History Main / LazyBackup

* Normally in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' you can only switch party members at save points, unless the plot calls for a certain character, at which point they just walk on from offscreen. This leads to some strange moments, such as the fight with [[spoiler: BonusBoss Dario]]. Depending on your party composition, up to two extra party members will walk up right before the fight to explain the plot, but then will just stand there as your party gets slaughtered without doing anything. A very sad example, given both this particular plotline and the fact that he's ThatOneBoss.

** ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' also brings in the rear guard if the entire front line falls in battle, and allows you to rearrange the party mid-battle. Rear-line characters will also automatically switch in during the [[BonusBoss Ancient Devil]] battle after someone falls prey to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Demon Sign]], and allies KO'd under Demon Sign will be placed in the rear instead of wasting space on the front line.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' you don't have to send Ramza into random battles, but if you send in 5 redshirts and they lose, the game is over.

* ''VideoGame/SweetHome'': Even though you can only have two parties at a time, if one of them is caught in a RandomEncounter, you can use the "Call" command to take control of the other party and move them to where the battle is taking place so that all five characters can team up. You only have a limited amount of time to move the backup party before the battle resumes again.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'', while traveling with a party of 7 characters if your 3 active characters got KO'd it is a game over, despite being able to swap out characters anywhere except in battle, with the exception of Dart.

** The plot of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' stresses teamwork and the power of TrueCompanions, but you can only have three guys in your party at once in each battle. Paradigms (in-battle class changes) make up for this discrepancy. In a particularly egregious case of lazy backup, you get a game over if only your party leader is KO'd.

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': Given that you can switch party members anytime out-of-battle, why can't you do that after three of them get knocked out in battle? (If this is justified by their having to use the Gate Key, then why can you switch party members anytime out-of-battle anyway?)

* Not only are most of your LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters in ''VideoGame/InfiniteUndiscovery'' stuck off-screen during the action, but if the PlayerCharacter dies and the party members' ArtificialStupidity [[LuckBasedMission doesn't feel like using the resurrect item/spell]] in just a few seconds (you can't order it) it's GameOver even if all the other ''on-screen'' guys were still going strong.

* ''Franchise/ShiningSeries'':

** Finally defied in ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'', where reserves can be tagged in by using one point of the Blast Guage. KO'ed party members will be subbed out automatically if possible, and if their AI is allowed to, conscious allies in critical condition will also swap out voluntarily to start regenerating HP on the back line.

** ''VideoGame/StarOceanIntegrityAndFaithlessness'' has every party member, even Relia, take part in every fight unless there is some story reason that stops them from fighting.

* The group in question who faces the upcoming foe is all that crucial or has some very personal business to be done with, making it a battle that they cannot avoid. This is especially notable if this is a one on one battle with no support from the team.

* In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'', you can only fight with 3 characters at a time. However, sometimes in battle the camera will pan behind to show your backup characters, who will cheer for you and may recover some of your HP. And yet if all three characters are KO'd, you get a game over. This is particularly aggravating because you know your back up is literally ''right there'', but they won't lift a finger to revive you or take over the fight.
** Those backup characters aren't just for show - you can tag them in at any point in the battle. You still get a big fat Game Over if your frontline threesome bite the dust, though.

* In the ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' series, the game ends instantly if the main character dies, regardless of how many characters in the party happen to be capable of casting Raise Dead or Resurrection. This may be justified when you actually die [[spoiler: because as a Bhaalspawn the divine part of your soul rejoins your father and presumably cannot be retrieved, meaning even if you're revived, you can no longer affect the outcome of the prophecy and thus the game is effectively over, even if revived (which is why setting a contingency to resurrect yourself works just fine, but ends the game anyway) (like what happened to Sarevok), and it would require a Resurrection spell at minimum since your body disintegrates, raise dead requires the body be mostly intact or use another spell to make it so]], but the same thing happens when you're [[TakenForGranite petrified]] or [[{{Oubliette}} Imprisoned]]. That it doesn't happen to [[spoiler: Imoen]] is another discrepancy.

* In the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series, this is averted if you have a wagon around, which will allow idle party members within to come out if your active party members are wiped during a battle. But this is only if your wagon is out; if the wagon is not available (which is usually when it comes to caves, castles, and dungeons), they will not show up. Interestingly, if the PlayerCharacter is wiped and you're out on the overworld, the other party members will automatically revive them at a town if you go to one.
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', Kraden definitely wouldn't be able to handle combat, but couldn't he at least pull out your healing items to help out when you lose?

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'': Your extra party members are left behind in Narshe or the airship, and you can't switch unless you go back there; no instant switch zones. Until you get control of the airship, switching inevitably involves a very long march most of the way across a continent. A bit strange in the FinalBoss fight, where you place all your party members in a queue. After finishing each tier of the boss, unconscious characters are replaced by the next characters waiting in line -- but lose all four members at once, and it's Game Over.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' has a sort of "tag team" mechanic, in which you ''can'' switch party members during battle, but only on that character's turn. If a character is KO'd, then their "slot" is wasted because you can't bring anyone else in until you revive them. Thus, having all three currently active characters KO'd at the same time is a game over, even though you can have as many as four other characters waiting in the wings. Worse still, some enemies will [[TakenForGranite petrify]] then [[LiterallyShatteredLives shatter]] your teammates, depriving you of their spot for the rest of the fight -- when the space could easily be filled by a back-row ally. (Fortunately, they're [[OnlyMostlyDead only mostly shattered]], because they come right back once the fight's over.) The same is said for team members who are literally kicked out of a battle, even if that Kick would not have actually KO'd them. In a similar fashion, party members in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' that are eaten or ejected from the battle are considered dead and they can't be replaced until the fight is over.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', you can only fight with three party members at a time, but you can swap out a front-liner for a reserve PC at any time (if they are not being targeted by the enemy), AND if all three front-liners get KO'd, the game forces you to switch in at least one of the reserve [=PCs=]. You can even target your reserve party-members with buffs and heals, so you can have your secondary party revive your primary after a total-party-KO. In fact, the only way to die is to have all six members of your party KO'd. There is a boss that has instant death attacks -- the only way to win against him is to constantly raise the characters who are not in the front line.
* The plot of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' stresses teamwork and the power of TrueCompanions, but you can only have three guys in your party at once in each battle. Paradigms (in-battle class changes) make up for this discrepancy. In a particularly egregious case of lazy backup, you get a game over if only your party leader is KO'd.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' you don't have to send Ramza into random battles, but if you send in 5 redshirts and they lose, the game is over.

%%Image chosen via crowner in the Image Suggestions thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/ImageSuggestions135
%%Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' is somewhat better about this. After the fifth member joins the Phantom Thieves, they continue to operate in a group of four, since it's easier to move stealthily as a small group, but have the backup members follow from a safe distance. However, backup members can participate in battle by performing follow-up attacks, and a Confidant ability allows you to switch them out as needed.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' has a sort of "tag team" mechanic, in which you ''can'' switch party members during battle, but only on that character's turn. If a character is KO'd, then their "slot" is wasted because you can't bring anyone else in until you revive them. Thus, having all three currently active characters KO'd at the same time is a game over, even though you can have as many as four other characters waiting in the wings. Worse still, some enemies will [[TakenForGranite petrify]] then [[LiterallyShatteredLives shatter]] your teammates, depriving you of their spot for the rest of the fight -- when the space could easily be filled by a back-row ally. (Fortunately, they're [[OnlyMostlyDead only mostly shattered]], because they come right back once the fight's over.) The same is said for team members who are literally kicked out of a battle, even if that Kick would not have actually KO'd them.

* Parodied [[https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5758783607eaa0b68fc52697/57616aef4d088edb6ec6b160/57616af607eaa0ea777a0197/1466002167070/0130.GIF?format=750w here]] in ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}''.
** The final boss fight has a mechanic to avoid this by bringing in reserve party members as others fall.

* Also played straight in ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth''; you have a five person party, but events and cutscenes that happen in the dungeon make it clear that ''all of the Persona-users are present in the dungeon'' whenever you go. Do they come and step in should your party die? Nope.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' only lets you have one party member at a time, and if he or she is downed you can swap them out for another (though it uses up a turn). This is turned against you when you're force to fight an enemy who's accompanied by your party: taking out the party member makes another step up and take their place. Also, if you fall for the poisoned cake in The Glitz Pit, while only your active party member eats the cake ,it leaves you unable to use any of your party members for the following fight.