History Main / PlayerCharacterCalculus

* ''VideoGame/ChromaSquad'' is an AffectionateParody of {{Sentai}}, which traditionally is a FiveManBand. Your party members fills these roles as [[TheHero The Leader]], [[TheLancer The Scout]], [[TheBigGuy The Assault]], [[TheSmartGuy The Techie]] and [[TheChick The Support]]. The final season sees the party joined by a SixthRanger.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' has room for five party members, though the slots empty or fill as the plot progresses. The only constant is Cecil. This is not changed in the DS remake.
** The GBA and PSP versions, however, allow the other members beyond the final roster[[note]]Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Edge[[/note]] into the party near the end of the game, but it keeps the ArbitraryHeadcountLimit nonetheless.

* ''VideoGame/WildARMs4'' is the only game in the series to allow four characters in the team, namely the protagonists Jude, Yulie, Arnaud and Raquel.

* ''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/EverOasis'', despite having a [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters pretty huge cast of playable characters]] (so much that it would be easier to list the characters who ''aren't'' playable), only the hero plus two characters can be in the field at one point.

* Most of the time in the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' games, you have a four character active party in battle. You can generally swap out from two or three other characters, anyone else (and at times there are indeed LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters) if available is in reserve and can only be swapped outside of battle from the menu. At times, you may even be split into two or three teams of four person parties with separate paths.

* 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.

This category encompasses games with just one--at most, two--{{Player Character}}s, plus optional cohorts.

* ''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.

* LazyBackup--additional party members who await being summoned into the fight from a safe location--also becomes a design option.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', once the party [[ProlongedPrologue finally]] gathers together, you can only have three members out of total six in the frontline team. Unlike in many examples, there is no "main" player character, so you can swap out the leader (outside of battle) as well as the supports--yet the game is still over if whoever is in the leader slot is knocked out.

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/StarWarsRepublicCommando'' gives the PC command over three compatriots--a sniper, a hacker, and a demolitions expert, although the party splits up and rejoins again multiple times throughout the campaign.

* ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'' gives the player three wingmen (technically, one wingwoman and a subordinate leader-wingman team) to control and equip. ''VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon'' does so, too--technically, since the player no longer has any control over the wingmen and only one of them has an actual personality.

At this point, all bets are off--there may be, in fact, no ArbitraryHeadcountLimit at all. TurnBasedTactics and StrategyRPG games often fall here, with many characters on the field at once who nevertheless still have individual identities.

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

* 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]].

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

* ''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.
* 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/TheGirlAndTheRobot'' has two playable characters, the titular girl and robot, whom you can switch between on the fly. When you switch characters, the one you're not playing as will enter a stationary pose until you switch back. Be careful where you leave them, though, because enemies can still attack them (or in the girl's case, grab them and initiate a GameOver).

At this point, all bets are off--there may be, in fact, no ArbitraryHeadcountLimit at all. TurnBasedTactics games often fall here, with many characters on the field at once who nevertheless still have individual identities.

At this point, all bets are off--there may be, in fact, no ArbitraryHeadcountLimit at all.

* ''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]].

This is the video game-specific variation of the CastCalculus. In many games, the player controls a single PlayerCharacter at any time and often throughout the entire game. Others give you an AI-controlled NonPlayerCompanion, while certain genres offer multiple companions to make up an entire PlayerParty. This page categorizes individual [[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit maximum party sizes]] and which tropes are associated with them.

* ''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.

* 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''.
** In games with more than 4 characters, 4 others ride in the wagon (deoending on the game, the wagon may only be available on the overworld and the final dungeon), and any others must be left behind with [=NPCs=]. Some monsters will prevent you from switching characters mid-battle by locking the wagon doors or punt characters away, making them unuseable for the rest of the battle.

** In games with more than 4 characters, 4 others ride in the wagon (deoending on the game, the wagon may only be available on the overworld and the final dungeon), and any others must be left behind with NPCs. Some monsters will prevent you from switching characters mid-battle by locking the wagon doors or punt characters away, making them unuseable for the rest of the battle.

* [[NonPlayerCompanion Predefined NPCs]] become the majority in the party, so the finer "1+???" distinctions are no longer relevant. Still, CantDropTheHero and WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou will often apply to the "main" PlayerCharacter, while the NPC companions will be interchangeable.

* ''VideoGame/TheTempleOfElementalEvil'' lets the player create up to five custom characters, who are optionally joined by up to three NPC followers.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'': Your first three slots are fixed, with the fourth going to the current story arc's GuestStarPartyMember.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'': Your first three slots are fixed, with the fourth going to a GuestStarPartyMember.