Why do most jrpgs and turn based rpgs still stick to 3 active party members?

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AngrySpoonySnob
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Why do most jrpgs and turn based rpgs still stick to 3 active party members?

Post by AngrySpoonySnob » Thu Mar 01, 2018 9:02 pm

To me its a bit strange to see no games where they try to use 4 or 5 at a time, harder to balance so what, do some effort to create something unique.

Do you guys know of any rpgs that are like the traditional turnbased jrpg classics but with more than 3 people fighting?
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Re: Why do most jrpgs and turn based rpgs still stick to 3 active party members?

Post by Kugelfisch » Thu Mar 01, 2018 9:52 pm

I assume it has mostly to do with pacing. You don't want to draw each turn out too much. That's not impossible to make play more fluently with something like the FF systems where it's not "your turn, my turn" but more focused around something like an agility stat.
Then again, you're prone to create a meta where that one stat that decides who gets to go first will become too important. I'm sure many have tried and found it to just not work all that well. If you'll find something like that, you're likely to find it in some RPG Maker game.
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Re: Why do most jrpgs and turn based rpgs still stick to 3 active party members?

Post by rabidtictac » Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:01 pm

Strategy RPGs don't and the result is that most strategy RPGs take forever for everyone to take a single turn. I think FFT is the only one that feels fast enough.

ATB battle systems like in FF4, FF5 and FF6 work ok. They feel more frantic, especially when the boss takes 2-3 turns for every full cycle (4 moves) your guys get.
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Re: Why do most jrpgs and turn based rpgs still stick to 3 active party members?

Post by Poonoo » Thu Mar 01, 2018 11:14 pm

Kugelfisch wrote:
Thu Mar 01, 2018 9:52 pm
I'm sure many have tried and found it to just not work all that well. If you'll find something like that, you're likely to find it in some RPG Maker game.
That's the most likely answer, turns likely took too long and fucked the pacing in testing and they decided to stick to 3 since that must have been the sweet spot.
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Re: Why do most jrpgs and turn based rpgs still stick to 3 active party members?

Post by MegaNigger » Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:55 am

The highest amount of characters I've ever been able to use in any RPG was 4.

It suffers from some of the speed issues mentioned above, but I find that is the magic number for active party members.


What most of those games lack in my opinion is a mid battle switch option so you can tag in different members for bigger strats. Also more often than not the bosses are either stupidly OP damage sponges, or have a shit gimmick that you bring the appropriate items and spells to counter.

I hate Final Fantasy mostly, always on a story basis though. They've had some interesting systems of combat over the years, I give them that.

My favorite game of all time is Legend of Dragoon. THAT game needed combat party switching and a finer tuned combo system, as well as 4 active party members.

Nevermimd it's awful over world that's just straight lines between some fun and memorable sandbox dungeons. 3 years of development hell and it came soooo close, yet so far lol.
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Re: Why do most jrpgs and turn based rpgs still stick to 3 active party members?

Post by mad bum » Fri Mar 02, 2018 4:52 am

Phantasy star 4 lets you have 5, proving that sega does what nintendont.
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Re: Why do most jrpgs and turn based rpgs still stick to 3 active party members?

Post by AdorableOtter » Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:13 am

You should stop going after fancy looking cheap ani-weeb game with shallow pseudo-classic gameplay. There are lots of rpgs with 4 or more PT members if you look in the right direction.

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Re: Why do most jrpgs and turn based rpgs still stick to 3 active party members?

Post by Guest » Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:28 am

Dunno if Mother quite counts but you at least end each game with four party members IIRC.

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Re: Why do most jrpgs and turn based rpgs still stick to 3 active party members?

Post by Guest » Fri Mar 02, 2018 5:02 pm

The NES earthbound only lets you have 3, the 4th party member is a chad that kicks the nerdy kid out, then the nerd comes back and blows his ass up with a tank later in the game.

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Re: Why do most jrpgs and turn based rpgs still stick to 3 active party members?

Post by Kugelfisch » Fri Mar 02, 2018 5:32 pm

AdorableOtter wrote:
Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:13 am
You should stop going after fancy looking cheap ani-weeb game with shallow pseudo-classic gameplay. There are lots of rpgs with 4 or more PT members if you look in the right direction.
Well, yeah, Wizardry and Might & Magic and such have six party members. It works for them because you don't have many combat animations, if any, and because you've got enough keys on a keyboard. When I played M&M 1 and 2 I've pretty much used the numpad exclusively.
For a console with a controller it would be a chore to select spells and such from a menue for so many party members.

I have no idea why I didn't mention Wizardry first. For some reason, I wasn't even thinking about CRPGs.
A worthy mention are the Gold Box D&D games like Pools of Radience and such.
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