How late is too late to introduce Party Members?

[Redeye]

When thinking about some game idea that was going on in my head, I realized that in order to space out my party members, some of them would have to be obtained pretty late into the game, somewhere beyond the halfway point, even. I started to wonder, is this a bad thing? When is it too late to introduce new party members? Should a developer cram all of their party members into the first half of the game, or would it be better to remove these restrictions and add in newcomers at will? Thoughts?

 

[Mrs_Allykat]

I've played games where you got party members just before the final boss and extra content. So, it's never too late, unless you need to flesh out the character to any extent. Assuming, of course, that the late-joining character didn't start out life as an NPC the player met earlier in the game.

 

[bgillisp]

I don't think it matters when they are introduced that much, as long as they are an appropriate level for the area. For example, if the party is level 60, and you now give them a level 44 party member, they will not want to even use them as they are too low a level to be any use.

 

[Tai_MT]

For me, it's midgame.

By the time I hit midgame, I've already decided who my party in your RPG is going to be. I'm not going to change that unless the new character you introduce has an edge in combat above what I'm already using. Or, has a ton of interesting/funny/useful dialogue that's spouted frequently enough to warrant bringing them along with me.

 

[Arisa]

Just like a song goes

It's not too late, it's never too laaate~

 

[Kuwabara Germinal]

I think that it's never too late, but the characters cant have the same "appeal level". A later character needs something special, something more to have space in my party. I get really attached to the characters I use, I will continue with them even when there is better party formation. So each character that gets in has more trouble to be one of those that I use. But I can think of some solutions like forcing the player to use that character for a dungeon, splitting the party so everyone has to be used, the new character has a really different playstyle, or it has a more interesting story/backstory, for example, he was a bad guy that you fight more than once previously and now he understands he was wrong and is trying to fix his mistakes.

 

[Juanita Star]

To me, it depends of what said character brings to the table (story-wise and gameplay).

Also, I think the best way is that said character as already been teased in the game (like some sort of rival or antihero that learns to respect you). Even if he joins very late in the game, he is familiar and welcomed… in my case anyways.

 

[HexMozart88]

I don't think it's really a good idea to introduce completely new characters late in the game, so what I like to do is give some sort of mention of them beforehand, even if they aren't directly in the game. So even though you haven't met them yet, you've heard enough and it's been foreshadowed enough so that you're not completely taken by surprise when they are finally added to your party.

 

[lianderson]

The credits.

But honestly, you can do it whenever. Just know, the later it is, the harder it is to pull off.

 

[Mihe]

I don't think it matters when they are introduced that much, as long as they are an appropriate level for the area. For example, if the party is level 60, and you now give them a level 44 party member, they will not want to even use them as they are too low a level to be any use.

Unless ofc that new member has a skill or niche of some sorts that makes them more useful than most of the cast.

 

[Wavelength]

I think around the five-eighths mark (between halfway and three-quarters) tends to be Last Chance territory for adding a primary character that feels good narrative-wise (thinking about Harry Potter for instance, Luna Lovegood was the last character introduced that earned any real audience sentiment and she made her first major appearance around this point).

• A few people have mentioned that you can extend this limit a bit by giving the character a significant role in the story early on (or having them temporarily join your party early on).

From a gameplay perspective, if you have a limited number of spots in your active battle party, that's also something to consider. If your game's mechanics don't encourage frequently swapping around your active party, then there's going to be a point where the player feels comfortable with their party and team strategy (for me it's usually been when I have had 2 reserve members for a few hours of gameplay) and it's going to be difficult to convince most players to remove one of these characters that they like a lot in order to slot in the new one(s).

• Your own game's pace and mechanics will be what determines where the "last chance" point is, or if there is one at all. If those aren't working in your favor, however, one trick you could use to push the limit is to have a segment when the character joins where you have to use them for an hour or two, either by forcing them into your active battle party for plot reasons, or by splitting the party up into two so that there are no "reserve" members for a little while.

Finally, if your game has a significant postgame segment, adding a new character in the postgame can make for a compelling reason for the player to keep enjoying the game they've already beat. It also allows you to introduce classes that might be gamebreaking or simply too different to include during the "main" game - for example, I've designed a class for How Badly that can transform into allies and enemies to copy their stats and moves, create enemies to aid in grinding, change the scope of spells, etc. I really liked these ideas, but I felt they would mess with battle strategy too much, so I'm adding them to a postgame character in order to offer it as a fun alternative for the player after they've completed the game the way it's "meant" to be played.

• The downside, of course, is that some players will stop playing once they complete the main narrative and the credits roll. Postgame characters work best when the game offers very compelling gameplay (read: the gameplay, not the story, is the main thing that keeps the player going) or when the game offers significant amounts of structured postgame content.

 

[Andar]

Play grandia ii for example - you have no control over your Party, and the story changes the actors in your Party even in the endgame.
However, in the case that an actor leaves the Party and doesn't return to it again they give an item that regains all Pointe spend on that actor.

So it can be done, but you need to be careful.

 

[zacheatscrackers]

Throwing in new party members anywhere is fair game if you ask me, honestly. Just make them the proper level with proper skills and stats so they don't get one-rounded by enemies during the endgame. A lot of it comes down to how the general difficulty curve is handled, really.

 

[consolcwby]

I'll weigh-in on this from a story perspective...

When thinking about some game idea that was going on in my head, I realized that in order to space out my party members, some of them would have to be obtained pretty late into the game, somewhere beyond the halfway point, even. I started to wonder, is this a bad thing? When is it too late to introduce new party members?

It's too late to bring people in if the character arc will be flat - meaning, if you cannot explore the character's background or problems fully, but have cram it in a scene or two (or even leaving it out altogether) then it is too late. Even a comedic throwaway character needs some development, and people can usually tell if it's rushed. So I would be careful about that if I were you.

Should a developer cram all of their party members into the first half of the game, or would it be better to remove these restrictions and add in newcomers at will?

The better question would be: What does the story require? If it requires all party members to be present at a certain event, then they must be present before that event takes place. Plot, pacing, character development, and usefulness - this should be the order of importance when bringing in characters. And make sure to develop each one as much as possible in as little time as possible.

But then you asked for thoughts. Here's mine:
If I needed to bring in someone at the last moment into the party, I would make sure the character was a recurring NPC whose story crisscrosses that of the Main Character(s). I would place the character into cutscenes which cannot be missed. This way, I could develop the character over the course of the entire game and not just within the end game. If the player can choose their followers, then I'd make sure this character is both interesting and useful enough for the player to choose them. Honestly though, unless you're making something like Final Fantasy I or a generic dungeon crawler, the story and pacing should decide for you.

 

[Milennin]

I prefer early on, because I get attached to my party set-up and how it plays. I don't take kindly, nor do I care about newcomers late to the party. I'd say between the 25%-33% mark is probably the latest I'd introduce a new party member.

 

[Dankovsky]

I'm of the opinion party members should be introduced no later than end of act 1 (~25% of the game) or at worst in 1st half of Act 2 (before 50% of the game).

As you go into act 2 (midgame) you should already have a formed party. Introducing them later just drastically reduces your time for any meaningful character development and interaction, as well as reduces the chance players will pick them (unless you force them into party or just have fixed party setup for the game), which together leads to bad and shallow characters.

If you want your player to be BEST FRIENDS with your party by the end of the game, you better introduce your future buddies as soon as possible...

 

[Pine Towers]

If you make it right, up until the middle of the game

Spoiler

Magus is a good example. Have a previous backstory exposition, was a boss, brings to the party a whole new element of magic that no one have

Remember that most of the time the player will have a favorite party composition. Not necessarily an optimal/strong one, but one that makes him happy. He will learn all the strengths and weakness of said party.

 

[Vox Novus]

If you are really trying to present a story where you want your players to grow attached to the characters or be invested in them, they need the time to relate to that character. From a personal perspective I'm almost never intrigued by the character I've never met before in-game that's added so late to the party the other characters just have too much overshadowing that character. The later you add a character in the game, the less time the player is going to have to learn and bond with that character.

However, introducing a character and adding a character to the party are different things. You can have a character be introduced earlier on, in pieces scattered throughout the game but add them to the party much later; this gives you the groundwork to build off of. I think to you might want to look at if all those party members are truly necessary.

Party members are sort of an interesting look at two of the things that make rpgs what they are, the story and the mechanics of the game. Characters often serve some sort of function, they are generally used to explore more gameplay elements or concepts but they must also fit within the confines of the story. If one is starting to encroach on the other I'd consider taking a long look at it and consider if something is amiss.

 

[Ubiquit]

It's probably never too late to introduce someone new to a party. Nevertheless such characters have to be interesting enough to convince player to care for them and see them as a worthy addition to a team.

I can see three good options here:

1. The good idea might be to introduce character earlier in the game and make it playable at later point. Nice twist might be to allow previous villain to join your party. Someone that you were fighting with before, but now you have to join forces to succeed.
   Spoiler

   It worked pretty well for Chrono Trigger and Magus as party member.
2. Other approach might be to make this new character interesting from technical point of view or somewhat unusual compered to the rest of the setting. It might be a character of different race, wielding an artifact or with abilities that are unavailable for other party member.
3. The last idea might be to make this character "hidden" and force player to put an effort to find him/her and/or convince to join a party. It is more likely a player will treat such character as a worthy trophy.