Set Party or Use Them All?

[Pumpkin]

When you play an RPG, do you have a set party you stick to, or do you use all of them?

I prefer using them all, so I actually kind of dislike it when characters you don't use auto-level with your party because it's less incentive for me to keep them on rotation and I never know who to use! I like having to swap them out.

I'm weird and I always feel like I'm neglecting real people if I don't use everybody :p (That's also why I have to buy crunchy and smooth peanut butter in rotation as well)

I think my ideal system is when the not used characters get a percentage of the experience, so they don't fall too far behind but it's still reason to use them.

Which do you prefer?

[Skyblade]

I try to use everyone, but I always have trouble leaving my favorites behind...

[Ayen]

Depends on the game. Some times I stick with a set party, and other times I use everyone. This is one of the reason I like FFX's ability to switch out members mid-fight.

[Wolf Kanno]

Depends on the game and what I'm doing with the playthrough. Usually I like to use everyone but if I'm playing a game where individual characters don't matter due to customization mechanics I'll stick to favorites.

[Vermachtnis]

I pick my favorites and use them. I hate it when games force you to use certain characters later in the game. And games where you have to split up are the worse.

[VeloZer0]

I like to use all the characters that I like. So in some games that means picking one party and sticking with it, in other games where I enjoy most of the cast I tend to use a lot more characters.

[Depression Moon]

I show everybody love.

[Colonel Angus]

I try using everyone if I can, especially in X & XII. It's too bad they never added a switch-out feature for VI & VII in any of the rereleases.

[Laddy]

I try to balance out my parties when possible just for personal purposes. That being said, XII in particular made it difficult since I accidentally developed some characters to be way more useful than others.

[theundeadhero]

I like it when the unused characters keep up so I can use the ones I want.

[Formalhaut]

I use them all generally but I tend to show preference to characters that are important to that particular plot: using Barret when trekking to North Corel or using Kimahri in Mt. Gagazet or Balthier when fighting Dr. Cid.

[Mr. Carnelian]

I use them all generally but I tend to show preference to characters that are important to that particular plot: using Barret when trekking to North Corel or using Kimahri in Mt. Gagazet or Balthier when fighting Dr. Cid.

That's how I like to do things as well. For example, in XIII I had Fang on my team the entire time I was on Pulse.

[Forsaken Lover]

99% of the time I stick to a single party which consists of the characters I like the most.

If the story is good enough for that other 1% I might switch in certain characters to be "story appropriate." Then again, I never use Jr. in Xenosaga Episode III, even when I should be using him on Abel's Ark so I guess I'm full of crap.

But yeah, FFXII was kind of a problem for me at times during my first run because all I used was Vaan, Penelo and...ehhh Ashe I think. I never use Fran, ever. Anyway, during the occasions my party got wiped I had to cycle in the useless B-Team who were like 20 levels behind my A Team. It was such an exercise in futility and I wish they had just given me a game over after my first team all died.

[Formalhaut]

[QUOTE=Forsaken Lover;3536844
But yeah, FFXII was kind of a problem for me at times during my first run because all I used was Vaan, Penelo and...ehhh Ashe I think. I never use Fran, ever. Anyway, during the occasions my party got wiped I had to cycle in the useless B-Team who were like 20 levels behind my A Team. It was such an exercise in futility and I wish they had just given me a game over after my first team all died.[/QUOTE]

FFXII rewards you for using your full complement. You can switch out your characters at (mostly) any time, you can change equipment on the fly, and you can heal and revive people in your reserves, and any buffs they had on stay on. For the toughest boss fights, having all six at roughly the same level is not just useful, but almost essential. Having that extra safety net is so useful for Zodiark. If your entire A-team gets wasted, you have a full set of healthy, buffed party members to act as damage limitation.

[Agent Proto]

I try to use every character available. Unless I happen to dislike a character so much, I usually end up skipping on them. It's basically hard to do if there's like a whole bunch of characters you can use (Like Chrono Cross, and every Pokemon game). When that's the case, I usually stick with my favorite characters.

[Mirage]

I don't use all characters just for the sake of using all characters.

If they have set classes or abilities, i make sure to keep useful characters leveled in case i need them for something in particular. I also pick characters based on how much I like them, visually or personality wise.

[escobert]

I try to use everyone, but I always have trouble leaving my favorites behind...

This. I like to use them all because you never know when you have to use them! But I prefer to use a core group most of the time.

[blackmage_nuke]

I chose my party based on where Im going and who will give me the most relevant dialogue when I get there.