Coop PC game suggestions?

[Riggswolfe]

A friend asked me for advice on coop games he and his wife can play. She is very much not into Pvp/competition or FPS. Here is the list I came up with:

Off of the top of my head:

The Baldur’s Gate series: This one will keep you busy for a month or two easily. It’s an RPG that is pretty deep and has some really cool NPCs and such in it. It also has a great storyline. It’s probably my favorite PC game of all time and is the closest I’ve found to pen and paper roleplaying in computer game form. Note that these games are NOT action like the console versions are. You have a party of NPCs, deep character customization, and an actual storyline to follow. The game starts with Baldur’s Gate 1 + an expansion and finishes with Baldur’s Gate 2 and it’s expansion. You can play the same character from start to finish and begin at level 1 and finish around level 20ish, with a few characters going to epic levels. The game is based on 2nd Ed D&D btw. I believe you can play up to 6 player coop in it though you lose out on some of the really cool NPCs if you do.
Civ IV: Sim/strategy game. You can simply make an alliance between the players and play as you guys against the computer.
Diablo 2: Hack and slash but you can play on B.net together. Jim and I used to just put passwords on our games and play together.
Dungeon Siege is Diabloish and can be played Coop. I didn’t find it nearly as fun as Diablo though.
Freelancer is a space fighter sim that uses the mouse instead of Joysticks and can be played coop.
Sacred is again very Diablo 2ish. I have it plus the expansions but haven’t played a lot of it to be honest. I’ve kicked around seeing if Dawn wants to try it or Diablo 2 with me.
Age of Empires is sort of a hybrid RTS and Civ-type game. It can be played like Civ IV above.
There is also Neverwinter Nights 1&2. They can be played Coop. Be careful with 2 though because it has slightly higher system requirements.
I think Lego Star Wars is available in Coop. It’s biggest draw of course would be that the kids could play it. But you might as well just get it on a console to be honest.
Finally, Icewind Dale 1&2

[Mrbloodworth]

When trying to play games that are to include the other half, its best if the choice leans towards said other half.

My girl would look at those titles and say "those are boy games" and not play them with me...at the most, she would watch.

The big question here is, what games does his wife already play, and go from there.

[Samwise]

You're assuming his wife already plays any games.  There is a fairly large segment of the female population that "outgrew" games sometime around puberty.  I dated one for a few years.

Riggs, I'd strongly recommend Puzzle Pirates.  Puzzle and card games are the most common exceptions for non-gaming females, and Puzzle Pirates has both, as well as heavy co-op and social elements.  It's also free to play on the Doubloon servers, and has low enough system requirements that you don't need a gaming rig to play it.

[Riggswolfe]

She plays alot of games, even MMOS. She's just not into competing and PVP or FPS. For instance I think she had Diablo 2 on her Mac and they've played Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance on the PS2.

She's a gamer nerd who is into tabletop roleplaying and fantasy games. She just has a blind spot about competing. They play DAOC but play on the Coop server because of it.

[MrHat]

Titan Quest is good.  Dungeon Runners.

[Azazel]

Not knowing which platform(s) we're talkin' bout, I'll say:

Star Wars Lego (any version, console)
Guitar Hero 1/2/3/80s
Titan Quest (LAN PC) - Better than DS, and graphically so much better than D2 that its not funny - it matters for some people.
WoW (with 2 PCs) (how have they not already played this?)
Wii Sports
XMen Legends/2/Marvel Ultimate Alliance (THE BEST CLASSIC RPG EVAR)
The Mario Party series lets you select a setting so the "battles" are always a team up between the players against the cpu players. Otherwise it's a non-threatening boardgame and you can play with a gentleman's agreement to not screw one another over.
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (decent FF-style combat. You can split control between multiple controllers, and take turns wandering around.)
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (mostly) 2-player beat-em-up.

[Riggswolfe]

WoW (with 2 PCs) (how have they not already played this?)

She doesn't like the design of WoW. She finds it too cartoony and has issues with how female night elves dress. This is one of those subjects I've learned not to discuss with her.

[Thrawn]

My wife is a very casual gamer (mostly flash games) and off the top of my head I can only think of two PC games she's ever really wanted to play co-op with me.  I define wanted to play as she'll bug me to sit and play with her instead of me having to ask.

Civ IV and Titan Quest

She also enjoyed co-op in the XMen Legends games on xbox, I don't know off hand if those were ported over to PC or not.

[schild]

Armed & Dangerous.

[sidereal]

Diablo 2 doesn't require connecting to Battle.net to play co-op.  You can run a LAN game by specifying the host IP.

[Morfiend]

I this age of online gaming and network gaming and all around "connected gaming" its really sad how few good coop titles there are. I feel the gaming industry in general overlooks coop gaming. Although it has gotten better lately with RB6:V and GoW and those type, still not amazing though. Or "up to par" if you will.

[tar]

Fall from Heaven 2. Same reasons as Civ IV but the fantasy aspect of it may appeal more than regular Civ.

[Azazel]

She also enjoyed co-op in the XMen Legends games on xbox, I don't know off hand if those were ported over to PC or not.

Pretty sure they were.

XML2

[Riggswolfe]

Fall from Heaven 2. Same reasons as Civ IV but the fantasy aspect of it may appeal more than regular Civ.

Is Fall From Heaven 2 a mod for Civ IV?

[Yegolev]

Armed & Dangerous.

Genius.  I loved AND, and the wife did, too, even though she was just watching me.

[veredus]

Fall from Heaven 2. Same reasons as Civ IV but the fantasy aspect of it may appeal more than regular Civ.

Is Fall From Heaven 2 a mod for Civ IV?

Yes.

[tar]

Is Fall From Heaven 2 a mod for Civ IV?

Yes, the lastest version requires Civ IV (patch 1.74) and Beyond the Sword (patch 3.13). I believe you can still get a vanilla civ version of FfH2 but it's not in development any more. The mod, lastest patch and media pack (optional) can be found here.

Totally worth it if there's even a passing interest, the learning curve can be a little steep but if they start on the lowest difficulty setting all should be ok :)

[Sky]

Fall from Heaven 2. Same reasons as Civ IV but the fantasy aspect of it may appeal more than regular Civ.

Is Fall From Heaven 2 a mod for Civ IV?

Yes.

Interesting choice for a first post.

[veredus]

Fall from Heaven 2. Same reasons as Civ IV but the fantasy aspect of it may appeal more than regular Civ.

Is Fall From Heaven 2 a mod for Civ IV?

Yes.

Interesting choice for a first post.

Not a big poster on any boards I read, was more just trying to help and answer a question.

[Morfiend]

I have to say, that was a better first post than most.

[cmlancas]

Does she like Tolkien lore? If so, she might like LOTRO if her qualm with WoW is that it is too cartoony. Also, I find LOTRO very easy to pick up/put down.

[Sjofn]

If she doesn't like competition, she might not even like Puzzle Pirates, as you do sometimes puzzle against other people. Still, you can try it for free, so no harm in giving it a whirl. LotRO is another one she might like. The game world is pretty and there's no skank armour for her to be forced into.

Most of the games I play with my husband are MMOish (I'll watch him play Baldur's Gate because he'll actually finish it, but I would never want to play it WITH him, because he's one of those people that talks to NPCs 800 times JUST IN CASE they say something different that 800th time). Co-op Guitar Hero or Rock Band is also a lot of fun, but that's not a PC platform.