The Ideal Size of a Party

by Gabriel Putnam

Two’s a party, three’s a crowd? Well, this may not always be the case; especially in RPGs. Throughout their development, one of the hallmarks of RPGs has been some form of adventuring party, which was gathered over the course of the game, and then developed through character interaction and plot points among the members. However, the total size of this group, and the dynamic which evolved among its cast, has never been a concept set in stone. From their earliest evolution with the original Dragon Warrior, where a lone hero traveled the land, to our more modern days of gaming, where titles such as Chrono Cross and Suikoden have given us casts of 50-100, RPGs have explored a huge range of possibilities for party composition and size, with varied results throughout. For the rest of this editorial, I will examine a selection of the compositions which have been used, taking specific examples from applicable games, and discuss what has worked within each of these concepts and what could have been improved upon.

As a natural starting point for this exercise, lets first look at the granddaddy of RPG gaming, Dragon Warrior/Quest. Nearly 17 years old at this point, Dragon Warrior was originally release for the Famicom system, and then later, the Nintendo when it arrived in North America. At the time, much of its design was probably driven by the industry of its time. The single character, adventure concept would have been both easy to conceptualize as well as simple to program. For a small startup like Enix, this would have represented a huge boon of time investment and programming skill, as they were attempting to create relatively complicated software, long before our modern era of compilers, bulk code, and standardization. This isn’t to say that the single character model is inherently flawed or inferior, however. In fact, with the proper investment of time and writing, which I will cover later, a truly engaging story can be written around the exploits of a single person. Unfortunately, though, Dragon Warrior wasn’t quite to this level of perfection. Its story was a hackneyed affair at best, cobbled together from bits and pieces of romanticist literature, and supported throughout by weak and poorly conceived dialog between the hero and NPC’s. However, all of this pales beside the simple fact that it was first. It opened a genre which further titles in years to come were free to expand upon.

One of the next great steps in the development of party mechanics was the creation of the original Final Fantasy. In one fell swoop, Final Fantasy introduced both the concepts of a multiple character party, as well as player customization of the group. Of course, none of these ideas were particularly novel concepts to anyone who had played a pen and paper RPG prior to its release, however, it was a first for console gaming and initiated a number of trends which have stayed with us for years to come. One of the most prevalent of these concepts has been the ideal battle size. Concentrated between three and five active participants in a battle or on the field, the general dynamic of combat has remained relatively unchanged over the span of time from Final Fantasy’s release till now. Partially, this is due to the simple mechanics which tend to drive RPG combat. Due to limitations of time, and an ordered system of turns, it was necessary to limit the number of participants in a combat so that they could actually be resolved. Beyond groups four or five, battle lengths could easily spiral out of control as greater quantities of foes were required to oppose a player’s progress. As was mentioned previously, Final Fantasy was also one of the first games to explore player customizable parties. Selectable from a group of six general character archetypes, players were free to mix and match to fill the four spots in their party however they chose. One of the main problems with this setup, however, was that dialog and story could not be written for each of the characters individually. Instead, all background had to refer to the “light warriors” in a general sense. Throughout the course of play, though, many people found that their characters took on personalities simply through the player’s choices and actions with the group. The myth of the invincible black mage, the less than bright fighter, and the caring, but questionably female, white mage all were personalities given to the group’s members as reflections of their performance in combat, their physical appearance in the game, or simply as extensions of the player’s own personality.

One of the next big developments in RPGs came with the creation of a broad cast of unique characters. This was partially present in Dragon Warrior II, as it introduced a group of three heroes who traveled the land. However, due to its breadth of story, wider cast of characters, and a personal bias for the title, the main thrust of discussion in this section will be with regards to Final Fantasy IV. This title was where many gamers first saw the true potential behind RPGs and began to believe that they could actually be an effective medium for interactive storytelling. Much of this revelation was due to the simple way in which Final Fantasy IV’s party dynamic was organized. In general, it was composed of a variable combat party size, which never climbed above a maximum of five, and featured a wide cast of rotating potential characters. More importantly, thought, each of these characters were highly unique, featured extensive dialog and plot development, and tended to have a distinct personality. This meant that although there were close to 15 playable characters, each of them received their time in the sun, played an important part in the overall story arc, and were remembered for quirks or attributes unique to their character. Some of the most effective of these were Tellah’s inability to cast spells due to memory loss, the weak and highly ineffective bard, and the constant antics (in battle and out) of the twins from Mysidia.

After Final Fantasy IV, the next step in the evolution of party dynamics was nearly assured. Instead of having a rotating cast of characters, who’s stories only crossed at particular points, why not allow the player to chose which members they used and create their own story? A valid concept, and through it, quality titles such as Chrono Trigger and many of the later day Final Fantasy as well as Dragon Warriors have been created. Taking Chrono Trigger as an example piece, these games present a wealth of possibilities, as they allow a player to explore whatever aspect of the plot or character design most interests him. By selecting a particular group, players could reveal select bits of dialog between characters, they could release powerful combination attacks among members, and they could see the effects of major story arc points in the different reactions of their cast of choice. Chrono Trigger was probably the ideal evolution of this concept, as can be seen by its widespread popularity, since it encompassed all of these concepts to a large degree. In addition, the level of interaction between characters was quite high and many combinations even produced significantly, unique or extra bits of dialog which helped to flesh out backgrounds or history. Also, the number of potential choices of characters wasn’t so staggering as to make the combinations insurmountable. With only 6 standard characters, and one bonus member, a sufficiently limited number of options were available to allow for truly unique dialog rather than just minor tweaks or changes in expression. Due to its success early success, this basic party mechanic has become a staple in our modern era of gaming, since titles such as the Breath of Fire series, the modern Final Fantasy’s, and a plethora of less well known epics have all borrowed it.

One of the final party design concepts which I will discuss is a relatively modern trend. Beginning in the era of the Playstation, RPGamers have begun to see an increasing number of titles in which the total cast for the game is immense; a factor of five or more larger than previous titles. Some examples of this trend are the Suikoden series, in which literally a hundred or more characters can be recruited and used, the popular sequel to Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, which contained a cast of nearly 40+, and one of the most popular strategy epics, Final Fantasy Tactics, which included a cast of nearly 20 unique characters as well as hosts of faceless cannon fodder. Each of these games has started down a new road, in which interaction among characters is beginning to lose focus, and the overall story arc is moving to the forefront. In the case of Final Fantasy Tactics and Chrono Cross, however, this transition is handled with only limited success, as vestiges of character interaction are still attempting to be maintained among a throng of potential choices. Within these games, the choice of party members becomes almost a mute point, as the abilities and skills of the entire cast are nearly uniform throughout. In fact, this choice becomes even easier as there are usually two or three exceptional characters among the pack, which then relegates the extra 30 some odd choices to a background or experimental status. For example, once T.G. Cid was obtained in Final Fantasy Tactics, who would ever choose another character over his spot in the lineup except to promote difficulty. With the addition of Ramsus, who was nearly a given, this left only a few meager spots to fill, which basically relegated the rest of the party to questing and cooling their heels, as there was simply no way for them to compete on a scale of power. In the case of Chrono Cross, this dynamic became even worse, since all 40+ of your characters were superficially identical. Sure, a few of them might have five more points of magic, or a little bit more strength, but in the end they all delivered basically the same damage potential at day’s end. Even worse, however, there was almost no dynamic among party members. Few of the party members beyond the core group of six had anything to contribute to the story beyond their wallflower appeal. Why did you bring along a talking flower and a foppy kid with a boomerang? Because they’re useful? No, because they look cool and you need to collect them to complete your set. The game almost takes on a Pokemon feel (which is an entire essay unto itself) where characters stop being people and instead are transformed into baseball cards. Not the most ideal situation from a story development aspect.

In general, there are really only three types of party dynamics which I believe truly work. These general concepts are the lone hero, the fixed rotation party (such as FFIV), and the player directed rotation party (with preferably 10 or less members) One of the common threads which links all of these setups is that they must be composed of unique characters. Whether it be a single hero who explores the world at leisure and has every aspect of his design explored, or a close knit group of 8 or so, who’s cross-talk forms the backbone of the story and development, the party must employ a small number of members who each have something unique and special to contribute. Personally, of these three designs, I also favor the story driven rotation system, as I believe it offers the greatest control for the story designer, and for a similar level of effort, would result in a more cohesive and engaging epic. However, if a company were truly motivated, I believe that a limited player rotation scheme could eventually surpass this design, as it could entail huge swaths of custom plot, player driven character interaction, and a party dynamic of vast proportions.