History Main / SurprisinglyEasyMiniQuest

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'': Ashley can't attack, but she can duck under things, and the enemies either have no weapons or are slow. Not to mention that the enemies who just moments ago could withstand shotgun blasts at point blank range can now be killed by throwing portable lamps at them. Although it takes three lamps, which is about how many incendiary grenades it takes with Leon. Plus, with creative use of a glitch in the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube version, Ashley can [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0Tg1btDrMA suplex the hell out of enemies.]]

** Actually you can use the D-pad at least in the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 version to pull out the sword (right) and do insta kills on all of them. Not like it matters anyway because in the end it doesn't affect you at all.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': In the ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'' crossover event, there is one optional stage in which you face three ghosts, each with 6.66 ''million'' HP. Even boss characters will rarely have anywhere even close to 400,000 HP at this point in the game. However, for this stage you are forced to take Saber-Shiki as your Support Servant... and she happens to have a Noble Phantasm that can inflict ''instant death'' on enemies it hits, regardless of how much health they have left. Normally the instant death effect has a very low chance of succeeding (which increases slightly as the enemy loses health), keeping the attack from being completely broken, but in this stage it is guaranteed to happen.

* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'': After reaching Sanctuary for the first time, Claptrap has a sidequest for you: to find his secret stash, located "very very far from where I currently am", which he will only reveal if you complete a few challenges. After he gives a list of increasingly dangerous and absurd tasks, a wall of junk falls down about 20 feet away, revealing the stash.

* The ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series has several examples from botht ypes:

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', when you control Sherry, she can't hurt anyone, and she seems to run slower than the other characters, but she has much higher stamina to make up for this.
** Also, when playing as Sherry, the zombies can't actually grab you, because her smaller animation model would have required a new animation. Their attacks are limited to vomiting bile at you. Therefore it's much easier to avoid them altogether.
*** Trying to avoid the [[GoddamnedBats dogs]], on the other hand, is an unmitigated ''[[{{Pun}} bitch]]'' thanks to their speed and aggression, and Sherry can't run nearly as fast as they can.
** Ada meanwhile, gets a gun and plentiful ammo, and fires the pistol so fast that she can take down spiders with ease.
* Ashley in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' is similar. She can't attack, but she can duck under things, and the enemies either have no weapons or are slow. Not to mention that the enemies who just moments ago could withstand shotgun blasts at point blank range can now be killed by throwing portable lamps at them.
** Although it takes three lamps, which is about how many incendiary grenades it takes with Leon.
** Plus, with creative use of a glitch in the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube version, Ashley can [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0Tg1btDrMA suplex the hell out of enemies.]]

* Another CardboardPrison case: in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII'', there's a bit towards the end where the player character is tossed into jail, and with practically all of your equipment taken away. However, regardless of which character class you are, getting out of it is absurdly easy. I guess that prison just wasn't built to be hero proof.
** The easy escape is meant to be easy. The BigBad designed the hero's capture, knowing he'd escape easily, in order to manipulate the hero into furthering his evil plans. He'd try this again in a sequel, except this time you are not forced to be an UnwittingPawn in order to advance the plot. In fact, doing what he counts on you doing will result in your death.
*** Interestingly enough, a lot of players don't question the situation that occurs in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV'', despite the fact that the ''incredibly powerful'' bad guy managed to incapacitate you, it seems only natural that you would have all of your equipment (including, for thieves, their lockpicks...). A certain amount of FridgeLogic, or the aforementioned GameOver, are required before you start realizing what's going on.
*** Except perhaps for the fact that he supposedly taunts you by leaving a stake and hammer (he's a vampire) just out of reach, which you can easily obtain after you break out of the easy-to-escapa manacles. ([[spoiler:It turns out to be a BatmanGambit; [[IHateYouVampireDad he wants you to kill his vampire sire]].]])

* In later games of the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, Phoenix can find out the secrets of people via the Magatama. Phoenix needs to present correct evidence to the person he's trying to crack or he will lose some energy in his LifeMeter.

2) The side character/NPC quest:

A unique type of [[PowerCreepPowerSeep Power Seep]] where the game designers and programmers decided to take it easy on you. Since they made your life complicated by forcing you to play as an NPC for a segment of the game, they compensate by either suddenly switching over to weaker enemies, or weakening the AI, or making the NPC much stronger than reasonably expected. (And probably more so than the NPC has ever shown themselves to be if you've ever seen them fight). Of course, when you switch back to the hero, the difficulty jumps right back up to where it was before.

Compare MonsterThreatExpiration (although that is generally used for a BigBad, in this case it applies to mooks and minibosses), the NPC [[TookALevelInBadass Taking A Level In Badass]].

This is a VideoGame trope where it seems like you are being set up for an incredibly difficult, confusing, or frustrating mission or situation, only for the game to subvert that expectation and have this part turn out to be far easier than you would have thought. These generally come in two varieties, the first being where you are forced to play as an {{NPC}}, or a situation where the hero is incapacitated, and it seems like it will be difficult situation, only to be quickly resolved.

1) The side character/NPC quest:

2) Incapacitated hero:

* In later games of the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, Phoenix can find out the secrets of people via the Magatama. Phoenix needs to present correct evidence to the person he's trying to crack or he will lose some energy in his LifeMeter.
** In the 3rd case of ''Trials and Tribulations'', Detective Dick Gumshoe tries to hide something from Phoenix. Only one lock shows up, meaning it's very easy to crack him. What makes this even easier is it's extremely simple to figure out what Gumshoe was doing before you caught him. His secret? [[spoiler: He was listening to the radio to see if he won the lottery.]] Once you break his lock, even Phoenix is surprised at how easy it was! This can be a huge life saver if you had wasted most of your energy getting things wrong during the trial before, so it's almost a free health refill here.
** Later on in case 5, Sister Bikini is depicted as having a whopping ''five'' Psyche-Locks when questioned about the [[spoiler: victim's true identity]]. But after revealing only two pieces of evidence [[spoiler:(and thus proving the identity)]], all five break simultaneously.
** In the last case of ''Justice For All'', Wendy Oldbag has four Psyche-Locks that you can break just by bribing her with [[spoiler: an autograph of the victim, of whom she was a ''huge'' fan]].
** A hilarious version with Edgeworth and Larry Butz. During questioning, 5 locks show up with Larry. Edgeworth's response? "Screw this, I'll see you in court!" Made funnier because Edgeworth had ''just'' broken 3 locks in the exact same conversation with Larry.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' has this when Mayhew asks you to accompany her to see if there are burglars in her storage room. Turns out that there are, but they are all extremely low leveled (around levels 1-20) and they are characters you have seen earlier in the game who were all either wacky or a ButtMonkey.
** When a player new to the game's item auctions sees House Minymum as one of their opponents, they will almost certainly be [[OhCrap utterly terrified]], since House Minymum's displayed bidding capabilities are overwhelmingly higher than the player can ever hope to match. But experienced players know that Minymum is basically the auction equivalent of a FakeUltimateMook, and almost never ends up winning, because they never ''use'' their massive token stores to bid on anything. Seeing Minymum is actually a ''relief'' for players experienced with the auctions; it's essentially one fewer opponent to worry about.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': In the ''Anime/KaraNoKyoukai'' crossover event, there is one optional stage in which you face three ghosts, each with 6.66 ''million'' HP. Even boss characters will rarely have anywhere even close to 400,000 HP at this point in the game. However, for this stage you are forced to take Saber-Shiki as your Support Servant... and she happens to have a Noble Phantasm that can inflict ''instant death'' on enemies it hits, regardless of how much health they have left. Normally the instant death effect has a very low chance of succeeding (which increases slightly as the enemy loses health), keeping the attack from being completely broken, but in this stage it is guaranteed to happen.

* The ''Franchise/{{Onimusha}}'' game series is a major offender here.

Compare LoweredMonsterDifficulty (although that is generally used for a BigBad, in this case it applies to mooks and minibosses), the NPC [[TookALevelInBadass Taking A Level In Badass]].