One other example: Final Fantasy 2.
If you follow the obvious strategy of wearing the strongest (and heaviest) armor available, and you don't bother with shields, the game harshly punishes you, but not right away. No, the game waits until later to make the game incredibly frustrating. Basically, what will happen later in the game is as follows:
* Enemies ambush you, getting a free round of attacks before you get to enter commands.
* After you enter your commands for the following round of combat, the enemies again get a round of attacks before your characters get to act. (This is 2 rounds of attacks from the enemies before you get to act.)
* If you try to run away, it is guaranteed to fail, so you have to fight every single battle.
* Some enemies (especially later in the game) will steal HP equal to a portion of your Max HP with every hit. Your armor will not protect against this, and your high HP will make you take more damage, increasing the burden on your healers and making you spend more time and MP on healing. Also, this mechanic can easily result in deaths; perhaps even game overs before your party even gets to act.
If, of course, you give everyone shields and don't bother with armor, then the situation reverses:
* You ambush the enemies. That's one free round of attacks (and IIRC a round where running away is guaranteed, but I am not sure about that).
* In the following round, you again attack before the enemies do, which is sometimes enough to finish the battle without any enemies getting a chance to act.
* Running away is guaranteed except for those formations that are flagged as non-escapable.
* The HP draining enemies are *significantly* less dangerous; you can dodge most of the hits, so they will steal far fewer HP than they would otherwise.
So, essentially, the game punishes you harshly, but not for a while, for using what new players would consider a sensible strategy.