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Throughout the FF series max party size has varied, the most common being the 3,4 and 5 person parties. I will give the option for other because I haven't played every FF and there may be a couple with party sizes outside the 3-5 range. Here are my thoughts:

3 character party: Individual characters are very strong, but I don't think there is enough attack variation or character presence.

5 character party: I love the character presence but from a fighting standpoint individual characters are too weak. The enemies deliver many fatal blows in order to provide a good challenge and taking care of the characters can get tedious. It's not a real major problem but I prefer beefier characters.

4 character party: I think this strikes a good balance between attack variance and individual strength. Characters arn't dropping dead every single battle and yet the character presence is enough to provide a welcoming community feel. Also the control variance is just right.

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

I prefer 5 character parties. It seems more realistic to me. When you have a full group of people going up against an extremely powerful foe, why would you not send as many people up against the as possible? It always seemed ridiculous to me to fight final bosses especially with more than half of your party sitting out. Why?

Two of my three favorite FF games use three-character parties, so I'm kinda... biased.

Four people rock. Not too many, but not too few.

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Wow. 1,000 posts.

I miss you all now that I'm in boarding school! ;_;

From a gameply POV its a 4-party . But from realism, i say its 5-party as thats a squad of fighters atatcking the enemy

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

I've found that 4 suits me well...2 heavy fighters, 1 healer, and one other ussualy a black magic caster

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"I will be the last, and you will go first!" -Saravok

"Silence Dog. You serve no purpose but to die by my hand." - Jon Irenicus

"Doom awaits thee!" -Mellisan

"Eh-Yo, It's me, Imoen"

Gotta go with a 4 person party. It's the best balance in my opinion.

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"Like an Angel from the underworld, or a devil from paradise" Faye Valentine: Cowboy Bebop

4-Charcater Partys are the best, though in some missions in Final fantasy Tactics Advance I would just use 1 character.

4 is the perfect party size. Not too many, but not too few. So I think Square should just keep with the 4 party system.

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"Ye better start believing in ghost stories; you're in one!" -Captain Barbossa (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl)

I want 12, or something like that, seriously:

I want bigger fighting parties, when i first played FF6 and saw

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

the screenshot with the "select 12 people thingy"

(i did not read all the walkthrough, so i did not knew how it continued), I thought, WOW!!! 12 fighting against

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

kefka

. Later i was quite disappointed, I for once would like to get that feeling of "the final boss is so big, only the chosen 12 heroes can destroy him, and only together"

Maybe the best idea is to have a 4 people limit on the battle party (i agree on that limit, it's the best, i'm used to it from FF5 and FF6), but have a special 12 people case for the final battle party



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"FLAELI!!!"
--- Rune Walsh

I never liked the idea of 3 characters except in FF10, where you could switch them
during battle.

The best is a 4 character party because you can have a fighter, specialist, healer,
and mage, but in FF6 you have fighters, specialist, mages, and characters that go
out of control, and one mimic.

With five, you have to limit your party to rows, putting 3 or 2 fighters in front. and
2 or 3 mages in the back. The last party you get has 2 fighters, a specialist, a
mage, and a healer.

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I want this world to change for good. I want to see Final Fantasy, the world of swords and magic.

For startes i90, FFX had some of the most specialized characters and it only had a 3 character-party. Other than that, I agree. 4 characters has been the most satisfying, and 3 has been good too. The 5 characters in FF4 did require a lot of healing and maintainence in battle, but still, I'd like to see square do more with large parties, or at least more multi party battles like in FF6. Why not mix it up a tad throughout the game?

This post has been edited by Ejoty on 28th February 2004 19:33

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Get me off this Disciplinary Committee so I can play any FF except for FF8!!!

I would like a party size that makes the most sense plot-wise. For example: You need three parties to coordinate certain switch-controlled sequences in Kefka's tower, but you also need someone to look after the airship. In this case 2 people left at the airship and 12 characters, 4 in each of 3 groups, makes sense. The final battle's 12-character replacement scheme IS somewhat of a lame way of trying to make use of all 12 characters, though.

FFV sometimes did a nice job with this, though. Even though you could have four characters in your party, you started off with one, and later expanded that to three, and then four. But when Galuf has to rescue you, or when he fights alone (if you've played the game you'll know what I mean), he fights alone. Also, before you get Lenna back in the third world, you only fight with three characters. Too bad nobody else gets to join...but they solved that problem out well in the plot, with things like Kelgar getting beaten by Butz and Zeza going down to the basement instead of up the tower.

NB: This means I don't mind using anything from a one-member party to a 12-member party, but I would simply like to use one that the plot would justify. In the game I'm making, I'm thinking of mainly 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-person parties, with the occasional duel (or triel, if I can get that in) and only rarely more than that.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 29th February 2004 22:02

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

3 characters

cid highwind (the BEST ff character ever, hands down.)
cloud strife
vincent valentine

ya know what woulda made FF7 a whole lot better?

of course you do


...setzer.

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You watch the world exploding every single night
Dancing in the sun, a newborn in the light
Say goodbye to gravity and say goodbye to death
Hello to eternity and live for every breath

Your time will come...

IMO a 4 person party where you can switch characters in and out (akin to FFX) would be optimal.

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<Nealio> Seymour sounds like evil Winnie the Pooh

In some missions in FF Tactics Advance, you can have up to 6 people fighting, and some of the boos missions, like the Totema there

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

As much as 8 of them.

I am partial to the 4 party system that was in all the early games until FFVII. I liked how FFIX brought it back but I do like the 3 party system as well.

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War is for the participants a test of character; it makes bad men worse and good men better. - Joshua Chamberlain

U sir R a n00b >:-( - Cactuar

Quote (BGrugby @ 30th March 2004 20:56)

I am partial to the 4 party system that was in all the early games until FFVII. I liked how FFIX brought it back but I do like the 3 party system as well.

FFIV used 5 party memembers. I like the 5 party members team.

Does anyone know all the party numbers for each of the FFs?

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kame, tortue, tortuga, schildkröte, tartaruga, turtle

"Arthur Dent?"
"Yes."
"Arthur Philip Dent?"
"Yes."
"You're a total knee biter."

Quote (Kame @ 31st March 2004 17:09)

Does anyone know all the party numbers for each of the FFs?

FFMQ: 2
FF1: 4
FF2: 4 (IIRC)
FF3: 4
FF4: 5
FF5: 4
FF6: 4
FF7: 3
FF8: 3
FF9: 4
FFX: 3
FFX-2: 3
FFT: Depends on battle, usually 5

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

Neal, you forgot FFTA, and why no Chrono Trigger or is this for only Final fantasys.

Quote (Neal @ 31st March 2004 16:53)

FF2: 4 (IIRC)

Correct.

I liked the 5-party system. It helps create more balance than the others. You have two Heavy-damage Fighters, one Medium-damage Fighter, one attack mage, and one healer.

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

I like Three party games for the simple reason that if you have a limited supply of of or decent armor it's easier to manage only three.

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Climhazzard is the timeless evil robot who runs some of the cool stuff at CoN (mostly logging chat, since there are no quizzes at the moment), all the while watching and waiting for his moment to take over the world. -Tiddles

i think that five is the most realistic but i like four the best and mystic quest has only TWO!!!