“As many as you can fit, especially girls!” – yeah, dude, I guess that’s one possible answer. Although, wait, we might have something to work with here…
I would assume that most home-grown developers, when confronted with the “party size” question, go with their instincts first, and probably never question the decision afterwards. For instance, if you’ve grown up with the classic western CRPG, you are probably very much accustomed to the party of six, standard in the “Gold Box” D&D games, the Wizardry franchise, the Xeen games and many titles based on the Infinity Engine (Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale). Modern titles referring to these classics, e.g. Pillars of Eternity, Pathfinder, adopt this standard as well. It just feels so natural, right?
Or does it? The Might & Magic franchise went down to a four-character party from part VI on, and the recent Baldur’s Gate III also goes with this smaller party. While the latter in particular may simply have drawn from the previous games with the engine, namely the Divinity: Original Sin games, I haven’t seen a lot of complaints about this reduction. Dungeon Master and its heirs have always had parties of four. And then there are the Elder Scrolls and Witcher lines with a massive group of exactly one person…
So, does any of this help with the question how many people we can indeed fit? Let’s take a closer look:
- The party of six: applies exclusively (to my knowledge) to turn-based games. That makes sense, as these games also have a complex ruleset as a foundation; issuing commands of the required complexity in real time to six different party members would be a chore. Further, the older classics especially leave the generation of all characters to the player, an exercise that also meets eventual limits in the player’s management capacity.
- The four-character parties of Dungeon Master and its ilk not only face combat in real time, but also must contend with monsters attacking from all sides, which is easier to comprehend if the party is a 2×2 block. Note that the combat commands in these games are much less complex than those in the turn-based titles, and even with reduced complexity and party size, they are just about what can be reasonably managed.
- The single-character games go even further in real-time complexity – we are talking about the management of both hands (attack with sword, block with shield) as well as other actions like evasion. Controlling even a second character in this detail would be basically impossible.
In conclusion, it becomes clear that controls set a hard limit on party size. (Anyone who’s ever been to a party that went completely out of control may concur that it might be fun in the moment, but would be horrible as an extended state.)
However, there might also reason for a required size, the minimal necessary amount of party members. As with any party, you usually don’t want someone to do it all alone (prepare food, get drinks…). Accordingly, the number of required party members grows with the amount of tasks the party faces:
- The party of six in classical CRPGs often faces numerous different tasks. Besides exchanging blows with monsters in melee, this might include: picking locks, disarming traps, negotiating with NPCs, healing and buffing the party, dealing with the undead, deciphering ancient scrolls, scouting the environment to avoid ambushes or find hidden pathways, identifying and repairing items and so on. Clearly, this requires an assembly of specialists; further, if we distribute these tasks on too few party members, character development paradoxically becomes more complex, as it becomes somewhat unclear which specializations would be preferred for a specific character.
- Four-person parties usually come with a reduced spectrum of tasks or substitution options (e.g. if the party is missing a thief, Scrolls of Knock are available for purchase). Dungeon Master takes this to an extreme where on the one hand, all character paths – Fighter, Wizard, Ninja, Priest – are basically about different ways to deal with monsters, but on the other hand, all characters are expected to attain maximum levels in each of these classes. Pretty wild, and not seen outside this special sub-genre, I think.
- The single character follows these directions to the end, meaning they either have to face a severely reduced spectrum of tasks, they have ample substitution options, or the game is designed in such a way that any specific task becomes optional. The Deus Ex games, especially the first one, are great examples of this: Fighting the guards, finding a secret passage to bypass them or hacking and converting the security system are all alternatives; e.g. the spectrum of tasks is present, but it is up to the player with which to engage. This is advanced design, though.
These considerations take on a different character (pun… not intended) if the party roster is flexible, e.g. you may generally travel with a four-person party, but can exchange these four persons against others from the roster in camp. This obviously allows for a wider range of challenges as the player can just choose to bring along the respective specialist. If the roster is fixed, which is usually the case with a completely player-generated party, more characters give the player some room for errors in character generation and development.
Finally, one factor to consider besides mechanics is atmosphere. A game that is set in a lonely, desolate landscape takes on an entirely different tone if the party members at least have each other to face things together. Similarly, a personal story becomes much more personal and much more intensive for a single character. However, telling personal stories for each party character is not impossible – it is just more effort, and it is clearly not the same as facing evil all alone.
So, how many people does it take to party? Depends on what you want from the party. Hopefully, we can now figure out a little better what it is we want.
Happy crafting!