There are two things I think party members bring:
- Narrative richness.
- Gameplay variety.
While it'd still be a
huge bummer, I could live without the second. But I really, really need the first one. There are hundreds of solo games with the very occasional (like a mission or so) partner. I need companions that go along you for most of the game, with unique personalities, designs, backgrounds, arcs and that, also, do their own stuff in combat and you can manage in some ways even if they're not playable.
Especially with a game like this that seems to put a fair amount of weight in its setting. Give me some diversity and variety in the people of my troupe. At the end of the day, FF games, for me, are about the stories, the characters and the worlds. The adventure, essentially. Gameplay is important, but I wouldn't be so in love with, say, FF IX, if it were just for its combat system.
Whether those guys have a space in the HUD and can be given orders or not, we don't know, but we at least we know that we can fight alongside random ass NPCs going by the trailer.
I can see the future
"No party members, FF is dead"
"DMC combat, FF is dead"
Also: "game looks like shit" when the graphics are inevitably just a more polished version of what we got last year instead o the complete overhaul some hope for/expect.
