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Games Entertainment

Games For Both Of Us? 208

Posted by simoniker from the happy-families dept.
Truist writes "My wife and I have started playing games together (side by side at the computer) recently, and we're having a hard time finding games that we both like. Specifically, I tend to like FPS games (Quake) and she tends to like puzzle games (Myst), but we're both happy to meet in the middle. She doesn't seem to like Worms, but Return to Castle Wolfenstein was a huge success for both of us. What are your suggestions for good games that we can play together, and that we'll both enjoy?"
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Games For Both Of Us? More

Games For Both Of Us?

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  • mame.. (Score:1, Insightful)

    by gl4ss ( 559668 )
    seriously.

    there's shitloads of good games there that the gals like.
    .

  • hmmm (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jeffy124 ( 453342 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:21PM (#7614383) Homepage Journal
    my ex-g/f liked to play GTA3.
    • Neverwinter Nights. End of story.

      • Re:hmmm (Score:5, Funny)

        by Big Sean O ( 317186 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @10:15PM (#7614729)
        My wife calls it "Evernipple Nights" because of the large bosomed ladies everywhere. She also made fun of me for playing it too much.

        We've had great success playing the Sims. I got sick of playing that one, because I got tired of making new friends. I mean, sheesh, I don't have 9 "real" friends, much less 9 sim friends.

  • Subspace/Continuum (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nukem1999 ( 142700 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:23PM (#7614391)
    http://www.subspacehq.com/
    Free download, free play, tons of fun. Got my GF hooked.

    • I used to be seriously hooked on that game. I have all the Continuum files and stuff now and even went back and played some about a year ago, but I had a lot of lag problems on the servers at the time, so it was less than fun. Not to mention my favorite game type was Turf, and I couldn't find any turf server with more than a handfull of players on it. :(

  • I'd still like to find some games other than Diablo that have good co-op "missions". I've been playing a lot of tower defense maps on Warcraft III lately, and that has been fun. Any other ideas?
  • I liked Oni. My woman liked Oni...we both liked it a lot, actually. And no, I'm not being sexist calling her "my woman," and no, I'm not crazy, claiming that Oni was good. It was, it just had a lot of...work still to be done. :P But yeah, unless actually playing the game multiplayer-style is a requirement, I recommend Oni. :)

    -Munki
  • Always, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. It's a two person cooperaive dungeon crawl. Enough D&D and character leveling to be interesting for a long time gamer and simple enough for a newbie.

    My girlfriend hates most gaming, especially D&D, but she begs me to play Dark Alliance with her.

    Sorry, XBox and PS2 only. Also, it's pretty short. About 6-8 hours will get you through the game, even on a first run through. (And Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 is on the way!)

    • She just got home and I asked her..

      She's hooked on Warblade [warblade.as], a really good independent, Galaga type game development by Edgar M Vigdal.

      She also loves the Sims. Also, she likes a lot of the computer adapted board games. Monopoly, trivia, etc..

      She loves Jeopardy and a lot of the fighting games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, etc...

      There are some classics too like Oregon Trail.

      Hmm.. Now that I think about it, she doesn't play many games..

    • it's available for the gamecube. :D

      I agree, it is very fun. Unfortunately it is very short... I wouldn't buy it myself (again) - i'd just rent it if you plan on spending a weekend on it.
    • Play the original Baldur's Gate, the Win/Mac one. The second one is good too, particularly with its expansion. Not short at all, will run on loads of hardware, AND if you're a Linux type I think it'll run under WineX.

  • Rez (Score:5, Funny)

    by Scrameustache ( 459504 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:24PM (#7614410) Homepage Journal
    You and your wife might enjoy a game of Rez on PS2.

    In fact, if you have the right peripheral, she might enjoy it more than you [gamegirladvance.com]...
    : )

  • Have you tried RPGs? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Decaffeinated Jedi ( 648571 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:25PM (#7614416) Homepage Journal
    Have you tried role-playing games? My wife and I really enjoy playing CRPGs together; Anachronox has been our favorite so far. First-person shooters don't really allow both players to participate. An RPG requires a bit more thought and is slow-paced enough that both people can take part even if only one has his or her hand on the mouse. The same goes for strategy games. We've had a blast with Tropico. She does most of the planning, and I do most of the grunt work on making it happen. It's a good arrangement.

    If you're really attached to first-person shooters, though, try something slower paced with a bit more strategy--System Shock 2, the Thief games, Deux Ex, and so forth. You might find something you both like.

  • Adventure... (Score:5, Informative)

    by S. Traaken ( 28509 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:26PM (#7614423)
    Sam and Max, the Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle (Lucasarts adventures in general) have worked for my wife and I.

  • Marathon (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Johnny Mnemonic ( 176043 ) <mdinsmore@NoSPaM.gmail.com> on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:28PM (#7614438) Homepage Journal

    If you can find it, I think you'd both like Marathon [bungie.com]. Really more of a puzzle than a FPS--it's not nearly as competitive as, say, Unreal--it has a nice blend of "How do I open that door" with twitch fragging. I would often clear a level, and then go back to figure out all the puzzles. Really, one of the best games of it's class, although now the graphics are dated. It gave a Mac-gamer hope in a dark day...but I'm not going to believe Halo is actually shipping for the Mac until I install it.

    (Marathon also was available for the PC, but not nearly as widely known as it was on the Mac. And, good luck finding it, especially for the PC--but I'll warrant any Mac user from 98 still has a copy lying around somewhere.)
    • I'll warrant any Mac user from 98 still has a copy lying around somewhere.

      Not sure if I still have the game itself, but I believe I still have some old network replays. Somewhere.
  • Seriously, this is a question you're better off just asking some gamer friends who know more about the two of you.

    Personally though, my ex and I played just about every multiplayer pc game out there... I have never bought a game on anyone's word either, especially considering the price of a new game. I would just ask around and go play at someone's house to sample a lot of different genres. You like fps and she likes puzzle games, but have you tried strategy games like age of empires, civilizations (free

  • A Tale in the Desert (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Teppy ( 105859 ) * on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:31PM (#7614459) Homepage
    Not sure if a non-combat game would be your cup of tea, but our game [atitd.com] has what I believe is the highest proportion of female players of all MMORPGs. 27% if you're counting based on paid accounts, and 40% if you're counting by hours played. (Yes, women tend to play more hours than men.) Anecdotally, I find that people almost always play a character of their gender. I've talked to dozens of guys who have said "This is the first computer game my wife/girlfriend will play with me."

    We have Windows and Linux clients, and it's free for 24 hours. (We don't even ask for a credit card upfront.) If you check it out, do a "/chat pharaoh" in game and let me know.
  • My siblings and I always had good times with X-Wing CD. It's a bit old to run on anything now, but if you can find something similar...One of us (on joystick) was the main pilot/gunner, tasked with shooting stuff and not getting us blown up. The other (on keyboard) was the R2 unit, keeping our shields filled and oriented, weapons selected and charged, and cycling targets on request. It made our simple X-Wing into a whirling dervish of pain without overwhelming either of us. Especially in Bonus Mission 2,
  • I recomend games that involve handcuffs and mineral oil. The hell with video games.

  • Lots o' good stuff (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    First of all it sounds like you might want to go with a console as opposed to a PC. Consoles are inherently more social both because of their design and the selection of games as a result of that design.

    Coop play in console FPS' is all the rage now and still great fun even if one player is more skilled than the other. Halo and Timesplitters 2 both have fun Coop play. Balder's Gate: Dark Alliance is an action RPG that has some interesting Coop mechanics as well.

    Battlefield 1942 on PC might be fun as you co

  • Gauntlet (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Samrobb ( 12731 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:37PM (#7614492) Journal

    My wife and I got into playing Gauntlet together over 10 years ago. To this day, we still get out once a year or so to blow a pocketfull of quarters playing Gauntlet Legends at whatever local arcade has it at the moment. It's got a good mix of strategy, action, and teamwork that we both enjoy. I think I've seen it available on consoles - if you can find it, you might want to give it a try.

  • I remember playing lots of old games in pairs by alternating playing a level in the singleplayer game. Mario 64 works pretty well, because it's expected to play each level a few times to get all the stars. I'd guess Mario Sunshine would be up there, too. I'd suggest picking up some cart readers (SNES, N64), an N64->USB adapter, an N64 controller, a SNES-like USB controller, and then get all the good carts for SNES and N64. Super Mario World, Mario 64, Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Story, Mario Kart, Mario Kart
    • Wouldn't it be easier just to get the systems rather than cart readers and USB adapters and controllers? Just a thought.
      • Lots of reasons:

        - one computer instead of many consoles to hook up
        - emulators tend to offer smoothing options, higher resolutions
        - larger choice of controllers, since every USB controller, keyboards, mice, plus adapters for many consoles, are available
        - can play most games on a laptop, or older games on PDA
        - aging console hardware is harder to find, won't last as long
        • Some good reasons, some less so.

          PC controllers, especially these days, largely ape their console counterparts. Plus, there's much to be said about playing a game with the input device it was designed for. I do lots of emulation on my PowerBook, and it's great, but sometimes, since my controller isn't the same as a Genesis (for example) one game will need a button combination that isn't too convienent on my controller mapping, but changing the mapping presents issues in another game. It's not a deal-breake

    • Did this for a while with the "Oddworld" series. We would trade off each time one of us died. Made for a whole lot of fun, both in trying to figure out the levels, and in laughing at our mistakes. And since it is mostly puzzle orientated, it seems to do better with women.
  • Best thing I ever did for our relationship was buy a PS/2 and Tekken 3 and leave it at her house. Too bad she beats me all the time. (Hint: if you are good at a game, let her win every once in a while. Don't expect her to return the favor, though).

    Recently, we've been playing Gauntlet: Dark Legacy. That's a good co-op game, even if it is cheesy and not exactly a five-star game.

    And on her own, she likes Ico, a little bit of Ratchet and Clank, and some Ty the Tasmanian Tiger.

    I just got Rez (with
  • Gladius [gamerankings.com] is a recent favorite for me and my better half. Co-op or single player. Lots of strategising.

    if you haven't got one of the recent Gauntlet Updates, they're worth a look too.

  • Civilization series (Score:3, Informative)

    by CanSpice ( 300894 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:43PM (#7614539) Homepage
    My girlfriend and I have had a few games of Civ3 against each other. You could try out one of that series (including Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, of course).
    • I'm the biggest Civ fan I've ever heard of, but they wren;t really the best choice. A typical game of Civ takes longer than Risk to play, and it only goes up if you have more than one player. it's also exceedingly hard to stop take a break :)
    • Some of the RTS games like 'Age of XXXXXX' and Rise of Nations would also be cool.

      You can play against each other, and throw in a computer opponent or two to add some cannon fodder.

      It's not crazy fast, and is essentially a 'puzzle' of the rock-paper-scissors type.
  • These are some things my girlfriend and I have enjoyed playing together.

    If she likes Myst, a natural choice of a game to play together is Uru: Ages Beyond Myst - basically Myst Online. The Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights/etc series is another good place for cooperative play with more action than Myst.

    If you're both really patient and like strategy, you could try Master of Orion 3 or Alpha Centauri multiplayer. Be prepared for reaaly long play sessions, though. Starcraft would be a faster play experien

  • The counting game! (Score:5, Funny)

    by GuyMannDude ( 574364 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:47PM (#7614565) Journal

    What are your suggestions for good games that we can play together, and and that we'll both enjoy?

    Why don't you two have a race to see who can discover the 41st Mersenne Prime [slashdot.org] first?

    GMD

  • Games that the wifey & I play (Score:4, Informative)

    by MichaelKVance ( 1663 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:50PM (#7614583)
    My wife and I play a few games together:

    - Diablo II (Mac)
    - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Xbox)
    - Dynasty Warriors 3/4 (PS2)
    - Time Crisis 2/3, Vampire Nights (PS2)
    - House Of The Dead 2 (DC)
    - Super Puzzle Fighter II (GBA)

    She's sort of an exception to the norm, though. She also enjoys Animal Crossing quite a bit, and doesn't mind watching me play through Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC), or Knights Of The Old Republic (Xbox).

    m.

  • Tetris or Double Dash (Score:2, Informative)

    by EarwigTC ( 579471 )

    I've found Tetris to be a head-to-head favorite with smart ladies everywhere.

    For the girlfriends who aren't as interested in the competitive aspect of multiplayer gaming, the new Mario Kart: Double Dash lets you cooperate, set in a theme that's not pushed towards a particular gender.

    Side note: Tried the four-Game Cube link-up. Incredible.

  • IMHO... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by May Kasahara ( 606310 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:54PM (#7614604) Journal
    Maybe it's more of a case of different types of players rather than genders; my boyfriend's the Myst geek, while I prefer Unreal Tournament (not to say he doesn't play FPS games at all, of course...). There's some games (and game types) we both like-- any Final Fantasy game, Mario games, certain puzzle games (ChuChu Rocket for the Dreamcast is a personal fave)-- that have elements that both of us are looking for in a game, such as intellectual stimulation, likeable characters, and a certain type of pacing. I guess finding the right game to play together would including striking the right balance between all these elements.

    With that, my recommendations are (besides ChuChu Rocket): Final Fantasy Tactics, Gran Turismo 3, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and any of the Doom games.

  • Go for Edutainment! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Red Pointy Tail ( 127601 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @09:58PM (#7614632)

    With this game [somethingawful.com] you can have oodles of fun raising your virtual daughter to be a princess (as no doubt your real darling daughter would eventually become), and along the way, you get great tips on how to improve her mood with cake, fish and S&M gear!

  • my wife's preferences (Score:5, Interesting)

    by egomaniac ( 105476 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @10:02PM (#7614653) Homepage
    Games that my wife and I have spent a lot of time playing together:

    Diablo II
    SimCity
    The Sims
    various Zeldas
    Animal Crossing
    Mario Kart: Double Dash

    I'm not sure what it is about Diablo II -- it's certainly not a traditional female-friendly game -- but for some reason my wife really loved it and burned serious hours playing it. Now that I think about it, my girlfriend is even less of a gamer than my wife, but for some reason she too is a huge Diablo II fan. It might have to do with the collecting & accessorizing aspect of the game.

    The co-op mode in Mario Kart: DD is GREAT for spousal involvement. My wife rides on the back of the cart, helping me dodge things and using items, so she feels very involved and will happily sit and play for hours. But because I'm doing the driving, and therefore most of the success/failure rests on me, she doesn't feel extremely pressured. With my wife, at least, her main turn-off when it comes to video games is pressure: if she gets flustered while playing a game, she won't touch it again. Every single game my wife has ever gotten into has been low pressure, and generally also low-conflict.

    I would say that in general Nintendo makes the best gender-neutral games. Buy a GameCube if you don't already have one.
    • Now that I think about it, my
      girlfriend is even less of a gamer than my wife
      Quit hogging the females. =P
  • May I suggest "Neverwinter Nights". It has several gaming aspects which may appeal to both of you. It's a combination of puzzle solving, adventuring, and action. Plus, you can work together through the single player game, building characters that complement each other, and fighting side by side.

    She'll like the puzzle-solving role-playing aspect, and you might like the action and horde collecting.

    It has a great user community creating scenarios. This guarentees tons of re-play value.

    To top it all off,
  • If you guys run MacOS X and you enjoy the boardgame Risk then I would humbly suggest my game Lux [sillysoft.net]. It's fun for the whole family.

  • Co-op's the key (Score:3, Insightful)

    by violet16 ( 700870 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @10:21PM (#7614764)

    Rule #1 when playing with your partner is always play co-op. Otherwise you discover that, just like the movie War Games said, nobody really wins.

    Age of Empires and Age of Kings went down very well in my house (playing co-op vs the computer). So did Diablo 1 and 2. My girl hates shooters too, but for inexplicable reasons she has become deeply obsessed by Battlefield 1942. I just have to remember to always play on the same side.

  • If your wife liked RtCW then she would probably like Wolfenstein: Enemy-Territory [activision.com]. The best part is that it is free.
  • Star Control 2 [sourceforge.net] (now GPL) (I always win)
    xpuyopuyo [freshmeat.net] (she always wins)
    Chu Chu Rocket for dreamcast (anybody's guess)

  • Natural Selection (Score:3, Informative)

    by magic ( 19621 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2003 @10:59PM (#7614978) Homepage
    Natural Selection [natural-selection.org] is a combined RTS/FPS for multiple players set in the future. One player is the 'commander', who is managing an economy, researching technologies, and devising a strategy to combat an alien infestation (this is the part your wife might like). The other players are space marines who run around in a first person view following orders and killing aliens (this is what you might like).

    You can also play on the alien side, where there is no commander. Different alien subspecies have different roles. I like playing the 'gorge' and 'lerk' subspecies that have support roles like healing and building new alien structures. Other players enjoy the front-line combat alien subspecies.

    -m

  • If you're secure with your manhood give Animal Crossing a go.

  • Heroes (Score:2, Informative)

    by webscathe ( 448715 ) *
    Heroes of Might and Magic. Not just Might and Magic, but Heroes of Might and Magic. Awesome game. My wife and I started playing it when it was at number II and now it's at IV and we still play it. It's basically an animated map that you go around and collect resources, build up your castle, when you fight it moves to a full featured fight screen. Awesome game, I highly recommend it. It's really fun to go coop style on maps that support it as we don't care to fight eachother. Download.com has the demo [com.com].
  • Add another vote for Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. We had a lot of fun playing that one and advancing. My wife still walks around saying "ZUUULUU" and "Hashenshock" like the sorceress does in the game. Another decent one is Dungeons and Dragons Heroes. The story line kinda sucked, but it was a good hack and slash Action RPG as well. Dance Dance Revolution (no, you won't like it as much as she does, but it is good workout)

    On the way are Dark Alliance II and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. Both are Dar
  • I think a real good place to meet would be an MMORPG. I was always a big FPS fan as well, but once some friends showed me Dark Age of Camelot I was hooked. Playing any sort of MMORPG was the last thing I would've ever thought of playing... I'd never "be one of those dorky Everquest guys". But after playing FPS games for probably about 5 years and playing only them I decided I'd give DAoC a go and damn it was sweet. This is also the perfect type of game for a couple to play... especially with you, the fp
    • I second this. My wife and I play Everquest together, and have done so for over three and a half years now. We enjoy it immensely and it's a great hobby to share together. We know two other couples who play together in real life, and stories abound in game of husband/wife teams. My only advice is not to take it too seriously.

      Like the origional poster, we had some trouble finding games to play together. For a while we played Age of Empires II in cooperative mode - where I would control our army and she
  • Sorry, mate; you're doomed =(
  • I found that most of the FPS's are just too monotonous for my wife...

    Finding mutually enjoyable multiplayer games is the hard part. Driving games (especially rally), Diablo-esque games, and a few of the sports games are about all that we can agree on. Your mileage may vary.

    That is not to say that you cannot both enjoy single games together. We often play solo games in a tag team fashion (very useful when you have kids:) and it is amazing how much it can defuse the "frustration factor" that so many gam

  • competitive or cooperative (Score:2, Informative)

    by mzs ( 595629 )
    Depending on our mood my wife and I played either cooperatively or competitively. Currently we play some Frogger game on GC. We take turns each trying to advance farther in the game. Other games that we liked in the past that we took turns to advance were the Abe Oddworld and Rayman games on PS.

    The Zelda games did not work well because they took too much time in large chunks to get anywhere, the same with the Final Fantasy games.

    We went through a long phase of playing competitively against one another. So
  • Wife and I like to play Tony Hawk on the PS2. Graffitti is the best one as long as she doesn't get mad at you for stealing her "tag". Just have to remind her that its just a game and nothing personal. She also likes the Mario games on the GBA, so for Christmas this year I am getting a GC with Smash Bros and Mario Kart Double Dash. Should be fun.

  • Get a dance pad or two (Score:2, Interesting)

    by tepples ( 727027 )

    StepMania [stepmania.com] is a GPL'd rhythm game for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Combine it with two PS1 dance pads [buynshop.com], a 2xPS1 to USB controller adapter [google.com], and some Tournamixes [ddramerica.com], and have hours of fun.

  • last week when you were out late at the LAN party playing Quake with the guys . . . ;>
  • My sister has been married for 8 years or so now, and I've seen her and her husband play a lot of games together (as I've joined in on some).

    Warcraft 3 was actually a popular one for them. They would not play the actual game but the custome maps that people would make. There were a lot of team co-op kind of maps for that, and they really enjoyed it.

    The game they are on now is Final Fantasy 11. Long ago my sister played Ultima Online when it first came out, since then she has not played another MMORPG.
  • You Don't Know Jack is a great game for more than one person. It's played on one PC by up to three people, and it's absolutely hilarious. I believe that there are around 10 flavors of it floating around with a new release coming up soon...
  • I find that head-to-head video gaming outside the realm of sports is extremely limited. Sure, there's multiplayer, but generally it's going to be lots of people rather than just two. Which is fine, if that's what you're going for, but it sounds like you're wanting something more personal.

    There are a slew of really great non-electronic games available which work quite well with two players, and which don't favor a particular gender. For something nicely strategic, why not try The Settlers of Catan Card G [boardgamegeek.com]
  • Try Enemy Territory it is the sequel to RTCW plus it is free.

  • Our list (Score:2, Informative)

    by StocDred ( 691816 )
    A short list of the games that my wife and I have enjoyed together over the past few years:

    Adventures of Cookies & Cream (PS2) **
    Amplitude (PS2)
    Animal Crossing (GCN)
    Crash Team Racing (PS1)
    Dance Dance Revolution (PS2) **
    Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GCN) **
    Mario Kart: Double Dash (GCN) **
    Mario Party 1-5 (1-3 N64, 4-5 GCN)
    Parappa the Rapper (PS1)
    Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)
    Pokemon Snap (N64)
    Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (all) **
    Soul Calibur 2 (all)
    Starsky & Hutch (PS2) **
    Supe

  • Mule, Spy Vs Spy, and Floyd Of the Jungle are the games I really enjoy playing with others. Get Atari800 (the emulator, though a real atari, or in some cases a C64 or Apple// would work)and find a bootleg copy of those games.

    P.S. I'm not married, and like the sterotypical geek have no clue how I'd find a girl, so take my ideas with a grain of salt. Thats what I'd play iwth her if I knew her, but I don't...

  • Related links and other thoughts.... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by hawkstone ( 233083 ) on Wednesday December 03, 2003 @01:36AM (#7615954)
    I submitted a similar question several months ago. You might want to check it out [slashdot.org]. It was more geared towards the PS2 and consoles, but there were a lot of good suggestions all over the board.

    On that note, by the way, consider a console. I never saw the point in them, as I've been playing computer games for twenty years. But then I got married, and (as you're discovering) the computer games are not nearly as social as the consoles. Consoles are geared towards multiple players, whereas there are very, very few games out there that utilize multiple players on a computer.

    On a highlight, there's always something like ePSXe [epsxe.com] and other console emulators. Get one set up and go rent some PS1 games! They're cheap to buy, now too, and almost any modern computer emulates the PS1 with cycles to spare. Get a couple of joysticks, (or buy PS1 pads and the converters -- they're out there but I have not tried them).

    There are also plenty of good old arcade games, so as another poster mentioned, MAME is a great idea. You can, of course, find ROMS online if you are so inclined. Golden Axe, Gauntlet, Double Dragon, Xenophobe. These may not be the best examples, but they're out there.

    So in short, I'm clueless for computer games per se. But for PS2/Xbox, my favorite is Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. It's simultaneous two player, cooperative, not split screen, contains plenty of shopping for new items (my wife loves that part -- seriously), and although it's not phenomenally long, it has pretty good replayability. The sequel comes out in the next couple months, too.

    • emmmm.... I have to say I wouldn't recommend BG:DA. It looks beautiful, but after playing for a short time I realized I wanted the magic sword spell (which flies off and beats people up for you, often attacking before you've spotted the bad guy). I restarted and concentrated on getting that, but once I got it, the game was trivially easy to beat. I'd spend all my time behind boxes pushed into doorways where I acted as the bait while my sword beat the crap out of everything. Most of the time I spent watching
      • I realized I wanted the magic sword spell [...] but once I got it, the game was trivially easy to beat..

        I can see that, but frankly I hated that spell. I got it just to try it, said "this is stupid because it does almost no damage and doesn't require any skill", and never looked back. I can understand how it would take the fun out of the game for sure. Have you tried the other characters? The archer is a whole lot of fun. Drizzt is fun for a little while, too.
    • I actually got Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for my girl friend and I from reading that thread. It worked out great and we have played through it on multiple levels of difficulty. She enjoyed playing the dwarf more (since she is a little less skilled and could take more hits and also carry more loot) and I took the Sorceress (yeah, I know, but she has good spells). I really find it interesting how females really seem to get in to the "finding treasure" and the dressing aspect of these games. She really g
      • seem to get in to the "finding treasure" and the dressing aspect of these games. She really got a kick on just picking up everything she could and trying to get over a million gold

        That's hilarious! Our significant others must be related. Mine would love to buy new outfits and would get offended if I picked up something good before her.

        On a related note, my wife's fave is the Sorceress. Not because she's the girl, but because many of her spells don't require much aiming. It can be a little tricky to s
        • haha, yeah, she noticed charisma had an effect on selling/buying. I would have to convince her to upgrade other stats than that one so she didn't have a weak dwarf with buying power. I convinced her strength was a good option because that would allow her to carry more loot. We have been waiting for the second title to come out. If you look at the characters, there is a foul mouthed, treasure hunting, dwarf rougue that I bet she will really enjoy. So, based on our women, I guess the ideal game for femal

  • Games my girlfriend and I play... (Score:3, Informative)

    by AntiGenX ( 589768 ) on Wednesday December 03, 2003 @02:57AM (#7616300)
    My girlfriend and I play together very often, almost nightly in fact. We tend to get something new to play about once every three months. As we add games to our collection we can rotate around the ones we like. I tried the whole FPS thing, it was a no go; System Shock 2, Half-Life, and Halo fell flat on their faces. Interestingly though, she enjoyed watching hours of Star Wars: KOTOR. She was able to help with the interactive story-line and character alignment direction; while I took care of all the fighting. In fact, one of my good friends, also female and definitely not the video game type, came over and "played" too. It seems, to them, it was like watching an interactive soap opera. (If you've played the game, you might think so too.) This past weekend, she enjoyed watching me demolish XIII, a FPS with a damn good plot (starring David Duchovny).

    However, the games that we truely play together or even competitively, are of a different vein.

    We recommend:

    Jardinians [jardinains.com] - "Like Breakout, But With More Gnome Bouncing", Fun to play competitively, and you can make your own levels to challenge each other. (Just make sure you can beat your own level)

    Text Twist [gamehouse.com] - Kind of a word jumble game. There's a free trial, give it a chance, it's a addictive. Fun to play cooperatively.

    Super Collapse 2 [gamehouse.com] This is an interesting puzzle game which is best played solo.

    Spider Solitare - This one was free courtesy of Microsoft. Sure it's solitare, but you can play cooperatively too.

    Monopoly Party [gamespy.com] - This old stand-by never dies. We stick to classic, not the weird "party mode". The CPU's are kind of stupid, but it's still a good time, especially with more people. The best part is, nobody has to be the bank, so games go sooo much faster.

    Old NES ROMS - We have a hacked xbox that has a ROM emulator loaded on it and we love to play Super Mario 2 and some of the classics. And now we're talking about building a MAME/XNES Cabinet.

    ...now if only I could break her into Linux.

  • You two should seriously consider games with editors. Visual Pinball, Heroes of Might and Magic, Contraptions, Neverwinter (as mentioned), RPG Maker and such. Visual Pinball has scores of premade tables, but the Visual Basic can be slightly daunting. Still, the stuff you make and play together might be the most entertaining of all.

    Editors appeal to the puzzle lover, plus you can challenge each other.
  • The Adventures of Cookie & Cream is the single best cooperative multiplayer game for man & wife ever made. It is unique. You play it on the same screen side by side and help each other progress past platformer-style puzzles. It's also hilarious. Rent it and see, or better yet buy it. If only there were more games like this. My wife loved playing Baldur's Gate Dark ALliance on the PS2, which really surprised me because she normally shies away from action or RPG games. This one was the right mix,
  • ...and I can see why your wife doesn't like FPS. I played some Quake and Doom, but now I'm completely over the genre. Also, she might have a perceptual problem with 3D, which would make a lot of these harder for her. Some of the camera angle switches in 3D games can be frustrating until you learn to adapt, which will take longer for your wife if her spatial perception isn't as good as yours. If that's the case, you might want to stick to 2D games to keep her from beating you to death with the mouse.

    You
  • The Mario Party series is great if you have a GCN. It's just like playing a board game with action or puzzle oriented mini games that occur after everyone has taken a turn.

    Also, even if you don't like sports games try Mario Golf and Mario Kart (especially the new Double Dash which allows 2 players to operate the same vehicle, one drives, one aims and shoots turtle shells and those sorts of things). Mario Golf is fun even if you don't like sports games or golf (me).

    That being said, I hate super mario sun
  • Nice game of chess?

    Personally, I prefer this kind of chess [yahoo.com].

    Even if I lose, I usually win afterwards. :)
  • My fiance and I enjoy these:

    Head to Head Tetris
    Grand Turismo
    Super MonkeyBall
    GTA 3

    Well, we don't actually play GTA3 together, but take turns. I cheer her on when she takes the hookers out for a ride, then beats them mercilessly with a baseball bat. :)

  • I'm always trying to find games my wife an I can play together. I've had the best luck with puzzle games.

    We got addicted TetriNET and PuzzleBobble for a little while.

    I hit the mother load when I found Puzzle Pirates, which was mentioned today [slashdot.org] on slashdot.

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