Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

UPDATE 12/30 Thanks to everyone for your help and advice. I've settled on a game, made a purchase and loaded it up.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/794519.page#11018227

My wife and I are looking for a game we can play together. We both loved FF12 and enjoyed KOTOR 1 and 2

For a game for us....

-We want to go adventuring together.
-A SciFi or fantasy RPG would probably be best.
- We have a 1 PC and 1 MAC so it has to be cross platform compatible
- Ideally low cost or free. I'm not not interested in paying $30 a month for a pair of subscriptions.
- We're fairly casual gamers so nothing terribly difficult. This is about quality time not hardcore challenge.

Please help us!

Don't know about how "casual" it is, but the new Neverwinter Nights game is a free MMORPG. If it's anything like its single-player predecessors it would be a pretty fun RPG game.

Edit: incidentally the original NWN video game has a LAN mode, as well as a web mode. You can host your game from the client itself and I assume it wouldn't be to hard to set it up. Game's old but the RPG contents are quite solid IMO, and there are a lot of mods for it as well. Ofc The graphics are really outdated by now and its sequel is also, but you won't have to worry about randos spoiling your fun in a MMORPG. Downsides include: not free, and you may not care about sharing virtual space with randos on the internet.

Is Divinity: Original Sin (1 or 2) cross-platform compatible? May not be very casual, though.
Minecraft is about as casual and cross-platform friendly as it gets, I think.

Baldurs Gate 1 & 2 (and Icewind Dale), including the 'Enhanced Editions' have multiplayer mode.

At the very least you can each run a character and control parts of the party, though I'm not 100% sure both characters in BG would be 'Bhaalspawn.'

Each game is about $20, and go on steam sales frequently at this point.

IMO, the games have aged better than the older Neverwinter Nights (1 & 2). Early 3d graphics look like gak, and the UI isn't as inherently frustrating (I hated NWN's funky camera controls, and 2's were somehow worse).

City of Heroes is back online.
Free to play, all content available, new content being developed. Cross platform asfaik. Tequila for PC, Island Rum for Mac for DL.

Link for Download and such info.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into them.

Top notch graphics are by no means a necessity. We're so behind tech wise that KOTOR and Oblivion seem magical. She likes that sort of 3D graphics.

 Eilif wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into them.

Top notch graphics are by no means a necessity. We're so behind tech wise that KOTOR and Oblivion seem magical. She likes that sort of 3D graphics.

Minecraft is a ton of fun, though getting a server together can be tricky.

Portal 2 has a co-op mode, though it is limited to one playthrough before you know how to solve the puzzles. But it's well worth the money!

Minecraft is not really her style. Our son loves it though.

I'll ask her about Portal 2. She's beaten it but enjoyed it.


Started leafing through Steam.

Anyone have any opinions about LOTR online or D&D online? She likes LoTR and D&D.

LOTRO online is ok, not great. LOTS of running/riding between quest locations.
Big down is not all content is free to play, mainly getting to quests outside of the first few start zones. Lots of "Pay to Win" content. Some unlockable content with specific "Find location" type things. Graphics wise it's not bad and they have a decent community and Auction House system.

D&D online is kind of basic, once you clear the start island most of the quest lines are "door" style, with later zones accessed from the "City". Most quests are repeatable. Keep plenty of "heal potions" on hand. Graphics are good, community not so much. AH tends to be over priced, and crafting is too much like work.

Path of Exile is completely free. It’s kind of like a free Diablo clone. There are microtransactions, but you can do the whole thing without paying a dime. Tricky part, is that you would need a beefier machine.

Divinity Original Sin (the first one) is practically built with coop in mind. A bit pricier (about 12.00$ on sale I think), but it should keep you guys going for a while. I imagine you can probably handle the length if you can make it through FF12!

I was all set to recommend FFXIV's 'free trial' mode but found out it doesn't let you invite people to party up, so co-oping together would be rough.

Guild Wars 2 is also a free to play model, I remember it being just 'OK' but I preferred the first one.

Minecraft is actually pretty great if you haven't played it.

Check Youtube. There are plenty of videos of people playing as well as reviews which show what play and graphics look like for all the games mentioned here.

Thanks folks,
I'm downloading Path of Exile right now.

Divinity looks really cool, but is more than I want to spend right now. It's on my steam list though so I'll watch for a sale.

Minecraft is not really my wife's cup of tea.

I'll take a look at Guild Wars 2. It seems to have a similar visual look as FF12. Anyone else have any opinions on it?

LoTR and D&D are still in the back of my mind, but PoE does sound like it might be what we're looking for.

Outward is an absolute blast in co-op. Not sure if it’s compatible with Mac though.

Outward is not on Mac.

So I'm in the middle of downloading Path of Exile and I find out it's not actually on Mac yet except for an experimental server. Don't really want to mess around with that yet so...

I think I've narrowed it down to the following Free to play games

LoTR Online
Guild Wars 2
D&D Online

Anyone care to offer some judgements or comparisons.

On those three, Not all content is "Free To Play"
Purchasing the "Expansion Packs" opens more content beyond the start areas and limited content.
Not much experience with GW2.

Both LOTRO and DDO are owned by Standing Stone.
In LOTRO, certain areas, like Moria or Mirkwood, many of the quest lines require purchase of that area.
It can also get tedious as you don't get a personal mount until you purchase the riding skill from the LOTRO Store, so you spend a lot of time running to the quest areas.
There are items that can give you boosts in reputation with various groups if you collect enough.
The Auction House system is decent and easy to use.
Biggest issue is the over use of Loot Boxes. They tend to be near common drops but the Keys are Super Rare... Though for a modest fee in LOTRO Points they can be purchased from the LOTRO Store. Points can be purchased for real money, as well as earned in game for completing "Deeds" such as finding landmarks and completing a number of quests in each zone.. The Store can be accessed from within the game.
Points can also be used to buy upgrades, equipment, content and a slew of other things, including cosmetic changes to your character.
They do have a decent community though and loads of special event type things.

DDO is fairly close to actually playing D&D. Simple economy, mostly "door" style quests, not too difficult to navigate. As stated before, you start on an island, and once you complete the "dragon" quest you head to the main city, where most of the quests originate.
Having a good mix of attributes in your party helps. Some doors and traps can only be dealt with if you match the stat limit, like Int 15+.
Ranged weapons always help.
Quests can be done multiple times with choice in difficulty. Completing one on a lower setting unlocks the higher difficulty.
As with LOTRO, there is a DDO Store where you can purchase things using "points"... which can be earned in game or bought with real money. Points can be used to buy additional content, upgrades, and gear.

The plot thickens. GW2 simply will not download to my mac so it's out of the running.

DDO sounds good and I'm leaning that way.

I've been doing some digging and found these 2 options as well.

Runescape.

Trove.

Any thoughts on these?

 Eilif wrote:
Runescape.

I haven't played RS in a good decade, but unless things have drastically changed since then, then you have both free play and Membership options. Freeplay is likely to be adequate for the casual player and will provide you with plenty of skills, items and quests to keep you busy.
Membership, which was about 7 or 8 dollars around '07/'08, will unlock everything (unsurprisingly).

Only problem with Runescape though, is that while you can adventure and trade and raise skills together, it's doesn't let you complete quests together (barring maybe 1 or 2 quests, if memory serves), so you'll have to do them separately. So it's not true co-op, but it will provide plenty of opportunity to go skill grinding together. Which honestly, really makes a huge difference to the enjoyability of grinding. The quests are 1-and-done, so very little repeatability there, but the are lots of them to do, so they'll keep you busy for a good while.
Your avatars are entirely customisable as well if that is a factor for you.

It was very fun back then, and i'd imagine its still pretty good these days.



Another suggestion I have for you, is Heroes of Hammerwatch.
Very fun game with a lot of replayability. Can co-op up to four players at once.

And if Middle Earth is your thing then I recommend LotR: War in the North. It has co-op up to 3 players.

Isn't world of warcraft free to play nowadays? I never got into it myself but it's got to be the biggest kid in the playground for a reason. It runs on mac.

Sorry, should have looked into it before making this post. Wow is free to play up until level 20 but not more.

I played a bunch of runescape. It's fun enough and has plenty of content, but about 70% of the game is locked of if you don't pay. That said what you get for free is pretty big and fun.

Oh and wanted to add to my outward suggestion before. It's kind of steep price wise but it's a one time cost and you can play it split screen. If you have a big enough monitor and a controller it's easy enough to play two people on one machine. One of the few modern couch co-op games.

Also there's always the moba scene if you and your partner are into that. They are free and mostly run on mac. DoTA 2 and Leauge of legends are examples.

Divinity Original Sin is quite simply the best co-op RPG that has ever been made IMO. IDK if its cross platform compatible but it is just so good. Nothing was cooler for me and my dad playing together than getting to a big city and realizing...we can split up and go talk to DIFFERENT PEOPLE in completely different areas to complete a detective quest.

Everyone else is wrong and I'm dead serious.

You can play SWTOR for free or for $15 (1 month will unlock most things). Even if you play different classes you can team up for your class-specific quests and the current leveling process allows you to basically do only class quests (you will have to do the occasional world quest to avoid being underleveled) on your way through the base game. I know the early game writing actually takes into account having non-class players with you. Playing through Sith Warrior/Inquisitor or Bounty Hunter/Imperial Agent would be amazing.

Thanks for the last few suggestions folks, but most of those have already been kicked out of the running.

Reasons:

-KOTOR is not available on Mac/

-WOW woud be great (20 levels is more than enough) but AFAIK it does not allow you to pair up for missions in the free version.

-Divinity is just a bit too much $ for an introductory MMORG experience with my wife who isn't sold on the idea.

-Not being able to pair up for Runescape is a dealbreaker.

-MOBA games is an interesting suggestion, but that's definitely not a style of play that my wife is interested in.

Still open to suggestions, but I'm leaning toward DDO right now.

Torchlight 2 is great and fairly cheap. Not sure if it runs on Mac. You can also try Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition, and aside from the clunky GUI it’s fantastic.
The NW Vault has hundreds of modules for basically unlimited play. I do believe it’s also available on Mac, just without the Toolset.
It should be cheap enough for the two of you, and is really a video game version of D&D. While it’s old the replay value is virtually unlimited with the amount of user content on the Vault.
There’s even a host of persistent worlds and it still has a pretty robust community.
Link to the vault:
https://neverwintervault.org/

And shameless plug for my couple of modules:
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/module/gates-firestorm-peak-revisited

https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/module/s1-tomb-horrors-0

MAC has a built in way to run Windows for free. It's pretty easy to set up, but the performance won't be top notch.

Ghool wrote:Torchlight 2 is great and fairly cheap. Not sure if it runs on Mac. You can also try Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition, and aside from the clunky GUI it’s fantastic.
The NW Vault has hundreds of modules for basically unlimited play. I do believe it’s also available on Mac, just without the Toolset.
It should be cheap enough for the two of you, and is really a video game version of D&D. While it’s old the replay value is virtually unlimited with the amount of user content on the Vault.
There’s even a host of persistent worlds and it still has a pretty robust community.
Link to the vault:
https://neverwintervault.org/

And shameless plug for my couple of modules:
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/module/gates-firestorm-peak-revisited

https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/module/s1-tomb-horrors-0

I hadn't thought of Torchlight2. I have that on my mac already so I'd just have to buy it for 10 bucks for the PC. That might be a good way to go.

I'll give Neverwinter Nights a look again. The graphics look plenty good to me and it does seem to be available on Mac and even Linux.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 trexmeyer wrote:
MAC has a built in way to run Windows for free. It's pretty easy to set up, but the performance won't be top notch.

Thanks, but my Mac is not top-of-line anyway, so I'd prefer if it were already primed for Mac.

I may have seemed a bit negative on a couple games....

LOTRO is actually fun and there is a ton of content that is playable for free. They have a great community, even "Bard Bands" of other players that put on shows when you don't feel like questing. Several "Holiday Events", including Bilbo's Birthday, which have mini games you can play. There is even a quest line where you are transformed into a chicken. Some quests almost require having companions or a "fellowship", so great for co-op play. Solo play is doable. The economy is pretty solid and the auction house system is solid. Points for buying addons can be earned in game by finding landmarks and completing quests. Oh, and if you play this, watch for the weekly Beacon link on the login... they usually have a coupon code for free stuff like exp bonuses and such that are redeemable through the online store, which can be accessed through the game without logging out. Just be sure to use the code AFTER you log a character in.

DDO is also a good game. Tons of free content, quests are repeatable and can even be played in harder modes. Some quests are quick, some can take a bit of time. Here is a listing of quests by level. They have free content up to Level 32 currently. The Auction House is way over priced but there are vendors that you can buy and sell things through that tend to be better priced options. Character customization is pretty good too. Points for addons can be earned here as well, but takes more time.

You can absolutely pair up on Runescape. Only the actual quests are not truly dual, but honestly you can both complete each one at the same time while working together. And all of the other content, such as skilling and PvM is much more fun when you've got someone to play with (multiplayer boss battles can be fun but you need to get your levels up before trying to tackle bosses). It's a truly great game; there's a reason it's still around to celebrate its 20th anniversary next year.

Can anyone comment on Neverwinter Nights as a co-op option?

Enhanced edition just popped up for $10 on Steam, so I could buy two copies easily. Looks like a good option but I'd like to know more.


Looks like the first Divinity Original Sin just popped up. 2 copies for $25. So there's that also...

 Eilif wrote:
Can anyone comment on Neverwinter Nights as a co-op option?

Enhanced edition just popped up for $10 on Steam, so I could buy two copies easily. Looks like a good option but I'd like to know more.


Looks like the first Divinity Original Sin just popped up. 2 copies for $25. So there's that also...

Divinity will be far far better for co-op play than NN (this is someone who loves NN). Divinity is DESIGNED, from the ground up intended to be played 2-player. NN has multiplayer as an option built in but your co-op partner will not be able to, for example, initiate dialogue with an NPC while you go talk to a different NPC, won't be able to interact with story objects/quest puzzles while you're doing them, is basically just controlling an NPC.

Divinity is set up such that you have two player characters who can each act as the focus of the story, and each one of you gets a Sidekick making it a party of 4. I will say that as a DnD experience it is fairly lighthearted and jokey, that can be a positive when it comes to a person not comfortable with RPGs and it can be a negative, personally it worked great with myself and my dad (likes RPGs, didn't really do video games) and not so great with my partner (kind of rolled their eyes at a lot of the jokes and wasn't as amused).

Just a heads up for Torchlight 2, Epic Games have been doing a 15 free games over 15 days event for Christmas and Torchlight 2 is most likely going to be the free game for 30th. (There was a leaked list and so far the free games for the past 13 days have all been correct.) Cross-play should work on PC but you could always grab it on 2 accounts just to be safe.

For a co-op game suggestion how about Stardew Valley? its a very fun, casual and addictive farming and town sim/RPG.