Do you prefer one viewable character in RPGs or the current party?

[Pedeadstrian]

Upon playing Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, my first "normal" JRPG in a while I saw the phenomenon I always found odd: party members "merging" with the main character. I'm sure you've all seen it, where your party is talking and then when control is about to be given back to the player the other party members move towards the main character, overlap, then disappear. I can understand that developers may do that to lower the amount of on-screen clutter, especially when you're towards the end of a JRPG and you have ~10 party members, but when it happens it removes some of the flavor the game might have otherwise had. You're on a journey across the world with your friends, yet for a large part of it you only see yourself. When the game involves being stealthy (not necessarily having a stealth mechanic) it fits the moment, but when you think about it you're not actually a single person trying to sneak through enemy lines; you're a group of 8 people. Once you think about it like that (don't even get me started with staying at an Inn with 3 beds) it starts to bug you. Back when I was a kid it always bothered me when that happened. When I got Pokemon Yellow in elementary school and saw that Pikachu was actually following you I was ecstatic. I didn't remove him from my team, even when he was unable to evolve because it would have got rid of that unique flavor it adds to the world.

How do you feel about this? Do you prefer seeing only one playable character on the screen or do you prefer to see the rest of the party following behind? And why?

 

[FAST6191]

Pretty indifferent really.

In some cases it could add a bit to it, you mentioned pokemon yellow and while I never had a copy of that I did see my cousin's and it intrigued me.

Most times I would not care. Certainly would not bug me.
If the devs wanted to do something though then some context/situation sensitive banter between the characters (you get fluff written for times they are in a barracks or something, that sort of thing would do) that floats up on screen as you are walking along and you don't need to do anything about. That would do far more than some extra sprites wobbling around.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I prefer the whole party. Honestly is not necessary and maybe not very good, more stuff on screen cause performance issues and maybe problems seeing, but it gives better immersion in the game. In a game both like Rogue Galaxy and Xenoblade Chronicles 2, where the whole party is there, you get to see how they interact with each other, their standing idle animations and just feel like more of a RPG with a company of people travling along (Just don't get in my way)

Is nice to see a lively scene of people around than just one lonely character. So I guess it depends on the game, most games is too lonely, I would prefer to see the whole party. Xenoblade 2 has both 3 members and their blades, so it's 6 of them making it very big compared to most games.

 

[Taleweaver]

I just started playing a game that's about city building in a zombie apocalypse. Hardly the setting for an RPG, but it uses those elements pretty strongly (you have to assign everyone to tasks; the speed and quality depends on their level in the task at hand). And I was pleasantly surprised how it uses the exact opposite of what you're describing. At first I thought the interaction between characters was going to be minimal or just informative ("Joe McDoe got eaten by zombies"), but the game features a lot of player interactions (perks that increase happiness for people working on the same task, increased efficiency, perks for talking to someone,...).

Come to think of it: it certainly contrasts with those RPG's that barely or not at all notice you're an entire group of people conga lining your way through the world.

... (don't even get me started with staying at an Inn with 3 beds)...

To be honest, I kind of DO want you to get started on that...

 

[sarkwalvein]

I slightly prefer to see the whole party, but TBH it doesn't annoy me that much if it is the other way around.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

To be honest, I kind of DO want you to get started on that...

Those inn beds are twins at best. That means any party with more than 6 people has the remaining cast sleeping on the floor. Are you really going to ask Red XIII to sleep on the floor, like some common mutt? That's racist. No, wait, that's speciesist. Now, asking the token black guy (insert Barret, Sazh, any others that may or may not exist here), that's racist. Then there's the women... if there's an even number that's fine, but what if there's 3? One has to either sleep on the floor (yeah, good luck with that in this day and age) or share the bed with a dude. There's already enough forced in-game romances as it is, and making two people sleep in close quarters is just asking for more cutscenes where the woman explains how their love is forbidden and the dude talks about how the world's probably gonna end anyway. Did I mention the JRPG takes place in Hawaii?

 

[sarkwalvein]

Those inn beds are twins at best. That means any party with more than 6 people has the remaining cast sleeping on the floor. Are you really going to ask Red XIII to sleep on the floor, like some common mutt? That's racist. No, wait, that's speciesist. Now, asking the token black guy (insert Barret, Sazh, any others that may or may not exist here), that's racist. Then there's the women... if there's an even number that's fine, but what if there's 3? One has to either sleep on the floor (yeah, good luck with that in this day and age) or share the bed with a dude. There's already enough forced in-game romances as it is, and making two people sleep in close quarters is just asking for more cutscenes where the woman explains how their love is forbidden and the dude talks about how the world's probably gonna end anyway. Did I mention the JRPG takes place in Hawaii?

They can all sleep on the ground, throw the beds out the window, true equality, etc.
Even more puzzling to me is that most of those INNs don't have a toilet, at all.
I guess you have to go do your business outside, even in Narshe weather conditions.

 

[Jayro]

The Golden Sun series does this, and it never sat right with me.

 

[Sakitoshi]

As you said, it keeps clutter in check and that is better than having your party using a good amount of the screen for no real reason.
I mainly play tales of games and your tipical party consist of 6 characters and a mascot, having them all at once would use a good chunk of resourses and they don't even fight all at the same time, only 3 or 4 (depending the game) are active at battle so it would look ridiculous too.

 

[VinsCool]

Some games I have played merge characters into a single controllable one, and tend to split for cutscenes, or events.
It works well that way, and I've never been bothered by this. It helps to avoid any clutter.

 

[Windaga]

I think it depends on the way it looks. I watched a friend play through an hour of Xenoblade 2, and it just looks weird "sneaking around" high level enemies with 4 other people following you.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

The Golden Sun series does this, and it never sat right with me.

You are playing that on a small screen, maybe that is the reason? (Cramped screen, many sprites)

I think it depends on the way it looks. I watched a friend play through an hour of Xenoblade 2, and it just looks weird "sneaking around" high level enemies with 4 other people following you.

Kinda hard to "sneak" in the game. I mean if you are stronger than the monsters, then they just ignore you, if you are weak, then you just have to stay away from their range of noticing you. Doesn't matter if you are behind trees or rocks, just how the game is, not quite as refined as for example, Metal Gear Solid.

Also most games ignore your party, just the one the player controls is the main focus.

 

[Windaga]

You are playing that on a small screen, maybe that is the reason? (Cramped screen, many sprites)


Kinda hard to "sneak" in the game. I mean if you are stronger than the monsters, then they just ignore you, if you are weak, then you just have to stay away from their range of noticing you. Doesn't matter if you are behind trees or rocks, just how the game is, not quite as refined as for example, Metal Gear Solid.

Also most games ignore your party, just the one the player controls is the main focus.

It's more so the appearance, not the function. I felt the same way about Ellie in The Last of Us - she could run around enemies and they wouldn't attack until Joel broke stealth. It just looks funny.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

It's more so the appearance, not the function. I felt the same way about Ellie in The Last of Us - she could run around enemies and they wouldn't attack until Joel broke stealth. It just looks funny.

Yeah, got to love that unrealistic programming. Like watching a cartoon. "Hey look at me, I'm cool, I can do all this, I never get caught" Meanwhile I do one thing and the alarm goes off. Makes us look like fools.

 

[Deleted User]

If it's a 16-bit RPG with a limited resolution, I forgive merging party members, but if the game is 3D and uses relatively modern graphics, then I find it a little distracting. Doesn't really bother me either way, though; the game is it's own world, and abides by it's own rules. The player has to follow through with those rules, to an extent.