Let's Split Up, Gang!: Difference between revisions

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* In ''[[Breath of Fire II]]'', players who refused to use Sten and/or Jean got the unpleasant shock of their lives when they had to use those characters alone in certain important stages. Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

* Used in ''[[Suikoden II]]'' for the battle against Luca Blight (the three parties fight him in sequence) and in ''[[Suikoden V]]'' for the final dungeon. Given that you need to recruit 108 characters in each game, being able to use 18 of them instead of the usual 6 is kind of welcome.

* In ''[[~~Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga|~~Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'', the brothers are often forced to split up, particularly in Joke's End, in which they spend most of the dungeon on separate paths. Similarly, in the sequel, ''[[~~Mario and Luigi Partners In Time|~~Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time]]'', Baby Mario and Luigi are often separated from their adult selves. Mario and Luigi stick together more in ''[[Mario ~~and~~ Luigi ~~Bowsers~~ Inside Story|Bowser's Inside Story]]'', the third game--once Mario finds Luigi, they only ever split up when Mario briefly gets kidnapped. However, that game adds Bowser as a third playable character, and he always travels alone ([[Fantastic Voyage Plot|well, sorta]]).

* In ''[[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'', the brothers are often forced to split up, particularly in Joke's End, in which they spend most of the dungeon on separate paths. Similarly, in the sequel, ''[[Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time]]'', Baby Mario and Luigi are often separated from their adult selves. Mario and Luigi stick together more in ''[[Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story|Bowser's Inside Story]]'', the third game--once Mario finds Luigi, they only ever split up when Mario briefly gets kidnapped. However, that game adds Bowser as a third playable character, and he always travels alone ([[Fantastic Voyage Plot|well, sorta]]).

** On the other hand, there is an [[Escort Mission]] with Princess Peach in ''[[Mario ~~and~~ Luigi Superstar Saga|Superstar Saga]]''. Let her wander offscreen and she gets kidnapped instantly.

** On the other hand, there is an [[Escort Mission]] with Princess Peach in ''[[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga|Superstar Saga]]''. Let her wander offscreen and she gets kidnapped instantly.

* Happens in ''[[Ogre Battle|Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis]]'', and given the nature of the game it is definitely meant to strike a blow against the players who didn't bother to train multiple characters.

* Happens in the final part of ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius|Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]'', but because the game split up the characters in the previous parts already, there is little concern about having enough units to go around.

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** To elaborate, the let's split up sections were some of the hardest in the game when playing co-op on higher difficulties. Many players played co-op to get through the game on Insane, and the difficulty was reduced by the fact that your human partner could revive you after being killed, unlike your AI teammates. When you were forced to split up, there were no revives, and a single screwup by you or your partner would send you both back to the last checkpoint. This was the only time when it was easier to play without a human teammate, as the AI would never screw up when it wasn't in a position to actually fight near you.

*** Some of the split-ups were completely arbitrary, also. There was a section where you had to either choose between a hall filled with lasers or a hall filled with buttons that turned off said lasers. But the doorway at the end of the latter was wide open. There was nothing stopping the player from walking away and leaving the other player to die.

* The Final Fantasy-style RPG ''[[Lord of the Rings The Third Age]]'' has this. Late in the game, your party splits to defend a certain City. The division couldn't be worse: on one team you have the party leader with immunity to fear, huge combo attacks and tons of [[Hit Points]]; the devistating [[Squishy Wizard]] and the blasty, buffing dwarf. On the other team you have the rogue with no armor and half as many HP as everyone else, the Ranger who does piercing damage which made him useful against goblins and no one else, and the guy with the spear who actually gives enemies Mana when he hits them and has a few permanent buffs that are usually dispelled by enemy casters in the first round. Also, since the latter three are so lame, you probably won't use them any longer that you have to, so they're a good five levels behind everyone else, too.

* The Final Fantasy-style RPG ''[[Lord of the Rings: The Third Age]]'' has this. Late in the game, your party splits to defend a certain City. The division couldn't be worse: on one team you have the party leader with immunity to fear, huge combo attacks and tons of [[Hit Points]]; the devistating [[Squishy Wizard]] and the blasty, buffing dwarf. On the other team you have the rogue with no armor and half as many HP as everyone else, the Ranger who does piercing damage which made him useful against goblins and no one else, and the guy with the spear who actually gives enemies Mana when he hits them and has a few permanent buffs that are usually dispelled by enemy casters in the first round. Also, since the latter three are so lame, you probably won't use them any longer that you have to, so they're a good five levels behind everyone else, too.

** Further clarification: On one team, you had a warrior with ridiculous combo attacks and party-leadership skills, an elf who was the only one with decent healing, since items either healed half of what she could heal in one go, or were rare, and, to top it off, a Magic Knight of a dwarf who could use insanely powerful fire spells in addition to ridiculously strong defensive buffs and powerful melee attacks. On the other, you had a ranger who had a bunch of debuffing attacks, but low damage, a rogue who had an entire skill tree revolving around stealing stuff (Mana, health, items), weak attacks, low hp, and pathetic equipment (Out of all the characters, she was the least likely get items dropped for), and, finally, the guy with a spear who tries to be a Magic Knight but fails: his melee attacks are typically single-attack with effects that usually help the enemy and magic attacks that only support... and ONLY support (Dispel, deplete enemy mana, transfer mana/health to/from others). Basically, you had a team that ripped open enemies and a team that could barely defeat a group of enemies from 10 levels ago.

** This troper disagrees, the spear user was a perfectly viable party member if used right as he could use his magic abilities to steal life from the enemies as well as channel his own health to heal his allies. In this troper's playthrough he was almost always in the party because he was, to quote a friend, a "soul stealing death vampire."