Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Difference between revisions

Line 1:

Many games, especially [[Role Playing Games]], allow you to [[Optional Party Member|recruit characters that have little]] [[Canon Shadow|or no bearing on the plot.]] For some games, you can recruit all of these characters if you want.

However, in some games it is not possible to have all playable characters on your team. Maybe recruiting [[Elves vs. Dwarves|Eve the Elf prevents Dave the Dwarf from joining]], or maybe asking that [[White Magician Girl|cute cleric]] to join your cause makes [[Black Mage|that badass sorceror]] leave the party. It could even just be that the [[Knight in Shining Armor|heroic knight]] is found on a different path than the [[Pirate Girl|cool pirate chick]]. Whatever the reason, the game forbids certain characters from being in the party at the same time, requiring you to boot one out in order to get the other or know ahead of time which of the two you want. Sometimes the exclusivity is limited to a single playthrough, and it is possible to use a [[New Game+]] to go back and acquire the other character (ultimately having both). Other times, the game will ''never'' allow the two to be together without the use of a cheating device.

Do note that this trope does not apply if you can't recruit a character because the party has a limit on how many members you can have: that trope is [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]].

== Fighting Game ==

Line 18:

* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic II]]:''

** PC gender determines availability of the Handmaiden or the Disciple.

** Light/Dark side meter selects between Mira or Hanharr.

* ''[[Mass Effect (video game)|Mass Effect 1]]'' goes for the [[Player Punch]] by making you choose between Ashley and Kaidan, your two human squad-mates, on Virmire. "Virmire Survivor" has become an accepted fan term for whoever you pick, as they have similar routes in the rest of the series - chewing you out for working with Cerberus in the second game, then {{spoiler|becoming the second human Spectre}} and (potentially) rejoining you in the third.

** In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', {{spoiler|during Samara's loyalty mission,}} if your have a high enough Paragon or Renegade score, you can choose to recruit {{spoiler|Morinth.}} However, doing so causes {{spoiler|Samara}} to be killed off, while {{spoiler|choosing to help Samara}} prevents you from recruiting the other character.

* For the penultimate boss battle in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]],'' {{spoiler|Sand or Qara will join the enemy}}, depending on how high your [[Relationship Values|influence]] is with the former. If the former stays with you, the latter will not due to their mutual antagonism.

** In ''Mask of the Betrayer'', One Of Many can only be created by using {{spoiler|Okku's}} dead body.

* The ''[[Pokémon]]'' series is replete with this trope when it comes to its Mons. Breeding and trading with other players notwithstanding:

** There are three elementally-themed starter Pokemon, which you get to pick just one to start your party from.

** There is usually a pair of fossils, and you can choose only one to revive into a Pokemon.

** In the first generation (before the introduction of breeding) you could pick either a Hitmonchan or Hitmonlee by defeating the master of Saffron City's fighting dojo. You also received one Eevee which could evolve into only one of three final forms.

* In ''[[Quest for Glory|Quest For Glory V: Dragonfire]]'', you can bring back Erana or Katrina from the dead. Both are Arch-mages. Erana sacrificed her life to save the world. Katrina was a villain, or at best a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] running on [[Blue and Orange Morality]] and bad advice... On the other hand, she sacrificed her life to save you.

* In ''[[Radiata Stories]]'', which party members you get depends on whether you side with the humans or the nonhumans.

* Subverted in ''[[Septerra Core]]'' you can recruit all the possible characters, but if you try to put Selina & Corgan or Led & Lobo in the same party, they'll occasionally shoot at each other instead of the enemy. However you can do a sidequest to befriend them.

* In ''[[Star Ocean the Second Story]]'', there are several examples of this.

Line 45:

== Tabletop Games ==

* In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'', [[Lovecraft Lite|Binders]] can't bind [[Summon Magic|Amon]] and Leraje at the same time for unknown reasons.

== Turn Based Strategy ==

* The ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series does this from time to time.

** In Chapter 13 of ''Mystery of the Emblem'', there are two villages that are right next to each other. One contains Samson, a fairly powerful Hero, while another contains Alan, a [[Crutch Character]] Paladin. If you send Marth down to those villages and enter one, you can recruit one of them. However, doing so causes the other village to close its gates, prevents you from getting the other character.

** Halfway through Chapter 3 in ''Gaiden'' there are two bosses, Sonia and Deen, that each control their own armies and both block different routes to another boss, Geyse. After fighting and killing one of the bosses, the other will retreat and can be recruited later, after you defeat Geyse.

** In Chapter 6 of ''Genealogy of the Holy War'', you can recruit either Johan or Johalva, but doing so enrages the other one and makes them unable to be recruited.

** In ''Thracia 776'', recruiting Eyrios requires you to have not recruited Olwen a few chapters before, and recruiting Sety causes Cyas to leave the party.

Line 59:

* ''[[Jagged Alliance]]:'' Some mercs will refuse to work with others, either turning down your offer on the ground that you have their personal enemy or leaving the party. Though this feeling is not always mutual, so hiring people in right order you can sometimes hire both of them.

** In the first game, failing to listen to the complaints of your mercs can have terrible consequences: Fidel does not like working with Hurl, for example, and failing to fire one or the other will result in Hurl disappearing in the middle of the night (the implication is that Fidel killed him), and you'll lose all Hurl's equipment.

** In the second game, if you manage to hire two mercs that do not like each other, they will (grudgingly) work together for the duration of their contracts. However, when the option to renew their contracts comes up, ''both of them'' will refuse to extend their contracts, meaning you'll lose two mercs instead of just one.

* In ''[[Shining Force]] 2'', when you go to Creed's Mansion, you are given a choice between four characters: Karna, Tyrin, Randalf, and Eric. After you pick one, the other three become unavailable to you. {{spoiler|Subverted, in that later in the game, it's possible to recruit the characters you missed.}}

* In ''Suikoden 2'' you eventually have to choose between two returning characters, Kasumi or Valeria. Kasumi helps recruiting other ninjas faster, Valeria helps recruiting Anita faster. You also will never have enough Shining Crystals to recruit every monster.

** Just after the halfway point of ''[[Suikoden V]]'', you can access a rather difficult bonus dungeon that upon completion nets you the very [[Mysterious Waif]] Eresh. If you do not recruit her, then at the very end of the game, you can recruit {{spoiler|Euram Barrows}} to occupy that position in the 108 stars of destiny.

* In ''Tactics Ogre: Knight Of Lodis'', the player can, at a certain point in the game, decide between two paths. On one path you recruit Shiven and Cybil, while the second path has you recruit Orson and Rictor. Then, later in the game on both paths, you are given the option to recruit either an Angel Knight or a Lesser Daemon, which locks the other from you, but if one of them dies or be turned into [[Infinity+1 Sword]] you can still do the event of getting another (only if you didn't complete Lesser Daemon event with alive Angel in your party).

* In ''[[Odium]]'', if you go into an optional side-area to recruit Slavsky, one of your teammates, Medusa, goes insane first and must be killed. Technically, that's also [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]] in play, since having both Medusa and Slavsky would exceed your limit of 5 members.

* In ''[[Yggdra Union]]'', you recruit either Roswell or Rosary after killing one of them. The survivor joins your army.

Line 73:

⚫

[[Category:~~Role~~ ~~Playing Game~~]]

[[Category:Player Party]]

[[Category:Video Game Characters]]

[[Category:Mutually Exclusive Party Members]]

⚫

[[Category:CRPG Tropes]]