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[Seth]

So I'm in the process of moving to a city far away from a good friend of mine, and though we can still call each other to talk and everything; it's no substitute to actually hanging out with someone and shoot the shit--you know, enjoying someone's company rather than keeping a flow of conversation.

So I figured multiplayer video games are a pretty good substitute to actually hanging out.  Now, my friend plays World of Warcraft, and although I already have a WoW character, the thought of leveling to 70 (and then to 80 in a few months!) just so I can play with him gives me a headache.

One game that I thought of was Team Fortress II (which I've never played) but that seems like it'd be such a game of constant action that it would kind of overrule the experience.  Nothing really else comes to mind.

WoW, despite all it's flaws, seems like it has a few things that make it a good choice, like personal characters, things to do cooperatively like arena (I don't think I could put up with raids or even instances too much), and, um, neverending list of stuff to achieve so we never have to buy a different game 

So does anyone have some suggestions?  Stuff that's not too intense but not too casual?  Something that doesn't require a monthly fee, perhaps?

[hroon]

The synergy mod for HL2 comes to mind. You can play through the campaign in coop and the next version should support a complete playthrough to the end of episode 2.

[jstckr]

I don't know if both of you have an x360 or PS3, but GTA 4 is perfect for this. Not only does it have the Free Roam mode that basically lets you hang out and do what you like in the city, it's also got enough other modes to entertain. My favourite thing is blazing through the city in Team Mafiya Works (basically competively solving singleplayer-like challenges in teams) mode with a friend, one's driving, the other's drive-by'ing. Great fun. Oh yeah, and GTA 4 will be out on PC later this year, so even if you don't have consoles, you might consider getting it later then.

[Cagey]

WoW would be a good choice, but if you haven't already got a 70 I highly doubt it's worth the effort.

Personally nothing beats Geometry Wars for "chill-out" gaming. If you have a 360, Geometry Wars 2 has multiplayer. I haven't tried the sequel but it definately looks fun.

Team fortress 2 is great, but for me its almost too involving. I'm either playing TF2 or I'm not... with geometry wars there is some middle ground which seems just like what you're after.

[Yuka]

GTA4 is definately a good game for multiplaying.

Also, if you like strategy games I would suggest one of the Age of Empires games. It's kinda slow, but it can be intense too. Starts off slow with resource gathering and building and stuff like that, and towards the end you rush your opponent with everything you got. It's really fun, but chances are you'll get tired of it pretty quick cause it takes a few hours to play through one round (if you don't focus on army and rush the enemy as fast as you can).
But as I said, it's a fun thing to do from time to time, like a board game or something

[Gnarf]

I've been in kind of the same situation with a few of my friends for quite a while.

And yeah, WoW and other MMORPGs are generally quite good for that. Usually plenty of down-time and not that fast-paced gameplay. Guild Wars might be worth a try as there's little of that grinding stuff going on there. You'll get the appropriate level/equipment for participating in any of the end-game stuff pretty fast there (rewards for end-game stuff tend to be fancier looking equipment, titles and various other nonsense that isn't really needed in order to take on other challenges). It's also not-really-a-MMO, you can get by without having anything to do with random internet people, and it has no monthly fee. Dunno about the odds of someone currently playing WoW really getting into Guild Wars though.

Worms Armageddon is awesome. I'm sure a lot of other turn based games a great for hanging out in. Although it tends to take forever to get through a game in those. Wesnoth might be alright for some quicker matches. Oh, and we played through most of Neverwinter Nights 2 together. It was alright.

Also, we generally talk to each other by typing letters onto the internet. If you talk a microphone through it instead I suppose a lot of games where you don't generally have time to type things become viable. Shooters that don't really require your full attention and such. And I'm on a connection that blocks a bunch of ports and such, so I'm sure there are lots of nice little games that I have never really considered.

[Jrsquee]

Personally nothing beats Geometry Wars for "chill-out" gaming. If you have a 360, Geometry Wars 2 has multiplayer. I haven't tried the sequel but it definitely looks fun.

I concur.  Geo Wars is awesome.  It's great to zone out with, almost tetris-like in that regard.   The multiplayer in Geometry Wars 2 isn't online though:  it's local only.  Geometry Wars: Galaxies (for Wii) has multiplayer, but again, it's local only.

[shinygerbil]

I've not really tried it in multiplayer, but Civ 4 (or indeed any of the Civ series) would probably be slow-paced enough for a good chat.

[Eclipse]

the first Quake is the most awesome coop game ever made.

Download Fuhquake that's still the best to use or DarkPlaces then grab a friend, host a coop match and try to beat the game in two, running around Quake's corridors shooting rockets everywere in two is an amazing experience, and trying to find the secrets around is wonderful too.
I did a night playing that with a friend and we just cannot stop until we killed the final boss, that bitch.

We played it in Nightmare level (the hidden difficult one, search on the web on how to reach the splipgate of the Nightmare Mode).

The second best coop i ever had was playing Hexen II, but that's better if you can talk, maybe in lan or using a microphone, because the game is really full of puzzles and it's more focused on that than fighting.

[Alevice]

diablo 2 should work nice as a faster paced and simplified wow replacement

[Tanner]

The synergy mod for HL2 comes to mind. You can play through the campaign in coop and the next version should support a complete playthrough to the end of episode 2.

Obsidian Conflict is the better co-op mod.

[hroon]

Obsidian Conflict is the better co-op mod.

I don't know much about that one - but I will check it out now - thanks!

[battlerager]

Well, the best co-op experience I have ever had is Rainbow Six Vegas.


Also, Secret Of Mana.

And Turtles In Time.

 

[ImaginaryThomas]

I've always loved chillin' to a game of Rez 

[jimmythechang]

I played it back when it was free (and by my lonesome :<), but Garry's Mod, definitely. It's one giant sandbox where you can screw around with HL2 physics and models. Do you like spraying bullets at exploding barrels? Or recreating quaint nativity scenes with your favorite characters from Half-Life? Perhaps you and a friend would simply like to relax atop your very own screaming robot monstrosity. All of these things can be yours in Garry's Mod!^TM

[William Broom]

The Endless Forest

[Cymon]

And Turtles In Time.

 

Cheers! I love the whole genre for co-op play. TMNT, Golden Axe 1/2 arcade, X-Men Arcade, Double Dragon.

[godsavant]

And Turtles In Time.

 

Cheers! I love the whole genre for co-op play. TMNT, Golden Axe 1/2 arcade, X-Men Arcade, Double Dragon.

Unless your friend is a complete asshole who hurricane-kicks you during every boss fight and steals your weapon.  That's a problem. IF that happens, just opt out for fighting games, a lot of which are going online.

Personally, Starcraft seems to work  well, although I' so bad at RTS's I almost always lose within five minutes.

And I don't know if it still supports online play, but the Halo 1 demo is REALLY good for this purpose.

[TheViolentTango]

I have friend that lives far away so we came across this very same problem. GTA IV is really really good. Smash Bros and Soul Caliber are also pretty good if you're into fighting games. Fable 2 is coming out soon as well!

[SirNoodles]

Diablo 2 and GTA 4 are really good co-op games.

Oh,

And Castle crashers will own all co-op games ever. Seriously.