10 Guest Party Members We Wanted To Stick Around Forever

Parting the party is such sweet sorrow.

cloud and sephiroth
Square Enix

Building a team in a game is one of the highlights of whatever story in occurs in. Be it collecting your critters in the likes of Pokémon, or gunning it back to back with fellow soldiers in the likes of Call of Duty, it's very easy to grow attached to those who follow you throughout your adventures and have your back the whole time.

Hilariously, it's easy to also grow attached to those who have your back for a relatively short amount of time, as allies that you only hang out with for a brief period still endear themselves to you with startling frequency. In fact, it may be a case of the old saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder", as having a beloved party member torn from you earlier than you expected makes you imagine all the cool stuff they could have done were they still around.

And this isn't even getting into all the times you've worked with someone only for them to ultimately turn evil and against you, breaking your heart into tiny, tiny pieces as you remember all the good times you guys shared.

10. Riku - Kingdom Hearts

cloud and sephiroth
Disney/Square Enix

Playing as Sora makes seeing Riku at any point in the entire Kingdom Hearts series feel more than a little weird, because the guy is still your best friend, even when he's sort of an evil shadow creature who might want to murder every one on sight.

This is at its most complex when you see your silver-haired friend-slash-attempted-murderer in the belly of Monstro the whale, while you're hanging out with Pinnochio. Despite the fact you and Riku are on weird terms at this point - because of his whole "will I give in the the dark side and become a serial killer" thing - he still opts to help you out in the fight against the Parasite Cage boss, even healing you if you need it.

Unfortunately, Riku does opt out of being a good guy, meaning when you see him doing sketchy stuff later, you can't help but feel a pang of nostalgia for the good times you guys had in the stomach of a whale.

Contributor
Contributor

I like my comics like I like my coffee - in huge, unquestionably unhealthy doses.