Do you like playing co-op games?

[Morkonan]

I like this site for checking up on co-op games: http://www.co-optimus.com/

It may look heavily commercialized, but the reviews are really good and, more importantly, fairly accurate and detailed. There's also a filterable list you can set up, too.

I like co-op. But, I also like competitive-co-op, like team play and such. My gaming friends generally aren't big PvP fans and usually prefer co-op games when we play together. (I can get kinda competitive, but it's all in the name of fun, right? )

There are plenty of co-op titles out there, but not all are "completely" co-op, especially some of the RPG selections that limit you to only playing in portions of the game's story.

The "best" co-op games depend on the genre you like, of course. For instance, Diablo 3 is probably the best co-op action RPG available. It's, IMO, the best ARPG co-op out there, but it's not, necessarily, the best game that features some form of co-op. (It's really only "great" if you're into end-game ladder-climbing and that sort of co-op play.)

Terraria is another nice co-op game that runs well for most. But, it's sort of a sandbox and it isn't really as focused on co-op as I would like. (Kind of like a co-op Minecraft sort of game, but with a bit more to do. There also isn't anything "special" in there for co-op play.)

Of course, any decent 4X is going to have some sort of co-op/multiplayer options. I know that Civilization IV does and I assume that the others in the series also have co-op play. I believe full campaign co-op was finally introduced in the Total War series by "Total War: Atilla." Don't quote me on that, though. You can look it up and doublecheck me if you're interested.

Any of the FPS games out there and that are popular right now have some sort of co-op support for you and a friend to join a team on the same side. If you like those, there are plenty to choose from. Of course, they're mostly PVP but I think some of them have some co-op mode storyline play in them that you and a friend could play through, just as if you were playing single-player mode.

Note: Co-op multiplayer is usually something that's added onto a game, these days. At least "local co-op multiplayer" is. In multiplayer games, they're almost always focused on online play and the "co-op" part is settled by either picking teams or grouping with friends in a list you've already set up. ("Friends List" on consoles, for instance.) On PC, if there isn't a host other than local, it's a sort of coin-toss whether or not they'll support co-op play. It is there, but it's a smaller market than strictly online match-play sorts of games, which are very popular.

[pjknibbs]

In a lot of cases, multiplayer games (co-op or otherwise) are designed to work across the Internet--having local network multiplayer is actually a fairly rare feature these days.

[burger1]

Left 4 Dead might be ok. Not sure about only 2 people.

[mrbadger]

I haven't played any LAN games since the early 2000's. The hayday of that style of gaming was the mid to late nineties.

Then games companies started adding in the requirement to game via net servers to combat piracy. That pretty much killed LAN gaming as a thing for most people. It still existed, but it wasn't in as many games, and it's never come back to the extent it was in the days of Warcraft 2, Doom, Quake, Red Alert and Starcraft.

I'd say I miss those games. But I miss LAN games with them, I still play most of them single player.

[Bishop149]

Basically no, and I don't much like multiplayer either at least not the way its done these days. . . . i.e. mostly with strangers on the internet.

I don't mind a bit of free for all multiplayer FPS as long as I can mute everyone if I choose (and 9 times out of 10 I will). Although as someone unwilling and unable to devote 100s of hours required to "git gud" to the standard of others my constant losing does limits the appeal somewhat.

Any kind of co-op that actually requires any significant level of team work to succeed is almost always bound to be ruined by either:
- Incompetence, deliberate (trolling) or otherwise.
- Expectations of the opposite in the extreme, that every player play their role with inhuman perfection.

The kind of multiplayer (co-op or otherwise) experience I actually enjoy is for the most part long dead: Playing with my friends, all of us being located in the same room (or at least within earshot) . . . . often also with beer.
Ah the halcyon days of split screen Goldeneye on the N64 . . . . . where screen-watching was perfected to a sublime art form with grenade launcher duels around the Egyptian level. . . . The phrase that struck fear into all but that one guy*: "I'm picking proxy mines! I LIKE them!"
Playing with your mates over the internet can be fine but weirdly seems harder to co-ordinate. . . . . this is either because it's seen as more casual so ppl make less effort to make the time, or because we're all old now with "responsibilities".

*Me

Edit: I do own this, which I picked up on sale and am itching to play when I have some friends over. No VR headset but we can work around that.

[Morkonan]

Uh.... What happened to the OP?

Just to clarify this forum-snafu - I didn't create this thread. Unfortunately, I don't remember the OP's name and didn't quote them in my reply.

For multiplayer games, in general, I like playing with friends. But, as has been mentioned, they also have a "real life." (I don't. ) So, getting together with more than one at a time online is nearly impossible. (Currently playing Path of Exile with a friend, but we spend more time solo than grouped. It's not as polished a multiplayer experience as something like Diablo.)

I was surprised having a lot of fun playing Star Wars Battlefront: EA back when it came out. (Not the second one.) I actually played that solo, just logging in and randomly joining games, which was far outside the norm for my usual comfort level in a multiplayer game.

By the way, one thing hasn't been mentioned: MMOs. (Massively multiplayer online games) MMOs have sorta died out a bit in the last several years. Because of how they're constructed, with many players online, sharing the same environment, they are a great way to get together with friends and play online. For those that support multiple characters, they don't restrict gamers to only playing when their friend is online. For years, that was our "go to" choice when we wanted to game together.

[X2-Illuminatus]

As Rapier correctly stated in his post earlier, the OP was not of human nature, and while we are inclusive of (almost) everyone and every thing here, there's certain behaviours (like spamming and breaking the forum rules) we usually try to prevent as early as possible. Hence why the OP's remnants were firmly yet not hasty moved to our recycle bin, where they will help in operating our forum server for another day. Rapier's post, which without the OP's post hasn't had any context anymore, was moved to a similar place. Whereby his "Helping to keep the forum a safe and clean place for future generations"-counter has been increased by one. As the discussion about coop-games was flourishing already, I decided to leave all the other posts in place. Crowning you, Morkonan, to the new OP of this thread.

[red assassin]

I play co-op games with my girlfriend quite a lot. We're playing Far Cry 5 at the moment, which is a lot of fun.

[Morkonan]

As Rapier correctly stated in his post earlier, the OP was not of human nature,... Crowning you, Morkonan, to the new OP of this thread.

You must have a moderator switch/feed by thread that I can't see. (Unless Rapier posted here earlier and then deleted that.)

I don't mind being blamed for just about anything, so I will proudly wear the title of OP, here.

But, the check is in the mail. I wasn't there when that happened. You can't prove I did it. I do not know that woman and have never seen her before in my life!

I play co-op games with my girlfriend quite a lot. We're playing Far Cry 5 at the moment, which is a lot of fun.

How well does that work? Is it a "campaign co-op" sort of mode where you both go through the storyline or is it more like a general "sandbox" sort of mode? (I'm not really familiar with general "Far Cry" game/campaign mechanics, sorry.)

I have several friends that game with their significant others. Those that game together stay together! (Unless somebody cheats... ) Because of this, I really think that devs working on multiplayer games need to consider things like local co-op mode, whether couch-co-op (split-screen or not) and network/Lan co-op. One issue is, of course, that the most viable mode is split-screen, since many homes may not have multiple PCs/Consoles. Some games don't do well with that.

[euclid]

Co-op is a nice alternative to both, solo and multiplayer. The latter usually requires dedication and commitment (full raid) and the former can be lonesome at times. I have not played Grim Dawn in co-op mode because most of my games there are modded. However, I'm quite addicted to Diablo 3 for many years and love the co-op feature there.

Cheers Euclid

[red assassin]

How well does that work? Is it a "campaign co-op" sort of mode where you both go through the storyline or is it more like a general "sandbox" sort of mode? (I'm not really familiar with general "Far Cry" game/campaign mechanics, sorry.)

I have several friends that game with their significant others. Those that game together stay together! (Unless somebody cheats... ) Because of this, I really think that devs working on multiplayer games need to consider things like local co-op mode, whether couch-co-op (split-screen or not) and network/Lan co-op. One issue is, of course, that the most viable mode is split-screen, since many homes may not have multiple PCs/Consoles. Some games don't do well with that.

FC5 supports co-op for the full story/campaign. You can basically invite a friend into your campaign as a wingman. There's been some moaning on the internet about the way this works, because the joining player doesn't get all of the progression the host does, but it doesn't really matter if you're playing the full campaign together rather than just dropping in occasionally.

We each have our own gaming PC. Options for split-screen games are a lot more limited.

[Rapier]

Aside, ignore if you like:

As Rapier correctly stated in his post earlier, the OP was not of human nature,... Crowning you, Morkonan, to the new OP of this thread.

You must have a moderator switch/feed by thread that I can't see. (Unless Rapier posted here earlier and then deleted that.)

I did post earlier - It seems my moderator-bot-detecting senses still work okay, even if I no longer have the powers to split posts off into new threads and move those threads to the secret 'Forum of spam' (aka the Kitchen Forum).

[mrbadger]

I thought it looked odd, but I am also no longer a mod, so didn't put much though into it, plus someone had already responded, so I was more responding to that.

[felter]

That bot did kind of stick out when it made this thread at least it could have picked some newer games.

Anyway, you know I have never played a co-op game, not once, played many MMO's and the likes but never a co-op game.

[Morkonan]

FC5 supports co-op for the full story/campaign. You can basically invite a friend into your campaign as a wingman. There's been some moaning on the internet about the way this works, because the joining player doesn't get all of the progression the host does, but it doesn't really matter if you're playing the full campaign together rather than just dropping in occasionally.

We each have our own gaming PC. Options for split-screen games are a lot more limited.

Understood. That's the mechanic that quite a few of the newer'ish RPG/Action/Storyline games have taken, it seems. Players can co-op, but may not receive the same credit for the storyline achievements or may not even be able to play the same character in both modes.

...split posts off into new threads and move those threads to the secret 'Forum of spam' (aka the XXXXXXXXXXX).

You did it. You said "that which must not be said." And, you, a former mod? You've called doom down upon us!

(Didn't one of the main guys running that shady ring get some jail time in England or something like that?)

...Anyway, you know I have never played a co-op game, not once, played many MMO's and the likes but never a co-op game.

Being an old fart, when the idea of "co-op" first came out, everyone was so excited that they picked up anything that had co-op in it. My first multiplayer, not exactly "co-op" was actually before PC - An old "Star Trek" game run on the college's mainframe. Then, I think it was something like "Empire" or something like that? Then, "Warcraft: Orcs & Humans" and all the rest of the dialup co-ops. Once MMOs came out, we moved almost all our communal gaming to those.

[Rapier]

(Didn't one of the main guys running that shady ring get some jail time in England or something like that?)

This? I'm not sure if that's the people - it does mention 'planting false stories on websites' but not specifically bot spamming. In any case, a few less kitchen scammers at large makes the world a better place - though they'll all be out now.

[CBJ]

The name of the person who is reputedly behind the aforementioned spam is not on the list in that article.

[pjknibbs]

This? I'm not sure if that's the people - it does mention 'planting false stories on websites' but not specifically bot spamming. In any case, a few less kitchen scammers at large makes the world a better place - though they'll all be out now.

I used to work literally a hundred yards down the road from Maple Mill. There were tales of how dodgy the people working from there were...

[OmegaKnight]

I've had fun playing Terraria in Co-op, but it's mainly boss fights.
Magicka is fun too.
4 spell casters do battle though a cooperative campaign against evil where "accidentally" killing team members and crossing the streams just adds to the fun in this action/adventure sorta-but-not-really RPG.

Spintires /Mudrunner
Co-op driving game where you haul timber through the mud in old Soviet vehicles.

Has anyone tired Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator?
Cooperatively flying a starship around has to be in this forum members wheelhouse... surely?

I think most strategy games that have multiplayer can be played cooperatively against the AI, so in that vein
EU4 and CK2 can be fun.

and heck co-op Factorio is probably the only way I'm going to get the speed run 'There is no spoon' achievement for launching a rocket within 8 hours.

[Jericho]

I don't play Co-op for a number of reasons

1) I don't have the free time these days, so I'd probably have to quit half way through leaving them in the lurch.

2) I never know when I'm in the country anymore, I'm not installing games on company laptops and relying on hotel wifi.

3) Just being that guy who has no idea how to play/what to do... The first time I played Left4Dead, I didn't know you weren't supposed to go near one of the zombies... I woke her and she wiped us out.

4) Playing with random dicks... I hear nothing but annoying stories about people trying to play GTA5 missions with random people, who turn out to be useless 8 year olds who just want to stunt jump a full car etc.

5) I've pretty much given up multiplayer as I hate it these days. Hoping Black Ops 4 Battle Royale will make it fresh for me.

6) Mass Effect 3 is the exception. Love it. Love trying different characters with different strengths and techniques. I played Andromeda's multiplayer a few times at launch and nearly cried at what they'd turned it into.