History Main / OptionalPartymember

* Most characters in ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor''. You're guaranteed [[HelloInsertNameHere the main character]], Atsuro, Yuzu[[note]]Though if you take the Naoya path, she leaves.[[/note]], and whoever comes with [[MultipleEndings the path you take]]. Everyone else, up to five characters, is optional.

* The entire ''[[Franchise/SaGaRPG SaGa]]'' series of games (the ''Final Fantasy Legend'' trilogy, ''VideoGame/{{Romancing SaGa}}'', ''VideoGame/{{SaGa Frontier}}'', ''VideoGame/UnlimitedSaga'') are filled with optional characters you can recruit, often at almost any time during the plot.

** ''Ultima VII Part 2'' has three mandatory party members and a few GuestStarPartyMembers. Only Boydon can really be added, and he can't be resurrected if he dies. You do, however, gain the option to create automaton party members to carry extra gear.

* Not counting the early ''VideoGame/Ultima'' games where you create your own characters, and ''Ultima IV'' which requires a full party of 8, every Ultima between ''Ultima V'' and ''Ultima VII Part 2'' offered you a few optional choices in addition to the mandatory ones.
** ''Ultima V'' gives you Iolo and Shamino in your initial party, but you can ditch them at an inn if you wish. More than ten other characters can be chosen from for the remaining two slots, although [[SixthRangerTraitor [[spoiler:Saduj]]]] will turn on the party and make the game {{Unwinnable}}.

* In ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'''s ''Subspace Emissary'', every playable character in the game joins throughout the story, except for Wolf, Jigglypuff, and Toon Link, all of whom, like everyone, can be unlocked outside of Emissary by other means. To use them in ''Subspace Emissary'', hidden doors must be found in three levels.
** In fact, by the time you clear the "Entrance to Subspace" stage, ''everyone'' besides King Dedede, Luigi, Ness, Kirby, Sonic, and Bowser becomes optional party members -- you just need to collect their trophies during the subsequent two levels (Ganondorf, however, requires both Link and Zelda to be unlocked). And at the beginning of the game, Kirby has the choice of having either Peach or Zelda accompany him until "The Lake Shore" stage.

* The entire ''VideoGame/{{SaGa}}'' series of games (the ''Final Fantasy Legend'' trilogy, ''VideoGame/{{Romancing SaGa}}'', ''VideoGame/{{SaGa Frontier}}'', ''VideoGame/UnlimitedSaga'') are filled with optional characters you can recruit, often at almost any time during the plot.

* Nearly all the party members of PaladinsQuest and its sequel ''VideoGame/LennusII'' are recruitable mercenaries.

* Everyone except for the character you created at the beginning of the game in ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic VIII'', with only a short exception during one mutually exclusive pair of quests (where you need a specific party member you just recruited to find the access to the place where the quest-relevant object is) -- although in practice party members don't really start being optional until you hit Ravenshore (as that is the point when you start having more available characters than you have free slots in the party). Fortunately, any excess characters recruited just end up in the Adventurer's Inn, ready to be switched in if needed.

* Nearly all the party members of PaladinsQuest and its sequel LennusII are recruitable mercenaries.

The biggest problem with these characters is getting them can happen very late in the game. Although most games are kind enough have them [[LeakedExperience near the same level as your characters]], special skills or weapons that need to be built up are going to take a long time to get. In addition, since they're optional, the majority of the plot can't assume you have them. Thus they'll have less impact. If the game offers more than one of these, they may be MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers of whom you can only choose a limited number (possibly via some never-explained mechanic or minor choice several hours earlier).

* ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'' has several optional party members, but ComicBook/{{Blade}} is the oddest by far. He joins the party after you save him from a giant claw vending machine in [[AmusementParkOfDoom Murderworld]], but the real question is why he's there in the first place. He has no dealings with the park's operator Arcade--an Comicbook/{{X-Men}} villain--in the comics, and there's no explanation for his kidnapping in the game (he just blacked out and woke up there). Even when you fight Arcade, he makes no comment on kidnapping Blade at all. Even worse, he is outclassed by Deadpool in the SwordAndGun department.

*** Whether you acquire Okku or One of Many hinges on whether or not you use the Spirit-eater to consume Okku after defeating him. If you restrain your hunger, you will impress Okku and he'll join you. If you eat him, the pelt he leaves behind can be given to a [[MindHive conglomeration of spirits]] in the Plane of Shadow, which will allow them to assume physical form as One of Many.

Similar to the GuestStarPartyMember, the OptionalPartyMember is commonly either hacked into the party or used as part of a challenge. Sometimes they may be a JokeCharacter who isn't very useful but other times they may be one of the best characters in the game. They [[MagikarpPower might even]] [[LethalJokeCharacter be both]].

* Technically, everyone but Ramza is an OptionalPartyMember in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' as you can kick anyone out of the party at any point and even refuse them when they try to join up. The game has five actual optional characters (Cloud, Beowulf, Reis, Worker 8/Construct 8, and Byblos), and one more (Balthier) in the PSP version.

* ''VideoGame/BeyondTheBeyond'' has Tont, Lorelei and Percy. Tont is basically thrown into your lap, and Lorelai is easily missed. [[spoiler:Percy actually joins your party early on in the game, but doesn't return until much later under the guise of the Black Knight. To get him to rejoin, you have to actively avoid attacking him when he fights you.]]

* ''VideoGame/BeyondTheBeyond'' has Tont, Lorelai and Percy. Tont is basically thrown into your lap, and Lorelai is easily missed. [[spoiler:Percy actually joins your party early on in the game, but doesn't return until much later under the guise of the Black Knight. To get him to rejoin, you have to actively avoid attacking him when he fights you.]]

* Virtually every NPC in ''VideoGame/RadiataStories'' can be recruited into the party in some manner. You end with a cast rivaling Suikoden in size, filling your party with the entire ranks of every guild, most townsfolk, and a number of monster characters.

* In ''VideoGame/PuzzleQuest: Challenge Of The Warlords'', Only three of your potential nine party members are mandatory - Darkhunter, Khalkus, and Sunspear. You'll meet Flicker, Winter, and Elistara along the course of the story and can recruit them via side-missions. Princess Seraphine, Drong, and Patch require side-missions to find at all. If you follow the Plague Lord quest from the [[IOSGames iPhone]] version or the ''Plague Lords'' expansion, Galnoth the Dark Elf will join you (or rather, you'll force him to join you). You're also not obliged to have anyone actually in your party for the vast majority of the time, and if you make the wrong choices you can get Darkhunter to abandon you forever near the end.

** Fawkes is required for part of VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}, but soon leaves

* [[spoiler:Death's Hand]] from VideoGame/JadeEmpire. [[spoiler:After he is defeated, [[PlayerCharacter the Spirit Monk]] has the option to bind his soul, thus gaining him as a party member.]]

* VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor had Ms. Mowz as an unlockable character if you solved her trouble. She joins you permanently.

** You can optionally recruit Shadow at certain points in the first half of the game, but he'd always leave your party sooner or later, sometimes even randomly after a battle. He does join your party for two plot-related events though. In the second half of the game [[spoiler: he can only be found again if you waited for him on the FloatingContinent. If you did, you can recruit him permanently from that point forward.]]

** However, the only time where that character is obviously missing is in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]'': No dark magic users are available until the NewGamePlus, despite dark magic tomes being available. [[spoiler: And that dark magic user? None other than ''Pelleas'', who as said above can only be saved from the Blood Pact in a NewGamePlus.]]
** In [[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade]], the first of only two recruitable Dark magic users in the game, Canas, joins in one of the Gaiden chapters. The only other recruitable party member capable of using Dark magic is [[TheRedMage the extremely versatile archsage Athos]], [[EleventhHourRanger but he only joins in the very final chapter]], and the players pick up a lot of Dark magic tomes before then.
** Similarly, in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon]]'' (a remake of the first game in the series) the only character who is a dark mage by default is available only in a Gaiden chapter more than halfway through the game (said chapter requires the player to kill off most playable characters to access. Of course, in this game, most characters can switch classes, but almost no one one else is actually designed to be a dark mage.

** Many party members in ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' can in fact even be missed. Some of them have to be recruited by talking to them (And won't attack) or they have to be found in a village.

* In the ''[[VideoGame/DotHackGUGames .hack//]]'' series of games, following plot points in The World's Message board -- especially those related to finding rare quest items -- will often reward the player with the poster of said messages as recruitable allies. Examples include Natsume, Sanjuro and Gardenia.

** Not even the remake of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEchoesShadowsOfValentia'', is free of this. Outta the Ram villagers only two of them (Gray and Tobin) join Alm no matter what; the other two, Faye and Kliff, can stay put (and if this is done, they will only join in if the player makes Celica go outta her way to recruit them in Ram). The Whitewings and Atlas will not join in if the player goes to a certain place rather than another (though they might be re-recruitable later). Last but not least, one cannot recruit Sonya ''and'' Deen at the same time: it's either one or another.

* Due to how ''FireEmblem'' games work, all but a handful of cast have no dialogue after they are introduced. They can die forever without affecting the plot, and you can miss them entirely without noticing.
** However, the only time where that character is obviously missing is in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]'': No dark magic users are available until the NewGamePlus, despite dark magic tomes being available.
** In [[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem 7]], the first of only two recruitable Dark magic users in the game, Canas, joins in one of the Gaiden chapters. The only other recruitable party member capable of using Dark magic is [[TheRedMage the extremely versatile archsage Athos]], [[EleventhHourRanger but he only joins in the very final chapter]], and you pick up a lot of Dark magic tomes before then.
** Similarly, in ''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon'' (a remake of the first game in the series) the only character who is a dark mage by default is available only in a Gaiden chapter more than halfway through the game (said chapter requires you to kill off most playable characters to access. Of course, in this game, most characters can switch classes, but almost no one one else is actually designed to be a dark mage.

** Many party members in ''Fire Emblem'' can in fact even be missed. Some of them have to be recruited by talking to them (And won't attack) or they have to be found in a village.
** In Path of Radiance, it's possible to turn down Heron Prince Reyson's offer to join you. You'd have to be a total idiot to do so however, as not only is Reyson ''incredibly'' useful, but you also miss out on two other characters (his bodyguards) AND you're forced to fight an incredibly tough boss in the next chapter. (Reyson can talk him out of fighting you) All you get out of refusing him is a Renewal scroll, which is [[UselessUsefulSpell practically useless.]] (And in the Japanese version, it actually ''was'' useless, as the only two characters compatible with it already knew the skill.)
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' takes this to extremes, with the majority of the cast being technically optional. Donnel and Anna are only found in optional missions, but recruiting them requires more than simply completing their sidequests. Gaius, Tharja and Libra can all be killed off in battle before you can recruit them. Kellam can be missed if you don't talk to him in the early chapter where you first encounter him. Then there's the [[spoiler:children characters]] who are recruited through side missions you may not even unlock. And ''then'' there's the [[spoiler:[=SpotPass=] characters]] who only appear in optional missions near the end of the game if you download certain content.
*** There are also a number of characters from previous games who can be recruited via [=SpotPass=], though they have no support options (and are completely devoid of any real dialogue at all outside of parley and combat with them), and in order to recruit them, you need to either spend hard-earned money or defeat them and their squad in combat.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' there are plenty of characters that are this trope: Anna is only recruitable through DLC, the amiibo characters can only be gotten if you, well, [[ShapedLikeItself use their amiibo]], certain characters can only be gotten if certain buildings or structures are upgraded all the way in your fortress (and often those characters are ''only'' available in certain paths), Mozu is found in an optional mission, and, like ''Awakening'', [[spoiler: children characters]] are recruited through side missions you might not even unlock. And in ''Birthright'', Midori is a particularly special case of this [[spoiler:as you have to have Kaze up to an A-support with the Avatar ''before'' chapter 15, or else he will die and Midori becomes [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]], regardless of whether he's married or not.]] Two others also are particularly special: [[spoiler:Kana and possibly Nina will be lost if the female or male Avatars exercise their respective {{Gay Option}}s, Rhajat and Niles.]]

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' there are plenty of characters that are this trope: Anna is only recruitable through DLC, the amiibo characters can only be gotten if you, well, [[ShapedLikeItself use their amiibo]], certain characters can only be gotten if certain buildings or structures are upgraded all the way in your fortress (and often those characters are ''only'' available in certain paths), Mozu is found in an optional mission, and, like ''Awakening'', [[spoiler: children characters]] are recruited through side missions you might not even unlock. And in ''Birthright'', Midori is a particularly special case of this [[spoiler: as you have to have Kaze up to an A-support with the Avatar ''before'' chapter 15, or else he will die and Midori becomes LostForever, regardless of whether he's married or not.]] Two others also are particularly special: [[spoiler: Kana and possibly Nina will be LostForever if the female or male Avatars exercise their respective {{Gay Option}}s, Rhajat and Niles.]]

* ''ShiningForce II: The Sword of Hajya'' had a small handful of these, one of which was hidden ''in the most obscure possible place'': the third bottom pillar on the right of the entrance to the throne room in a specific mission. You attempt to talk to the pillar, and out pops, not a {{ninja}} (that would make too much sense), but a ''samurai''. Seriously.
** The ''Franchise/ShiningSeries'' does this a lot. In ''VideoGame/ShiningForceIII: Scenario 1'' for example they do the same ninja trick, twice in Part 1. If you're Japanese and lucky enough to own all three parts of the game the decisions you make in the other parts affects which characters you gain in all parts, which becomes a massive mess of carefully setting it up in one part just encase you want them in the next. If you're not Japanese you can still go to all the trouble but gain none of the reward.
** Again in ''Videogame/ShiningTheHolyArk'' Doyle, the kick-ass Werewolf Ninja that helped you out and stalked you at the beginning of the game can be found pretending to be a tree in the first village near the middle of the game.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' it's not necessary to recruit both Wrex and Garrus, as the player can proceed with the game after recruiting one and leave the other behind. Similarly, in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' the player can progress to the endgame after recruiting Tali, Thane or Samara, skipping the other two characters entirely, and it's possible to either sell Legion to Cerberus and/or not wake Grunt from his tank. That's not counting DLC characters Zaeed and Kasumi.

** In the 3rd game you can turn both Tali and Ashley / Kaidan down when they offer to rejoin. [[spoiler: Or, alternatively, get them killed.]] Garrus has to join you if he's alive, but you can do something about that in the second game. You can also pass up Javik by not doing his mission, though as with Kasumi and Zaeed, it's unlikely a player would buy a DLC pack and deliberately not use the content.
** The interesting result of all these shenanigans is that there are only three characters who actually can be recruited in all three games, and with careful maneuvering you can actually set it up so that [[RevolvingDoorCasting none of them are with you from start to finish]]. In fact, you can play the series with certain characters simply not appearing at all (Samara, Thane and Wrex are good candidates). And again, [[SerialEscalation this is before DLC kicks in]]. Furthermore, through a [[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Koveras_Alvane/The_Deadliest_Path series of careful choices]] (and rushing through the main quest), it is possible to kill off ''every single permanent and temporary squad mate'' from all three games, including [=DLCs=] (well, except Aria but [[spoiler:she is on the Citadel when the Reapers take it, so she is probably dead, too]]).

[[quoteright:330:[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/optional_party_member.jpg]]]]