Favourite parties in an RPG?

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

So what are everybody's favourite RPG parties? not necessarily based on stats, or game breaking party combinations, although you can mention that stuff if you like, but from a story & character building point of view. Which RPGs had the strongest line-up of endearing or likeable characters to you?

For me, the strongest character line-up is the original Nier:

It only has 4 party members, so the argument could be made for quality over quantity here. The characters of Nier (either brother Nier in Replicant, or Daddy Nier in Gestalt), Kaine, Emil & Grimoire Weiss all have amazing chemistry and their comradery is one of the more genuinely beautiful things in this sombre & hauntingly beautiful game.

I also want to mention the Tales franchise as being one of the better examples of building memorable character interactions, mostly doing so through their optional skit system. I'd say the parties from both Tales of Zestiria & Tales of Berseria are my favourite, mainly because of how well both of these games complement each-other.

I could name so many, many more for myself, but then I'd be defeating the point of asking such a question in the first place

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I just love the group on both Lunar: The Silver Star Story and Eternal Blue. Too bad I can't say the same for Magic School or Dragon Song (although, the leads on MS are fine, it's the rest of the group which lets them down).

 

[Sunnyside]

Nearly any Tales entry. Symphonia, Legendia, Abyss, Vesperia, Graces, Berseria. Character interactions in those games are leagues better than most other RPGs. Symphonia in particular spoiled me forever, to the point where I can't get into an RPG that doesn't put emphasis on developing its cast.

 

[Clippy]

Probably gonna be an outlier here but I really like parties you can form in Dungeon Siege 2 and Baldur's Gate 2.

As far as JRPGs go Shadow Hearts series probably has my favorite parties, especially Covenant and From the New World.

 

[DAME NINGEN]

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

Probably gonna be an outlier here but I really like parties you can form in Dungeon Siege 2 and Baldur's Gate 2.

I did have that thought when making the thread. Was gonna be a JRPG focused thread at first, but I figured some people would wanna talk about stuff like Baldur's Gate as well So I made it more general

 

[jon2]

Lufia 2: Maxim, Selan, Guy, Dekar - one of the greatest loveteams in RPG history + "boys will be boys" comedic duo

Chrono Trigger: Crono, Frog, Magus - most badass trio in the game, like having Goku, Piccolo and Vegeta

Xenogears: Fei, Citan, Billy - Kung Fu, Sword Fu, Gun Fu + no nonsense thinking

P.S. there are many good characters and combinations in other games but sadly no "full party" that has the fantastic synergy (it's like 1 or 2 plays the 'straight man' or basically is out of place)

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

P.S. there are many good characters and combinations in other games but sadly no "full party" that has the fantastic synergy (it's like 1 or 2 plays the 'straight man' or basically is out of place)

Yeah, quite a few RPGs have at least one or two characters that can throw off the chemistry a bit or take away from the overall enjoyment

 

[Tonberry]

THE GOAT GANG

 

[jankusanagi jankusanagi]

Nearly any Tales entry. Symphonia, Legendia, Abyss, Vesperia, Graces, Berseria. Character interactions in those games are leagues better than most other RPGs. Symphonia in particular spoiled me forever, to the point where I can't get into an RPG that doesn't put emphasis on developing its cast.

Have you tried any of the Star Ocean games? At least First Departure and The Second Story / Second Evolution have a "Private Action" system similar to the skits system from Tales that you'll probably love

 

[Rox00]

FF V's cast my beloved.

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

THE GOAT GANG
View attachment 112205

Alena! I love her design so much!

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 10:40 PM

Have you tried any of the Star Ocean games? At least First Departure and The Second Story / Second Evolution have a "Private Action" system similar to the skits system from Tales that you'll probably love

I get what you mean. It might not be a 100% fair description, but I tend to describe Star Ocean as a Tales RPG meets Star Trek Sci-Fi

 

[nobitakun]

So what are everybody's favourite RPG parties? not necessarily based on stats, or game breaking party combinations, although you can mention that stuff if you like, but from a story & character building point of view. Which RPGs had the strongest line-up of endearing or likeable characters to you?

For me, the strongest character line-up is the original Nier:
View attachment 112169
It only has 4 party members, so the argument could be made for quality over quantity here. The characters of Nier (either brother Nier in Replicant, or Daddy Nier in Gestalt), Kaine, Emil & Grimoire Weiss all have amazing chemistry and their comradery is one of the more genuinely beautiful things in this sombre & hauntingly beautiful game.

I totally agree, but I always get mad because they lost the chance to make it co-op multiplayer.

One of my favourite parties is from Chrono Trigger: Frog, Chrono and Robo.
From Final Fantasy Tactics: Ramza, Agrias, Orlandeau, Beowulf and Meliadoul (YES Meliadoul).

 

[qw90700]

When it comes to party my favourite game is Radiata Stories because you can recruit 177 characters and each characters is designed in detail that they even have their daily routines and all as they "really living their lives" and all.

However my party setup changes depending on what I need at the moment.

When I go to huge battle:

When I'm just doing ordinary stuff:

The game is great on switching between tons of people to fit to your battle style especially when you want different gameplay style to have fun and all.

 

[Turbo Kid]

Squad 7

Spoiler: spoilers

And even though the game is horrible, I will give it up for these guys

Of all the things wrong with Final Fantasy XV, the cast wasn't one of them

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

Squad 7

Spoiler: spoilers

And even though the game is horrible, I will give it up for these guys

Of all the things wrong with Final Fantasy XV, the cast wasn't one of them

I will defend Final Fantasy XV, although not very aggressively I see the flaws, but it's still my favourite FF

Valkyria Chronicles! I also found the cast of VC 4 similarly endearing.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

Gotta hand it to dq3 haha.

 

[Turbo Kid]

I will defend Final Fantasy XV, although not very aggressively I see the flaws, but it's still my favourite FF

Valkyria Chronicles! I also found the cast of VC 4 similarly endearing.

FF XV does has some things going for it so I wouldn't argue with you too much. Plus, I'm a hardcore FF nut so even the ones I don't like much I still got some entertainment value from. I think the cast of FF XV is great and the road trip vibe was a neat idea.

 

[Jimbo_McDumbo]

I loved Ichiban's party in Yakuza 7, but I loved how Kiryu got a party to bounce off of in Yakuza 8. Kiryu had worked with people in plenty of life or death situations, but he rarely had time to just walk around and talk. It was also fun to see normal people react to a larger than life character like Kiryu. Especially Seonhee foaming at the mouth for Kiryu

 

[Yousef Yousef]

I loved Ichiban's party in Yakuza 7, but I loved how Kiryu got a party to bounce off of in Yakuza 8. Kiryu had worked with people in plenty of life or death situations, but he rarely had time to just walk around and talk. It was also fun to see normal people react to a larger than life character like Kiryu. Especially Seonhee foaming at the mouth for Kiryu

Nice Yakuza 7 mention haha.

 

[Mahan_Native]

Persona 2 Eternal Punishment

Xenogears

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

I loved Ichiban's party in Yakuza 7, but I loved how Kiryu got a party to bounce off of in Yakuza 8. Kiryu had worked with people in plenty of life or death situations, but he rarely had time to just walk around and talk. It was also fun to see normal people react to a larger than life character like Kiryu. Especially Seonhee foaming at the mouth for Kiryu

I love too how:

Spoiler: Mild Yakuza 8 spoiler

Kiryu would play along with Ichiban wanting to fight in a turn-based style, but he can get an ability that lets him fight in the old 3D brawler style for a brief period of time!

 

[Turbo Kid]

One thing I would add about FF XV is the nice Princess Bride style story between Noctis and his dad in A King's Tale. It's quite endearing

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

One thing I would add about FF XV is the nice Princess Bride style story between Noctis and his dad in A King's Tale. It's quite endearing

That's a free game too, isn't it? Been a while since I played it so I don't quite remember

 

[Turbo Kid]

That's a free game too, isn't it? Been a while since I played it so I don't quite remember

I believe so. It was originally a pre order bonus I think and then they just released it for everyone