Optional Party Member: Difference between revisions

** Mog less so than Umaro or Gogo, since Mog appears and fights with you at the beginning of the game.

** You can optionally recruit Shadow at certain points in the first half of the game, but he'd always leave your party sooner or later, sometimes even randomly after a battle. He does join your party for two plot-related events though. In the second half of the game {{spoiler|he can only be found again if you waited for him on the [[Floating Continent]]. If you did, you can recruit him permanently from that point forward.}}

** And recommended. [[That One Boss|Gizamaluke]] is easier with Quina helping you, and he's still a pain even then.

* [[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]] had Ms. Mowz as an unlockable character if you solved her trouble. She joins you permanently.

*** However, you can refuse to free Sten from his cage, and you quite possibly will since he is painted as a [[Complete Monster]]. If you do this then you cannot change your mind so he is stuck in there permanently.

** In ''[[Expansion Pack|Awakening]]'', you can wind up without any party members by {{spoiler|giving Anders to the templars, refusing to let Oghren and Justice join the Wardens, ordering Nathaniel to be hanged, killing Velanna and refusing to let Sigrun accompany you into Kal Hirol.}}

* The SEBEC route of ''[[Persona]]'' only allows you to take one optional party member out of an available four ([[Ted Baxter|Brown]], [[Ditzy Genius|Elly]], [[Valley Girl|Ayase]] or [[Guide Dang It|Reiji]]), while the Snow Queen route lets you take two out of three (Brown, Elly and [[The White Prince|Nanjo]]). This means you'd have to play the game ''fourteen'' times to see all the different characters and interactions in every ending. Hey, they had to put [[Replay Value]] in there somehow!

* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'' it's not necessary to recruit both Wrex and Garrus, as the player can proceed with the game after recruiting one and leave the other behind. Similarly, in the sequel the player can progress to the endgame after recruiting Tali, Thane or Samara, skipping the other two characters entirely, and it's possible to either sell Legion to Cerberus and/or not wake Grunt from his tank. That's not counting DLC characters Zaeed and Kasumi.

* There are three in [[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]]; Black Frost, Dante, and Samael. Black Frost can be recruited a while after you defeat him as an [[Bonus Boss|optional boss]], Dante automatically joins you in the Fifth Kalpa (which is entirely optional, but unavoidable if you're going for the {{spoiler|True Demon Ending}}), and Samael will only join you if you chose to side with Shijima.

* [[The Last Remnant]] union system is made of this trope. You have 49 'unique' leaders, each with their own voice acting and backstory (8 of whom are important to the storyline). On top of this are 118 'ordinary' leaders and over 200 common soldiers that can be hired. Every single one has a unique combination of stats, weapons and fighting styles: all this for a game where you can have a maximum of 6 leaders and 12 soldiers in your party. The main character Rush is the only one who has to stay in the party; everyone else eventually becomes optional.

* In [[MOTHER 1]], it's possible to not recruit Teddy. [[Nintendo Hard|Have fun with that]].

* {{spoiler|Death's Hand}} from [[Jade Empire]]. {{spoiler|After he is defeated, [[Player Character|the Spirit Monk]] has the option to bind his soul, thus gaining him as a party member.}}

* Every. EVERY. Pokémon. Well, except your starter.

* In ''[[Wizardry]] 8'' most "RPC" ([[Guest Star Party Member|removable PC]]) are optional extras.