I’m selling the Wii. I might sell my 360. My girlfriend and I live 45 minutes apart, and are looking for an online game to play that we would both enjoy. I don’t want to deal with monthly fees, so WoW or City of Heroes and the like are out. But I do really like the concept of those games, as I’ve spent countless hours playing Diablo II online.
I’m tempted to get her into DII, but want to open the discussion up to the board to see if there are other possibilities out there. I’m going to throw FPS games out, because I know she wouldn’t like those.
How about multiplayer Neverwinter Nights/Neverwinter Nights 2? I don’t have the sequel, but the first game not only had multiplayer support on the original and the first expansion (didn’t work on the second expansion, Hordes of the Underdark, at least when released), but also a whole lot of free downloadable player-made games, many of which are multiplayer.
I’ll second NWN 2 and NWN 1 for that matter. It’s old, but still pretty good and easy on the system requirements. NWN 2 is damn good too, in fact we’ve got a game going here on the forums.
How about some Left 4 Dead zombie slaying goodness?
Sins of a solar empire is a strategy game, but the games can range from 20 minute rushes to deep galaxy conquest epics that can span several multi-hour sessions. Lots of fun too.
I’ve heard a lot of good things form Diablo II aficionados about Titan Quest. On a similar vein the dungeon siege games, I believe, could be played coop too.
One thing I don’t like about this idea is not being aware of the learning curve anymore. She’d clearly be far behind me in ability, and we wouldn’t be able to share any “Ah ha!” moments. We were playing “Marvel: Ult. Alliance” the other night, and she said, “I have no idea what you’re doing, this isn’t much fun for me.” Totally true, because we’re not sharing the experience - I’m dragging her through it.
Wanting to clarify, I’m looking at stuff similar to D2, where your progress is noted, you accumulate stuff, etc. Not sure if the Dungeon Siege games are similar - if so, I’ll definitely take a look at that and Guild Wars.
Dungeon siege was called a diablo clone when it came out,s o it should fit the bill. I liked DS 2 better than 1 though. Titan Quest is another game similar to diablo.
Ok, I know you said no FPS, but I have to nominate Team Fortress 2. I keep getting more people to play it, and it’s not like a conventional FPS, so it appeals to a lot of people for different reasons. I tend to play Engineers and Medics, who are support classes. It’s more like tactical capture the flag than a killfest - there is skill to it, but strategy and teamwork is more important.
I play TF2 with my close friend/roommate several times a week and it can be a really good time working together. We’ll often work together with complementary class pairings, like Pyro/Medic, Heavy/Medic, two Spies (on offense), two Engineers (on defense)… good times.
Using Ventrilo or some other voice chat for private chatting would be a good idea.
Dungeon Siege was actually pretty solid, and the 3D perspective actually helped the game a lot (fireballs that bounce downhill!). Another popular Diablo-like called Sacred 2 came out recently, but I haven’t had a chance to play it.
If you like the MMORPG thing than definitely go with Guild Wars. I personally could never get into the grind those games entail, though, so I’d definitely recommend something like Neverwinter Nights over it. There are endless mods that let you play user-created content, so it never gets old, and it’s a story-driven game so you feel like you accomplish things. My girlfriend back in college needed that kind of stuff to keep her interested (at least interested on a level that went beyond “ohhh look at this shiny new armor that’s a lot better than my old armor… oh, my character doesn’t look as pretty, i’m going to stick with the old armor.”* She was not really a gamer, that one…)
*on second reading this looks a little bad. I’m by no means implying all girls gamers are like this, or even all girls. My ex was a very odd person, still is for that matter.
Sacred 2 is “okay”, but lacking in story and cohesion. Many of the side quests don’t have any bearing on anything, they’re mostly just fed-ex style “go rescue soandso” or “go fetch that item” type of quests. I’d probably suggest Titan Quest over Sacred if you’re looking for a Diablo-esque game, simply due to the more cohesive story (although TQ’s trip to Hades gets a bit long, heh).
Okay, gonna do some footwork on the following at this point:
Guild Wars
Titan Quest
Dungeon Seige 1 & 2 (with a nod towards 2, no?)
NWN 1 & 2 (any suggestions on which?)
I’m going to throw out TF2. That’s just not her style - but thanks for the suggestion. I have The Orange Box, but since I’m not on XBL, I’ve never spun it up.
Hmmm, NWN 1 is finished, in the sence that it’s received it’s last patch, it’s a great, stable platform with THOUSANDS of user created adventures and years of user created and developer created content and about 6 official campaigns to play through.
It’s a huge game with what is still a very active community. The engine is dated though, but as I mentioned, easy on the system requirements.
On the other hand NWN 2 is newer, features a less stable platform (we have a game going on the forums and during our first game the server crashed once, I crashed once, and another player crashed like three times). But the engine shows off prettier graphics(higher system requirements though) and there are much less user created adventures to run though, though what exists is usually top notch work.
So I’d go with NWN 1 at least to start (it’s also cheap, you can get the whole thing including official downloadable content and two expansions for like $20 or so.
But do try NWN 2 at some point It is a great game.
See, this is why I worry recommending NWN 1, there is so much shit to do there that you might not be picking up NWN 2 until 2020.
I know FPS’s are out, but Left 4 Dead is the very definition of a co-op game… The inevitable anectdote: I’ve got a friend couple (husband and wife) that I’ve been gaming with for close to 20 years (yes we’re old. Multiplayer gaming on a Commodore 64 was da bomb) and the wife NEVER wanted to play first person shooters. But we all LOVE co-op games and any game that can be played co-op, we’ve played it, going back before the original Diablo.
Being a zombie fan I picked up L4D and loved it… My married friend was unconvinced since he was also lookwarm on shooters. I wanted him to play it so bad I flat out bought it for him (conveniently it was Xmas time ) so we could try it out co-op. He was hooked and bought his wife a copy on the spot and we along with a 4th friend gently brought her into the 3-D realm… and she digs it completely – mainly on the strength of it’s extreme co-op nature.
I can’t think of a game that is as co-oppy as L4D. Players HAVE to work together to succeed. You have to keep each other alive and watch each others’ back in order to survive, and even after the 100th time I rescue a friend from the clutches of the bad guys I feel a sense of accomplishment. And I never fail to say “thank you” each time one of them is kneeling over my crushed body applying first aid as the other two blaze away with rifles until I’m back on my feet. It’s rippin’ good stuff if cooperation gives you a warm fuzzy.
They used to have a demo available… You and your GF should download it and try it out. She just might like it.
ah crap, there’s a Song of Ice and Fire mod for NWN 2… now I gotta reinstall that game and play through the mod… and then probably the game again. Why do I do this to myself? I should just stop using google…
ETA: ASoIaF is a damn good fantasy series by George RR Martin. Still waiting on the 5th book…
I like the IDEA of NWN2, and I think it fits the niche of “D&D with electrons” better than any other reasonably new game on the market. My biggest problem with it, however, is that it handles like a freakin’ tank: NWN1 took me about 45 minutes to get used to, after which I was pretty comfortable with the control scheme, but every time I pick up NWN2 I feel like I’m fighting with the interface.
(Given, I’m probably going to spend 3-5 hours this weekend playing with Kinthalis and the rest of the gang, so I obviously like it enough to keep at it, but I find NWN infinitely more playable as far as the UI goes.)
