Help me find a good multiplayer hack-n-slash!

[Freylorn]

I've been in the market for a good hack 'n slash for a while now, but I'd like something that can be done multiplayer if at all possible. After all, that's where a good deal of the hack 'n slash fun comes from, isn't it? :smallsmile:

Mainly something to play with my wife, which unfortunately rules out PC as a viable platform: hers just recently fried, sadly, so we need to either get it fixed or get a new one. In the meantime, I've just got my computer.

Systems available:

PS3
XBOX360
WII
PSP
DS
PS2
Dreamcast
SNES
NES

What I'm looking for is something in the Diablo II vein - fun multiplayer, character classes/builds, the joy of finding new powerful gear, etc. I haven't found too much for console, sadly, since the genre seems very geared towards PC. So, of course, I turn to my fellow Playgrounders, with your vast amounts of collective wisdom and experience.

So, what would you suggest? I'm more than open to downloadable games for the PS3/360 as well, mind you - I just didn't really see any.

[Lord Seth]

Gauntlet: Dark Legacy?

[factotum]

Given how old Diablo 2 is, couldn't you get a cheap PC for your wife to play it on? It's not like it needs serious horsepower!

[Freylorn]

Given how old Diablo 2 is, couldn't you get a cheap PC for your wife to play it on? It's not like it needs serious horsepower!

This is true, but we're getting her a decent computer rather than an older one. Plus, we've played Diablo II to death. I'm looking for some recommendations of other games in the same genre.

[Milskidasith]

Monster Hunter Tri?

[xp194]

Dynasty Warriors?

A whole lot of hack and slash there...

[Drascin]

Monster Hunter Tri?

Monster Hunter is really awesome, but it's really kind of the very opposite of Diablo as far as action game design goes.

Anyway, back to the OP's question... sadly, nothing really has topped Diablo II as the king of its particular genre. However, if you don't mind playing slightly inferior but still decent games, there are a few you might want to try. Dungeon Siege/Space Siege, as well as Sacred /Sacred II, are good, slashy Diablo-types that can give you a nice amount of hours of grinding for fat lootz :smallbiggrin:.

[Ogremindes]

Castle Crashers. More a Beat-'em-up with RPG elements, it's nevertheless very fun.

[Oregano]

You'll need to get two copies but on the DS there's two FF: Crystal Chronicles games, Ring of Fates and Echoes of Time(which has online). There's also Children of Mana, which is okay. Phantasy Star Zero is also pretty cool.

Also get Secret of Mana on the SNES or Wii Virtual Console.

[DranWork]

Mount and Blade. Its got hacking its got slashing its even got bludgeoning and peirceing! How does the idea of taking a long pike to your foe as he charges down at you on a fully barded warhorse sound? Or running into battle naked apart from a loin cloth and using a mighty two handed sword to lop the heads of the people that oppose you? Or sitting at the back of the battle raining death from your very own longbow (or crossbow)! Where the physical movements of your mouse actualy matter for something, where the speed weight and direction of your blow has its own lot of bonus's.

Failing that (because "realisum" isnt fun for you) there really isnt any other hack and slash game thats decent to have come out on the market for a loooong time. 3d graphics ruined the genre for some odd reasion and untill D3 comes out I dont know what to reccomend you.

[Freylorn]

It's funny how many of these I already own, actually!

@LordSeth - I'll have to look into Dark Legacy, I actually haven't heard anything about it!

@Milskidasith - All I know of Monster Hunter Tri is from watching Yahtzee's review, which while entertaining, isn't exactly a good source of non-biased information. I'll have to look into it more - didn't even know it was multiplayer!

@xp194 - Not exactly what I was thinking, but it could work, and I DO have a copy of DW5 lying around...

@Drascin - I've messed around with Dungeon Siege for the PC and the PSP, they're pretty good. Had trouble getting into them. I own Sacred II for the PC, but unfortunately, that leads back to the "no second computer for multiplayer" thing.

@Ogremindes - I've heard really good things about Castle Crashers, I had totally forgotten about it though. I'll need to look into that one as well!

@Oregano - We've got Ring of Fates, I didn't really care for it too much though, honestly. Not sure why. We've recently beaten Secret of Mana, which was a blast. Phantasy Star Zero I'm not sure about - how's the one for the PSP?

@DranWork - Mount & Blade is honestly one of my favorite games. However, it's PC exclusive, so that kind of instantly rules it out for this particular debate.

[Volatar]

Are you sure you don't want a PC game? Titan Quest on the PC is very good.

[warty goblin]

Sacred II's on the 360, and I've heard good things about that version. Not stellar, but more in the vein of if lootfests are your thing, Sacred II will scratch all the right itches.

I've played a reasonable amount of Sacred I, and I honestly prefer it to Diablo II. The humongous open world - and it's really open too, thanks to smart autoleveling - and nicely detailed setting really sell the thing for me. Plus the character classes are wonderfully weird.

[littlebottom]

dynasty warriors is one of the better hack n slashs that you can play multiplayer, BUT its not much like diablo, infact i usually chalk diablo down to an RPG. but if you want to notch up KO counts of over 1000 per battle (litterally) dynasty warriors is an entertaining way to go about it.

[Freylorn]

Are you sure you don't want a PC game? Titan Quest on the PC is very good.

I know Titan Quest is very good - but as I stated in the OP, the issue is that I'm specifically looking for something I can do multiplayer, and we lack two PCs at the moment.

[Volatar]

I know Titan Quest is very good - but as I stated in the OP, the issue is that I'm specifically looking for something I can do multiplayer, and we lack two PCs at the moment.

Oh, I see. I read the OP, how did I miss that :smalleek:

[Oregano]

@Oregano - We've got Ring of Fates, I didn't really care for it too much though, honestly. Not sure why. We've recently beaten Secret of Mana, which was a blast. Phantasy Star Zero I'm not sure about - how's the one for the PSP?


You probably wouldn't like Echoes of Time then, it's more multiplayer focused and IMO better but odds are if you don't like Ring of Fates you won't like that.

I've only heard good things about Phantasy Star Portable and they're apparently better than Zero but I haven't played them.

[Milskidasith]

It's funny how many of these I already own, actually!

@LordSeth - I'll have to look into Dark Legacy, I actually haven't heard anything about it!

@Milskidasith - All I know of Monster Hunter Tri is from watching Yahtzee's review, which while entertaining, isn't exactly a good source of non-biased information. I'll have to look into it more - didn't even know it was multiplayer!

@xp194 - Not exactly what I was thinking, but it could work, and I DO have a copy of DW5 lying around...

@Drascin - I've messed around with Dungeon Siege for the PC and the PSP, they're pretty good. Had trouble getting into them. I own Sacred II for the PC, but unfortunately, that leads back to the "no second computer for multiplayer" thing.

@Ogremindes - I've heard really good things about Castle Crashers, I had totally forgotten about it though. I'll need to look into that one as well!

@Oregano - We've got Ring of Fates, I didn't really care for it too much though, honestly. Not sure why. We've recently beaten Secret of Mana, which was a blast. Phantasy Star Zero I'm not sure about - how's the one for the PSP?

@DranWork - Mount & Blade is honestly one of my favorite games. However, it's PC exclusive, so that kind of instantly rules it out for this particular debate.

Yahtzee's "review" of monster hunter was absolute ****; he didn't actually even mention anything about hunting monsters and didn't make it clear he quit out early on. He's entertaining, sure, but that video was just terrible.

[factotum]

I think part of him being so down on the game was because it's a Wii game, and he really hates the Wii--at least half of his review was snark about the Wii rather than the game itself.

[Driderman]

Sacred II is pretty fun and can be had for Xbox360.

[mangosta71]

There's always that Dungeons and Dragons game for Xbox that came out a few years ago...

[Foeofthelance]

This is true, but we're getting her a decent computer rather than an older one. Plus, we've played Diablo II to death. I'm looking for some recommendations of other games in the same genre.

Guild Wars? Free to play online MMO. Just buy the games, install, and be done. At this point there are three full stand alone sets and one expansion pack that can work with any of the three. Plenty of things to do.

Also, Dungeons and Dragons Online. Free to play, free to download.

[Knaight]

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World for Wii. It is built for and basically requires multiplayer (The AI is a moron. I've played it alone, and I've played it with my younger brother, and the difference in character capability allowed by a second player is amazing), furthermore it has a fairly fun combat system which is full 3D, unlike the original Tales of Symphonia. It also features monster hunting and capture, decent character customability, and two main characters throughout most of it. The story is nothing special, though there are some characters of interest in it. Well, one. Who doesn't feature heavily. Some of the dialogue is on the sappy side, but it isn't intolerably so.

[Erloas]

Yahtzee's "review" of monster hunter was absolute ****; he didn't actually even mention anything about hunting monsters and didn't make it clear he quit out early on. He's entertaining, sure, but that video was just terrible.

Actually what he said is that he never really got to fight monsters at all. And the only monsters he ran into when out doing collection quests it wouldn't really let him fight. Part of the point of the review was that he didn't get to hunt monsters like the title suggested. Though I think the game wasn't good enough to play long enough to actually fight monsters says a lot about the game by itself. Much like the FF13 "it doesn't get good until after the 30 hour tutorial mark" thing that PA did.
Even in Yahtzee's trademark bash everything method of reviews you can still tell which games he at least kind of liked.

[Dragero]

Baulders gate: Dark Aliance for the PS2 is a great Dungeon Crawling Hack and Slash! Even has mechanics similar to D&D!

[Triaxx]

Rarely do I agree with Warty on anything, but I love Sacred far above Diablo, and Sacred 2 is pretty good. Have not played the 360 version, but it's supposed to be not bad.

[Oregano]

Actually what he said is that he never really got to fight monsters at all. And the only monsters he ran into when out doing collection quests it wouldn't really let him fight. Part of the point of the review was that he didn't get to hunt monsters like the title suggested. Though I think the game wasn't good enough to play long enough to actually fight monsters says a lot about the game by itself. Much like the FF13 "it doesn't get good until after the 30 hour tutorial mark" thing that PA did.
Even in Yahtzee's trademark bash everything method of reviews you can still tell which games he at least kind of liked.

Except it takes less than an hour to get to the first hunt and the Lagiacrus would have killed him outright. It says more about him that he didn't even bother playing for an hour and from that first fight onwards it's nearly entirely fighting Monsters. His 'review' was a load of BS.

[Toastkart]

as someone else mentioned, the Baldur's Gate games for xbox are pretty good, even if played on the 360 and they should be fairly cheap by this time, although you might have some trouble finding the second game.

Also, although they're more of a beat them up than hack and slash, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 (I haven't played 2) is good.

[Ogremindes]

as someone else mentioned, the Baldur's Gate games for xbox are pretty good, even if played on the 360 and they should be fairly cheap by this time, although you might have some trouble finding the second game.

Also, although they're more of a beat them up than hack and slash, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 (I haven't played 2) is good.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 suffers from Star Ocean Syndrome. That is to say, it starts off great, but it becomes apparent as the game progresses that the devs ran out of time and/or money. I haven't played the original Dark Alliance.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 is, I feel, the weakest of the X-Men Legends/Marvel Ultimate Alliance games. X-Men Legends 2 is the best of the four.

And 'alliance' doesn't look like a word any more.

[Freylorn]

@Milskidasith et al - I'm well aware of Yahtzee's seemingly burning hatred for all things Wii, which is why I specifically mentioned that I wasn't judging the game based on his review :smallwink:

@Foeofthelance - My wife and I actually got into Guild Wars at about the time Factions came out. Like I said in the OP though, PC is ruled out. Ditto for DDO, obviously.

@Knaight - My roommate is a die-hard fan of the Tales series, although I haven't tried the Symphonia sequel (is it a sequel?) on the Wii. I have, however, messed around with the original Symphonia and Tales of Vesperia. Both good games, but not quite the hack 'n slash I'm looking for at this moment.

@Drager0 - I've heard utterly fantastic things about the Dark Alliance games. I'll really need to see if I can track them down.

[Drascin]

Except it takes less than an hour to get to the first hunt and the Lagiacrus would have killed him outright. It says more about him that he didn't even bother playing for an hour and from that first fight onwards it's nearly entirely fighting Monsters. His 'review' was a load of BS.

Now, I don't really watch Yahtzee (watched one video of his once) because I really have a lot more interesting things to do that listening to a man act all angry for an audience and make bad jokes :smalltongue:, but from what I've heard, Yahtzee hates RPGs with a passion, hates the Wii with a passion, and hates hard games with a passion. Monster Hunter is an action game with RPG elements that positively revels in kicking your ass until you learn patience and caution, even with Tri being all-around easier than any other entry in the series, and it's on Wii. With that in mind, did anyone in his fanbase really expect him to like it? I mean, from all I've heard about him it seems kind of obvious.