Since The Lord of the Rings and Dungeons and Dragons, Japanese role-playing parties have had parties – groups of characters going on an important quest together. While the standard group size seems to fluctuate between three and eight characters, depending on the game, it has increased over time with advancements in technology and the introduction of additional classes.
Some parties are so big that it’s almost amazing that there are so many playable characters in the game. From about 14 members to over a hundred, here are some of the biggest parties in JRPGs.
10 Final Fantasy 6
Despite being nearly two decades old, Final Fantasy 6 still has the largest number of party members in the main series, with a total of 14 members. In case that wasn’t enough, there are also 15 guest characters.
It may be more widely known now, but when it first launched for the Super Nintendo in North America in 1994, it was known as Final Fantasy 3, as the localization lagged, and those who worked on it didn’t want the public confused by going from Final Fantasy 2 – which itself was Final Fantasy 4 – straight to Final Fantasy 6. This was resolved when the games were re-released about ten years later.
9 Valkyrie Profile
Valkyrie Profile, the beloved Square Enix JRPG developed by tri-Ace for PlayStation, has 22 characters that can be in your party, with three other characters only in the party during specific events.
Although the combat system in Valkyrie Profile is turn-based, instead of each active member attacking enemies one at a time, all active members attack at once, with each of them connected to different buttons. They could even link their attacks together so that enemies had no chance to heal or defend themselves.
8 chrono cross
While not a direct sequel to Chrono Trigger, 1999’s Chrono Cross for the original PlayStation takes place in the same world, but deals with parallel universes rather than time travel. Due to the focus on parallel universes, a total of 45 party members can be recruited, but not all of them can be in battle at the same time.
The 2022 remaster, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, will not add new characters, but will add updated HD graphics and character models, improved music, the ability to disable enemy encounters, an automatic battle setting, and other improvements to make battles more manageable to make.
7 Xenoblade Chronicles 2
The main party in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is only made up of about 12 characters, six drivers and the Blades who serve them. Thanks to more available Blades that can be used by almost any driver, 53 Rare Blades can join the party, some of which are only available in the post-game. An almost infinite number of Common Blades can be recruited as their appearance and stats are randomly assigned.
The Common Blades are much less noticeable, as they are all blue, ethereal-looking characters, similar to Fi from Skyward Sword. In contrast, many Rare Blades look different because they are drawn by different artists.
6 Dragon Quest 5
The party in Dragon Quest 5 changes constantly throughout the in-game eras, with different human members joining and leaving due to different events. In addition to these human party members, there are also about 72 monsters that can be recruited.
What’s interesting about the monster recruiting mechanic is that they were streamlined in the Monster Master class for Dragon Quest 6 and expanded in the Dragon Quest Monsters spin-off series. The original version of Dragon Quest 5 was also launched for the Super Famicom in 1992, four years before Pokemon, although it wasn’t released internationally until the 2009 Nintendo DS remake.
5 Fire Emblem: New Emblem Mystery
Fire Emblem: New Mystery of The Emblem was launched exclusively in Japan in 2010 for the Nintendo DS. It is a remake of 1994’s Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem for the Super Famicom and is the only Nintendo DS Fire Emblem game to remain in Japan. exclusive.
The base game has 77 playable units and four more via DLC, meaning it has the most playable units in the series – not counting the DLC or Spotpass units from Fire Emblem: Awakening. This also means that New Mystery of The Emblem has four more units than the internationally released Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, which had a total of 73 playable units.
4 Super Robot Wars 30
Super Robot Wars 30 may not even have the most playable units in the Super Robot Wars series, but it was the first with licensed characters to receive a worldwide launch. The approximately 108 playable units include characters from various Gundam series, Code Geass, SSSS. Gridman, Ultraman and many more.
It also includes music and animated attack scenes from the respective series of the device. Many of the stories for each series have also been combined to fit into the Super Robot Wars universe, creating a very strange timeline.
3 Suikoden 2
Suikoden 2 was launched exclusively on the original PlayStation, just like its predecessor, in 1998. It has 108 recruitable characters, known as the ‘Stars of Destiny’ like all the other games in the series, but often considered the best of them all.
Suikoden 2 is also unique in that it features traditional turn-based battles where a group of up to six characters fight against various enemies, as well as strategic grid-based battles called Massive Battles – where players must use their collected units to defeat the opposing army. Characters can also die permanently if killed during a Massive Battle.
2 Radiata Stories
The main cast of Radiata Stories consists of just three characters, but 176 recruitable NPCs can join the party. These NPCs are recruited in different ways; including but not limited to completing fetch missions for them, getting specific characters to reach the required level, or even by fighting them.
Since all NPCs can be kicked by the player, you can try to fight with any of them, but they can summon guards into battle to try and gain an advantage. However, not all NPCs can be recruited into one playthrough, meaning multiple playthroughs are needed to see them all.
1 Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon
Despite the player being the only human character in the party and the fact that they don’t participate in the battles themselves, Pokemon earns a spot on this list above other monster-taming games purely because of the constantly growing number of Pokemon that the player can add. at their party.
More recently, games like Pokemon Sword and Shield may be known for their reduced number of available Pokemon, but the main Nintendo 3DS games that came before them, Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, had a total of 793 available Pokemon. This places the JRPG among those with the most recruitable party members, if not the largest overall.
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