History Main / ArbitraryHeadcountLimit

** ''[[VideoGame/{{Caesar}} Caesar III]]'' and ''VideoGame/{{Pharaoh}}'' both limit your city to six forts of soldiers, each with a maximum company size of [[SuspiciouslySmallArmy twelve]]. ''Pharaoh'' also lets a city build up to six warship wharves.
** ''VideoGame/EmperorRiseOfTheMiddleKingdom'': Each city can only build as many forts as it can support with well-developed Elite Housing, each with a maximum company size from twelve (for infantry) to four (for chariots). On top of that, there is a limit of twelve forts per city.

* In the ''VideoGame/CityBuildingSeries'':
** ''VideoGame/CaesarIII'' and ''VideoGame/{{Pharaoh}}'' both limit your city to six forts of soldiers, each with a maximum company size of [[SuspiciouslySmallArmy twelve]]. ''Pharaoh'' also lets a city build up to six warship wharves.
** ''VideoGame/EmperorRiseOfTheMiddleKingdom'': Each city can only build as many forts as it can support with well-developed Elite Housing, each with a maximum company size from twelve (for infantry) to four (for chariots). On top of that, there is a limit of twelve forts per city.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', TabletopGame/Warhammer and TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar all have their own sets of restrictions. For balance purposes, each player gets a certain number of points they spend on building their armies, but there are also rules about how many units if a given type you can have, how many individuals can be in a given unit and so on.

See also {{Cap}} and YouRequireMoreVespeneGas. Kind of related to ConservationOfNinjitsu, SerendipityWritesThePlot, and ConstructAdditionalPylons. Will often invoke LazyBackup when less than half your party at a time can actually fight. When applied to temporary things like active bullets, it's OneBulletAtATime.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAge'':

** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': While the three-companion limit remains, it is repeatedly implied that you're actually bringing all of them with you, you just can't use them because of GameplayAndStorySegregation. Talking to them after major quests has them speaking as if they were there, and sometimes they'll just pop up out of nowhere during the quest itself. For example, if you [[spoiler:exile the Grey Wardens and Blackwall isn't in your party, he'll still randomly appear to ask the Inquisitor permission to stay.]] Additionally, characters who are not in the active party at the time may still express approval or disapproval for your choices. The primary exception to this is [[spoiler:the Fade sequence in Adamant]]; conversations afterward make it clear that your chosen party members were the only ones with you.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'' series of games caps the total number of Pikmin on the field at any one time at 100. If you try to spawn any more the main character notes that the Pikmin "refuse to come out."

* ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion'' is perhaps the only example in this genre. Dave has six friends who he can ask to help him rescue Sandy. He can only bring two no matter how motivated the other four seem.

* ''VideoGame/AliensInfestation'' does this, to the point of heavy disconnect with the main plot. The player is initially given control of one of four Colonial Marines who form a fireteam, and which can be switched around at various rooms throughout the playable locations. If and when you encounter any additional Marines (survivors who have either holed up in an isolated area or are behind [[{{Metroidvania}} initially-impassible doors]], they will tell the active Marine, to a T, that although they lost the rest of their fireteam and presume they are dead, they will refuse to join you (due to the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS' hardcoded party limit). This occurs even in dire situations, such as when the [[spoiler:U.S.S. ''Sulaco'' is in imminent danger of being destroyed due to the player character setting it on a collision course with Mars to destroy the xenos aboard]].

* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' really puts the "Arbitrary" into this trope with its treatment of bridge officers. In an away team, you can bring 4 bridge officers. Except when you can't. Sometimes you can bring only 1 or 2, sometimes none at all.

* Creator/BioWare is fond of this trope:
** ''VideoGame/BaldursGate''. Not only is your party restricted on size (6 maximum) but also on philosophical differences. If you get too popular with the rabble, the more [[strike:buttkicking]] evil characters in the party will simply up and leave. On the other hand, the whole TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons ''system'' is keyed to this, mostly because the calculation of what monsters constitute a challenge for a party depend on the said party being 4-6 strong.
** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII''. Specifically coming to save a friend of yours, but not being able to lead her out of the dungeon of the BigBad because your party was full (There actually was a dialogue option that said this). At least Bioware added an optional NPC that would betray you at a very convenient time, opening a slot for the DistressedDamsel, if you had him with you.
** True for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' as well. You'd think as one of the only two people able to stop a horde from destroying the world, you'd be able to take all your companions into battle, but you're limited to a party of four. Unlike the other games, though, during the final battle in [[spoiler:Denerim]], all your companions join the initial assault. Then you make your party selections for the final boss battle, leaving the rest to defend the gates. Kudos to Bioware for actually letting the players control the remaining companions during the defense (one of only two occasions in the game where the party does not include the main player, the other one being a rescue mission for the main character).

** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' exaggerates this. While the three-companion limit remains, it is repeatedly implied that you're actually bringing all of them with you, you just can't use them because of GameplayAndStorySegregation. Talking to them after major quests has them speaking as if they were there, and sometimes they'll just pop up out of nowhere during the quest itself. For example, if you [[spoiler:exile the Grey Wardens and Blackwall isn't in your party, he'll still randomly appear to ask the Inquisitor permission to stay.]] Additionally, characters who are not in the active party at the time may still express approval or disapproval for your choices. The primary exception to this is [[spoiler:the Fade sequence in Adamant]]; conversations afterward make it clear that your chosen party members were the only ones with you.
** ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' is even worse given that only one other character can join you at a time. Additionally, one of these does not fight but only allows you to use the DrunkenMaster style. Another character is in your party pool but is only there to trade with you. With him being a disembodied spirit, this makes a little sense.
** ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'':
*** In both games, you quickly acquire a party of 8 or so characters, but can only ever wander around the planet with two characters other than yourself.
*** In the second game, there is a sequence where the Exile is captured and sent to G0-T0's yacht in orbit above Nar Shaddaa. The team mounts a rescue mission (along with reformed bounty hunter Mira) to save him/her... and yet, you can only take two people ''total'' to the yacht, which is done so that the Exile will inevitably resume control of the party when s/he is rescued. There is no in-game explanation for this, despite there likely being several highly capable squadmates at this point.
** ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
*** ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'':
*** Four of the NPC's aren't even part of the ship's crew, so it's not like they are needed on board. The other two are ''marines'', so they wouldn't be much help in a starship battle. It's never explained why Shepard can't take the entire group of 6 with them. Even in levels where the Mako is mandatory, it's shown on Feros the Mako is capable of transporting 4 people, so space isn't why your team limit is three. Especially when the entire universe is in the balance. In fact, the only person in the party who would have a logical reason to remain on the ship is the PlayerCharacter themself, as Shepard is the ship's Commanding Officer.
*** Especially odd during the Virmire mission, when the game explicitly shows the entire crew on the planet and ready for the battle, and the narrative points out that every last soldier is necessary for the mission. Depending on your choices, [[spoiler: either Ashley or Kaidan will go with Captain Kirrahe, the other will eventually take the bomb, and Wrex will end up dead unless you have either done his mission or have the Charm/Intimidate points to talk him down]] but you'll still wind up with at least one of Tali, Garrus, and Liara totally unaccounted for. Stranger still, when [[spoiler: either Ashley or Kaidan go to set the bomb]] you get the chance to totally reconfigure your party on the spot from all the remaining party members, despite the fact that you're standing in the middle of an enemy base and the ones you aren't using are nowhere to be seen (maybe they were on the Normandy?).
*** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] for the confrontation in the middle of the Virmire level. If, [[ViolationOfCommonSense for some reason]], you went to Wrex first in Expose Saren, then refused Garrus' offer to join the Normandy Squad, ''and'' haven't yet recovered Liara, then [[spoiler: Wrex will automatically back down, with no options to ensure you kill him. This is due to a section later in the level: you have to leave one of your human Squad Mates at the bomb to go and rescue the one at the AA Tower: if you don't have Garrus and Liara and killed Wrex in the confrontation, you'd only have Tali left to take with you, putting you at a HUGE disadvantage for the rest of the level, since it features the toughest enemies in the game ''and'' a boss fight]]!
*** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'':
*** At one point, the entire team goes away on a "mission", and it is explained that Shepard would then choose who to take with them when they get to their destination. The "mission" is actually a [[spoiler: transparent plot device to get all the combat-capable people out of the ship so the Collectors can kidnap the crew]].
*** Averted in the TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, where the whole team gets to participate. However, you can still only have two squadmates with you, which depending at the point is either {{justified}} or playing this ludicrously straight. In the "Long Walk" segment your Biotic specialist explicitly states that they cannot create a field big enough to cover everyone, so you take a small group with you while the rest lead a diversion. When you go to confront the final boss, you take two people with you while everyone else stays being to HoldTheLine, and it makes a certain amount of sense to leave as many people behind as possible. The weird part is the first section. The tech specialist is in a thermal vent, and as such cannot be used, and another squadmate is leading the second group. If you have recruited everyone, and no one is dead yet that means (for no clear reason) you are leading a group of 3 (yourself and two companions), while the other group is made up of ''nine'' people, instead of a more balanced division.
*** Particularly jarring in the ''Lair of the Shadow Broker'' {{DLC}}. After meeting up with Liara, you are prompted to choose which one of your teammates to take with you, despite there being ''absolutely no point'' to leaving one of them behind. Sure, it makes some sense to leave part of the team behind on the Normandy ([[spoiler:that would've really helped in the Collector attack]]), but in this case, there is literally no reason for this other than the headcount limit. Made even more ridiculous by the fact that the group of three then enters a skycar - which explicitly has ''four'' seats.
*** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'':
*** The game attempts to justify the limited party size early on (in "Priority: Mars", James is told to go get the shuttle after Liara joins the team, just so he can reappear later and help during a crucial moment) and has squadmates being involved with official/personal business when they're not in the player's party, but the game slips back into the usual problems later on.
*** In the "Priority: Cerberus Headquarters" mission, EDI essentially pushes her way onto the team by telling Shepard that she is the only one who knows the command codes for the Cerberus base and can provide tactical advice. Even though there should be nothing stopping Shepard from taking additional personnel for support (as this is an important mission, and EDI's main role is to network with the various systems), s/he elects to do the same "only bring one other squadmate" routine.
*** During "Priority: Earth", the squadmate(s) the player doesn't pick simply up and disappear, with no real reason given why Shepard can't bring more than two squadmates along to the most important part of the battle for Earth's survival. Earlier drafts of the script would have mitigated this problem, as there would have been a sequence where Shepard would have had to help one of the squadmates who was travelling with an armored infantry column during the "No Man's Land" segment of the mission, and several of the past squadmates would have been shown fighting on their own or with a group.
*** Played with in the "Citadel" DLC. When Brooks mentions it's a shame Shepard can't bring their whole team on this mission, Shepard decides to do just that. The controllable party is the same size (they're the guys taking point with Shepard), but the rest of the crew is there to provide covering fire. [[CurbStompBattle The radio chatter consists of the good guys loving how much ass they're kicking and mooks soiling themselves.]] Lampshaded again later when Joker's skycar only has room for Shepard and two others. This leaves the rest of the roster standing around, complaining about not getting picked. Amusingly, complainers includes the squad mate that the player has used the least throughout the rest of the game, the squad mate that the player has used the most, or Wrex.
** ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'':
*** In the original game, you could only have one henchman at any one time. Hordes of the Underdark expanded this to two, but still required you to leave three or four perfectly capable allies waiting around back at base in the first chapter.
*** In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'', you can have as many as ten party members, but you can never have more than 3 with you at once - except for Shandra, who doesn't count towards the limit. For some reason, after [[spoiler:Shandra dies]], the limit remains at 4.
*** The second game also started out with allowing you three followers, then increased the limit over the course of the game without much explanation. In the final battle, you're controlling every single member of your group, so one wonders why no one thought to do this when fighting any of the other big bads. Meta-game-wise, it's mostly because it's very difficult for the player to keep track of so many characters.
*** ''Mask of the Betrayer'' is particularly annoying in this regard. You can take up to three companions with you, but there are only ''four'' in the first place. (To be more precise, the game has five different companions, but two are mutually exclusive and after you pick one, the other doesn't even become a companion option, so you have access to four and not five.)
** ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'' limits you at four [[CantDropTheHero with Sonic always in the lead]]. Counting [[SecretCharacter Cream and Omega]], you can have eleven.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', the party only ever has three members when entering battle. When Lancer joins in Chapter 1, he only does so for a brief period, leaving the party before entering combat. Likewise, when Noelle and Kris reunite with Susie and Ralsei, Noelle gets conveniently occupied whenever the other characters are fighting.
* In ''VideoGame/DungeonSiege'', your party is arbitrarily limited to 8 characters. Once full, you have to abandon existing characters when you want to recruit new ones. Your pack mules are included in this, so counter-intuitively your party can keep track of less animals as there are more of you.
** Frustratingly, to a mind-boggling degree, you don't start with the ability to have a maximum-size party in Dungeon Siege 2. You start with two and have to find an NPC and purchase the right to have progressively more active party members at one time. You can't reach the real limit until you've already beaten the game ''twice''.
*** The blow is arguably lessened to a degree due to the fact that the first 4 potential party members you come across are one of each of the four main classes (Lothar the warrior, Deru the archer, Taar the Nature Mage, and Finala the combat mage).

* Zig-Zagged in ''VideoGame/{{GreedFall}}''. The game gives you five companions, but you're only allowed to take two with you at any time. You're also not allowed to take ''less'' than two.
* ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsTheThirdAge'' has a very strange one: Any person on the battlefield can switch out for any one not on the battlefield at any time, but only three can actually fight at one time. And if someone gets knocked out? Nobody will fill in for them. They just lie there, taking up a perfectly good slot. To make matters worse, there are occasionally guest characters who can't be switched out, even if they're very poorly suited to whatever enemy you're up against at the time.

* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' is actually a fair bit better with this. The party can have up to six people, counting the Nameless One. There are only ''eight'' recruitable characters, and one of them is almost universally considered TheLoad, and another is a batshit insane KnightTemplar who even a good aligned Nameless One probably wouldn't want.

* ''VideoGame/Postal2'' has a form of this - there is an option to limit the number of people spawned in one map area at a time, to prevent overloading and causing the game to crash. Depending on the player's setup, one can increase that number for more carnage.

* Your spaceship in ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'' can hold a maximum of eight crewmen; if you get one more than that, you will be forced to dismiss someone. Justified since in real spacecraft design [[http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/basicdesign.php#id--Every_Gram_Counts every gram counts]], including those of spacemen.

** ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' has the loosest ruleset [[spoiler: because Zero knew that the Ninth Man would break the rules and [[MakeAnExampleOfThem made an example out of him]].]] A group of 3-5 people are needed to open a numbered door by having the digital root of the sum of their bracelet numbers equal the number on the door. If anyone enters a numbered door, then a bomb inside their body will explode in 81 seconds. To turn the bombs off, the exact same 3-5 people who opened the door need to scan in at a similar device somewhere inside the door. This only turns off ''their'' bombs, however, so if you enter a door you didn't help open, you're screwed. Also, ''everyone'' who opened the door needs to scan in to turn off the bombs, so if even one person in the group gets stuck outside the door after it closes, then the people inside are screwed even if they helped open it. [[spoiler: Ace capitalizes on this when he tries to murder who he thinks is Snake, using the Ninth Man's bracelet, his own and his victim's to open the door then shoving his victim through, allowing his victim to suffer a penalty. He's also the one who murdered the Ninth Man by telling him he'd be able to turn off his bomb by himself, which he knew full well was a lie]].
** ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'' is much stricter. Each round has the players designated colors and six of them are split into pairs with the same color bracelet. The players must combine their bracelet colors to make the colors on the Chromatic Doors, either two separate colors or one color which contrasts the door (for example, if the door is Magenta then either the GREEN players, a RED solo and BLUE pair or BLUE solo and RED pair can go through). Also, the doors open automatically and failure to go through will result in a penalty execution via lethal injection and this forces three players to go through a door each.
** ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'' has three people in a team, but there's no choice in the matter - Zero has split the teams up and is forcing them to compete against each other in Decision Games. [[spoiler: Except that one of the teams has four members instead of three...]]

** And that's assuming you don't mess around with the config files.
* ''VideoGame/SinsOfASolarEmpire'' has this in spades. Your total number of ships is capped by a number called "supply", with different ships costing more or less (a scout frigate might need 2, while an assult corvette could be 7 or 8). This limit starts out at 100 and can be increased with research, though doing so increases the upkeep deducted from your resource income. Then there are capital ships, which need a whopping fifty supply, ''and'' are limited by how many crews you have avaliable to man such sophisticated ships, which can again be increased with research. Each planet can also support only a limited number of logistic and military structures, and while this can be increased on a planet-by-planet basis, the highest possible cap is determined by planet type (a fully-developed asteroid can support fewer structures than a fully-developed terran planet, for instance).
** There is one exception to this rule. The Advent Rapture capital ship has an ability, Dominate, which allows it to takeover enemy ships except capital ships. Used over a long period of time and without sustaining massive casualties, an Advent player can have a fleet that exceeds the capacity. However, the caveat is that you're unable to build any ships until the limit goes back into positive numbers.
** Each player can only build one Titan-class ship. Even building one is an enormous investment in resources and time, and all other players are notified the moment you start building it and where the shipyard is located.

* In the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' games, you can build as many units as you want, provided you can maintain their upkeep. However, in battle, you are limited to twenty units per army stack. On the maximum scale settings, this can give you a maximum of 4800 soldiers to command in a single battle. In ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar'', this is a bit of FridgeBrilliance, since that number isn't far off from the total number of fighting men in a Roman Legion. (Not counting the thousands of support soldiers)
** The armies in the first two games couldn't have more than a given number of units (with the exception of crusades and jihads in ''Medieval'', that could have 4 times the standard number, however only standard-number units could take part in battles at the same time, with the rest trickling in as reinforcements over the course of the battle when other units were killed off or routed off the map). The third and fourth game feature both this unit limit, but also a limit to how many individual soldiers can be in one army regardless of the unit count. To be fair, the soldier thing is more of a technical issue, and can be expanded by tweaking the game files.

* The ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape'' series enforces this, and averts NeverSplitTheParty on the characters. To go through each puzzle room, the characters have to obey rules imposed by Zero. Failure to comply will result in their immediate execution. Also, there has to be 9 players for each game to work.

* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'' was pretty good about this; although it did have a unit cap, it was a unit cap for the entire game you were playing, and you were allowed to set it along with the rest of the game options. This meant that players with slow machines could have lower unit caps to compensate, while players for whom it didn't matter could have a max cap of ''1200''. Mind you, this was for the whole game, but even with the games maximum 8 players , that's still 150 units to play with. The game even had a building ingame that allowed you to steal a portion of everyone else's cap and add it to your own.
** There was also a building that was used solely to contain up to 40 of your units, then return them. When inside, they are removed from the limit, but not from the game. So if you had the ressources, you could attack with an obscenely large numerical advantage.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' games, one must build farms in order to have units, with the limit increasing with the number of farms built. The rationale for this is that the units need food. Yet sometimes one starts a scenario without any farms at all, or an inadequate number to feed one's troops, or your farms in a normal level get destroyed. Said units suffer no ill effects for this.
** In ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'' there is a hidden limit of 600 units (and buildings) divided by the number of players. (Meaning only 75 per player in an eight player game.) Extraneous units simply disappear when their construction completes, wasting resources.
** In ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'', there is also a global supply limit of 90 (raised to 100 in the expansion) on the total number of units a player can train (although it is possible to go over this limit if the extra units are acquired via means other than training, like resurrection spells or a scenario script). Unlike ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'', there is only one supply pool (as opposed to a separate one for each race), and the limit thus cannot be circumvented by building units of different races.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000: VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' likewise has a max limit for the number of units that can be requisitioned (similar to the point system used to limit the size of armies in the tabletop war game it is based on).
** Furthermore, the ExpansionPack ''Dark Crusade'' takes this concept further by limiting the availability of certain of the more powerful units in the game to a number below what resources and the regular "unit cap" would allow for (though such units may still be purchased and queued up to be fielded, once the original units are lost). Again, in many cases this is based on field allowances in the tabletop version. For example, the Imperial Guard is limited to having two of their Leman Russ main battle tanks on the field at a time - ie by real-world measures you are only allotted ''half a platoon'' even for the most important battles.

** ''Homeworld'' is one of the few games where going above the arbitrary limit is likely to cause more grief than benefit to the player. The size of the enemy fleets one encounters during the levels is calculated depending on the size of your own; if, by capturing or editing the game files, you start a level with a supermassive fleet, you'll be fighting a *lot* more enemies. Also, your fleet begins every level by hyperspacing in in a straight line. Have enough ships and the line can extend further than the game ever assumes, triggering events that shouldn't happen until later in the level.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]''[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, Samantha Shepard {{discusse|dTrope}}s this feature from the games, and it's ultimately [[JustifiedTrope blamed on computer limitations]]. A subsequent system upgrade allows squad leaders to more effectively manage groups larger than three, but there is still a (higher) limit imposed by the mental faculties of the commander--keeping track of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of Squadmates]] could actually make performance worse, not better.

* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' has a cap on the number of military ships one can have, with bigger ships costing more points. The limit is raised by building additional starbases and modules. In an interesting quirk, this cap only represents your empire's ability to maintain ships at their posted upkeep costs. You can freely build above the cap, but doing so causes upkeep costs to increase exponentially. Each nation also has a cap on the number of leaders that can be recruited, which is shared across scientists, governors, and admirals.

* In ''Webcomic/YokokasQuest'', implied InterfaceSpoiler that Yokoka's and Mao's parties will max out at 5 characters each, as this is the number of slots shown for characters on the between-chapter status screens, though Chirpy is shown in Misha's character slot, and other characters often accompany the parties without being included at all.

* In ''Webcomic/YokokasQuest'', implied InterfaceSpoiler that Yokoka's and Mao's parties will max out at 5 characters, as this is the number of slots shown for characters at the end of each chapter, though there doesn't appear to be any in-universe reason not to exceed this.

* ''VideoGame/{{Stars}}'' has a few limits mostly related to variable sizes and its reliance on 16-bit Windows - 32,767 of any one ship type in a fleet, 512 separate fleets, 512 separate minefields, and 256 tokens in a single battle. In games with a large universe that might last a long time, these limits could be reached and be exploited. For example, the 256 tokens in a single battle could be tweaked to keep vulnerable bombers or freighters out of a battle at a planet.

* In the ''Franchise/ShiningSeries'' of video games you were restricted to the number of people in your "army", thus you normally ended up with an army of twelve while the enemy army sometimes had well over 30. In game mechanics this made sense but in plot line when you're about to fight the BigBad it doesn't make a lot of sense not to use all your men.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSims'' series, you're only allowed to have eight Sims per family. The game still works just fine if you use a cheat to raise the limit. (Adding to the arbitrariness, ''pets count'', even though they take up much less space and player effort than human Sims. For example, a couple with six children couldn't get a dog.)

** One minor variation on the rule is ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', which still enforces the eight-person limit for humanoid Sims, but allows households to go up to ten individuals with the addition of pets (with said pets limited to six per household). The hard eight limit rule resumed in later sequels, however.

* The ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars]]'' series of turn based strategy games has an arbitrary cap on the number of units you can build (50), but it's high enough that it's very rare for anyone to actually reach it.
** The unit cap is 60 in ''Super Famicom Wars''.

** Even with attempts to justify its final chapter unit limit, ''Radiant Dawn'' is hit pretty hard with this since, [[{{Permadeath}} provided you didn't allow anyone to die]], and recruited every possible character, you'll have '''over 70 different units''' by the endgame (the largest canon army of playable characters in the series at the time! [[note]] only beaten later by the remake of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem''[[/note]]!), but can only bring '''17''' with you. Most likely, over half the spots will be taken by mandatory characters (Ike, Micaiah, Sothe, etc) and [[OneManArmy the]] [[GameBreaker Laguz]] [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Royals]], with the rest being whatever characters you fancied enough to grind into total badasses.

[[folder:RPG -- Eastern]]
* In ''Brave Story: New Traveler'', you can not control more than three people in the party, one of them being your character.
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'' only allows four characters in the main party at once (out of a possible nine, one of which is technically optional), while the rest remain in PlayerHeadquarters. ''[[VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII III]]'' does the same, allowing only a party of three out of six. The rest of the games, however, avert both this trope and LazyBackup by allowing party members to switch during combat (and in ''[[VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV IV]]'s'' case, some of your party members have an auto-ability triggered in the back row), or in the case of ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter'' by only having three characters in the first place.
* ''VideoGame/CelestianTalesOldNorth'' limits you to three people in the active party, although the total party count is six all throughout the game. An NPC at the beginning of the game explains the reasoning behind this.
* This is especially bad in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', as there are forty-five recruitable characters, but only three people allowed on a team - and one of them [[CantDropTheHero has to be Serge]] (until NewGamePlus). This simply does not leave much room for experimentation.
* {{Hand Wave}}d in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': When you gain a fourth party member (the maximum number of people allowed in your party are three), one of them has to stay behind to hold open a door, later on, when you're all together and travel through a time gate you end up at [[spoiler:the End of Time]]. There you learn that no more than three people can travel through a time gate without getting redirected, so the remaining party members have to stay while the others are adventuring. You can't travel in two groups, because you only have one Time Key, the device Lucca made to allow usage of the gates. However, you can switch party members at will, and anytime you go to the [[spoiler:End of Time]], you can find them standing there.
* ''VideoGame/Conception2ChildrenOfTheSevenStars'' limits each dungeon dive to [[CantDropTheHero Wake]], paired with a heroine, and three teams of three [[PlayerMooks Star Children]]. While eleven seems like a lot, that's out of seven heroines and up to ninety Star Children. It's implied 10 is the maximum number of people that can accompany Wake without over-taxing his ability to provide them with ether energy.
* ''VideoGame/CthulhuSavesTheWorld'' has a limit of four characters in the active party out of eight total. Beating the game unlocks the ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' mode which exaggerates the limit to the point where [[ShoutOut there can be only one]] active party member.
* In ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'', you can never have more than four humans on the field (counting the main character). In [[VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2 the sequel,]] while this is played straight in most occasions, there are points in the plot where the limit is justified by the characters splitting up into teams as part of a strategic operation.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'':
*** Parodied at the beginning of chapter five when the hero first enters Branca, and a four-person team is leaving the town. If you talk to them, one will tell you that their party is full and that you'll need to find another one to join.
*** By the time you have more than four characters in your party in chapter five, you'll have the wagon, which the inactive party members ride inside of. When you enter places that the wagon won't fit (like ''most'' caves and dungeons), the reserve characters stay with the wagon to keep your party size at four. Presumably, they're watching over your stuff and making sure monsters don't eat the horse or something. When the wagon ''is'' present, you can swap out party members at any time in battle, and if your whole active party gets wiped out, the reserves will leap out to continue the fight.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' oddly reduces the active party size to three (with an additional five in the wagon), despite the game's introduction of {{Mons}} meaning that you could end up with dozens of potential party members to choose from. The DS remake brings it back up to four active members... but also greatly expands the number of monsters you can recruit. Given that the wagon will be with you when you fight the final boss, there's no logical reason why shouldn't just dogpile him, but naturally the game won't let you.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'', is absolutely horrible about this, sticking to the [[VideoGame/DragonQuest series]]' usual four-person party... when there's only about six main characters anyways. Leading to more than a few {{Contrived Coincidence}}s to keep the "extra heroes" [[PutOnABus busy]] until it's time to rotate them into the plot again. Made worse when one dungeon guest characters count toward this maximum party size.
** Averted in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' since there are only four playable characters. And when a GuestStarPartyMember joins, he exists in a ''fifth'' spot on the roster lineup (which is a very good thing, since he's TheLoad and you would ''not'' want to send one of your main party members into reserves to accommodate him). The 3DS version, however, adds two more proper party members without increasing the party limit beyond 4 when [[PrinceCharmless Charmles]] is not with you and 5 (counting Charmles) when he is.
* In ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier'', your entire party can participate in battle, but only four are active and fit on the screen. The non-active characters can use support attacks during the fight, up to certain limits, with some characters only capable of participating through support attacks. The sequel shows off how arbitrary the limitation really is, with a lot more support-only characters, one character who has a partner, and still the same four-character headcount limit.
* ''VideoGame/EmeraldDragon'' has a party size limit of five, and as you progress through the story characters will often find reasons they need to leave so they can free up a slot in your party for new characters.
* The ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' series allows you to have a decently sized Guild, but you can only have up to five members in your adventuring party at any given time. WordOfGod admitted that this was meant to make players feel their parties were always "incomplete" somehow; six-member parties were simply too well-balanced for a game striving to be NintendoHard.
** In the fourth game, in each of the major dungeons you can encounter an NPC who will increase your party to six (there are six slots to place five characters, the NPC will take up the sixth slot). However, the NPC will only join for that dungeon, and not even every floor of that dungeon. And once you beat the boss of that dungeon, the character joins your party permanently, and you're back to only five characters.
* ''VideoGame/ExitFate'' had a party limit of eight out of... seventy-five. Also, two of those eight occupy the entourage, and cannot fight, but any of the other six may spend an action to trade places with them. Exactly why two people who are officially employed soldiers decide to cheer from the sidelines instead of aiding their teammates is not clearly explained.
* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series is a repeat offender:
** The early ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games have very obvious caps on the enemies you can face at once. Nine in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' (arranged into a square, even), eight in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'', and - in the DS remake - '''three''' in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' (except for that one time with the frogs).
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' as stated above is a prime example of [=RPGs=] that explain the party size limit with plot. However, the GBA remake brings just about anyone back to the party before the final dungeon (and the added bonus content), allowing the player to pick his favorites like in most of the later games. There is no real explaination as to why they can't just all go and bash the BigBad in the head with superior numbers, though...
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' takes this one step further in chapter 10 (or the first part of the final chapter on the Wii): Assuming you played all the previous chapters and kept all characters susceptible to being KilledOffForReal alive, you will start the chapter with ten characters. As you complete mandatory quests, six more will join you on your airship (again, assuming you played all the previous chapters). However, the game will not let you swap characters (yet) ''at all'': your team is Rydia, Edge, Luca, and the Man in Black, which ''isn't even a full five characters'', with no explanation given as to why you can't at least pick someone on your airship to fill that empty fifth spot. Later on, you get to pick your team of five (out of twenty-two), which is more standard.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'':
*** When the party is attempting to land on the Floating Continent from the airship, you are puzzlingly told that you can only take three people along, even though the party limit is four. You find out later that [[spoiler:Shadow is down there waiting for you, and his presence is required at the end of the Floating Continent sequence,]] but still. At the time you can't help wondering what part of this whole plan would be messed up if one extra person went with you.
*** Before that, on the haunted train, you may recruit ghosts to have up to four party members, but if you try for a fifth member, Sabin objects that too many members would slow you down.
*** Later on in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, though you still have the same party limit, you need to form three parties in order to reach the BigBad. The 3 parties merge upon reaching the BigBad into a party of 12, while you still fight in groups of four, once the ones in battle are all KO'd, they would be switched with the next in the line up.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', near the beginning of the game when the number of allies travelling with the main character exceeds the 'recommended' number, they split into two groups and arrange to meet up at the next plot-relevant location because, technically, they are all wanted terrorists. It is essentially decided that, since the antagonists are searching for a group of 5 people, they wouldn't stop to question a group of 3 and a group of 2 moving separately.
*** Normally, the player controls one group of 3 characters during a battle, but when fighting the BigBad the player is allowed to equip ALL 8 characters and may cycle between them at any point in the battle, if it seems like one group is struggling to make progress alone. Not unique, but certainly unusual among [=RPGs=] to allow the entire cast to take part in a fight.
*** Then, you have the Fort Condor proto-RTS sequences. The gist of these, according to the inhabitants of the fort, is that they have to hire mercenaries in order to repel attacks by the Shinra. Naturally, they ask you for your monetary contribution. Eventually, you are forced to take an active role as commander, and this involves buying the services of various units and placing them around the battlefield. ArbitraryHeadcountLimit rears its ugly head here, because you are limited to placing a maximum of twenty. By the time you reach this sequence, it is entirely possible that you have enough money to fill every square foot of the battlefield with units.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' deals with this trope in several different ways. At the very beginning, you only have three or four characters in the party at a time, with the [[GuestStarPartyMember guest character]] getting a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim bridge dropped on him]] to make room for the fourth. Later on, when the fifth main character appears, the party [[LetsSplitUpGang splits up into two groups]], each of which can accommodate the limit. When the two parties reunite, some of the characters are PutOnABus for the rest of the disk to make room for the final party members. When the entire party unites at the start of Disk 3, they are frequently seen gathering in various dungeons, sometimes offering explanations as to why they split up again, but by the final few dungeons it's assumed that the entire party is travelling together, and the fact that whichever four characters the player isn't using don't seem to be doing anything is pretty much {{Hand Wave}}d.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' limit you to three characters at a time. X uses a LazyBackup tag system where you can swap characters mid-battle, but if all three active characters get KO'd, you're screwed. XII allows unconscious characters to tag out at any time.
*** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIIRevenantWings'' however makes the arbitrary headcount 5 but that is because it is a real time strategy game. One does wonder however why the other 4 characters are not allowed in battle when your army size can be maximized to theoretically 45 members.
** Exaggerated in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII''. You have a party of six that are all traveling together after they reunite. However, you're still only allowed to have three of them in a battle team at any time and you can't switch out party members when someone is KO'd.
** In ''Final Fantasy: All The Bravest'', you start with an astounding ''12'' party slots, and as you level up or post to Facebook or Twitter through the game, you gain more party slots, until you end up with a grand total of 40 party members. All of your party members fight with you at once. (Shame they all die in one hit...)
* Completely averted by ''Steven Universe'' fangame ''VideoGame/FlawedCrystals''. You don't have to leave any gems behind; they will all join your party when they're healed, leading to a gradually increasing party size. Of course, enemy groups will also get bigger to match. According to the game's creator, this was intended as a form of GameplayAndStoryIntegration by demonstrating ThePowerOfFriendship.
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', you eventually acquire a party twice as large as the cap of 4 in battle, the result is the ability to switch a single character from the team in battle with one in the 'on hold' team per turn, and should all 4 of your party get knocked out they would instantly be swapped with the back team. [[note]]The most likely explanation for this is that because there are so many large and powerful spells being thrown around, UnfriendlyFire would be an issue if more than four members are attacking at once.[[/note]] [[VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn The sequel]] follows in the same footsteps, with the only caveat being that you obtain your fifth to eight party members gradually rather than all at once like in ''The Lost Age''. All the other mechanics still apply.
* Played straight in ''VideoGame/{{Grinsia}}'' as the group reasons that having more than four active party members would be too conspicuous and they'd get in each other's way during battle.
* ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' has an amazing number of 100 members allowed on the team at any one time, but given its CastOfSnowflakes, arguably even that number isn't enough. As for the matches themselves, since it's soccer, 11 members are on-field while optionally 5 are on bench.
* ''VideoGame/InfiniteUndiscovery'' allows 4 characters, or 3 if one of them is [[BearsAreBadNews Gustav]]. [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Out of 18]]. And some of them are arbitrarily forbidden from being in the same group as the PlayerCharacter, restricting their use to LetsSplitUpGang-situations -- without much explanation beyond the few that won't join your party because they ''hate'' you.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** Most games only allow you to use three characters at a time... which seems more than a little pointless, given you never have access to more than ''four'' at a time anyway, and given that all experience is [[LeakedExperience leaked]].
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', you can have a maximum of 99 dream eater allies, but are only allowed to have two active ones and one reserve at any given time.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' averts this, having no restriction on how many party members you are allowed to have active. The Kingdom of Corona, the Toy Box and Monstropolis all have two Guest Star Party Members each, bringing the total party count to five.
* ''VideoGame/TheLastRemnant'' has an extremely generous limit that increases over time.
* ''VideoGame/LastScenario'' only lets you use 4 of your [[spoiler:7]] characters. This is made even weirder because the cutscenes make it clear that the whole party is traveling with you.
* ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey'' has a limit of 5. Even though the formation interface has 10 positions, you're only allowed to fill half of them.
** The crazy thing is, you don't even have that many people. You could theoretically stuff every character on the field and still have a slot empty.
* ''VideoGame/LufiaTheLegendReturns'' has a max-party size of nine out of thirteen members. One aspect of the game's battle system is that only one member of each of the three columns can attack per turn. This averted with Mousse [[spoiler:and the Egg Dragon]], who attack automatically every turn without taking up that column's allotted member, or confused characters.
* In ''VideoGame/LufiaTheRuinsOfLore'', you can have up to eight party members—the three main characters, two other human(oid) characters, and the three heroes' {{Mon}}s. You can only have four in battle at a time, and only two can be monsters. (This may be because [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou We Cannot Go On Without Humans]].)
* ''VideoGame/{{Lunarosse}}'' is notable in that the limit is raised to five instead of the usual three or four of UsefulNotes/RPGMaker games. Still played pretty straight, though.
* During the strategy game-esque Liberation Missions in ''[[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork5TeamColonelAndTeamProtoMan Mega Man Battle Network 5]]'', the player isn't given a choice in which characters to use in a specific mission (unless it's in the DS' UpdatedRerelease, where characters are interchangeable with their version counterparts), but the number of characters can only go up to five out of seven heroes. Like ''Chrono Trigger'', some Liberations give an excuse for why the other two characters have to sit the mission out.
* ''Monster Girl Quest! Paradox RPG'' has a limit of four for the active party and four for the reserve party (the latter expands to six and then eight after certain events), with the rest staying in the Pocket Castle. The arbitrary nature of these limits is highlighted by the fact that many "characters" are actually multiple people who [[TheDividual act together as one group]].
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' allows only two large monsters on the map at any one time. This is a [[AntiFrustrationFeatures good thing]], especially when fighting [[FlunkyBoss Qurupeco]], because otherwise it could just summon large monsters ''ad infinitum'' and fill the map with Rathians, Deviljhos, and the like.
* The ''Franchise/{{Neptunia}}'' series traditionally limits you to four characters on the field, each with one partner they can tag out with. Out of a party of many, many more than that number; ''Re;Birth 3'' has a whopping ''26'' party members in the postgame. Most damningly, cutscenes make it clear the whole crew is always traveling as a pack. Since this is Neptunia, with the universal MediumAwareness and optional fourth wall that implies, it's lampshaded at least once a game.
** This is most damning in ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaReBirth1'' where the battle headcount is limited to '''three'''. This appears to be a technical limitation, and the game still lags slightly during particularly flashy attacks even with the reduced model count. Later Re;Birth games, which use a better-optimized version of the engine, are back up to a party of four.
** Downplayed in ''VideoGame/MegadimensionNeptuniaVII''. The same limit is there, but the game is reluctant to give you enough characters to fill it out - by about the halfway point, yo can count the number of battles where you've had four party members on one hand, let alone anyone to put in reserves. Played straight when those barriers fall, though less ridiculous then in ''[=R;B3=]''; at most, you'll have 16 characters, but that's still enough for two full teams.
* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'': A total of four party members can be on the team at a time, while reserve party members can be swapped in at any town's tavern. Within battle, Ophilia and Primrose's abilities allow for a maximum of six party members, with the additional two being [=NPCs=] controlled by the AI.
* ''Series/Persona'':
** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona|1}}'', there were eight possible party members aside from the protagonist. Depending on which quest you were on, one to three of those slots was locked in. The remaining slots could be filled at key points in the story, but once your party was full, additional party members were immediately sent to safety. The ''VideoGame/Persona2'' duology also had a cap of five, but you don't get to select which party members will fill those slots (with a single exception in ''Eternal Punishment'', based on which reality-warping rumour you decide to spread). However, eventually the character you pick will leave the party for the "true" fifth party member, and it's not really explained why you can't have all six.
** ''VideoGame/Persona3'' justifies this by having the party be an exploration team. That way, if the entire team bites it, SEES won't be wiped out (...Well, [[spoiler:the world will end if the protagonist is killed, so they won't really get a chance to ''use'' the backup. But it's a nice thought]]). During the FinalBattle, when all of SEES is present at the boss arena, the limit is enforced when [[MissionControl Fuuka]] detects a large number of Shadows climbing up towards them. Mitsuru commands the rest of the party to HoldTheLine against these Shadows and defend the main group while your group fights the final enemy.
** ''VideoGame/Persona4'' looks like it has a similar set up as the previous game... but then the entire party inexplicably shows up in the final room of each dungeon. There is, admittedly, a portal leading there from the lobby. It's at least partially explained when you revisit a dungeon. Occasionally, members of your party that aren't actually with you can randomly appear in an empty room of the dungeon. It's implied that they've formed an independent B-team and fight Shadows in other parts of the dungeon; sometimes, if you talk to them, they'll even hand over items they've picked up in the process. ''Golden'' makes it so anyone who isn't actively in the party can occasionally show up (riding a scooter/bicycle/roller skates) and launch a support attack. Oddly, this only happens if their [[RelationshipValues Social Link]] is far enough along that they could perform follow-up attacks as part of the active party.
** ''VideoGame/Persona5'' only lets you take 4 party members into a fight, despite recruiting up to 9 members into your BadassCrew. The remaining members follow at a distance, join to perform follow-up attacks, and can be switched in and out of battle with a certain Confidant skill. The explanation is that the party is an infiltration team, and sneaking becomes difficult with too many people.
* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'', until the end of the game there are only five characters in your group at any given time, and when everyone finally gets together to fight the BigBad, there are only [[EnoughToGoAround five artifacts]] of power that'll let their wearers go into the lair. Of course, this is somewhat moot, as the fifth of those artifacts (the Rykros ring) was not actually equippable by any of the characters; no matter who you picked, your fifth party member didn't get one anyway.
** The Quote at the top of the page referenced ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'' which did have an arbitrary limit on party size. ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarI'' and ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIII'' both get around this by having the size reflect the maximum characters available at any given point. ''Phantasy Star II'' however just randomly limits the size of the party.
*** Rolf's solo adventure spinoff states he dislikes working with others and would rather have a small team if he HAS to bring one along, since small teams mean less chances for others to mess up. Since he is basically team leader, that is very likely the reason why he only brings a handful of people along. Apparently he's also totally cool with letting a bunch of complete strangers crash at his house for weeks at a time.
* The main ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games only allow you six Pokemon at a time, while the rest are kept to the PC. The ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' manga justifies it as a recommendation by the Pokemon League due to the fact it would be difficult for a single trainer to care for more Pokemon than that at a time, and Crystal is seen carrying far more than six when the PC servers go down and she can't deposit them.
** Various spinoffs have other limits. ''VideoGame/PokemonRanger'' gives you a limit of seven. ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' gives you a limit of four as well as an overall size limit that can't exceed six stars, even if it's just two Pokemon. ''VideoGame/PokemonConquest'' has six Warriors to a kingdom; and each Warrior has their own limit of how many Pokemon partners they can have, from one to eight, but they can only use one per battle.
* ''VideoGame/RakenzarnTales'' caps it at four, partly due to the engine limitations and the fact that if you somehow managed to get all 90 party members on the field at once, you could steamroll pretty much anything via sheer numbers and {{Limit Break}}s. You do gain the option to switch party members mid-combat early on, but there's a cooldown period to avoid abusing the feature.
** ''VideoGame/RakenzarnFrontierStory'', by the same creator, also caps it at four with a party-swapping combat feature with a cooldown.
* Explained in ''VideoGame/TheReconstruction'' by Wadassian law restricting your guild to six armed combatants at a time. But then [[spoiler:Wadassia is reduced to ruins, and you're still using six characters to fight the final boss and save the world]].
* ''VideoGame/RivieraThePromisedLand'' states that going into battle with more than 3 members would make things too crowded, but this does not explain why battling party members can't tag out.
* ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'' does this twice over. You can only have five characters in a party, and only fifteen characters ''total''. The character screen is divided into three parties of five, which you can rearrange at will. Only one party can fight in a given battle. The Remastered version lifts the latter limit, putting any characters obtained after the first fifteen into a sub-menu where they can rotated in and out as you choose.
* ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'' limits you to only three people in battle at once; the rest are LazyBackup. The entire party shows up in cutscenes, and you can switch characters any time outside battle, so you know they're all there; there's no explanation as to why only three fight at once. Those who watch instead of participate in fights [[LeakedExperience only get 1/3 to 1/2 the Experience Points]] of the active party, and get no Customization Points.
* ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' and ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'' have this for the enemies, only allowing up to three on screen at once. [=NPCs=] also count against that, so there's one mountain trail where [[IntrepidMerchant Neko]] will sometimes appear, but only if there are two or fewer monsters currently active.
* In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', the four-person party is mostly explained by the plot -- the main trio are [[OT3 bestest friends]] and stick together, while the fourth slot is occupied by whoever's present for the plot at the time. The game really runs into an Arbitrary Headcount Limit towards the end, however -- you can pick who to take with you into TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, but taking more than one of the fourth-slot characters is forbidden. The crew of your CoolAirship is also limited. You can recruit 2 crewmembers for each position but only one can be on duty, even if the job is in no way exclusive like "sailor" or "merchant".
* In ''Videogame/ShiningTheHolyArk'', only four characters can appear at a single time in battle. However you could freely switch characters over, so if a character is killed you could replace them provided you had another character to take their place.
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games typically have a limit of 4-6 party members, including the protagonist. This is explained by the device you're using to summon your allies being only able to keep so many demons manifested at a time.
** For the first quarter of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'', the hero's computer can only summon three demons at a time, but it's not a problem because he and two human allies fill up the other three slots. Shortly after the party is permanently stuck at two humans, [[BigGood Stephen]] shows up and fixes the Demon Summoning Program so that he can summon four demons.
** ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'' has no such excuse; Aleph can summon five demons at a time, but won't summon more than four if Beth or Hiroko are in the party.
* ''VideoGame/StarOcean'' series:
** In ''VideoGame/StarOcean1'', four are required (meaning you only get to pick the other four, compared to six in the second game) and only one can be booted. The EnhancedRemake also gives you the chance to not exactly ''boot'' one character, but get a ''better'' one instead who is hidden. In addition, one is fairly difficult to find without an FAQ, while another will only become available fairly late in... at which point you've probably already filled up all seats.
** In ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'', you can have up to a party of eight characters, but only four appear in combat. The rest never show up unless you transfer them into the active party, even though they're present whenever the player initiates a Private Action (and the eight-person group is seen splitting up to do their own thing at a town's entrance).
*** The player usually gets a choice of 6-7 characters on average (on top of the two mandatory ones), but you can also miss or fail to recruit certain hidden or optional characters. Notably, Chisato will refuse to join Claude/Rena's party if it's filled with the maximum eight party members, even though she's been trailing the characters throughout the gameworld and wants to help them. There's no explanation of why she can't join anyway as a support helper.
** In the Director's Cut of ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'', 2 mandatory characters were added, preventing you from recruiting all of the original 8 party members. One of three of your previous companions joins you, depending on if you've completed [[spoiler:Roger or Albel's]] sidequests or not. If you want one of the other two as well, then you have to refuse [[spoiler:Peppita's offer to rejoin you on the Moonbase]].
** ''VideoGame/StarOceanIntegrityAndFaithlessness'' is a notable aversion to this trope. There are a total of seven playable characters, and once you recruit then, all seven participate in battle at once.
* ''VideoGame/StartAgainStartAgainStartAgainAPrologue'' has five heroes, but only four of them fight. Mostly because [[TagAlongKid The Kid]] has been deemed [[JustAKid too young]] to face the Sadness lurking within the castle, so they've been given [[ItemCaddy snack duty]].
* ''Succubus in Wonderland'' only lets the player have one companion (or be on their own). The game seems to act as if you almost always have Lewis with you (and when you're separated from her, you can't have any of your other companions), and [[spoiler:Carroll]] and [[spoiler:Alice]] are included in this treatment once those characters join the party. This is quite noticeable in the boss battle with [[spoiler:the Queen of Hearts]], since two of the aforementioned characters [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight talk to this boss to try and make her return to her senses]], even though only one of them can actually accompany you for this battle.
* Played agonizingly straight in the ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' series. You have [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters an entire army]] (including several dozen character available for use in your party), but you can only take six at a time. ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'' added a seventh slot for 'support' characters.
** In ''VideoGame/SuikodenIV'', this was downsized to a four-person party, plus a 'support' {{NPC}}. After this proved unpopular with players, ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' responded by upping the limit to ''ten'' -- while you could only have up to six actively fighting in your party at any given time, there were four extra slots you could use to bring along other characters, be they supporting [=NPCs=] or other fighters. This helped with LeakedExperience and provided an alternative whenever you had to bring certain characters along for plot-related purposes.
*** There's a bit of missable dialogue with your strategist that actually explains this: when going on land, you have to be careful not to attract undue attention, so a small party is better unless you want the whole Kooluk army (which vastly outnumbers you, to say the least) on your tail. As for the ship, you are restricted to 3 parties (12 people total), but they are freely switchable in battle, and that's because there's not enough space for more to fight on the ship, since the rest of the space is taken up by the currently-attacking monsters and overcrowding the ship's bridge can result in someone getting shoved overboard in the confusion.
*** A major part of what made the reduced party size in ''VideoGame/SuikodenIV'' unpopular is that it makes many of the series' signature [[CombinationAttack Unite Attacks]] less convenient to use...especially the one that has four participants. Since TheHero isn't one of those four, the attack is only available in shipboard combat.
* ''VideoGame/SweetHome'' has a limit of three members per party, drawing from a pool of five. If you try to have a fourth join, the other character will say that it would be best if the fourth character stays separate. If a character rescues the fourth from a pit, one of the original three will be disconnected from the party. The ability to form multiple parties that could be switched between at any time, in addition to being able to combine parties during combat, lessened the impact of this, however.
* The entirety of the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' has four as this number, with the actual party size ranging from five (Original ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia Phantasia]]'') to ten (UpdatedReRelease of ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny Destiny]]''). What, if anything, the extra members are doing while the others are fighting is never explained, barring a fight in ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss Abyss]]'' where the two extra members have to secure an escape route.
** ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfTheTempest Tempest]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfInnocence Innocence]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfHearts Hearts]]'', as well as ''Keroro RPG'', made by the same people, have a limit of three. ''Narikiri Dungeon 3'' for GBA also had four parties of three each, but since the actual party size was [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover every character in the first five games]]…
** Three [[MissingEpisode now-inaccessible]] ''Tales of Moblile'' games (''Breaker'', ''Commons'' and ''Wahreit'') actually had limit of two party members per battle, despite actual parties being four to six people. This time, all the blame goes to hardware limitations.
** ''Hearts'' also averts it, like ''Endless Frontier'' above, by introducing the "Link Attack" system, by which characters in the back party can be summoned in to use attacks or spells. Since characters Linked in can't be damaged or interrupted, it's useful for calling out a Raise Dead or LastDiscMagic with a charge time of "eternity".
** If you go a long time without switching party members in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', you may get a skit where the inactive members complain about being left out of the action. Yes, the others really are just sitting on the sidelines.
** Played with in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' when after defeating the [[SummonMagic Summon Spirit]] [[DishingOutDirt Gnome]], he complains that the party took him "four against one", while his previous summoner [[spoiler:Mithos]] took him one-on-one. This when your party consists of eight people, half of which apparently stood aside and let your main group fight him alone, and when nearly every other plot fight acts like everyone jumped into the melee.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'', you can only have four party members onscreen during a battle... but you can swap an inactive party member with an active one mid-battle.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'' plays this straight again, only allowing four party members when you are out and about. The plot forces circumstances, so that only four members (three, since Ludger must always be in the party during the main arc) are in a location.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' does give some justification: the only thing preventing your allies' [[FunctionalMagic fonic artes]] from doing just as much damage to you as to the monsters are marks laid on the team by your spellcasters, and they can't mark too many people at once. Essentially, up to two of your party members are getting left out because they can't be made FriendlyFireProof.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'' justifies this due to the unique nature of your party: namely, most of them are actually spirits, and require a human partner in order to fight most effectively, and you only have two playable humans max at any time. [[note]]Sorey, who is TheHero, and either [[GuestStarPartyMember Alisha]] or [[TheLancer Rose]], depending on where you are in the plot.[[/note]] This is especially true when one of the core mechanics of the battle system is Armatization, which triggers a FusionDance between the human and the current spirit partner into a new spirit-dependent form with unique abilities. Also, for the same reason, [[PartyInMyPocket the spirit partners actually all travel]] ''[[PartyInMyPocket within]]'' [[PartyInMyPocket Sorey's body,]] meaning that you can freely switch them out at any time in battle, and that technically, everyone ''is'' in battle at the same time, just not always actively participating. This is ''also'' justified by the game's premise. [[note]]The Spirits use Sorey as a vessel to protect themselves from [[TheCorruption the malevolence]], which could [[spoiler:irreversibly turn them into Dragons if they fully succumb to the corruption.]][[/note]] As you can tell, this game [[UpToEleven does its damned best]] to [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration integrate its plot with its gameplay quirks.]]
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'' goes for a similar effect to ''Zestiria'', albeit less arcane. While only four of six party members appear in battle at once, the other two can be hot-swapped in mid fight (or even mid-''combo''), making it clear everyone is participating. Backup will even jump in to replace critical or KO'ed part members automatically, averting LazyBackup. The only reason you're limited to four at all is the characters acknowledging that six at once would result in getting in each other's way, and having a back line allows injured members to recover (yes, HP does regenerate while benched).
* You can have only up to 4 active party members in the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' with several variations among different arcs. All of them have segments where several party members are mandatory.
** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Liberl Arc (FC, SC and the 3rd)]] strictly limits your active members to four and you are mostly forced to bring two main characters (Estelle and Joshua in the first two games and Kevin and Ries in the last), leaving you little room for party member building.
*** FC starts out with Estelle and Joshua travelling the nation as their training to become a full-fledged bracer so helpers in each branch they visit (in this case, chapter) come and go until they are fully availabe during final dungeon.
*** SC increases the total to 12, but three of them are available only in the game's final dungeon. There are also two [[GuestStarPartyMember guest star party members]] who is available only in prologue and certain segment in one chapter and the other one only available in latter. The game this time allows you to customize the party earlier. Estelle is still mandatory since she's the main character and the second slot depends on your choice at the end of the prologue which eventually be filled by [[spoiler:Joshua]] after chapter 6.
*** By the end of The 3rd, you have 16 switchable party members you will all use by the final dungeon. Two main characters of this game (Kevin and Ries) cannot leave the party most of the time except during several part of the story until they both can be switched out late in the game.
** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Crossbell Arc (Zero and Azure)]] increases its limit to six; Four active party member and two others you can switch in between battles. The two standby members can occasionally help by casting exclusive support/attack crafts when their turn come comes during combat, although they are pretty much controlled by AI and appears only during that time. You can't switch during battle however.
*** ''Trails from Zero'' has 4 permanent party members; Lloyd, Elie, Tio and Randy. Others are only available during small portion of the game, but eventually will come back during sequel except for two characters.
*** ''Trails to Azure'' has a total of 8 endgame party members; You begin with four people, two join midgame and two become mandatory temporary members who eventually join. In arranging the party, you have to bring the four permanent members from the first half.
** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Erebonia Arc (I, II, III, and IV)]] turns it into seven; Four active party members and three other you can switch in and out of so far has one thing in common: You will almost have Rean, the main character, in your party and you can't switch him out. Of course in certain parts, several party members become mandatory.
*** ''Cold Steel I'' has a segment where you travel to various parts of Erebonia as part of curriculum called "Field Study". The party has been assigned by default and you can't change during the segment. However, you can choose your team when exploring old schoolhouse building.
*** ''Cold Steel II'' has 18 members after the finale[[note]]You end up with 11 party members at the final dungeon, but there's a playable epilogue[[/note]] which consists of your core members and helpers during the game. There are also 5 secret playable characters that can be used by "replacing" your members.
** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie Reverie]] gives players a whopping ''40 playable characters'' in the main story with an additional 10 playable characters at the True Reverie Corridor. In battle however, players are only allowed four characters in the main party, four in reserve, and two characters in the EXTRA slot if players have unlocked this option. This isn't an issue when the three routes (Rean, Lloyd, and "C") are split but becomes an issue when the three routes converge.
* You can only ever be training one Overlord in ''VideoGame/TrillionGodOfDestruction'', and they will be dispatched alone to fight the eponymous BigBad. Discussed and justified by the fact they need to be wearing the Ring of the Tyrant to even get close to Trillion, and and it's this power they're actually training with.
* ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' always has quite a bit of playable characters but only three manifest at once. This is explained with how the Valkyrie only manifests the einherjar that she wishes to train. Except that ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfileCovenantOfThePlume'' doesn't actually ''have'' a Valkyrie as the main character...
* ''VideoGame/WildARMs5'' only allows you to have 3 characters in battle out of the 6 playable characters. This is down from 4 in the previous game.
** Justified in earlier installments, where all of the playable characters were generally in the party constantly (barring TenMinuteRetirement events and the HowWeGotHere prologues)
* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'', only three characters can fight at the same time, with the others sitting it out. Even when your main party bites it, there is no option to have the others reinforce your or tag in. Rather egregious when cutscenes pretty blatantly imply ''everyone'' is deep in the action. This is presumably in order to reinforce the notion of the Chain Attack mechanic, where the team surrounds one foe and beat it up with their arts in sequence.
** In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'', although you can eventually end up with ''17'' different people to invite into your party, you may only deploy four characters into the field. [[CantDropTheHero And one of those must be]] [[PlayerCharacter Rook/Cross]]. And during most Story and Affinity Missions, you are also forced to bring certain members with you, and may in fact even be ''forbidden'' from bringing four people with you! Ironically enough, this doesn't really bother most of the players due to the fact that the PlayerCharacter can [[OneManArmy become strong enough to solo most of the game by him/herself,]] or that [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome most people will have their party]] [[MiniMecha in Skells]] [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome once they become available]].
** In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' each character can engage up to three Blades, despite potentially bonding with dozens of them. And, on the first playthrough, one of these Blades has to be character's main Blade. The party itself has five permanent Drivers, but you're only allowed to bring up to three in battles. Maybe this one because there already are eight people [[note]]three Drivers, three Blades, Gramps and announcer, not counting human enemies[[/note]] talking at once.
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