History Main / AbsurdlyLowLevelCap

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has a level cap of 20. Unless you make a concerted effort to do as few {{sidequest}}s as possible, you'll reach it well before the end of the game. The ''Broken Steel'' add-on increases the cap to 30, but even then it's absurdly easy to hit (especially if you haven't played through the other add-ons, which add extensive extra areas to the game with their own quests, but do nothing to the level cap).

* In ''{{VideoGame/Solatorobo}}'', the maximum level Red can reach is Level 20, and chances are you won't even need NewGamePlus to even reach that.

* ''VideoGame/Lorwolf'': During Early Access, wolf and companion levels were capped at 10. Enemies encountered on campaigns during Early Access could go up to Level 14 for bosses and it can be easily reached before finishing the campaigns.

* 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 fact, even ''any-percentage {{speed run}}s'' of the game tend to get almost all the levels. Because the palace gives an instant level up at the end, savvy players tend to level grind after beating the boss until they level up so that they can obtain the next level up instantly without wasting the free experience points that the crystals give. If the player is maxed out already, the levels are exchanged for 1-ups, which are ''rare''.

* ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' and ''VideoGame/PathfinderWrathOfTheRighteous'' both have ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}''-standard level caps of 20.[[note]]The Legend mythic path in Chapter 5 of ''WOTR'' raises it to 40 but also increases the XP scaling so you reach it at the same rate.[[/note]] The original Adventure Paths are designed to close out somewhere in the range of level 18, but in the [=CRPGs=] it's not that hard for a dedicated level-grinder to reach the cap significantly before endgame once DLC is factored in. There's a GameMod [[https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/121 available]] for ''Kingmaker'' to raise the cap to 29 (any higher and the XP variable hits an OverflowError), which actually ''is'' enough unless you abuse {{random encounter}}s, which the time limits on certain quests discourage.

* In ''VideoGame/SweetHome'', the actual level cap (made more difficult to figure out due to the fact that you can't see your own level) of 20 can be comfortably achieved a little over halfway into the game.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' starts with a Level 30 cap with a similar amount of experience given, but it's still relatively simple to reach by the end of the game. The four add-ons raise it by 5 levels for each one installed, to a maximum of 50, which is about how much you'll gain therein. Amusingly, one of them adds a trait, "Logan's Loophole", that makes you immune to drug addiction... at the cost of setting your cap ''back'' to 30.

** The expansion's orc campaign increased the cap to 15. However, one of the heroes you get is unable to use his abilities to the fullest once her reaches the cap.

* At launch, the first ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' had a level cap of just 20, which can be reached in about a week or so of solid play. A couple of months after release, however, this cap was raised to 50, becoming an AbsurdlyHighLevelCap instead. Nearly everything of note is still unlocked by level 20, with everything past that being a BraggingRightsReward. Furthermore, past level 20, the way you gain experience points is modified, meaning it takes much longer to gain new levels.

* At launch, ''VideoGame/Splatoon1'' had a level cap of just 20, which can be reached in about a week or so of solid play. A couple of months after release, however, this cap was raised to 50, becoming an AbsurdlyHighLevelCap instead. Nearly everything of note is still unlocked by level 20, with everything past that being a BraggingRightsReward. Furthermore, past level 20, the way you gain experience points is modified, meaning it takes much longer to gain new levels.

* At launch, ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' had a level cap of just 20, which can be reached in about a week or so of solid play. A couple of months after release, however, this cap was raised to 50, becoming an AbsurdlyHighLevelCap instead. Nearly everything of note is still unlocked by level 20, with everything past that being a BraggingRightsReward. Furthermore, past level 20, the way you gain experience points is modified, meaning it takes much longer to gain new levels.

* In ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'', posting a crewmember to a certain system will guarantee that they will earn 2-star ranking (the maximum) well before the final sector.[[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the fact that it's possible to lose crew members at any point during a run and you might have to train a new one back up from scratch.

* In ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'', posting a crewmember to a certain system will guarantee that they will earn 2-star ranking (the maximum) well before the final sector.

** The second game had have cap of 20. It worked pretty well for the original game but became the trope after release of three DLC packs. Interestingly, it seems that without the cap a multiclass character could get just enough XP to fully develop both of their classes.

* 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/AntiIdleTheGame'' requires you to reach level 9000 to ascend and "beat" the game, and [[AbsurdlyHighLevelCap you can get to 9001 but it will take 120% of the EXP needed to get to 9000]]. But even if you do aim for 9001, you will likely not have your Features maxed out yet. Perhaps to prevent players from just sitting at 9001 forever, there's Ascension, which is a NewGamePlus with perks for resetting back to level 1 that can stack up.

* In all adaptations except the [=TurboGrafx-16=] version (which merges it with the sequel into one continuous game), the first ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' game has a level cap of 10, which you should reach in the mines, the third dungeon in the game (there are only four dungeons, but the fourth one is extremely long and can take hours to finish). This also means that levels give massive stat boosts: often, you'll struggle to beat a specific type of enemy, gain one level, and suddenly start mopping the floor with them.

* Many games in the ''VideoGame/GoldBox'' series, due to being based upon the 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Games, will have level caps for the non-human races like elves and dwarves. Not such a big deal with the first games in each series like Pool of Radiance, but absolutely crippling in later games such as Secret of the Silver Blades or Pools of Darkness. You'll have your characters start at a number of levels lower than their human compatriots, ''and never be able to advance any higher'', potentially making the game unwinnable.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestBuilders2'' has a rising level cap, starting at 10 and then raising by an additional 10 at the beginning of the second and third chapters [[spoiler:plus another 5 for Malhalla]]. Given the fact that the player gains EXP for enemies that [=NPCs=] kill in addition to the ones they fight themselves, they are all but guaranteed to be within 2 levels of the cap by the time of each of the bosses. Furrowfield is a prime offender here, as players will most likely hit Level 10 halfway through the chapter. This switches over to AbsurdlyHighLevelCap in the post-game, where the cap instead becomes 99.

* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games have most characters cap at Level 20, until they promote which gives them another 20 (or 10 in the case of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'') levels to gain. This can be particularly troublesome for Lords, whose promotions tend to be plot-linked and are ''very'' prone to hitting the cap long before that point. In some games, certain characters and classes can't promote, which tends to be trouble for their long-term usability.

* ''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