I have a recruit versus story-driven character question. Which do you prefer, and why? As an example, Fallout used recruitable characters. They had witty remarks when entering certain places, but had no direct impact on the story. This is because there are so many of them, it would be nearly impossible to write important scenarios effecting the main quest for them all. The plus side is that the player gets to choose who fights with him. The downside is that the characters have much less personality, and the player still feels like he is reaching for the main goal alone. An example of a story driven team character is your dog in Secret Of Evermore. Or your girlfriend (can't remember her name) in Lufia. In case you haven't played either of these (I'm having trouble thinking of other important story characters), imagine a main quest to rescue a princess, where the princess herself is in your party through most of the game. What I'm referring to is situations where you can't throw the character into the background and have them wait until a story event pops up. They're always at your side and interact completely with every game event. The [+dis]advantages are the exact opposite of recruiting. Every twist in the story can include them, and they are literally part of the game's aura, rather than a prop. But that means no sacrificing, no real deaths (unless part of the story), and not much customization. Aeris from Final Fantasy VII is a good example of a combination. She can be thrown into the background, but is also an important character in the story. But what if you want game events to just pop up at any time? Do you keep her loaded in, and have her do the famous teleport-from-the-player's-pocket trick? In my game, your team is always with you (Secret of Mana style), so doing something like this would seem very strange. Anyway, I'm just curious to hear what other people think. Are there other reasons to have one type or the other that I've missed? Any ideas on how it would be possible to add more recruit-type flexibility to story driven characters (or the other way around)? Thanks

Final Fantasy 6? Where you have a vast array of characters, each of whom has their own storyline that can be explored (OK, for some the storyline is "hung around for ages then joined your party", but a lot of the characters have more to their story...)

A couple of non-RPG examples of characters: Farah in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (plot) and the "Barney"s in Half Life (recruit)

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Original post by Jiia I'm having trouble thinking of other important story characters), imagine a main quest to rescue a princess, where the princess herself is in your party through most of the game.

This reminds me of the film Shrek, where they are ordered to rescue the princess by the (evil) Lord Farquaad. So you could do the same in a game, ie. have the princess question why they are being "rescued". :) This ties in with my whole idea of character/story driven platform games (based around things like the films Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Shrek, Lion King). So when you are sent to place X a new character joins your party! And they interact in important events.

Jade Empire had some scenes that would expand or go differently based on which sidekick you had along.

FFVI, again, had scenes that could only be activated by a specific combination of party members.

In Star Ocean 2, you had to choose which characters to recruit, and the storyline was affected.

I like the idea of rescuing a princess and having her contribute. If I have to break into a fortress, free somebody, and then fight my way back out, I'd rather be rescuing a ninja than a homemaker. She should be good for something.

Recruitable characters, in the generic sense, are only really good when you consider the group as a coherent package. That is to say, groups clash with groups and the individuals aren't of any particular worth besides adding to the collective whole.

Story Driven Characters are where you have a "the journey is more important than the destination" situation, and you want to have a mulit-faceted adventure going. Then its the individuals in the team that are more important than the group as a whole, because each will have their own story to define them.

I prefer story driven over recruitment. The stories interest me more when they span the depths of the human condition. Of course, nothing says you can't do both. Just you need to be very creative.

Well, in an extreme example, a recruit character could literally be thrown in five minutes before the game ships if the character has artwork and such. They make very good additions to open-ended worlds and/or stats munchkin games.

Some characters in Final Fantasy VI didn't even have to be found. When I say story-driven, I mean Pai from 3x3 eyes. It's an anime movie, not a game. But she's more important to the story than the Player/Yakumo would be. The type of characters I'm referring to are not just a part of the story, they are the story. They don't just interact with it, the story itself couldn't be made to make sense without them. If you are thinking "The Matrix without Trinity", think more like "Fight Club without Tyler Durden". Trinity is a recruit. She's important to the story, but the story does not revolve around her. The Matrix story could work without her in the picture.

I appreciate the opinions :)

Well, if a character is crucial to the story, make them a neccessary recruit. Like Ramza in Final Fantasy Tactics.

I was dreaming of Having a Viewtiful Joe 3 sorta, where the player would be the sidekick, and he would have to secretly help a ageing Viewtiful Joe to sort everything out. So while you can see the story being unrolled before Viewtiful Joe's eyes, you are in fact living a very different one... Or maybe like the new Robin in Batman: Dark Knihgt Returns...