History ArbitraryHeadcountLimit / EasternRPG

** ''VideoGame/Persona3'' justifies this by having the party be an exploration team. That way, if the entire team bites it, SEES won't be wiped out (...Well, [[spoiler:the world will end if the protagonist is killed, so they won't really get a chance to ''use'' the backup. But it's a nice thought]]). During the FinalBattle, when all of SEES is present at the boss arena, the limit is enforced when [[MissionControl Fuuka]] detects a large number of Shadows climbing up towards them. Mitsuru commands the rest of the party to HoldTheLine against these Shadows and defend the main group while your group fights the final enemy.

* In ''VideoGame/UnicornOverlord'' the player has a limit on how many squads in total and how many combatants in each squad they have, starting at only three and two, respectively. One can raise them by spending Honors, but the size of the later is capped by the Renown rank of your army. This caps out at 10 squads of 5 members each.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', as stated un the main page, is a prime example of [=RPGs=] that explain the party size limit with plot. However, the GBA remake brings just about anyone back to the party before the final dungeon (and the added bonus content), allowing the player to pick his favorites like in most of the later games. There is no real explaination as to why they can't just all go and bash the BigBad in the head with superior numbers, though...

[[folder:Dragon Quest]]

[[folder:Final Fantasy]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' as stated above is a prime example of [=RPGs=] that explain the party size limit with plot. However, the GBA remake brings just about anyone back to the party before the final dungeon (and the added bonus content), allowing the player to pick his favorites like in most of the later games. There is no real explaination as to why they can't just all go and bash the BigBad in the head with superior numbers, though...

[[folder:Shin Megami Tensei/Persona]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' sub-series:

[[folder:Star Ocean]]

[[folder:Tales Series]]

[[folder:Trails/Kiseki Series]]

** Justified in Innocent Sin however [[spoiler:Jun loses his ability to summon personas and need Yukino to transfer her ability to him thus causing her to leave the party, even further justified in a depressing example in one story route where Yukino essentially becomes brain dead after her shadow commits suicide.]]

** In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' each character can engage up to three Blades, despite potentially bonding with dozens of them. And, on the first playthrough, one of these Blades has to be character's main Blade. The party itself has five permanent Drivers, but you're only allowed to bring up to three in battles. Maybe this one because there already are eight people [[note]]three Drivers, three Blades, Gramps and announcer, not counting human enemies[[/note]] talking at once.
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'' finally averts it in regards to the main party: there are six main characters, and all six go into battle at once. The game instead generates playstyle variety through a JobSystem. Things however get iffier with the Heroes, optional ''seventh'' party members: you can only have one of them with you at a time, even if they should logically be free to join you together. The game at least tries to offer an excuse, with most of them being colony leaders with their own responsabilities; but Riku and Manana, the party's Nopon support crew and potential Hero choice, are just as mutually exclusive as the rest despite being with the party at all times...

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' allows only two large monsters on the map at any one time. This is a [[AntiFrustrationFeatures good thing]], especially when fighting [[FlunkyBoss Qurupeco]], because otherwise it could just summon large monsters ''ad infinitum'' and fill the map with Rathians, Deviljhos, and the like.
* The ''Franchise/{{Neptunia}}'' series traditionally limits you to four characters on the field, each with one partner they can tag out with. Out of a party of many, many more than that number; ''Re;Birth 3'' has a whopping ''26'' party members in the postgame. Most damningly, cutscenes make it clear the whole crew is always traveling as a pack. Since this is Neptunia, with the universal MediumAwareness and optional fourth wall that implies, it's lampshaded at least once a game.

* The ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' series allows you to have a decently sized Guild, but you can only have up to five members in your adventuring party at any given time. WordOfGod admitted that this was meant to make players feel their parties were always "incomplete" somehow; six-member parties were simply too well-balanced for a game striving to be NintendoHard.
** In the fourth game, in each of the major dungeons you can encounter an NPC who will increase your party to six (there are six slots to place five characters, the NPC will take up the sixth slot). However, the NPC will only join for that dungeon, and not even every floor of that dungeon. And once you beat the boss of that dungeon, the character joins your party permanently, and you're back to only five characters.

* ''VideoGame/LufiaTheLegendReturns'' has a max-party size of nine out of thirteen members. One aspect of the game's battle system is that only one member of each of the three columns can attack per turn. This averted with Mousse [[spoiler:and the Egg Dragon]], who attack automatically every turn without taking up that column's allotted member, or confused characters.
* In ''VideoGame/LufiaTheRuinsOfLore'', you can have up to eight party members—the three main characters, two other human(oid) characters, and the three heroes' {{Mon}}s. You can only have four in battle at a time, and only two can be monsters. (This may be because [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou We Cannot Go On Without Humans]].)

* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'', until the end of the game there are only five characters in your group at any given time, and when everyone finally gets together to fight the BigBad, there are only [[EnoughToGoAround five artifacts]] of power that'll let their wearers go into the lair. Of course, this is somewhat moot, as the fifth of those artifacts (the Rykros ring) was not actually equippable by any of the characters; no matter who you picked, your fifth party member didn't get one anyway.
** The Quote at the top of the page referenced ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'' which did have an arbitrary limit on party size. ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarI'' and ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIII'' both get around this by having the size reflect the maximum characters available at any given point. ''Phantasy Star II'' however just randomly limits the size of the party.
*** Rolf's solo adventure spinoff states he dislikes working with others and would rather have a small team if he HAS to bring one along, since small teams mean less chances for others to mess up. Since he is basically team leader, that is very likely the reason why he only brings a handful of people along. Apparently he's also totally cool with letting a bunch of complete strangers crash at his house for weeks at a time.

* In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', the four-person party is mostly explained by the plot -- the main trio are [[OT3 bestest friends]] and stick together, while the fourth slot is occupied by whoever's present for the plot at the time. The game really runs into an Arbitrary Headcount Limit towards the end, however -- you can pick who to take with you into TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, but taking more than one of the fourth-slot characters is forbidden. The crew of your CoolAirship is also limited. You can recruit 2 crewmembers for each position but only one can be on duty, even if the job is in no way exclusive like "sailor" or "merchant".
* In ''Videogame/ShiningTheHolyArk'', only four characters can appear at a single time in battle. However you could freely switch characters over, so if a character is killed you could replace them provided you had another character to take their place.

* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'', only three characters can fight at the same time, with the others sitting it out. Even when your main party bites it, there is no option to have the others reinforce your or tag in. Rather egregious when cutscenes pretty blatantly imply ''everyone'' is deep in the action. This is presumably in order to reinforce the notion of the Chain Attack mechanic, where the team surrounds one foe and beat it up with their arts in sequence.

* In ''VideoGame/ArcRiseFantasia'' you can field only three party members, despite having five people avilable for the most of the game. To make matters worse, there ''is'' enough space, both in UI and of the battlefield, for the fourth person, but it's only used by various {{Guest Star Party Member}}s, and thus vacant most of the time.

* ''VideoGame/WildARMs5'' only allows you to have 3 characters in battle out of the 6 playable characters. This is down from 4 in the previous game.
** Justified in earlier installments, where all of the playable characters were generally in the party constantly (barring TenMinuteRetirement events and the HowWeGotHere prologues)

* ''VideoGame/SweetHome'' has a limit of three members per party, drawing from a pool of five. If you try to have a fourth join, the other character will say that it would be best if the fourth character stays separate. If a character rescues the fourth from a pit, one of the original three will be disconnected from the party. The ability to form multiple parties that could be switched between at any time, in addition to being able to combine parties during combat, lessened the impact of this, however.

** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona|1}}'', there were eight possible party members aside from the protagonist. Depending on which quest you were on, one to three of those slots was locked in. The remaining slots could be filled at key points in the story, but once your party was full, additional party members were immediately sent to safety. The ''VideoGame/Persona2'' duology also had a cap of five, but you don't get to select which party members will fill those slots (with a single exception in ''Eternal Punishment'', based on which reality-warping rumour you decide to spread). However, eventually the character you pick will leave the party for the "true" fifth party member, and it's not really explained why you can't have all six.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'' justifies this due to the unique nature of your party: namely, most of them are actually spirits, and require a human partner in order to fight most effectively, and you only have two playable humans max at any time. [[note]]Sorey, who is TheHero, and either [[GuestStarPartyMember Alisha]] or [[TheLancer Rose]], depending on where you are in the plot.[[/note]] This is especially true when one of the core mechanics of the battle system is Armatization, which triggers a FusionDance between the human and the current spirit partner into a new spirit-dependent form with unique abilities. Also, for the same reason, [[PartyInMyPocket the spirit partners actually all travel]] ''[[PartyInMyPocket within]]'' [[PartyInMyPocket Sorey's body,]] meaning that you can freely switch them out at any time in battle, and that technically, everyone ''is'' in battle at the same time, just not always actively participating. This is ''also'' justified by the game's premise. [[note]]The Spirits use Sorey as a vessel to protect themselves from [[TheCorruption the malevolence]], which could [[spoiler:irreversibly turn them into Dragons if they fully succumb to the corruption.]][[/note]] As you can tell, this game [[UpToEleven does its damned best]] to [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration integrate its plot with its gameplay quirks.]]

* ''VideoGame/InfiniteUndiscovery'' allows 4 characters, or 3 if one of them is [[BearsAreBadNews Gustav]]. [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Out of 18]]. And some of them are arbitrarily forbidden from being in the same group as the PlayerCharacter, restricting their use to LetsSplitUpGang-situations -- without much explanation beyond the few that won't join your party because they ''hate'' you.

* Played agonizingly straight in the ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' series. You have [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters an entire army]] (including several dozen character available for use in your party), but you can only take six at a time. ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'' added a seventh slot for 'support' characters.

* ''VideoGame/DevilChildren/[=DemiKids=]'' series has only ''two'' demons avilable in battle, and this time protagonist doesn't fight.

* In ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'', you can never have more than four humans on the field (counting the main character). In [[VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2 the sequel,]] while this is played straight in most occasions, there are points in the plot where the limit is justified by the characters splitting up into teams as part of a strategic operation.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'':
*** Parodied at the beginning of chapter five when the hero first enters Branca, and a four-person team is leaving the town. If you talk to them, one will tell you that their party is full and that you'll need to find another one to join.
*** By the time you have more than four characters in your party in chapter five, you'll have the wagon, which the inactive party members ride inside of. When you enter places that the wagon won't fit (like ''most'' caves and dungeons), the reserve characters stay with the wagon to keep your party size at four. Presumably, they're watching over your stuff and making sure monsters don't eat the horse or something. When the wagon ''is'' present, you can swap out party members at any time in battle, and if your whole active party gets wiped out, the reserves will leap out to continue the fight.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' oddly reduces the active party size to three (with an additional five in the wagon), despite the game's introduction of {{Mons}} meaning that you could end up with dozens of potential party members to choose from. The DS remake brings it back up to four active members... but also greatly expands the number of monsters you can recruit. Given that the wagon will be with you when you fight the final boss, there's no logical reason why shouldn't just dogpile him, but naturally the game won't let you.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'', is absolutely horrible about this, sticking to the [[VideoGame/DragonQuest series]]' usual four-person party... when there's only about six main characters anyways. Leading to more than a few {{Contrived Coincidence}}s to keep the "extra heroes" [[PutOnABus busy]] until it's time to rotate them into the plot again. Made worse when one dungeon guest characters count toward this maximum party size.
** Averted in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' since there are only four playable characters. And when a GuestStarPartyMember joins, he exists in a ''fifth'' spot on the roster lineup (which is a very good thing, since he's TheLoad and you would ''not'' want to send one of your main party members into reserves to accommodate him). The 3DS version, however, adds two more proper party members without increasing the party limit beyond 4 when [[PrinceCharmless Charmles]] is not with you and 5 (counting Charmles) when he is.

* ''Series/Persona'':
** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona|1}}'', there were eight possible party members aside from the protagonist. Depending on which quest you were on, one to three of those slots was locked in. The remaining slots could be filled at key points in the story, but once your party was full, additional party members were immediately sent to safety. The ''VideoGame/Persona2'' duology also had a cap of five, but you don't get to select which party members will fill those slots (with a single exception in ''Eternal Punishment'', based on which reality-warping rumour you decide to spread). However, eventually the character you pick will leave the party for the "true" fifth party member, and it's not really explained why you can't have all six.
** ''VideoGame/Persona3'' justifies this by having the party be an exploration team. That way, if the entire team bites it, SEES won't be wiped out (...Well, [[spoiler:the world will end if the protagonist is killed, so they won't really get a chance to ''use'' the backup. But it's a nice thought]]). During the FinalBattle, when all of SEES is present at the boss arena, the limit is enforced when [[MissionControl Fuuka]] detects a large number of Shadows climbing up towards them. Mitsuru commands the rest of the party to HoldTheLine against these Shadows and defend the main group while your group fights the final enemy.
** ''VideoGame/Persona4'' looks like it has a similar set up as the previous game... but then the entire party inexplicably shows up in the final room of each dungeon. There is, admittedly, a portal leading there from the lobby. It's at least partially explained when you revisit a dungeon. Occasionally, members of your party that aren't actually with you can randomly appear in an empty room of the dungeon. It's implied that they've formed an independent B-team and fight Shadows in other parts of the dungeon; sometimes, if you talk to them, they'll even hand over items they've picked up in the process. ''Golden'' makes it so anyone who isn't actively in the party can occasionally show up (riding a scooter/bicycle/roller skates) and launch a support attack. Oddly, this only happens if their [[RelationshipValues Social Link]] is far enough along that they could perform follow-up attacks as part of the active party.
** ''VideoGame/Persona5'' only lets you take 4 party members into a fight, despite recruiting up to 9 members into your BadassCrew. The remaining members follow at a distance, join to perform follow-up attacks, and can be switched in and out of battle with a certain Confidant skill. The explanation is that the party is an infiltration team, and sneaking becomes difficult with too many people.

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games typically have a limit of 4-6 party members, including the protagonist. This is explained by the device you're using to summon your allies being only able to keep so many demons manifested at a time.
** For the first quarter of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'', the hero's computer can only summon three demons at a time, but it's not a problem because he and two human allies fill up the other three slots. Shortly after the party is permanently stuck at two humans, [[BigGood Stephen]] shows up and fixes the Demon Summoning Program so that he can summon four demons.
** ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'' has no such excuse; Aleph can summon five demons at a time, but won't summon more than four if Beth or Hiroko are in the party.
* ''VideoGame/StarOcean'' series:
** In ''VideoGame/StarOcean1'', four are required (meaning you only get to pick the other four, compared to six in the second game) and only one can be booted. The EnhancedRemake also gives you the chance to not exactly ''boot'' one character, but get a ''better'' one instead who is hidden. In addition, one is fairly difficult to find without an FAQ, while another will only become available fairly late in... at which point you've probably already filled up all seats.
** In ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'', you can have up to a party of eight characters, but only four appear in combat. The rest never show up unless you transfer them into the active party, even though they're present whenever the player initiates a Private Action (and the eight-person group is seen splitting up to do their own thing at a town's entrance).
*** The player usually gets a choice of 6-7 characters on average (on top of the two mandatory ones), but you can also miss or fail to recruit certain hidden or optional characters. Notably, Chisato will refuse to join Claude/Rena's party if it's filled with the maximum eight party members, even though she's been trailing the characters throughout the gameworld and wants to help them. There's no explanation of why she can't join anyway as a support helper.
** In the Director's Cut of ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'', 2 mandatory characters were added, preventing you from recruiting all of the original 8 party members. One of three of your previous companions joins you, depending on if you've completed [[spoiler:Roger or Albel's]] sidequests or not. If you want one of the other two as well, then you have to refuse [[spoiler:Peppita's offer to rejoin you on the Moonbase]].
** ''VideoGame/StarOceanIntegrityAndFaithlessness'' is a notable aversion to this trope. There are a total of seven playable characters, and once you recruit then, all seven participate in battle at once.

* The entirety of the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' has four as this number, with the actual party size ranging from five (Original ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia Phantasia]]'') to ten (UpdatedReRelease of ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny Destiny]]''). What, if anything, the extra members are doing while the others are fighting is never explained, barring a fight in ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss Abyss]]'' where the two extra members have to secure an escape route.
** ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfTheTempest Tempest]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfInnocence Innocence]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfHearts Hearts]]'', as well as ''Keroro RPG'', made by the same people, have a limit of three. ''Narikiri Dungeon 3'' for GBA also had four parties of three each, but since the actual party size was [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover every character in the first five games]]…
** Three [[MissingEpisode now-inaccessible]] ''Tales of Moblile'' games (''Breaker'', ''Commons'' and ''Wahreit'') actually had limit of two party members per battle, despite actual parties being four to six people. This time, all the blame goes to hardware limitations.
** ''Hearts'' also averts it, like ''Endless Frontier'' above, by introducing the "Link Attack" system, by which characters in the back party can be summoned in to use attacks or spells. Since characters Linked in can't be damaged or interrupted, it's useful for calling out a Raise Dead or LastDiscMagic with a charge time of "eternity".
** If you go a long time without switching party members in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', you may get a skit where the inactive members complain about being left out of the action. Yes, the others really are just sitting on the sidelines.
** Played with in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' when after defeating the [[SummonMagic Summon Spirit]] [[DishingOutDirt Gnome]], he complains that the party took him "four against one", while his previous summoner [[spoiler:Mithos]] took him one-on-one. This when your party consists of eight people, half of which apparently stood aside and let your main group fight him alone, and when nearly every other plot fight acts like everyone jumped into the melee.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'', you can only have four party members onscreen during a battle... but you can swap an inactive party member with an active one mid-battle.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'' plays this straight again, only allowing four party members when you are out and about. The plot forces circumstances, so that only four members (three, since Ludger must always be in the party during the main arc) are in a location.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' does give some justification: the only thing preventing your allies' [[FunctionalMagic fonic artes]] from doing just as much damage to you as to the monsters are marks laid on the team by your spellcasters, and they can't mark too many people at once. Essentially, up to two of your party members are getting left out because they can't be made FriendlyFireProof.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'' justifies this due to the unique nature of your party: namely, most of them are actually spirits, and require a human partner in order to fight most effectively, and you only have two playable humans max at any time. [[note]]Sorey, who is TheHero, and either [[GuestStarPartyMember Alisha]] or [[TheLancer Rose]], depending on where you are in the plot.[[/note]] This is especially true when one of the core mechanics of the battle system is Armatization, which triggers a FusionDance between the human and the current spirit partner into a new spirit-dependent form with unique abilities. Also, for the same reason, [[PartyInMyPocket the spirit partners actually all travel]] ''[[PartyInMyPocket within]]'' [[PartyInMyPocket Sorey's body,]] meaning that you can freely switch them out at any time in battle, and that technically, everyone ''is'' in battle at the same time, just not always actively participating. This is ''also'' justified by the game's premise. [[note]]The Spirits use Sorey as a vessel to protect themselves from [[TheCorruption the malevolence]], which could [[spoiler:irreversibly turn them into Dragons if they fully succumb to the corruption.]][[/note]] As you can tell, this game [[UpToEleven does its damned best]] to [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration integrate its plot with its gameplay quirks.]]
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'' goes for a similar effect to ''Zestiria'', albeit less arcane. While only four of six party members appear in battle at once, the other two can be hot-swapped in mid fight (or even mid-''combo''), making it clear everyone is participating. Backup will even jump in to replace critical or KO'ed part members automatically, averting LazyBackup. The only reason you're limited to four at all is the characters acknowledging that six at once would result in getting in each other's way, and having a back line allows injured members to recover (yes, HP does regenerate while benched).
* You can have only up to 4 active party members in the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' with several variations among different arcs. All of them have segments where several party members are mandatory.
** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Liberl Arc (FC, SC and the 3rd)]] strictly limits your active members to four and you are mostly forced to bring two main characters (Estelle and Joshua in the first two games and Kevin and Ries in the last), leaving you little room for party member building.
*** FC starts out with Estelle and Joshua travelling the nation as their training to become a full-fledged bracer so helpers in each branch they visit (in this case, chapter) come and go until they are fully availabe during final dungeon.
*** SC increases the total to 12, but three of them are available only in the game's final dungeon. There are also two [[GuestStarPartyMember guest star party members]] who is available only in prologue and certain segment in one chapter and the other one only available in latter. The game this time allows you to customize the party earlier. Estelle is still mandatory since she's the main character and the second slot depends on your choice at the end of the prologue which eventually be filled by [[spoiler:Joshua]] after chapter 6.
*** By the end of The 3rd, you have 16 switchable party members you will all use by the final dungeon. Two main characters of this game (Kevin and Ries) cannot leave the party most of the time except during several part of the story until they both can be switched out late in the game.
** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Crossbell Arc (Zero and Azure)]] increases its limit to six; Four active party member and two others you can switch in between battles. The two standby members can occasionally help by casting exclusive support/attack crafts when their turn come comes during combat, although they are pretty much controlled by AI and appears only during that time. You can't switch during battle however.
*** ''Trails from Zero'' has 4 permanent party members; Lloyd, Elie, Tio and Randy. Others are only available during small portion of the game, but eventually will come back during sequel except for two characters.
*** ''Trails to Azure'' has a total of 8 endgame party members; You begin with four people, two join midgame and two become mandatory temporary members who eventually join. In arranging the party, you have to bring the four permanent members from the first half.
** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Erebonia Arc (I, II, III, and IV)]] turns it into seven; Four active party members and three other you can switch in and out of so far has one thing in common: You will almost have Rean, the main character, in your party and you can't switch him out. Of course in certain parts, several party members become mandatory.
*** ''Cold Steel I'' has a segment where you travel to various parts of Erebonia as part of curriculum called "Field Study". The party has been assigned by default and you can't change during the segment. However, you can choose your team when exploring old schoolhouse building.
*** ''Cold Steel II'' has 18 members after the finale[[note]]You end up with 11 party members at the final dungeon, but there's a playable epilogue[[/note]] which consists of your core members and helpers during the game. There are also 5 secret playable characters that can be used by "replacing" your members.
** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie Reverie]] gives players a whopping ''40 playable characters'' in the main story with an additional 10 playable characters at the True Reverie Corridor. In battle however, players are only allowed four characters in the main party, four in reserve, and two characters in the EXTRA slot if players have unlocked this option. This isn't an issue when the three routes (Rean, Lloyd, and "C") are split but becomes an issue when the three routes converge.

** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' averts this, having no restriction on how many party members you are allowed to have active. The Kingdom of Corona, the Toy Box and Monstropolis all have two Guest Star Party Members each, bringing the total party count to five.

* ''VideoGame/LastScenario'' only lets you use 4 of your [[spoiler:7]] characters. This is made even weirder because the cutscenes make it clear that the whole party is traveling with you.