Last month, I finally completed Resident Evil 5. Actually, it was my husband and I. Even though I had misgivings about the action/horror/first person shooter genre, I actually found myself enjoying it. Shooting down swaths of zombies with my AK47 while collecting goodies was fun! But, what made it even better was that I was playing with my husband. Resident Evil 5 actually got me thinking: what if I can play an RPG that has a co-op mode? A few RPGs already tried incorporating that feature, but I’m talking about the real deal here - split-screens and plot lines that involve 2 main protagonists. And no, I'm not talking MMOs either - I'm thinking of an actual RPG that you can play with your real-life friends! How cool would that be?
Admittedly, creating a co-op RPG is a near impossible task. RPGs, by their nature, are complex and labyrinth like. To create a co-op RPG, a lot of traditional RPG staples will have to be modified. The biggest one is creating 2 equal protagonists interwoven equally into the main plotline, and not The Hero and his Sidekick or the Hero and Potential-Love-Interest-Who’s-Only-Good-for-Romancing purposes. Final Fantasy the Crystal Chronicles does not count: there’s no overarching story in that game…or none that I remembered.
Another damper on the concept of co-op RPG is the fact that playing RPGs are a highly solitary and personal hobby. Although it will be great to have a trusted friend or family to guard your back, the long hours and complex narrative makes it impossible for them to be there for you all the time. Even if I’m playing it with a friend who lives down the street, I do not think it is possible for us to get together to play a 50hr long RPG. That’s insane! But dumbing/watering down a rich story is not feasible idea either!
Some of you readers might point out that MMOs are the best solution, but they are really not my cup of tea for various reasons. So I suppose I can only dream and hope for a co-op RPG or enlist my husband to be my "game adviser," which is the next best thing. I suspect that for now, a co-op RPG remains the Holy Grail for RPG developers. What do you think?
