Looking for RPGs with cooperative LAN play

Originally Posted by Ubbax

<sigh> this is not how I wanted to spend the start of my Saturday; cleaning coffee of my monitor & Keyboard

I hope it was laughter that caused the spill and not a sudden increase in blood pressure. This really is what happened to me--no lie. I'm always amazed when I hear someone's actually finished Lionheart--I stand in awe.

@Zaleukos--have fun with Dungeon Lords--maybe by the time you eventually get your rigs upgraded a bit there will be some good NWN2 mods around. I'm looking forward to the Planescape Trilogy from Rogue Dao myself.

We got Lionheart at the budget price of SEK 69 ($10.50), and after I sipped the singleplayer game we decided to try it during last weekend. The games schizo nature is reversed in MP in my opinion.

The first part (Barcelona) plays a lot like Baldurs Gate, a solid singleplayer RPG. But it is (just like Baldurs Gate) a bit slow for multiplayer since one character will do the talking and the other be a bit passive. There is also some backtracking across town, which takes time even if it is handled much better than in the infinity engine games.

The post-Barcelona game is more like soloing Icewind Dale, wading through enemies in a linear fashion. But having two players give you many more tactical options, making this part much more entertaining in multiplayer than in solo.

And while the game doubles the number of non-boss enemies in MP this actually makes the game easier. Both players gain full experience for every kill and quest, and since you both can specialise the characters more (my gf is an archer/diplomat, I am a 2hander/thief) and gain almost twice the experience you end up unhittable to many enemies that would have been troublesome in singleplayer. This makes the number of enemies moot! So while Dungeon Lords had some odd MP mechanics it is much better balanced for MP.

In the end I think both Dungeon Lords and Lionheart are better in MP than in SP, with the first being more intense and the second having a more interesting setting (I am coloured by being a history buff here). I'd give both 3/5 for SP and 3.5/5 in MP, making them well worth a budget price…

BTW: Dont try to make sense out of the subjective line drawn between the second half of Lionheart and Diablo (which I dislike). I cant explain my strong preference of one over the other using rational arguments

There are few rational arguments in gaming--especially on the internet.No worries

Good to know someone got a good second half out of Lionheart. I can see how having the options you mentioned might remove some of the SP torture.

We have played through both Dungeon Lords and Lionheart now. Damn they felt short, especially the obviously unfinished Lionheart. Neither game was anywhere near dethroning BG/IWD

I think it is safe to say that both game solve some of their issues in MP, but the party dynamics are very poorly implemented in Dungeon Lords (where you cant trade gold and some items, the party-wide spells only become available in the late game, and quest rewards are partially bugged for the non-hosting players). Still well worth the budget prices we paid though…

Unfortunately neither title have the quality to be an option for a replay during the xmas holiday, so we might end up getting Anno after all… And I'm grateful for tips of Swedish (shipping gets substantially more expensive once you cross the border) online shops with Evil Islands or Pool of Radiance 2

Sorry for digging up this old thread, but maybe there's some newer recommendations? Also, I just found this interesting site: http://www.co-optimus.com/

They got a list for PC games too!

Unfortunately there arent many new titles to add. The last AAA RPG with MP was NWN2, which already was around when I started this thread

I emailed co-optimus about the infinity engine games, given that they are among the best coop games I've ever played they definitely belong in such a database.