Are there any NPCs that I can get without beating story mode?

[bobby chill]

Im new to the game and I have a question. I do alot of soloing and until like 2 days ago I didn't know that there were NPCs. According to PSUpedia I can get Lou by doing the cast tutorial, where is that? Also it seems like most of the NPCs you can only get through the episode 2 missions, but I don't really wanna take the time to beat the story mode. Are there any NPCs that I can get without beating story mode?

[Freeze]

Talk to your PM for the tutorial. Bruce is about the only card you can get by not doing story. If you really want NPC cards just whip through story on C rank, it won't take very long otherwise you'll just have to do without.

[NiceOnes]

Just do the first mission of the story mode and the tutorial you access from your bots menu..

The maximum # of NPC's you can bring along is two so that'll hold you over until your bot is ready for battle.