I've looked but have had trouble finding it... is there already a trope name for when a character is very powerful before joining the party, but isn't really stronger than the other party members after they join?
This is actually very common for characters that show up as bosses it takes your whole party to defeat before becoming playable. This is quite common in roleplaying games with these characters... they will have a massive HP counter it takes many rounds typically to whittle down and beat them when fighting them... but not when they join the player party. A prime example of this is Magus from Chrono Trigger, you fight him as a boss earlier in the game but if you go through the steps to recruit him his HP is similar to the rest of the party.
This isn't always explained well in universe either... like it never explains why Magus lost all his spells and you have to grind him back up, or why he had such massive HP when you fought him originally but only as much HP as the rest of your party after he joins.
I kind of feel like this deserves a trope page, I'm pretty sure there's other roleplaying games that do this, as well as anime... if memory serves, Gatomon from Digimon was kind of a badass before switching sides but not really stronger than the other Digimon allied to the Digidestined after.
I've looked but have had trouble finding it... is there already a trope name for when a character is very powerful before joining the party, but isn't really stronger than the other party members after they join?
This is actually very common for characters that show up as bosses it takes your whole party to defeat before becoming playable. This is quite common in roleplaying games with these characters... they will have a massive HP counter it takes many rounds typically to whittle down and beat them when fighting them... but not when they join the player party. A prime example of this is Magus from Chrono Trigger, you fight him as a boss earlier in the game but if you go through the steps to recruit him his HP is similar to the rest of the party.
This isn't always explained well in universe either... like it never explains why Magus lost all his spells and you have to grind him back up, or why he had such massive HP when you fought him originally but only as much HP as the rest of your party after he joins.
I kind of feel like this deserves a trope page, I'm pretty sure there's other roleplaying games that do this, as well as anime... if memory serves, Gatomon from Digimon was kind of a badass before switching sides but not really stronger than the other Digimon allied to the Digidestined after.
Edited by Prismwind