How many active characters do you like in your RPGs?

[FantasiaWHT]

In older RPGs, 4 characters or even 5 fighting in one fight was common. Ever since Chrono Trigger, it seems, RPG developers are religiously attached to 3 characters and no more.

I'm just thinking of traditional, turn-based RPGs (or pseudo-real time, like the ATB system). Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, Lunar, etc. Not action RPG's (Diablo) or TBS's (Shining Force)

What's your favorite, and why?

[FantasiaWHT]

I like big parties! 4 is passable, but for some reason I always feel horribly cramped with only 3 characters. That was the only flaw of Chrono Trigger, for me. I love the 5-character parties in Lunar and FF IV!

[slip81]

the more the merrier! didn't one of the earlier Suikoden's have six to a party?

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Aussie2B]

I'm not a big fan of RPGs that only have one character through the whole game, and two is kinda so-so. I'm perfectly happy with three, though, but even more is fine too.

[Mianrtcv]

I voted for 4. I like 5, but at times thats seems crowded. I played pen and paper D&D in the early days of it with 5, ( Keep on the Borderlands was the 1 I think I played the earliest ).

5 was good on paper, 4 seems right to me on screen. Nice balance for each.

[LAGO]

the more the merrier! didn't one of the earlier Suikoden's have six to a party?

Suikoden 1 did. I'm not sure about two. I voted for five or more. I like the versatility it gives.

[AMG]

I'll voted for three here, feels like a good balance while playing.

[Kuros]

I've never really minded in most cases. However, large parties are fun. The Might and Magic series had some large parties. In number 2 and 3, you could have parties of up to 8, but you could have anywhere from 1 to 8.

[Daria]

5 or more. The more the better, especially in games that let you pick your party members. I like being able to fit all my favorite characters into the line-up.

One of my favorite battle systems was Breath of Fire 4. You had 6 to a party, three in front and three in back. When someone was badly wounded and near death you could rotate them to the 2nd row and a fresh warrior would take their place. Also nice if someone was alot weaker then the rest of the party, they could gain exp and levels but be immuned from death.

[ShenmueFan]

5 is the best because that makes for some extremely complicated battles if the game is designed properly. It also helps you learn each character's strengths/weaknesses much better because you use so many of them simultaneously.

Personally I think a lot of newer RPGs use only 3 characters because it's more than 2 (and how can you have an "epic" story with only two people at once, ya' know?) but not so high a number (as FOUR) that the game will have to be tweaked and play tested thoroughly to make sure players are getting challenged and entertained enough. Maybe less characters also saved the hardware in memory and CPU processing as well, especially on the PS1 where 3-member party RPGs thrived.

[goemon]

I like a large party, myself. I like to have each character excel at a certain thing, and creating synergy in the party is one of the fun parts of playing a long RPG. That's why I'm not a huge fan of games like FFIV, where your party keeps on changing and certain characters suddenly become useless. The multi-party sections of FFVI were incredible, though. Then there are games like Cielgris Fantasm where you can swap party members each turn, giving you a party that you can customise in mid-battle. (Didn't FFX have something like this? I haven't played that game in a few years.) Four can be a good number, though, so long as the members are consistant and can develop parallel to each other. FFIII and FFV are great examples of this. So, four or more for me, but I prefer if your members DON'T die or become otherwise unplayable in the middle of the game, FFIV!

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

I enjoy large parties. I'd love to see more create-a-character RPGs that allow eight people to be in a group.

[FantasiaWHT]

Some thoughts:

1. What games out there have only one or two characters? I can actually think of more 1-character than 2-character RPGs. The Beggar Prince is just one, and wasn't there a PS1 game with just you and a summon?

2. What I really don't like is games that limit the size of your party with no attempt at explanation. I look at the logic of trying to kill hundreds or thousands of monsters and I'd rather have all my friends fighting with me at the same time, no? The only game I can think of that even tried was Chrono Trigger (only 3 at a time can go through the time warp things. But even then, why not just have 3 go through and then take turns and the other 3 can go through?). This is one of the reasons I really DO like FF IV. Since the story dictated who was in your party, there was never a contrived reason for limiting the size of your party. In general, I think fixed parties maintain a stronger storyline- how do you justify all your party members coming along to keep the plot intact but only have a handful of them fighting?

3. I have ALWAYS wanted to see an RPG where the final fight you got to use all your party members. Some try with weird rotation techniques (FFVI), but want to see a game where you normally fight with 4-5 characters, but have a dozen characters to choose from, and the last fight you use all 12 simultaneously! You'd have to write a new battle engine just for the last fight, but I think it would be incredibly fun!

[kaedesdisciple]

Depends on the kind of RPG for me. If I'm playing a straight up turn-based RPG, 3 or 4 max. More than that and the random encounters just take too long for me. If I'm playing more of a strategy-based game like FFT where battles normally take longer, then at least 5 or 6 so I can create some real team strategies. I love throwing down the hammer with a well-tailored team in games like FFT or Tactics Ogre.

[diskoboy]

no more than 4.

[Trebuken]

Six is the magic number; and you need to ba able to summon creatures at least for the duration of a battle. I was brought up on Bard's Tale and the AD&D gold box games so that's what I have learned.

It seems important to me that Pen and Paper role-playing is far superior with five or six people than with three or four; which I was also trained on...true of MMORPG's as well...

[PDorr3]

After playing FFXII, and while it was a totaly awsome game, it felt a bit restrictive in the amount of party combos you could put together since you can only have 3 characters in a party at once (not counting occasional guests).

5 or more in a party at once has its perks too, but 4 works just fine for me.