History Main / MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', it is impossible to have both Odin and Gilgamesh. If you get Odin before the end of disc 3, he is replaced by Gilgamesh during the battle against Seifer. If you wait until disc 4 to get Odin, Gilgamesh is lost.

** One unique case that's only accessible after [[NewGamePlus a few playthroughs]] is Darque and [[spoiler:Aldora]]. In this case, it's {{Justified}} as [[spoiler:they're two souls sharing a body, and the only way to recruit Aldora is to help along her SplitPersonalityTakeover]].

* In ''{{Odium}}'', if you go into an optional side-area to recruit Slavsky, one of your teammates, Medusa, goes insane first and must be killed. Technically, that's also ArbitraryHeadcountLimit in play, since having both Medusa and Slavsky would exceed your limit of 5 members.

* In ''[[VideoGame/QuestForGlory Quest For Glory V: Dragonfire]]'', you can bring back Erana or Katrina from the dead. Both are Arch-mages. Erana sacrificed her life to save the world. Katrina was a villain, or at best a WellIntentionedExtremist running on BlueAndOrangeMorality and bad advice... On the other hand, she sacrificed her life to save you.

* Subverted in ''SepterraCore'' you can recruit all the possible characters, but if you try to put Selina & Corgan or Led & Lobo in the same party, they'll occasionally shoot at each other instead of the enemy. However you can do a sidequest to befriend them.

* In a series which is famous for encouraging you to recruit everyone you can, ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}} [[VideoGame/SuikodenII II]]'' comes with a few examples. The first is when you are asked to choose between Valeria and Kasumi, both of whom are returning characters from the first game who the player would probably love to have on their side for continuity's sake. The second comes when you are given two Listening Crystals. These allow you to recruit monsters. You only get the two, and there's four choices of monsters, one of whom isn't even a Star of Destiny.
* A somewhat unusual example in ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfMana Legend of Mana]]'': If you complete the Matilda/Irwin arc, you reach a point where you must fight either [[CatGirl Daena]] or [[KnightTemplar Escad]] with the help of the other. Though you can bring either one along with you for most of the arc up to that point and switch freely, the one you fight is KilledOffForReal and is LostForever. (In fact, it's possible for ''both'' characters to be LostForever, but it will always be at least one of the two.)

Many games, especially RolePlayingGames, allow you to [[OptionalPartyMember recruit characters that have little]] [[CanonShadow or no bearing on the plot.]] For some games, you can recruit all of these characters if you want.

* ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublicII:''

* In the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'' story mode, one of the first battles has Kirby decide whether to rescue [[TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]] or [[SuperMarioBros Peach]] from a giant Piranha Plant. The saved character travels with you for the next couple of matches, but eventually, the two story paths merge.

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicII:''

* In ''[[SoulSeries Soul Calibur 3's]]'' Chronicles of the Sword mode, there are 2 sets of 2 party members that will join you after defeat at the end of the level, with the first one of the pair that is defeated joining the party. One interesting effect of this is that when a character joins, you unlock their customization items, requiring the mode be beaten at least twice to get all the items.

* In ''Aveyond 2'', you cannot recruit both [[WhiteMage Nicolas]] and [[BlackMage Gavin]].

* ''ChronoCross'', with its LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, has a few examples: Early in the game there are three ways to sneak into Viper Manor, each of which nets you a different party member. Immediately afterwards, you can acquire one of two groups of party members depending on whether you choose to save Kid or not. However, through the use of NewGamePlus, it was possible to get everyone on the team at once.
* In ''[[DragonAge Dragon Age: Origins]]'', Alistair will leave your party if you spare and recruit [[spoiler:Teyrn Loghain.]]

* ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublicII:''

* For the penultimate boss battle in ''NeverwinterNights2,'' [[spoiler:Sand or Qara will join the enemy]], depending on how high your [[RelationshipValues influence]] is with the former. If the former stays with you, the latter will not due to their mutual antagonism.

* The ''{{Pokemon}}'' series is replete with this trope when it comes to its Mons. Breeding and trading with other players notwithstanding:

* In ''[[QuestForGlory Quest For Glory V: Dragonfire]]'', you can bring back Erana or Katrina from the dead. Both are Arch-mages. Erana sacrificed her life to save the world. Katrina was a villain, or at best a WellIntentionedExtremist running on BlueAndOrangeMorality and bad advice... On the other hand, she sacrificed her life to save you.
* In ''RadiataStories'', which party members you get depends on whether you side with the humans or the nonhumans.

* Prevalent in the ''BaldursGate'' games. Characters of wildly disparate alignments will sometimes snipe and argue through dialogue at certain points, growing more and more hostile until you're forced to choose which one to keep aboard. Fail to make a choice and combat will break out until one or the other is dead. Fortunately, it's fairly easy to figure out which party members will have this reaction, and you'll often have the option of refusing someone into the party if someone on your team objects.
* In ''UltimaIV'', who can or can't join you depends on the class you chose at the start-if you chose a Mage, Mariah the Mage can't join your 8-person gang because it can't have 2 Mages.
* In ''RomancingSaGa'', you can't have Albert and Diana at the same time. The two of them are constantly looking for each other, having been seperated during [[spoiler:the fall of Isthmus Keep]], and short of exploiting a glitch with a [[GuideDangIt very specific set of steps]], it's impossible to reunite them in your party.

* In a series which is famous for encouraging you to recruit everyone you can, ''{{Suikoden}} [[SuikodenII II]]'' comes with a few examples. The first is when you are asked to choose between Valeria and Kasumi, both of whom are returning characters from the first game who the player would probably love to have on their side for continuity's sake. The second comes when you are given two Listening Crystals. These allow you to recruit monsters. You only get the two, and there's four choices of monsters, one of whom isn't even a Star of Destiny.
* A somewhat unusual example in ''[[WorldOfMana Legend of Mana]]'': If you complete the Matilda/Irwin arc, you reach a point where you must fight either [[CatGirl Daena]] or [[KnightTemplar Escad]] with the help of the other. Though you can bring either one along with you for most of the arc up to that point and switch freely, the one you fight is KilledOffForReal and is LostForever. (In fact, it's possible for ''both'' characters to be LostForever, but it will always be at least one of the two.)

* In ''DungeonsAndDragons'', [[LovecraftLite Binders]] can't bind [[SummonMagic Amon]] and Leraje at the same time for unknown reasons.

* The ''FireEmblem'' series does this from time to time.

** Just after the halfway point of ''SuikodenV'', you can access a rather difficult bonus dungeon that upon completion nets you the very MysteriousWaif Eresh. If you do not recruit her, then at the very end of the game, you can recruit [[spoiler: Euram Barrows]] to occupy that position in the 108 stars of destiny.

* ''{{Majesty}}'' does this with unit types, specifically the non-human races, and the various temples and their priests. If you recruit one of the non-human races, you can't get the others unless the mission starts you with more than one of them already (elves think dwarves are uncouth, dwarves think elves are snooty and corrupt, and both look down on the gnomes). Also, while there are numerous gods, some hate each other so building the temple of one will lock out two or three others - or in the case of the barbarian war god, all of the others. Then again, the barbarian god's "priests" and only spell are so powerful it's sometimes very worth it.

* In ''MassEffect2'', [[spoiler:during Samara's loyalty mission,]] if your have a high enough Paragon or Renegade score, you can choose to recruit [[spoiler:Morinth.]] However, doing so causes [[spoiler:Samara]] to be killed off, while [[spoiler:choosing to help Samara]] prevents you from recruiting the other character.
** Also, there is a reverse example in ''MassEffect1'' where [[spoiler:you have to choose one team member to die, and cannot save both.]]
*** Said party member returns in ''Mass Effecct 3''.

* In ''TalesOfSymphonia'', there is precisely one dungeon during which you can use both Kratos and Zelos at the same time, after which Kratos leaves (again). Later on, there is a way to have Kratos join your team for good, but Zelos will leave the party before Kratos joins.

* For the penultimate boss battle in ''NeverwinterNights2,'' [[spoiler:Sand or Qara will join the enemy]], depending on how high your [[RelationshipValues influence]] is with the former. If the former joins you, the latter will not due to their mutual antagonism.
* In ''NeverwinterNights2: Mask of the Betrayer'', One Of Many can only be created by using [[spoiler:Okku's]] dead body.

However, in some games it is not possible to have all playable characters on your team. Maybe recruiting [[ElvesVsDwarves Eve the Elf prevents Dave the Dwarf from joining]], or maybe asking that [[StaffChick cute cleric]] to join your cause makes [[BlackMage that badass sorceror]] leave the party. It could even just be that the [[KnightInShiningArmor heroic knight]] is found on a different path than the [[PirateGirl cool pirate chick]]. Whatever the reason, the game forbids certain characters from being in the party at the same time, requiring you to boot one out in order to get the other or know ahead of time which of the two you want. Sometimes the exclusivity is limited to a single playthrough, and it is possible to use a NewGamePlus to go back and acquire the other character (ultimately having both). Other times, the game will ''never'' allow the two to be together without the use of a cheating device.

** During one battle in ''Gaiden'' there are two bosses, Sonia and Deen. After you defeat one of these bosses, the battle will end, and the other boss becomes available for recruitment.

* In ''StarOceanTheSecondStory'', there are several examples of this.

* In ''{{Odium}}'', if you go into an optional side-area to recruit Slavsky, one of your teammates, Medusa, goes insane first and must be killed. Technically, that's also ArbitraryHeadcountLimit in play, since having both Medusa and Slavsky would exceed your limit of 5 members.

* In ''{{Ultima}} IV'', who can or can't join you depends on the class you chose at the start-if you chose a Mage, Mariah the Mage can't join your 8-person gang because it can't have 2 Mages.

** One unique case that's only accessable after [[NewGamePlus a few playthroughs]] is Darque and [[spoiler:Aldora]]. In this case, it's {{Justified}} as [[spoiler:they're two souls sharing a body, and the only way to recruit Aldora is to help along her SplitPersonalityTakeover]].

* ''Knights Of The Old Republic II:''

** Siblings Bethany and Carver are mutually exclusive at the beginning of ''DragonAgeII'', and one will be shot down by SchrodingersGun. At the end, [[spoiler:Anders and Sebastian become mutually exclusive. If you refuse to kill Anders, Sebastian will not only leave the party, but promise to raise an army against Kirkwall.]]

** Siblings Bethany and Carver are mutually exclusive at the beginning of ''DragonAgeII'', and one will be shot down by SchrodingersGun. At the end, [[spoiler:Anders and Sebastian become mutually exclusive - if you refuse to kill Anders, Sebastian will not only leave the party, but promise to raise an army against Kirkwall.]]

** Siblings Bethany and Carver are mutually exclusive at the beginning of ''DragonAgeII'', and one will be shot down by SchrodingersGun. At the end, [[spoiler:Anders and Sebastian become mutually exclusive]].

** Also, there is a reverse example in the first ''MassEffect'' where [[spoiler:you have to choose one team member to die, and cannot save both.]]