Locked characters

[articulate]

Hello, and first off, I tried searching but couldn't find anything conclusive so I'd like to ask the people that have already completed the game or are near completion/past the point of my query for answers. In as little spoilers as possible please.

Will you constantly be locked into using certain characters all throughout the game with little warning and no "unequipping of these characters" til the very end dungeon/boss?

I find it somewhat annoying being forced to use a character I dislike, while obviously underlevelled and on top of it having another prime character locked out due to a story plot along with all my very good quartz. So I'm just wondering if this is the norm or if it hopefully gets unrestricted maybe around chapter 5 or so?

Many thanks in advance for the replies!

P.s. I know I can reload saves and unequip their quartz and items, but certain cutscenes are ridiculously long and ridiculously tedious.

[Fukuyasu]

Yes, there are many scenarios like you described. You will still find these setups happen up till finale chapter.

Personally , I don't find it too much trouble. Leveling up underlevelled characters is easy. They catch up very fast. And I don't find real problem in battles either. Each character has its own strength and weaknes. Changing battle styles according to the characters in my party isn't really a problem for me.

[Nonexistinghero]

Yeah. While you have a lot more freedom in character you use compared to FC (you can almost always select at least 1-2 members of your team when you have 5 or more), there's a lot of situations where you're forced to bring 1 or 2 certain characters along with you.

Still, this game doesn't really make it that much of a hassle. Well, in early chapters it doesn't remove equipment and quartz when party members leave temporarily. And option to automatically remove that would be nice before they do so, because when characters are temporarily unavailable they leave without warning. Meaning you won't be able to transfer the quartz that easily or equipment.

Even though you have an equipment option about halfway through the game... well, characters who are temporarily unavailable still fall outside of the boat.

I always save beforehand and it hasn't happened right after a hard boss battle so far, at least (but the game will still throw you in 10-minute cutscenes that you can luckily often skip quite fast after a reload).

[Letari]

Saving often is the most important thing to do in a Falcom game, they just love to throw surprises at you afterall... You've also got autosaves backing you up just in case you forgot to save. :P

Swapping party members somewhat often and keeping your party balanced helps in case your preferred member leaves suddenly and keeps you from having a drastically underleveled member drag you down.

[Cid]

What is actually annoying is not having an 'unequip all non-active party members' button

[articulate]

Originally posted by Fukuyasu:

Yes, there are many scenarios like you described. You will still find these setups happen up till finale chapter.

Oh woe is me. Thanks for the clarification though.

Originally posted by kyll:

What is actually annoying is not having an 'unequip all non-active party members' button

Yes. A hundred times yes. I think this by far is the most annoying thing in SC. Being locked into certain characters is ok and all, but not unequipping them prior to them leaving like in FC is a real detriment. Like in my case now, a party member's up and gone with MINOR SPOILER..... Yin-Yang, Ingenuity, and Absorb.

Originally posted by Nonexistinghero:

I always save beforehand and it hasn't happened right after a hard boss battle so far, at least (but the game will still throw you in 10-minute cutscenes that you can luckily often skip quite fast after a reload).

Yes me too. Only at Ch3, and I have about 10 pages of saves. It still doesn't save you from those looooong cutscenes. And if you've completed the game or are past Ch3, you ought to know exactly which cutscene in this case I'm talking about.

[Stabbey]

The biggest offender of this is Chapter 5/6. As soon as you go to fight the final boss of Chapter 5 (you'll know beforehand when you're going to go after it), your party selection will be seriously limited until Chapter 7. You get two opportunities, at the start and a bit later on in Chapter 6 to change your active party members, but as far as I know, you can't swap people around to get your stuff back.

EDIT: Wait, I think maybe you can swap only to get your stuff back.

[GuppyForce]

I made a steam guide specifically for this: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=559433077