History Main / AbsurdlyLowLevelCap

* ''VideoGame/MegaManXDiVE'' has a level cap of 200 which seems steep, but going up a level doesn't require much experience and you can quickly grind for levels by doing the expeditions outside the story mode.

* ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'', being a fighter with RPGElements, employs this trope. Your character's levels max at 100, and if all you care about is the regular storyline, then you can clear it at level 50ish fairly comfortably, much like in the rest of the series. However, the game has much more content than that--bonus story scenarios and gameplay modes with opponents at level 120 and climbing plus the vital PVP aspects plus the way ability acquisition works in this game means that in a sense, all the gameplay before level 100 was a preliminary, the game ''properly'' starts at max level.

* In the UsefulNotes/PC98 ActionAdventure RPG ''VideoGame/SwordDancer'', the level cap is 21, and you will reach it sometime after the middle of the game.

* ''VideoGame/LordOfTheRingsOnline'' typically releases one to two Quest Packs for regions between major expansions, although the level cap is usually only increased during the expansions. So, you'll get new content to explore but your end-game characters will already be maxed out when they start it.

* ''Videogame/{{Warframe}}'': There is a level cap of thirty for the titular Warframes and all weapons. It's quite possible to take a fresh warframe with Level 0 weapons, and end up with all four items maxed out at the end of the week. However, once you reach level 30 on any frame or weapon, you are free to modify it once, which resets the level back to 0. Spamming Defense and Survival missions, its possible to bring a weapon from 0-30 in as little as half a day's grinding. When a weapon comes out, expect to see someone with a fully [[NewGamePlus forma'ed]] version of it running tower 4 survivals in a week. Character level also maxes out at 30, but since the only way to raise it is to master weapons and warframes, it can take a very long time to max it. In fact, in 2018, after five ''years'', the effective maximum level was only 26 because there simply weren't enough weapons and warframes to get any higher.

** The expansion's undead campaign has an inversion- while every campaign usually lets the hero(es) gain one level per mission, Arthas starts out at level 10 and loses levels with every mission as the Lich King's power falters. Only in the last mission can Arthas finally gain levels normally, up to 10.

* The demo for ''VideoGame/{{Monark}}'' caps you at 20, whereas the full game goes as high as 99.

* ''VideoGame/ChronoArk'': Each Investigator has a maximum level of ''6''. In standard gameplay, it's rare for any character to exceed level 3 at the end of a run.

* ''VideoGame/{{Ingress}}'' had a cap of level 8 that can be reached in under two months of active play, in a game that has been around since November 2012. With the right geographical location (i.e. living close to a "portal farm") and your teammates providing you supplies to help you level up, the process can take ''less than a month''. With increasing numbers of portals and players reaching level 8 within a week or two is more or less the norm. With teammates helping, it has been accomplished in ''one hour''. However, a 2014 update extended the level cap to 16, with each successive level requiring (generally) double the amount of AP the previous level did ''and'' earning badges, this trope is no longer in effect.

* Some players found the level cap of 20 in the original ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' to be a bit low: though it was enough for most players, meticulously levelers could reach it well before the PointOfNoReturn, let alone the final dungeon. Worse, this effectively limited how many levels you could gain as a Jedi (since you had to complete a short tutorial mission on a starship and then a whole planet before you became one) and how useful teammates could be (since they join at whatever level you're currently at, which can handicap the ones you get past the opening if they join you at level 19), which encouraged serious players to deliberately ''not'' get levels during the first planet, followed by heavy grinding to make up for it. In response, [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords the sequel]] simply let players ''begin'' as a Jedi, had allies join you at level 1 with retroactive experience to bring them to your level, and gave an AbsurdlyHighLevelCap of 50 that simply ''can't'' be reached without abusing specific instances of RespawningEnemies for hours.

** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' had a level cap of 30, a half of what the first game had. Combined with the new quest-only experience gain mechanic, that was quite reasonable (up to 5 levels as OldSaveBonus plus 20 for recruitment+loyalty missions plus 2-3 for sidequests)... without the {{DLC}} missions. With DLC missions, you could hit the cap before you even finished recruiting your team, let alone embark on the SuicideMission, wasting all the late-game XP. If you imported a level 60 character from Mass Effect 1 (resulting in you starting at level 5 in Mass Effect 2), you had the {{DLC}}s, and you had already beaten the game once (granting a 25% bonus to XP on all subsequent playthroughs), it was very easy to hit level 30 by Horizon, which was more or less the halfway point of the game's story.

* ''VideoGame/{{Avadon}}'' has a level cap of 30, which can easily be reached well before the ending of each game by paying attention to sidequests

* ''VideoGame/{{Fairyside}}'': Shirley can only go up to level 10, which needs something like 2000 of the unnamed currency in total, while the game has 3 worlds and each world has a few levels, along with how many deaths it can take to win the game, she could reach many multiples of 10 if it were uncapped.

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* In ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', the [[OddballInTheSeries only Zelda thus far with a level system]], there are 8 levels in each of three categories (Attack, Magic and Health). Between the very quick first few level-ups and the six palace crystals that each give you a free level, these go pretty fast -- by the time you're ready to attack the last palace, you'll probably be maxed out.

* In the UsefulNotes/PC98 ActionAdventure RPG VideoGame/SwordDancer, the level cap is 21, and you will reach it sometime after the middle of the game.
* The level cap for all playable characters from ''VideoGame/MightAndMagicClashOfHeroes'' is 10. Since each character is only playable during their corresponding chapter (except during a brief sequence during the last chapter when they make a return), they ''need'' to reach the cap before facing the chapter's boss, as their level can be as high as 15; defeating them requires good preparation.
* In Tricked Three, Antoine/Jamesters/Jujimufu will all max out at the highest level far before the final dungeon from all the random encounters. The sole purpose of grinding at that point is to stockpile health items.

* The ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' video game ''VideoGame/AttackTheLight'' has a level cap of ''9030'' for the Crystal Gems, but they start at [[Anime/DragonBallZ 9001]]. Steven originally capped at level 20, but thanks to a glitch that would let him level up to 21 (albeit very slowly), it was changed so he caps at level 22. Reaching the cap for all four is doable before you beat the final boss, provided you've done all the optional material along the way.

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' and ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' have a level of cap of 50. If you're making a habit of using the collectible tracker to get all the various pickups during regular play, and you're doing various missions and special activities as soon as they're available, then it's quite easy to hit that cap by the game's halfway point.
** The [[VideoGame/SaintsRow2022 2022 reboot]] is worse in this respect. The level cap is a measly Level 20, but to compensate for that, each level now grants upgrades that had to be purchased in ''[=SR3=]'' and ''[=SR4=]'' (i.e., increasing your maximum health). As you can imagine, you can easily reach the level cap well before even the halfway point if you tackle the side content first.

In some games, you hit the level cap well before the end. Many gamers take pride in being able to reach the highest level possible. These games are not for those people.