Trying to organize a co-op game is like herding cats

On 02/27/2015 at 12:51 AM by Ranger1

I've been wanting to play LBP or LBP2 co-op again for a while now. There are a bunch of x4 areas that I still haven't gotten, plus, LBP is just more fun with friends. I started trying to organize a game on Facebook early yesterday afternoon. I had people who said they were definitely in, some that said they'd try, and no response from a bunch more. I knew it was last minute, so I didn't figure I'd hear from everybody anyway, and you can only play with up to four people. By evening, it looked like I had a solid four player game happening. And then the time to actually play rolled around...

People who said they were definitely playing never showed. The inevitable updates made one or two others late. None of us could remember at first how to invite or join the others. And then there were the mic issues...Kevin sounded like he'd been sucking helium out of balloons, and no, that wasn't intentional. We did some troubleshooting and got him sounding like Kevin again. We were trying to get Tex's attention when my phone rang and I had to interrupt things to go rescue my neighbor who was stranded at work. I was gone ten or fifteen minutes, but we lost Kevin. I got back and messaged Tex telling him to stay put in his pod and I'd shoot him an invite. Tex finally made it to the party, but at that point it was just the two of us. Tex also had mic issues - blue tooth and the PS3 do not play nice together. He got those worked out and we got down to business. The business of dying, over and over again. We sucked, badly. But we had a good time anyway. We played through a couple of story levels, then hit the Marvel DLC levels. Once we played through those, we played through the MGS DLC levels. Tex was unaware that they existed, and fell madly in love with the paintinator. I think we got more paint on our sack people than we did on the proper targets.

I'm going to try to get a weekly game going, so if anyone wants in, let me know days and times that work and I'll try to get something hammered out. I own LBP, LBP2, and LBP Karting, so any of those three games are fine with me.

Super Step Contributing Writer

02/27/2015 at 01:29 AM

If only I had bought a PS3 and not a PS4.

Well, as long as someone gets to paint sack people.

Ranger1

02/27/2015 at 07:29 AM

Yeah, Joe - what were you thinking?!

02/27/2015 at 11:14 AM

That I wanted a PS4 with a free game?

avidacridjam

02/27/2015 at 09:30 AM

I own LBP2 (and Karting though I've never played it). I work nights mostly and i'm in a Central Time Zone so I'll be free anytime this Saturday and possibly Sunday evening.

02/27/2015 at 11:18 AM

Saturday might be doable for me. Sunday's out this week - I've got that last snowshoe race in the morning (five miles this time) and I'll be lucky to still be conscious and coherent afterwards.

Aboboisdaman

02/27/2015 at 09:31 AM

Well, at least yall was finally able to get a game going. It kinda sounds like a nightmare lol. I only played the first LBP. It was pretty fun, but I didn't really like the floaty physics. Some of those levels that people made were amazing though.

02/27/2015 at 11:20 AM

Yeah, the first one has caused many cheap deaths with the floaty physics, but I stil love it. And it's so much more fun playing co-op with friends, and I'm not usually into co-op games. Tex and I played for a couple of hours, I think it was 12:30 Eastern time when we finally called it quits, earlier for him in Texas.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

02/27/2015 at 11:03 AM

moral of the story: things involving other people are complicated.

02/27/2015 at 11:22 AM

Yeah, but it makes for great story-telling. Considering it was last minute and trying to organize over two time zones with working people on a week night and one person with a sick baby, we did alright.

daftman

03/01/2015 at 07:20 AM

This man is very wise.

mothman

02/27/2015 at 11:39 AM

I have all those games too but I'd need to brush up on my play skills before I'd even consider co-oping. I haven't given enough attention to LBP Karting. One of those I bought for 10 bucks and forgot about.

02/27/2015 at 03:57 PM

Oh, Peter, no you really don't, lol. Tex and I certainly didn't. I think the most repeated phrase (other than "oh shit!") was "man, we really suck!"

Sonicbug

02/27/2015 at 11:54 AM

Man... I disconnected my PS3 for space reasons. Also, LBP 3 is broken as fuck. I bought it when it was on sale and... I had that game hard lock freeze on me twice... in normal levels. It's a disgrace.

Good luck with the co-op!

02/27/2015 at 03:56 PM

I heard that from Blake, too. Guess I'll be giving it a pass. If you decide to hook that PS3 up again for a few hours, you know where to find us.

goaztecs

02/27/2015 at 02:36 PM

Wait there's Marvel and Metal Gear DLC for LBP? Maybe I should put down the Vita version and go back and give those games another try.

02/27/2015 at 03:54 PM

Yes, Chris! And you should join us! Marvel, MGS, and Pirates of the Caribbean DLC level packs! Also Toy Story and Muppet DLC level packs for LBP2.

KnightDriver

03/01/2015 at 03:17 AM

Those DLCs sound cool. I'll have to buy a copy of the game. I've always wanted to try it.

03/01/2015 at 07:34 AM

Yes, join us! It's a game that encourages co-op, because if you play a level and one person grabs a prize bubble, all the players get it. There are little bonus sections in all the levels where you need 2. 3, and 4 players to reach all the prize bubbles. The prize bubbles contain things for decorating your pod and costume parts. Plus, it's just a lot of fun. I've played with GH, Kevin, Tex, Jonathan, and one or two others from 1up, but never more than one at a time. I'd love to get a four player game going sometime. Oh, and you don't have to have the DLC to play it as long as your host has it.

03/02/2015 at 02:55 AM

Sounds great.

PixlBit