Basic Trope: Disproportionately powerful enemies serve as guards against Sequence Breaking.
- Straight: In the Wide-Open Sandbox Tales of Troperia XX, a pair of level 25 Titan Elites guard the Chokepoint Pass, the only way to travel between the eastern half of the continent (where you start the game) and the western half (where you finish it). You can first approach the pass as soon as you leave the First Town, where you'll be about level 2-3 at most.
- Exaggerated: The Titan Elites are level 100.
- Downplayed: The Titan Elites are level 10.
- Justified: The west is at war with the east, and have left the especially strong Titan Elites to guard the pass.
- Inverted: Titan Elites are pathetically weak enemies meant to encourage players to enter a late game area early.
- Subverted: The Titan Elites are level 25, but are statistically weak and can be defeated by a much lower level player.
- Double Subverted: ...except that beating them before you are level 25 kicks off a much tougher boss battle against a Titan King.
- Parodied: As soon as you step foot into an area you aren’t supposed to enter yet the game launches several nukes at the player.
- Zig-Zagged: The Titan Elites guard the pass and can be battled at any time by the party, but will wipe the floor with anyone less than level 20. However, completing a difficult side mission gets you an item which will summon a legendary Hunter of Monsters to your aid who can beat the Elite Titans for you. Unfortunately, every enemy in the west is at least as strong as the Titan Elites, defeating the purpose.
- Averted: The game employs Level Scaling, so all enemies are appropriately leveled for the party.
- Enforced: The game is based on book in which the heroes spend the first several chapters training specifically to defeat the Titan Elites so they can travel west.
- Lampshaded: Quirby says to the party as they approach the pass "I've heard these guys are really tough, maybe we should go back and complete all of those plot-advancing quests first. It'll make them just disappear!"
- Exploited:
- Defied: Claidheamh shows off all his ultra cool skills by killing the Titan Elites, and lets the party get through.
- Discussed:
- Conversed:
- Deconstructed: Defeating the Titan Elites makes the west think that the east is invading, so they launch a full scale counterattack. Without your party of heroes having accomplished their plot goals, they can't defend the east and you get a Non-Standard Game Over.
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs:
- Played for Drama:
