I’m looking for RPGs to play with friends where each player has different roles and you need to cooperate to progress.
We tried playing MMOs but my friends won’t play on their own so they don’t work (especially with ffxiv as the msq is not at all “coopable”); the subscription would also be a dealbreaker. Do you know of anything with similar gameplay that is playable entirely in coop?
We enjoyed Monster Hunter World (but not Rise), although there’s not much actual cooperation as there are few interactions in combat.
The only game I found that seems it might be what I’m looking for is the original Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, but we can’t get it to work online (dolphin randomly freezes with netplay).
Remnant is a coop soulslike shooter, if that’s up your alley. Fun bosses, some puzzles with unique rewards if you get the clues (some are really hard and you’ll definitely end up looking up guides for most of them), and build variety is okay. Haven’t played Remnant 1, but Remnant 2 is fun.
Outward is an indie open world RPG with survival mechanics. With mods, you can play with more than 2 people. It’s janky, but it has an old school approach to game design that feels refreshing. For instance, the ingame map is just a map, not a gps. You orient yourself with the on-screen compass and landmarks off in the distance. The levelling system is completely non-standard compared to modern rpgs, as it is classless, has skill trees (with passives and actives), and uses money, not XP, to level. So every red cent counts. The story is honestly not impressive. Not because of the presentation, but because there really isn’t much there. If you end up playing this, is because the exploration and builds are fun. Having to deal with environmental threats while you’re low on resources (e.g: can’t see but you ran out of lantern oil, freezing but don’t have a campfire, starving or dehydrated but have no food) adds a lot to the game, because combat is not easy until you get a good build going.
Valheim could work if you’re up for it. Though not much of an RPG, it can be played like one with the right mods and world settings. You can tone down the survival aspects and increase the combat aspects. Nearly 0 story though. My only gripe in this regard with the game is that build variety only comes online in the latter half of the available content. Before Mistlands, everyone is either melee or range. Once you get Eitr, you can combine melee or range with magic. With mods though, you can get classes and unique enemies to hunt down.
Same as before, Project Zomboid can be played like an RPG with the right mods, but you won’t find much of a story besides the ones you shape yourself in-game. There’s a lot to building a character, and you will get attached to them since infection is certain death, and then you have to roll up a new character. B42 just released on the unstable branch, but is only single player atm. B41 can be played multiplayer, and it has thousands of mods for you to tailor the experience. I’ve had a lot of fun playing on private servers with my friends. I treat it as a survival game, and they treat it as an RPG.
Return to Moria might work? It’s not much of an RPG, but it has a loose story to egg you on. No builds, however.
Wasteland 3, though its similar to BG3 I think. Haven’t played it online, and I think it’s limited to 2 people. Build variety is up there though, and the story is great.
Not really much to offer, now that I realize. If BG3 wasn’t your cup of tea you might not have a lot to choose from.
Outward looks interesting. I’m not completely sold on it because of the open-endedness and survival elements, but we might try it as it’s cheap.
Edit: we tried it for ~8h and liked the start but didn’t really get anything (combat, progression, etc.), so we dropped it as we weren’t enjoying it.