Posted April 19, 2019
There are some RPGs in which you can get monsters to join your party permanently (or, at least, until dismissed), and I am wondering what your preferred method of recruiting them.
Here are some that I have seen:
* In Pokemon, you recruit monsters by throwing special items called Poke Balls at them. This works best if the enemy is at low HP (but isn't an option if you've already killed the enemy), and there are also different varieties of Poke Ball, which have different prices and effectiveness. There's even a Master Ball, which always works, but (at least in 1st Gen) there's only one in the entire game (barring glitches, of course).
* Arc the Lad 2 has a character with a skill that's similar to Pokemon's Pokeballs; use it on an enemy and, especially if it's at low health (IIRC, could be wrong about this point), it may join your party permanently.
* In Dragon Quest 5 and 6 (SFC), a monster has a small chance of joining after a battle, with no way to manipulate it, provided you're of a high enough level (or, in DQ6, high enough rank in the monster tamer class).
* In Dragon Quest Monsters, a monster has a chance of joining, but you can increase the chance by feeding the monster meat during the fight. It is possible to get the chance up to 100%. (Note, however, that doing this with metal slime-type monsters is a bit risky, as there's the possibility that such monsters will run away even after being fed.)
* In some Shin Megami Tensei games (notably including the main series), a monster can be recruited by talking to it during battle and negotiating with it.
* In the Bard's Tale series, sometimes a monster will randomly offer to join your party. There's also a spell that forces an enemy into your party.
* There's also a few games with persistent summons, such as the Bard's Tale series (particularly classic versions of 2 and 3) and the Geneforge series. In these games, you use a summon spell or ability and the monster joins your party and stays at least until it dies (and in some cases, like Bard's Tale 2 and 3, perhaps even after death, in case you want to revive them).
(There may be other methods that I've forgotten, or that I am not aware of.)
So, what's your preferred method of recruiting enemy monsters into your party in RPGs where it's possible?
Here are some that I have seen:
* In Pokemon, you recruit monsters by throwing special items called Poke Balls at them. This works best if the enemy is at low HP (but isn't an option if you've already killed the enemy), and there are also different varieties of Poke Ball, which have different prices and effectiveness. There's even a Master Ball, which always works, but (at least in 1st Gen) there's only one in the entire game (barring glitches, of course).
* Arc the Lad 2 has a character with a skill that's similar to Pokemon's Pokeballs; use it on an enemy and, especially if it's at low health (IIRC, could be wrong about this point), it may join your party permanently.
* In Dragon Quest 5 and 6 (SFC), a monster has a small chance of joining after a battle, with no way to manipulate it, provided you're of a high enough level (or, in DQ6, high enough rank in the monster tamer class).
* In Dragon Quest Monsters, a monster has a chance of joining, but you can increase the chance by feeding the monster meat during the fight. It is possible to get the chance up to 100%. (Note, however, that doing this with metal slime-type monsters is a bit risky, as there's the possibility that such monsters will run away even after being fed.)
* In some Shin Megami Tensei games (notably including the main series), a monster can be recruited by talking to it during battle and negotiating with it.
* In the Bard's Tale series, sometimes a monster will randomly offer to join your party. There's also a spell that forces an enemy into your party.
* There's also a few games with persistent summons, such as the Bard's Tale series (particularly classic versions of 2 and 3) and the Geneforge series. In these games, you use a summon spell or ability and the monster joins your party and stays at least until it dies (and in some cases, like Bard's Tale 2 and 3, perhaps even after death, in case you want to revive them).
(There may be other methods that I've forgotten, or that I am not aware of.)
So, what's your preferred method of recruiting enemy monsters into your party in RPGs where it's possible?