Your Favourite Party in an RPG

[darksnowman]

 

What's your favourite party in an RPG? Do you prefer to create your own characters rather than have characters with their own personalities thrust upon you? What does it take to make a good party for you - cliche offensive person, cliche weak girl with a strong affinity for healing magic, cliche thicko who's good with his fists - or something different? Is there anything different? Silent protagonist or no?

 

[Oxigen_Waste]

Huh? oO

 

As long as it's balanced and diverse who cares about what the characters are like? oO

[Nolan]

4 white mages.

[Grazza]

Dragon Quest VIII for me, so I'd say the formula is:

 

* Silent Protagonist

* Loyal Sidekick

* Likeable Female

* Dependable healer

 

OK, maybe some of the those adjectives aren't as important as others, so I'll break it down and be very specific about why I liked those characters so much. I should say, I wouldn't necessarily say these characters are the reason I adored the game (and I do adore it). Nonetheless, they are still the best team I can think of.

 

Hero

The important thing about an RPG protagonist is that it really is meant to be you. Therefore I am a big proponent of keeping them silent. That doesn't mean they can't have any character, but the slightest flash of (for example) arrogance or cruelty can really take you out of your immersion in an "I wouldn't do that" way.

 

Sidekick

The sidekick has got to be loyal and dependable - a man-at-arms, if you like. In DQVIII, I really was moved at the unflappable loyalty Yangus had towards the Hero. Physical strength is also important, which is why I created "Dave" in DQIX. It's an RPG convention that the Hero is actually not the strongest character. His sidekick is. So, for instance, whilst the Hero uses weapons that require some finesse, like swords and spears, the sidekick often uses cruder weapons like axes and clubs. There's something psychologically comforting about the idea that, though you may fail, your stronger friend is waiting to back you up.

 

Female

Well, let's be honest, this is something of a token role, but an important one nonetheless. DQVIII's Jessica, like most female RPG characters, is a mage. She also provides some T&A, which as far as I'm concerned is a perfectly legitimate part of any game. Interestingly, she is not actually a love interest for the Hero, just a friend, and a likeable one too.

 

Healer

The healer is often a more gentle male. DQVIII's Angelo doesn't quite fit the bill here, which is not necessarily a bad thing. He's probably the most interesting healer I've seen, actually. I wasn't 100% sure whether I could trust him. Cool and aloof, he never truly seemed like a friend of the Hero, but his unusual backstory was a winning feature.

 

...

 

Ah, I enjoyed that opportunity to ramble on about DQVIII again. The thing about those characters was that none of them were arrogant, none of them were pretentious, none of them had any affectations. In short, they felt like adults. Actual adults, not the sulky kids you get in a lot of RPGs. Typing this has reminded me that, though character creation tools (such as in DQIX) have their uses, there is no substitute for some properly-authored characters.

[Hero-of-Time]

I love the dark, moody hero, which is why I love Squall. I hate any chirpy character! These characters really annoy the hell out of me.

 

*points to Vanille, Rikku, Collette etc.*

 

In terms of battle style, i'm not a fan of picking classes and moves for a character but missing out on other moves from another class, basically like DQIX. I prefer to recieve a character and have that character be set as a Mage, Fighter, Warrior etc. However, I don't mind systems like Final Fantasy VII's materia system, where any character can be any class, but you don't miss out on anything.

 

Back when I was a kid and played RPG's I usually just over levelled my characters and went all out attak. I still like to do a bit of power levelling but I find now that I use alot more debuffs and buffs when fighting bosses. I think this is due to getting into Dragon Quest in recent years. Most of the boss fights in those games require more than brute strength.

[Sheikah]

Good topic, I think I'll give a few examples of what I like to see best (as well as what shouldn't be done).

 

 

Good Main protagonists:

 

- Rookie soldier eager to prove his worth (e.g. Squall/Cloud)

- Slightly cheeky and generally nice, carefree (e.g. Zidane)

- Emotionally awkward / room to develop socially

- Cold or somewhat detached with room for gradual change

 

Poor main protagonists:

 

- Jerks (e.g. Luke from Tales of the Abyss)

- Generally annoying in behaviour/appearance/overall attitude (e.g. Vaan, or to a lesser extent Tidus; a bit douchey really)

- Mutes (works for certain traditional games but I'd never consider that character themself to be memorable, or interesting)

- Anyone terribly voice acted. Can really ruin shit.

 

 

Good supporting characters:

 

- All-round cool (Auron, Zell, Shadow, Yuri from Shadow Hearts, Vincent, most of the characters in Dragon Quest VIII)

- Pretty much just being cool, really.

 

 

Bad supporting characters:

 

- Really annoyingly voice acted (e.g. Vanille from FFXIII, many of the characters from Tales of Legendia)

- Just plain stupidly included characters that add nothing/little to the game (Kimahri, Cait Sith)

- Usually child characters (Vivi excluded on account of being cool). They tend to be freaking annoying, and often are immune to being killed off.

 

 

What I like to see in villains:

 

- Being intelligent and also cool. Not being completely one-dimensional and potentially being evil

- Good guys turning bad. Possibly even during the play of the game

- Often being the result of some rivalry / there is history with the main character. Potentially tries to save you after seeing error of ways at the end (e.g. Kuja).

 

What I hate to see in villains:

 

Flamboyance (except possibly Kuja). Generic 'bad guy' persona; one-dimensional. An order of villains that you must kill in sequence to open up the highest rank bad guy (poorly imagined villains).

[Jonnas]

Well... gameplay-wise, I like to go with:

 

-Physicially oriented, well-rounded character (Ex.: Lloyd, Regal, Zidane, Knight/Fighter (FF), Isaac/Felix/Mattew, Vyse);

-Offensive mage (Ex.: Genis, Vivi/Black Mage, Celes/Terra, Ivan/Sheba/Karis, Kumatora);

-Defensive mage, or Healer (Ex.: Raine, Dagger/Eiko/White Mage, Mia/Rief, Fina);

-Something different and/or weird (Ex: Sheena, Quina/Blue Mage, Locke/Thief, Shadow/Ninja, Edgar, Gau, Vincent, Sveta, Duster, Lyude)

If there isn't a sufficiently different/fun character to fill the 4th spot, I go with the available brute (Ex.: Presea, Steiner, Sabin/Monk, Tifa, Garet/Tyrell/Eoleo, Drachma)

 

Of course, depending on the game, there could be some overlapping and other variations, but what's important is the most fun combination to use, which is usually that (and even then there are total exceptions, like Chrono Trigger)

 

 

As for character personalities...I may use them as a tie-break of sorts, but very rarely do I outright decide someone's inclusion/exclusion based on their actual character (save for exceptions such as Xelha, who brings her annoying voice to combat, or Fire Emblem in general, due to various reasons)

Edited February 12, 2012 by Jonnas

[killer kirby]

pfft fuck having a party.

 

I do solo bitch! (DQIII and DQIX)

[Ellmeister]

I like Tidus.

[Sméagol]

All female party.

 

As for roles, in generally do the standard mix, depending on how many party members I can have. I healer who can also do some offensive spells when everyone?s healed up, one are of affect spellcaster, 1 or 2 pure offensive characters, usually some melee character to tank, and if I can have a fourth, a long range attacker (mage or rogue or summoner or whatever) to support. I general I prefer mages though, and I like characters who have alternative functions, like the forementioned offensive healers, and mages who besides standard offensive spells have status changing spells.

 

It does depend on the game a bit. Although I haven?t finished dragon Age, I was playing with 3 mages and a rogue (i.e. the all-girly-party).

 

It?s been a while though since I played a (J)RPG, I have yet to buy Xenoblade Chronicles (but I will).