWulfhammersCastle'', the ''main character'' is liable to become this. She gains experience and raises her level throughout the course of the game almost entirely through activities that have nothing to do with combat, likely leading the player to believe that her stats are simply a way of keeping score, with no function beyond the cosmetic. However, the game does contain combat, and by the time she reaches it, the Duchess is likely to be capable of fighting on par with the Awesome Fellowship, a highly experienced band of adventurers whose exploits shape the fates of nations. Her sudden increase in power is referred to in one of the endings (when her maid points out that she's probably strong enough by now to actually fight the Awesome Fellowship and win), but not explained. [[spoiler:It could be because it's AllJustADream. Alternatively, based on the endings where you side with the Anti-Paladins, it's possible that she was always that strong and just hiding her skill. There's also at least one point in the plot where she could justifiably pick up those talents -- a TimeSkip where she's acting as a bandit queen, of all things. Finally, given that the Awesome Fellowship just seems to take her increase in skill for granted, it could be that gaining combat power through unrelated adventuring is an accepted part of the setting being something like an RPGMechanicsVerse.]]
41	* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' runs into this trope in the second half of the game. Yukari and Junpei have no relevant experience and join at level 1, Akihiko has two years of experience along with being a champion boxer and joins at level 9 after spending several weeks recovering from an injury, Mitsuru has ten years of experience along with fencing training and joins at level 18(after relegating herself to the sidelines to serve as MissionControl), and Aigis is a dedicated war-machine who joins at level 25. All well and good, but then an eleven year old with two years of Persona possession, no combat experience, and some informal training joins with a level in the 30s, as does a ''dog'' who only just got his Persona and has no experience whatsoever. The final party member, Shinjiro, zig-zags this; he has some experience as one of the first members of S.E.E.S., and even Akihiko is impressed by his talent, but he has been trying to kill his Persona for the last two years, joins in the early 40s.
42	* Almost all party members in ''VideoGame/Persona4'' count (except [[TheHero MC]], [[TheLancer Yosuke]], and [[KickChick Chie]] since they are your starting members and join at low levels). All of them join right after getting their [[SummonMagic Personas]] and resting for about a month with obviously no experience in using their Personas. All of them join with the appropriate levels and skills for the stage of the game they're in.
43	** As far as later characters go, Yukiko ''is'' a weak physical combatant, Rise doesn't fight at all, Kanji was already a big bruiser, Naoto has firearms training, and Teddie [[spoiler:is a Shadow himself]](and Rise senses great power in Teddie's Persona). As far as their Personas? [[HandWave Maybe stronger Shadows make for stronger Personas?]]
44	* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', PlayerCharacter Joker is at the same level of power as Morgana/Mona at the game's beginning. This is in spite of Morgana supposedly being a much more experienced PhantomThief [[spoiler:and who was also created by the game's BigGood to guide the Phantom Thieves into saving the world]]. Also, when Haru joins the Phantom Thieves after a full awakening of her Persona in the fifth Palace, she's just as strong as everyone else; while she has accompanied Morgana to the Metaverse on a few occasions, her Persona never fully awakened. The only exception is [[spoiler:Goro Akechi, who has actually been a Persona user for about two years longer than any of you, starts off with the highest join level of the party, and is indicated to actually be ''holding back'' for the entirety of his tenure in your party]]. In ''Royal'', Kasumi [[spoiler:or better said, Sumire]], starts at Level 75 (around the level the party is at by the end of the original game and equal to [[spoiler:the reformed Akechi]], who actually does have the in-story experience to back up his power), despite having only fought alongside Joker twice up until this point.
45	* About 1/3 of the characters in ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' qualify, including a huge number of {{Non Player Character}}s, most of whom get their [=COMPs=] later in the game. In game it's shown that in order to use a COMP a character must first defeat demons summoned by the COMP. The heroes are able to defeat the demons summoned on day one, although even then Yuzu struggles with hers. However, the demons grow stronger each day, and it's seen later on that the demons summoned by Izuna are equal to the strength of demons fought during that day. So one has to wonder how any of the people that get their [=COMPs=] later on are able to defeat the demons that were summoned when they turn them on, assuming they would all be close to the main characters power at day one and the demons would be massively stronger then that. Yet somehow citizens all over the city are getting comps and somehow defeating the demons they summon in order to use them.
46	* [[TheHero Adell]]'s younger siblings [[ShrinkingViolet Taro]] and [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling Hanako]] in ''VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories''. Especially since they were visibly level 1 [=NPCs=] beforehand and their levels suddenly shot up when they join.
47	* In ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'', Kurtis dies, but later shows up reincarnated as a Prinny and joins the party. Despite the fact that he should have started at level 1 (and that Prinnies are the weakest monsters in the game), he is actually higher in level than when he died, and on par with the rest of the party.
48	* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''VideoGame/AtelierIris2TheAzothOfDestiny'' with your last party member [[spoiler:Viese]], who joins at the ''third to last chapter'' at level ONE. Somewhat justified since the plot of the chapter she joins is to backtrack to previous areas.
49	* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
50	** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'':
51	*** May possibly be the case with [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ariel]]. One could try to argue that the rest of the group are actually fighting at an extreme disadvantage (not being use to fighting in water as fish-people) and so Ariel having grown up in a water world has the home field advantage. However, by that logic every single mermaid should be just as good in combat, if not better, than Ariel; which leaves one wondering why the giant city full of badass mermaids wouldn't have driven the Heartless away long before our characters appeared.
52	*** This also could possibly apply to Aladdin, who in the movie is somewhat competent at DeadlyDodging and wields a sword at one point but without training. He joins Sora after mid-game and is possibly a bit too strong compared to his movies. But then again, it's ambiguous enough to mostly be forgiven.
53	** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' has Kairi get her own Keyblade and start fending off some mid-level Nobodies towards the end of the game. She's doing this alongside Riku, who has not only trained with a sword for years, but is locked in a powerful body at the time. Kairi herself has never been shown as even practicing with a toy sword like Riku and PlayerCharacter Sora, let alone using a real sword with the same skill they do. Though, it could just be because [[CutscenePowerToTheMax it's a cutscene]].
54	* Your party in ''VideoGame/RadiantHistoria'' consists of a bunch of soldiers with years of experience, a RebelLeader Princess... and Aht, a [[TokenMiniMoe 9-year-old girl]] from a group of traveling performers. Not only is she the game's best healer, but her basic magic traps do damage on par with the more powerful elemental spells, and the upgraded versions are some of the most damaging abilities in the game.
55	* This seems to be the norm for ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor''. Koops is a timid young koopa from a small peaceful town. Flurrie is a retired actress. Yoshi is a hatchling. Yet, for some reason, they are all equals to Mario's other teammates (as well as Mario himself), which includes AdventureArchaeologist Goombella, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld ancient]] witch Vivian, PhantomThief Ms. Mowz, and long retired Admiral Bobbery.
56	* In ''VideoGame/ArTonelicoMelodyOfElemia'', Aurica will constantly talk about how useless she is, how she can't do any good song magic, and how she's a D-Class (i.e. lowest on the scale) Reyvateil who's never even been assigned a partner before joining your party. In gameplay she's perfectly fine and can become insanely powerful. (And she's just as good as Misha, who's repeatedly talked up as uniquely gifted and exceptional.) She has severe emotional issues keeping her from achieving her potential, true, but those issues can't be overcome without help, raising the question of why the supposedly kind and helpful church can't be bothered to even give her a partner to support her before the protagonist comes along.
57	* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}''
58	** Jin definitely counts. He joins in the second game, after the team has already defeated threats that challenged entire space fleets. He is also the only BadassNormal, in a team which consists of a robot, android, multiple genetically engineered super humans, a kid with near-magical powers due to [[spoiler:being effectively a GodInHumanForm]], and someone wielding a high-tech multi-weapon system. He uses a simple sword with no special abilities or weapons. Yet he can keep up with everyone else and even cut through GiantMecha in a single slice.
59	** Allen. He only joins for a brief period midway through the third game. During this time he is a bit lower level then the rest of the team, though his healing ether still is an asset. However, considering the rest of the team has gone through 2.5 games worth of LevelGrinding and defeated things believed to be unstoppable before this, and Allen has no combat training at all and uses a simple crossbow as a weapon, "a bit lower level" still makes him quite badass.
60	** Canaan and Miyuki in he third game also count, though not as drastic an offender as Allen. They show up only briefly in the beginning of episode 3. Both are better suited to combat then Allen, one wielding the same advanced multi-weapon system of the main character (which includes shields to protect her) and the other being a genetically engineered realian, but not one engineered for combat. Still, while not as strong as Shion, they are able to keep up surprisingly well considering Shion's 2 games worth of LevelGrinding feats.
61	* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' had Riki, introduced as the "Legendary Heropon" and quickly revealed to [[FakeUltimateHero only be in the position due to a massive amount of debt]] while actually being a middle-aged man with a family. Despite this, he joins at the same level as the rest of the party and is a very competent party member, being both [[StoneWall an HP sponge]] and capable of debuffing enemies into oblivion.
62	* In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'', Hestu needs your help with all the "scary monsters" he can't deal with, but then demonstrates himself to be a perfectly capable fighter at the same level as everyone else in the party.
63	* In ''Videogame/GenshinImpact'', Bennett is a kid with luck that is so supernaturally bad that he actively ruins adventures simply through his presence and is treated as a liability in-universe. Within the game however, Bennett is considered [[JackOfAllTrades one of the most versatile party members]] due to the fact that he can do reasonable amounts of damage on top of offering highly reliable healing and buffing to the point that he's regarded as one of the best characters of the game despite being of a lower rarity.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder: Western [=RPGs=] ]]
67	* This can occur in the first ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' if you wait to rescue Liara as long as possible. Liara's strength is not that unreasonable if she is rescued near the beginning of the game when she expected to be saved (being a mage in a world where her people are presented as the strongest Biotic users). However, if the player waits to rescue her until near the end of the game she can come out of suspended animation as powerful as now-legendary characters, but the plot will still play her as the weak and inexperienced character she was supposed to be in the beginning of the game.
68	* The Viking Conquest DLC for ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' has Bran mac Caliacas, the youngest son of a leader of a village out in the least inhabited end of Connacht in Ireland. He is level 31 and has 380 in all weapon skills, and huge ranks in several combat skills. He hopes one day to earn enough money to buy a farm and marry a girl.
69	* There are several examples in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', but Aerie in the second game is probably the strongest example. She is a timid elf girl who has lived in the circus for her entire life, and yet is a mage/cleric who is probably more powerful than [[BigBad Sarevok]] was at the end of ''Baldur's Gate I''.
70	** 8 months. She was only with the circus for 8 months. (Quayle was busying travelling with YOU 6 months prior and only happened to wander in and the join the circus around the same time Aerie was captured, eventually taking it over after they pissed him off). Sarevok is as high as the maximum level of a fighter in pre-[=ToB=] ''[=BG2=]'' in ''[=BG1=]'', Aerie, by contrast, is only about as strong as a player C/M would've been at maximum level for ''[=BG1=]''. [[spoiler:He's so high in level that he only gains 1 level compared to ''[=BG1=]'' when joining the party in [=ToB=] and will still dwarf nearly any other party member you have in raw combat power.]]
71	* Shandra Jerro in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' was basically a farmer prior to her involvement in the plot and being taken on as a squire. She was kidnapped without ceremony by githyanki and had trouble driving lizardfolk off her property. Then she joins as a retainer, and she's the same level as everyone else - likely 10-11 out of 20, fresh off wiping out the githyanki and powerful enough to take down the entire tribe of lizards completely solo. She's mentioned as having gone through some degree of training since then, but it's anyone's guess as to what this training was, as it's enough to put her above Casavir (an experienced paladin who was personally holding back a massive orc horde).
72	* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the Sith Inquisitor, like their Warrior counterpart, completes their Sith trials in the prologue, leaving Korriban likely around level 10. At the eleventh hour, they recruit Xalek, who’s just finished his trials, as their apprentice. The Inquisitor is expected to be nearing level 50 by this point, yet Xalek is still useful in combat.
73	* Owyn from ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor'' is a milder example of this. While Owyn's fighting-related stats are lower then his allies at the start of the game they are surprisingly close considering he has no combat training at all and is teamed up with two [[OverratedAndUnderleveled supposedly]] master, even near legendary, swordsman.
74	** StatisticallySpeaking Owyn's defense rating gives him a slightly lower then 50% chance of blocking attacks from either of his allies at the beginning of the game. That means expert swordsman struggle to even touch the untrained kid with a stick.
75
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder: First Person Shooters ]]
79
80	* If one stops to think about it, all the characters in ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' are this. The main ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' franchise focuses on a SuperSoldier who was picked from the best of the best, trained from childhood, underwent expensive and dangerous procedures to enhance his physical and mental abilities, and given PoweredArmor equipped with shield technology stolen from the enemy. The characters in this game are just unaugmented humans wearing "normal" armor. They ''are'' implied to be incredibly skilled even when compared to the rest of the highly elite [[ItsRainingMen ODSTs]], but they are ''not'' super soldiers. However, the game engine is the same as ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', meaning the ODST soldiers are just as powerful as Master Chief. They lose the shields (but replace them with a stamina system that makes them nearly as durable), and they can't punch through tanks like the Chief, but that's about the only difference. In contrast, ODST [=NPCs=] in the other games are noticeably weaker than the Chief.
81
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder: Turn-Based Strategy Games ]]
85
86	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the Eldar are supposed to have the most powerful psykers of any faction, with the ''possible'' exception of Chaos. In ''Rites of War'', an Eldar psyker has to get to level 8 (the level cap is 10) before being able to use all four Eldar psyker abilities, whereas the psykers of the other two factions in the game, the Imperium and the Tyranids, get all four of their abilities at level one. After a key turning point in the campaign, however, you, playing as the Eldar, get to start recruiting Imperial units as well, including SpaceMarine Librarians, who of course have all four of their abilities at level one. So that means you can recruit a level one Librarian with more powers than a level seven Warlock Master.
87	* Russel Bagman from ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' is essentially a RedShirt [[NominalImportance with a nametag]]. In a game overflowing with {{Ace Pilot}}s in unique, sometimes world-destroying powerful robots, he's just a mid-ranked pilot for a standard model [[MookMobile Gespenst]]--he's even the only playable pilot who does ''not'' have his own [[{{Leitmotif}} theme song]]. However, most of those {{Ace Pilot}}s focus on offense, making Russel's [[StoneWall defensive]]/[[SupportPartyMember supportive]] stats and abilities rather unique and [[BoringButPractical extremely useful]] in gameplay terms.
88	* Odie in ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' is largely treated as a walking joke by his friends, his enemies and even his family, and his moments of plot-sanctioned badassery are treated as exceptional (and, in one case, revealed to be assisted by someone else who does the major part). In-game, he's fully functional, has stats well over the average, and is a decent challenge if you haven't been grinding or done a NewGamePlus. [[spoiler:He's also a very good addition to your own forces when he joins]].
89	* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
90	** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'', you can use [[BigBad Zephiel]]'s half-sister Guinivere in challenge maps as a bonus [[BraggingRightsReward after beating the game enough times.]] In the actual story, Guinivere is a NeutralFemale who doesn't do much in the plot aside from provide exposition and become Queen of Bern in the epilogue. As a playable character, she's a Level 20 Sage with good stats in everything [[GlassCannon but HP]], plus high weapon ranks in Anima, Staves, ''and'' Light magic, something that no other Sage has. It's hard to imagine why she wouldn't help you out if she'd had those stats in the story. To a lesser extent, Eliwood when playable has incredible stats despite the fact that he spends the whole game with PlotInducedIllness.
91	** ''The Binding Blade'''s prequel, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'', provides a FinalBoss example: a generic Fire Dragon, a normal, but wounded Fire Dragon literally only shows up in time for the final battle, yet it boasts much higher stats than Idunn, and puts up a much more valiant effort against the heroes, as almost all of their weapons can't even scratch it, and they need the legendary weapons to even the score.
92	** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' has Pelleas, a character who sits out most of the battles. When he finally ''does'' join a battle, he admits that he's never actually fought before, and is so scared his legs are trembling... and yet he starts out as a Level 12 Dark Sage. While he ''is'' still underleveled compared to your other characters, that's pretty impressive for someone who's never had a chance to do any LevelGrinding. This is, however, something of a plot point. [[spoiler:He got his power from making a contract with a Spirit, which is the final clue that he's not really Almedha's son.]]
93	** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemNewMysteryOfTheEmblem'' has this due to bringing back characters from other games set in its world when they weren't in the original, and scattering them throughout the whole campaign, combined with [[OverratedAndUnderleveled nearly everyone else]] being nowhere near what you'd expect of an endgame squad in the game prior. Darros is by far the most notable one: in the prior games, he's a random level 3 pirate with no story relevance whose limited background basically describes him as a common raider who does it because he needs the money. When he's recruited in ''New Mystery'', he's now promoted (something he couldn't even ''do'' in his first appearance) and has fairly decent stats. Keep in mind that Palla, who was a level 8 elite trooper even at her join time in the prior game and recently fought in a disastrous war, is level 10 unpromoted in the same game.
94	* Holy ''shit'' Colin in ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars''. His gimmick is he is like the [[Franchise/SuperMan Bizarro]] Kanbei, having a 10% attack penalty because he is a fresh-meat rookie commander but with a 10% deployment cost reduction to balance it out. In story, he's treated at best (by his allies) as a rookie with a lot of potential and at worst (by Lash) as a complete laughable joke, and he constantly doubts his own abilities and feels he's not a "real" CO. In practice, he is the ''best'' "normal" CO in the game and on-par with the PurposelyOverpowered [=COs=] like Hachi and ''[[FinalBoss Sturm]]'' since his incredibly cheap normal CO power boosts his funds by 1.5x and he can just get so many units out and so casually pump out high-tier units like Neo Tanks and Bombers while his opponent is still struggling to get out Medium Tanks that he'll overrun most any other CO effortlessly.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder: Platform Games ]]
98	* Milla from ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' is a ten-year-old girl who possesses mystic powers but absolutely no combat training, and this is reflected in the story by being overwhelmed by enemy fire during [[spoiler:Lilac's rescue]] and [[spoiler:being easily captured by Neera Li and Brevon]] during various cutscenes. Not like you'd know this from watching gameplay videos, where she can block and reflect enemy fire all day and, with adequate player skill, blitz through stages at speeds that make Lilac blush and rip several bosses in half. Note that this only applies to the first game; the sequel [[TookALevelInBadass gives her actual combat training]].
99	* It's a wonder [[BigBad Eggman]] successfully kidnapped [[BadassAdorable Cream]] in ''VideoGame/SonicAdvance2'': with the ridiculous range of her Chao Cheese, she can [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomp]] any boss (barring the extra boss, since only Super Sonic can fight it) without breaking a sweat and all the while remaining out of the boss's attack range.
100	* PlayedForLaughs in the ''VideoGame/TheLegoMovieVideogame'' with Franchise/GreenLantern. In the movie he's the completely useless obnoxious TheFriendNobodyLikes who constantly annoys Franchise/{{Superman}}. In the game he acts like, and is treated, the same, but despite that he's the most useful character in the roster, since not only is he among the rare few fliers alongside possessing a projectile attack, but he also has the unique ability to use his powers to assemble green bricks, which is quite a common puzzle element for free-play.
101	[[/folder]]

Context Main / UnderratedAndOverleveled