Choosing Between Multiple Heroes
The Best Way to do this is to create a Walkabout Graphic which looks like an arrow, pointing in the direction of the characters. Make a map which displays different heroes in a line-like fashion, with "walls" blocking the stray player from running freely around the map. Give each hero a textbox which appears when you talk to it giving a name, their pros and cons and some other details. Make a choice box saying "Yes" or "No". If the player chooses Yes, add that hero to the party, and remove the pointer hero from the party. If they Choose not to pick the hero, display a text box saying "You have not selected Billy Bob the fat warrior" (where Billy Bob is the character in question). This is a very simple and effective form of allowing free character choics.. The game Final Fantasy H by Fenrir lunaris demonstrates this very well.