| abstract | - In RPGs with an Arbitrary Headcount Limit, your traveling party may sometimes be too large for the game. However, when you fight with your arbitrarily reduced team size, and then you lose, you still get a game over even though the rest of the characters are still up. Sometimes the characters you do put in your party are Lazy Backup as well; in this case you lose if the Player Character is killed, even when the rest of the party is still alive and possesses means of resurrection. Some games make the backup more lazy than others. In addition to losing the game if the on-screen characters are defeated, there may be arbitrary rules for switching characters: 1.
* You can't switch out characters that are currently unconscious or dead (permanently or otherwise). 2.
* You can only switch characters when not in battle.
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* May also mean you can't switch between battles with a Sequential Boss or a Boss Rush, if the game doesn't give you control between cutscenes. 1.
* You can only switch characters in certain locations, such as towns or the world map.
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* Of course, if the characters are actually left behind at that location, it isn't Lazy Backup at all. However, you usually aren't required to go to the same location to find your "left behind" characters, any switching-enabled area will do. And if the off-screen characters still appear in cutscenes or the game gives you the chance to switch at plot-dictated locations such as in preparation for a Boss Battle or when the party splits up and you suddenly need more characters, it quickly becomes obvious the off-screen characters are just being very careful to stay out of sight until the plot calls for them. Justified in games featuring Final Death if a plot-critical character is killed. Often times, this trope isn't limited to just Video Games, either, as many other mediums, especially Anime, Manga, and Comics will be just as guilty of it.
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