History Main / PlayerCharacterCalculus

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', the predecessor to ''Cross'', also has a three-character party and a more manageable roster of six plus one secret character. It's actually a plot point that you can't use more than three characters at once, as trying to time-travel with more brings them to the End of Time.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' is not shy of this as well. For most of the game, you control a four-man team comprised of Noctis, Ignis, Prompto and Gladiolus, with your occasional GuestCharacter tagging along, and many sections where the main four are separated.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' has room for five party members, though the slots empty or fill as the plot progresses. The only constant is Cecil.

* The original ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'' allowed you to bring into battle up to ten out of 30 members of your platoon. The PSP remake ranges from anywhere between three and ''twelve'' depending on where you are fighting, and increased the size of Denam's army to ''a whopping fifty''.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series let you roam on your own in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''. Sometimes, characters would follow you, but in ''Daggerfall'', they were just icons in the top-left corner of the screen, while in ''Morrowind'', they tended to [[ArtificialStupidity get lost or meet untimely and messy ends]].

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' and ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' allowed the player to bring hirelings along, mostly as rewards for advancing faction-specific storylines, but ''Skyrim'' also lets you hire mercenaries with gold.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series let you roam on your own in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''. Sometimes, characters would follow you, but in ''Daggerfall'', they were just icons in the top-left corner of the screen, while in ''Morrowind'', they tended to [[ArtificialStupidity get lost or meet untimely and messy ends]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Nox}}'', you always control Jack and that's about it. At predetermined points of the story, various characters follow him around but you can neither control, nor equip them in any way.
* In ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'', you control Geralt the eponymous witcher. In certain levels, several [=NPCs=] will follow him around and fight enemies together with him, but otherwise he is on his own.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'' went from "Three heroes" to "One hero plus summon-support characters".

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series let their player characters hire help at certain points but they were fully expected to finish the game on their own. ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fallout2}}'' allows the player to have as many companions as their Charisma score allows. The Creator/{{Bethesda}} games (''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout3}} 3]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout4}} 4]]'') allows the player have one sentient (human, robot, or mutant) companion (and made to switch them out if they want to go along with another) and a PostApocalypticDog called "Dogmeat".

* ''VideoGame/GoldenLand'' revolves around a single hero who is occasionally joined by story-relevant [=NPCs=] and can hire two cohorts (a Norse ActionGirl and a bogatyr-for-hire at the local inn).

* Ragnar's and Taloon's chapter in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' had them going solo, but Ragnar could enlist a Healslime to assist him and Taloon could hire mercenaries to join him temporarily.
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' goes between this and "Four Heroes" -- the maximum number of characters who can be deployed at once is four, though one of them [[CantDropTheHero must be the player character]]. The game could be played solo (especially with the Lone Wolf trait) as technically, recruiting any other characters is optional.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' is, for the most part, a purely solo adventure with one of the three characters. However, there are some occasions in which other [[GuestStarPartyMember temporary party members]] will join them. (Hercules, Zack, Prince Phillip, Mickey, even the other two characters)
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' as well in the campaign. The single player campaign has a limit of only Roxas, and he is ''occasionally'' assisted with an Organization member (Everyone except Xemnas and Saïx)

* Similar to ''D:OS'', ''VideoGame/{{Overfall}}'' lets you create two fully customizable playable characters at the start of the game ([[GuysSmashGirlsShoot a male fighter and a female cleric]] by default) and recruit [=NPCs=] into your party later on.

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' features Neku and his playable partner. The game fits into this trope because Neku and his partner are controlled at the same time - Neku on the bottom screen, and his partner on the top screen.

* ''VideoGame/{{Journey}}'' can be played solo offline, but the default online mode is a two-player online co-op, where you're dynamically matched with another PSN player currently at roughly the same stage of the journey. If you walk too far apart, you will be matched with another player, identifiable only by their different symbol.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarezBoundInBlood'' is a weird example, falling somewhere between here and 1+1: you can choose to play either as Thomas or as Ray--but only between missions, not during them, while whoever you didn't pick follows you as a NonPlayerCompanion for that mission.

* ''VideoGame/{{Drakan}}'' is a rare example with a non-humanoid NonPlayerCompanion: while you control the Lone Heroine Rynn throughout the game, she is accompanied by a dragon named Arokh who is essential to beating the game but cannot follow Rynn into dungeons.

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' lets the player recruit an entire PlayerParty (after the first planet) but only one of them can accompany the PC at any time. Their help is pretty much essential in beating the solo campaigns, although much less so in the post-endgame content.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'', the player controls the title character and is tasked with [[EscortMission guiding and protecting Yorda]]. She is essential to bypassing stone doors and saving the game.

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' and ''[[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords The Sith Lords]]'' allow up to two party members to follow the PC at any time, while the rest [[LazyBackup wait on the ship]].
* The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series likewise allows two party members to follow Shepard. The first game even expects the player to complement Shepard's [[FighterMageThief firepower, biotic, or tech]] focus with appropriately specialized companions.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series:
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'' upped the party from the original to three.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' in Alena's chapter.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' allowed you to build a large pool of party members by introducing the ability to recruit monsters, but you could only use three at a time in battle, oddly lower than what you could field in the previous two games. The remakes of the game bumped the party size to four however.
** ''Videogame/DragonQuestMonsters''.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Avadon}}'' games have a ''Mass Effect''-style system, where your [[CharacterCustomization customizable protagonist]] can take along two other characters (from a pool of 4 or 5) on missions outside of the fortress of Avadon.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsDreamDropDistance'' are the only games in the series that fit into this, everything else fits into the "optional cohorts". Though even Dream Drop Distance can fit into "optional cohorts", as technically one can opt ''not'' to put any dream eaters, but this is more of a [[DevelopersForesight case of the dev team thinking of everything]].

* ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarezTheCartel'', similarly to ''Bound in Blood'', lets you pick one of ''three'' protagonists to play in a particular mission, while the other two follow you around.

* ''VideoGame/UltimaIII'' was the first game in the series to feature a PlayerParty, and it had a headcount limit of four.
* All ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' installments since ''VI'' (except ''VIII'') featured four-person player-created parties.

* ''VideoGame/GrandiaII'' limits the party to four heads, with Ryudo being the only constant member and circumstances contriving to remove old party members to make room for new hires at predetermined plot points.

* The standard in most ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games. Used in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'', ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' (starting with the Hero's chapter), ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' (only in the remakes), ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'', ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'', ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX''.

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' allows you (with proper upgrades) to bring up to three homies with you. These can be either named [=NPCs=] (who are often {{Required Party Member}}s on story missions) or disposable RedShirts you order to follow you on the streets.
* ''Videogame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' and ''Videogame/{{PAYDAY 2}}'' are meant for four-player online co-op, but the offline play lets the player choose one member of the eponymous Payday gang and play him, while the other three are controlled by the AI.

* ''Videogame/BeyondTheBeyond'' lampshades its five-slot party by having an InUniverse book on tactics reveal that five is the optimum party size, and increasing it to six would just have them get in each other's way.
* The ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' series lets you have up to five PlayerCharacters in your active party at a time. The third game had a sixth slot that could be filled by certain skills, such as the Wildling's SummonMagic or the Ninja's [[DoppelgangerAttack Bunshin]], while in the fourth it was reserved for the occasional GuestStarPartyMember.
* ''VideoGame/SentinelWorldsIFutureMagic'' had five party slots, justified by that being the standard crew setup of an ''Interceptor''-class CoolStarship they are stationed on. Each party member is assigned to a specific station aboard the ship, which also acts as their respective CharacterClass.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'' series is probably the UrExample of six-person parties in video games: all installments except the fourth (where you played the EvilOverlord) had fully player-created parties of six, which could be [[OldSaveBonus imported from game to game]] (with a notable break between ''V'' and ''VI''). The final installment had eight party slots in total, allowing the player to add two "Recruitable Player Characters" (essentially predefined [=NPCs=]) to the roster.
* The first five ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' games, similarly to ''Wizardry'', let the player create an entire six-character party and, from part two onwards, additional characters who could be swapped in at the inns and played LazyBackup otherwise. Part two also let the player supplement the party with two hirelings, technically bumping the headcount up to eight.

* All of the VideoGame/GoldBox games (''Pool of Radiance'', ''Savage Frontier'', ''Champions of Krynn'', etc., etc.) had the same PlayerParty mechanics and limited the party to six heads, tops. Some games, however, featured an additional NPC GuestStarPartyMember, technically bumping the party size up to seven.
* ''VideoGame/TheMagicCandle'' series followed the dominant model of its time with six player-created adventurers.

* All Infinity Engine games--''Franchise/BaldursGate'', ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', and ''VideoGame/IcewindDale''--allowed up to six characters in the party, being straight-up implementations of the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' ruleset. ''IWD'' even lacked a designated "main" player character, allowing you to create an entire party from scratch in a deliberate throwback to the Gold Box era.

* ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'', during its incarnation in ''Exile'' (which followed ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' more closely) allowed a party of six. The game party limit was dropped (and encounters rebalanced) down to four on the ''Avernum'' incarnation, due to the party members taking up too much space.

* Similarly, ''VideoGame/RepublicTheRevolution'' limits your party size (that is, ''political'' party, not just PlayerParty) to four functionaries in the first city, five in the second, and six in the third and last one. Plus, one of them is [[CantDropTheHero always the slightly customizable main character]].

* ''VideoGame/UltimaIV'' capped the party size at the Avatar's current CharacterLevel--which itself was capped at 8, the ArcNumber of the game.

* The party in ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland 2}}'' has room for four [[FeaturelessProtagonist custom player characters]] and three [=NPCs=].
* Similarly to ''Wasteland'', ''VideoGame/TheTempleOfElementalEvil'' lets the player create up to five custom characters, who are optionally joined by up to three NPC followers.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' does have main characters in each game but in battle the player controls a large group of minor characters.

* ''VideoGame/StarOceanIntegrityAndFaithlessness'' has a total of seven party members. However, unlike most [=JRPGs=], ''every'' character is present for the battle, there is no ArbitraryHeadcountLimit. What's notable is that this game is ''real time'', too. Technically, despite there being seven party members, only six are ''playable'' - one party member (Relia) is a non-combatant whose role it is to be a pure support character, and the player cannot swap control to her.

Around this stage, the player may no longer be required to fill in all available party slots--it may be possible to play the game with an "incomplete" party or even {{solo|CharacterRun}} (except for an occasional RequiredPartyMember). Class-wise, the FighterMageThief roles may be expected to be distributed evenly across the companion [=NPCs=] to support a JackOfAllTrades PC, or the PC may fill in one of these roles, with the fourth slot reserved for a CombatMedic. In other games, however, the party composition will be rigidly mandated by plot events. Easily, this is the most "common",

* ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'', during its incarnation in ''Exile'' (Which followed VideoGame/{{Ultima}} more closely) allowed a party of six. The game party limit was dropped (and encounters rebalanced) on the ''Avernum'' incarnation to four, due to the party members taking up too much space.

Around this stage, the player may no longer be required to fill in all available party slots--it may be possible to play the game with an "incomplete" party or even {{solo|CharacterRun}} (except for an occasional RequiredPartyMember). Class-wise, the FighterMageThief roles may be expected to be distributed evenly across the companion [=NPCs=] to support a JackOfAllTrades PC, or the PC may fill in one of these roles, with the fourth slot reserved for a CombatMedic. In other games, however, the party composition will be rigidly mandated by plot events.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' doubles the number of player characters from the previous game--and all four of them can now be controlled in co-op multiplayer.

** ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'''s remake also does the same, in order to accommodate for the tablets' lack of a second screen and physical buttons.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' goes between this and "Four Heroes" - the maximum number of characters who can be deployed at once is four, though one of them [[CantDropTheHero must be the player character]]. The game could be played solo (especially with the Lone Wolf trait) as technically, recruiting any other characters is optional.

** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' as well in the campaign. The single player campaign has a limit of only Roxas, and he is ''occasionally'' assisted with an Organization member (Everyone except Xemnas and Saïx)

* [[CompetitiveBalance Systemic party member specialization]] becomes viable. For instance, if the game implements the FighterMageThief class trio, the party may be expected to fill in each one of these roles, and the roles are dedicated to each character. Usually, the traditional "roles" will be split, to avoid CripplingOverspecialization

* This is very common in ''Creator/MonolithSoft'' titles, like ''VideoGame/SomaBringer'', ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', and ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'', which all have a party limit of three.

* Amongst the FighterMageThief "trinity", you might see multiple types of each character type, often with their own abilities. Having more characters allows the characters to divide roles so they can engage in utility and support that are much more difficult when only a few actions are taken each round.

* All Infinity Engine games--''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', and ''VideoGame/IcewindDale''--allowed up to six characters in the party, being straight-up implementations of the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' ruleset. ''IWD'' even lacked a designated "main" player character, allowing you to create an entire party from scratch in a deliberate throwback to the Gold Box era.

* ''VideoGame/StarOceanIntegrityAndFaithlessness'' has a total of seven party members. However, unlike most [=JRPGs=], ''every'' character is present for the battle, there is no ArbitraryHeadcountLimit. What's notable is that this game is ''real time'', too.
** Technically, despite there being seven party members, only six are ''playable'' - one party member (Relia) is a non-combatant whose role it is to be a pure support character, and the player cannot swap control to her.

Parties of more than four playable characters are pretty much exclusively found in [[RolePlayingGame RPGs]].

This template is popular in classic {{Eastern RPG}}s (not so much in the West or past the cartridge era) and, indeed, seems to be the highest party cap in this subgenre. Usually, in larger parties, characters can afford to be more "specialized" (such as a UtilityPartyMember), or may even have some hybrids like a JackOfAllStats or TheRedMage.

This is the classic WesternRPG party, perhaps owing to the fact that six players is the optimal size for a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' table. Characters can still be specialized, but it's fully possible for there to be redundancies in the class roles (such as multiple thieves, multiple fighters, or a [[WhiteMage dedicated healer]] and a [[CombatMedic healer who can also fight in a pinch]])

* [[CompetitiveBalance Systemic party member specialization]] becomes viable. For instance, if the game implements the FighterMageThief class trio, the party may be expected to fill in each one of these roles.

This template is popular in classic {{Eastern RPG}}s (not so much in the West or past the cartridge era) and, indeed, seems to be the highest party cap in this subgenre.

This is the classic WesternRPG party, perhaps owing to the fact that six players is the optimal size for a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' table.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series let their player characters hire help at certain points but they were fully expected to finish the game on their own. ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fallout2}}'' allows the player to have as many companions as their Charisma score allows. The Creator/{{Bethesda}} games (''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout3}} 3]]'', ''[[VideoGame/{{FalloutNewVegas}} New Vegas]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout4}} 4]]'') allows the player have one sentient (human, robot, or mutant) companion and a PostApocalypticDog called "Dogmeat" (''New Vegas'' is an outlier as there is no "Dogmeat", only the cyberdog Rex and Enclave eyebot ED-E), and made to switch them out if they want to go along with another.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series let their player characters hire help at certain points but they were fully expected to finish the game on their own. ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fallout2}}'' allows the player to have as many companions as their Charisma score allows. The Creator/{{Bethesda}} games (''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout3}} 3]]'', ''[[VideoGame/{{FalloutNewVegas}} New Vegas]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout4}} 4]]'' allows the player have one sentient (human, robot, or mutant) companion and a PostApocalypticDog called "Dogmeat" (''New Vegas'' is an outlier as there is no "Dogmeat", only the cyberdog Rex and Enclave eyebot ED-E), and made to switch them out if they want to go along with another.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' let their player characters hire help at certain points but they were fully expected to finish the game on their own.

* In {{Videogame/ICO}}, the player controls the title character and is tasked with [[VideoGameCaringPotential guiding and protecting Yorda]]. She is essential to bypassing stone doors and saving the game.

* VideoGame/FireEmblem does have main characters in each game but in battle the player controls a large group of minor characters.

[[AC: Advemtire Game]]