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bgda2_x_boxLast Friday night, after a crazy busy week suffering video game withdrawal, my boyfriend Daniel and I were bored and looking for something fun to play. Tired of our usual go-to FPS genre with old standbys like L4D, we started searching around online to see what other alternatives we could come up with. We ended up wasting half the night looking for games that either didn’t exist or games that we didn’t own and/or couldn’t put our hands on immediately. But we had at least narrowed it down to three criteria. We wanted to play something that was 1) Co-op. 2) Fantasy-ish. 3) Action/adventure-ish.

Turns out there’s not a whole lot to choose from.

We searched in vain online, Googling things like “fantasy co-op games” and “co-op RPGs” only to turn up a smattering of relevant results, usually in the form of old forum posts where other co-op-starved couples before us had ventured, daring to ask the same futile question and met with the same small, precious handful of games in answer.

Eventually we realized that if we were going to get our co-op RPG on, we’d have to kick it old school. So I drug out my boxes full of old console games and began rifling through them, and to my delight, discovered a very neglected-looking but otherwise working copy of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II for Xbox. I had had fond memories of the first Dark Alliance game, which, in a former life, I had beaten on co-op with my boyfriend du jour. But I had never spent much time with the sequel, let alone play through it co-op. Daniel and I suddenly had plans for our Friday night.

Eerily similar to our WoW alter egos, Dan selected the Dwarf Rogue character while I, comfortable in my usual role of heal bitch, opted for the Human Cleric. I thought perhaps we’d play through the starting zones, maybe get to level 3 or so before getting bored. But ever since last Friday night it has been non-stop BG:DA II every chance we get. I forgot how much FUN these types of games are, especially on co-op.

And now back to my original point–why aren’t there more co-op RPGs out there? Off the top of my head, the ones I can think of comprise a very short list:

  • Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance I & II
  • Champions of Norrath 1 & 2
  • Diablo
  • Gauntlet Legends
  • Phantasy Star Online
  • Sacred 1 & 2
  • Secret of Mana

If you know of any others (any GOOD ones, that is), please comment…I’m listening!