How do you create your in-game party in RPGs with custom party members?

[MondayAtTheBeach]

I'm a really big fan of Etrian Odyssey and i have recently been playing through Dragon Quest III, both games that make you build a party of several characters to use in the game, and i've been wondering how do you guys form and name the party members? I usually either base them on my friends and try to think of what classes they would be if they were video game characters or i do the same thing but with fictional characters i like. How do you do it?

 

[Fietto!]

When it comes to Etrian. I just name em after Food. Examples like Pomodoro & Farina.
(I picked Option 3 anyway, as I imagined up lore. Hell, that’s what I love about these games. You use your imagination when story is absent, it’s valuable freedom.)

 

[HoyeBoye]

I try to guess how the story will go and assign the characters my friend’s names based on my predictions. After they are named, I usually run out the game with who I’d rather hang out with than who works strategically.
TBH, I’m not that good at RPGs.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Same concept as with my virtual sports teams: book characters!

You'd think I wouldn't have enough favorites to fill an entire roster with... but I do love my books xD

 

[Alkider]

Ok for a quick recommended list for this kind of thing, EO like what was already talked about, Disgaea with it's custom characters, Stranger of Sword City, and recently The Dark Spire (and by extension Wizardry)
With any game I get to rename a character it depends on what Impression I get from them before getting the option to. For characters that might as well be completely blank slates, I like to make their names Puns based on their roles or class. Sometimes If it's something like EO, I end up naming them after other game characters or even (not so) original characters that I ended up making for TTRPG campaigns or randomly when I was bored at one point or another XD

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

None of the above if possible. If the game has external media, I'll base it on that. For Etrian Odyssey II, I mostly based it on the manga that came with I think Untold 2 in Japan only that got scanned by fans a while back. Recently, Etrian Odyssey III's manga was also scanned

Now if it's a game like The Dark Spire, I lowkey burn out from lack of creativity and then look up a name generator and go with the flow. I was never the best even with D&D on ideas.

 

[Alkider]

None of the above if possible. If the game has external media, I'll base it on that. For Etrian Odyssey II, I mostly based it on the manga that came with I think Untold 2 in Japan only that got scanned by fans a while back. Recently, Etrian Odyssey III's manga was also scanned

Now if it's a game like The Dark Spire, I lowkey burn out from lack of creativity and then look up a name generator and go with the flow. I was never the best even with D&D on ideas.

YO! there's manga based on EO!?

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

YO! there's manga based on EO!?

Only 3 and all are quite short. One for Untold, one for II, one for III.
There's also various gag shorts like this one

 

[HydraSavior]

I ain't gonna front.

If I get to choose an RPG Party, I will choose a Male Hero and then the rest are the cutest lady classes.

 

[CG4R12I4N]

Sticking to the most official sources as much as possible if any from the media for the names, design and classes, if it doesn't exist then search for the artist designer's comments/twitter for those and took them as my headcanon.

 

[Graw]

I usually name them after their function and use something like Slashy, Stabby, Zappy, Shooty, Nursey, Shieldy. Names like that to make it easy at a glance to see what they all do and keep it consistent across games so I don't have to think too much about it.

 

[JoystickV2]

I know it sounds like a weird one, but in Disgaea 2 when you start the game and get some more party members that aren't named characters, I ended up making up lore about them and, in every version of that game, I have these characters in my party xD
Yeah, it may not be the most balanced party ever, but they are my extended party xD