Cooperative PvE games

[67426e5b86444Join2]

I do find it a little sad that so few games do proper cooperative PvE multiplayer

Tomb Raider: Guardian of Light (online or couch co-op)
Resident Evil 5 (online or couch)
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (couch only unless emulated)

You're welcome.

One thing you must not do is view them as their title implies you should. TR: GoL is not really a Tomb Raider sequel, Baldur's Gate: DA is not a Baldurs Gate game and Resident Evil 5 is not Resident Evil, but as co-op PvE? They're pretty fucking awesome. View them as co-op games alone (which is primarily how they were designed) and you'll have a great time with your partner. They're pretty much pure gameplay too, just short story segments to provide themes and reason, but mostly all about the gameplay and the gameplay element unique to coop: teamwork (and arguing over loot ). Pretty much what you want when you're looking for social co-op fun.

[67426e5b86681icemann]

You can call them whatever you like, but to me the DA games are still Baldurs Gate. Just a different take on it.

I absolutely love those games. The Champions series (of 2 games) that came out after that were pretty good too, but lacked the darker elements in the DA games.

I go back and replay the first DA game every few years.

And your forgetting Doom/Doom 2. Some great co-op there.

[67426e5b869eeJoin2]

And your forgetting Doom/Doom 2. Some great co-op there.

No punishment for death, you just respawn right back in ad infinitum no consequence, so it isn't all that engaging as games after all are almost always designed around the need not to die, but to survive and win. Only on Nightmare mode would it be truly worthwhile as enemies respawn. Although this was just my first impressions of the mode which put me off so make of it what you will.

Question: should I get Dark Alliance 2? Reviews say it's a disappointing sequel. Complaints of mindless challenge primarily.

[67426e5b86bf1Nameless Voice]

I didn't really like Guardian of Light that much.  I felt it had too much emphasis on the combat and not enough on the platforming and cooperative puzzle-solving.

I'm currently playing Dying Light co-op, which is decent, but it's more of a multiplayer sandbox with a plot than an actual PvE campaign game.

(I think I'll split this conversation off into its own thread...)

[67426e5b86dc4fox]

The only time I really enjoyed PvE multiplayer myself was during my little WoW-episode. Exploring together was fun and an advantage, working together in the dungeons/instances a necessity. But such MMORPGS are strong examples that the game really has to be designed around that from the start.

[67426e5b8732eMarvin]

You can call them whatever you like, but to me the DA games are still Baldurs Gate. Just a different take on it.

How? Besides the name and the licensed scenario, they have absolutely nothing in common.

@topic: You can find coop in unexpected places. The best coop multiplayer experience I ever had was with Schleichfahrt (Archimedean Dynasty for non-German speaking folks), a purely singleplayer game. My buddy did the shooting and I controlled all the navigational equipment, turrets and onboard computers. On the highest difficulty, that can actually be a full 2-man job, really felt like you were a bombing crew inside a flying fortress.

Owning a Nintendo console is a plus, they probably have the largest amount of local coop multiplayer games.

[67426e5b87505Hikari]

Dungeon Siege (the original) had a co-op PvE mode. Ditto with the diablo games.

Pretty sure there are a few doom modes that are PvE, and I know for a fact zandronum's Invasion maps are often built assuming co-op is a thing.

[67426e5b876d6JML]

Would Left 4 Deads missions count? I think that's pretty nice coop.
Also Portal 2 has really great puzzles in coop mode.

[67426e5b87a3dOlfred]

Secret of Mana takes nothing from it when played co-op.

[67426e5b87dfdJoin2]

I didn't really like Guardian of Light that much.  I felt it had too much emphasis on the combat and not enough on the platforming and cooperative puzzle-solving.

I found it to be an adequate divide of all those gameplay elements. And is the existence of/slight bias towards combat such a bad thing? I don't think so, because it is a worthwhile/enjoyable aspect of the gameplay. As a Tomb Raider game there should be more puzzles and platforming, yes, but all in all my immediate disappointment was it was not a longer game, because as a co-op game its solid.

[67426e5b8809eJDoran]

The Halo games on co-op are great, though only Halo 1 and 2 are on the PC (and I'm not sure if they're co-op on the PC, come to think of it).

On the N64, Duke Nukem 64 and Perfect Dark both have co-op mode. Perfect Dark also has the fantastic counter-op mode, where player one plays the game as normal, and player two tries to stop player one, but playing an in-game enemy (and player two can choose to change which enemy (s)he controls, in case (s)he is too far from player one). Perfect Dark does so many great things that even today you rarely, if ever, see in other games.

[67426e5b88495Hikari]

Perfect Dark also has the fantastic counter-op mode, where player one plays the game as normal, and player two tries to stop player one, but playing an in-game enemy (and player two can choose to change which enemy (s)he controls, in case (s)he is too far from player one). Perfect Dark does so many great things that even today you rarely, if ever, see in other games.

See if System Shock were to have a multiplayer element I would want it to have that. Player One is Hacker. Player's two through whatever get to control an enemy out of whatever's on the level.

Depending on how enemy v enemy damage is handled that could alsoserve as a form of co-op if your friends decide to be helpful and start attacking other enemies.