Clarification on how multiplayer / co-op works

[Shoah Kahn]

Information on multiplayer for this game is scant compared to other Souls games, as well as being somewhat contradictory at times... So, here are my questions:

1. "Shared Progression":
- Co-op requires the two players to be within a boss kill of one another's progress?
- Connections must be made using passwords and lobby searches (direct invites do not work)?
- The "progression" aspect really only applies to bosses beaten, not necessarily items which can be acquired?

2. There is a "tether" between co-op players which yanks the client to the host when they stray too far apart:
• Is there a warning that the distance limit is approaching?
• How big is the permissible radius?
• How abrupt is the "teleportation" of one player to another -- is there a loading delay?

3. Level scaling:
• The client is either scaled down or up to the host's level?
• The client incurs flat 50% damage output penalty; meaning that the client is better off being double the level of the host (to offset the nerf)?
• Does the scaling affect both character attributes level and weapon upgrades?

4. The client player has some limitation in what they can and cannot interact with in the host's game:
• Chests, doors/gates, NPC's?
• Only hosts can enter the Umbral world, and both players are always in same plane?
• Players can revive each other?... How many times?... Both in the Axiom and Umbral planes?

5. Invasions:
• How do invasions work with the co-op tether -- are invaders always spawned next to / in between the co-op players?
• Is there a warning for impending invasions?
• Do invaders gets a hefty damage output advantage buff?

If I'm about over the target here, it seems that the "shared" incarnation of the co-op -- albeit, a nice addition that allows for a single copy of the game to be played in co-op -- has rather intrusive restrictions... That, and co-op itself is rather rudimentary, given the 2000s era "tether" and other limitations placed on the client player. So, in other words, for two players who have the "full" game, it's probably advisable to just drop in and out of each other's games, using Steam invites... Amirite?

[GodfatherPlunger]

1. yes, otherwise shared progression wouldn't make much sense.
direct invites work, but direct invites without password are just normal coop without shared progression
in shared progression the other player gets most items as well. not sure if all, but healing items, lamp upgrades etc. are all there

2. in a none open world game you have to be in the same area in coop, who would have thought...

3. I don't think there is level scaling in this game at all and there never was

4. the host changes umbral and normal world. doors, gates, levers etc can be used by the joined player. NPCs can be talked to, but pretty sure the host does the quest progress things, as it should be

5. you get a warning. they spawn somewhere in the area. They won't get an advantage buff, why would they ?

Not sure what you mean by that conclusion and steam invites. You can play through the whole game in coop and unless your partner wants different quest outcomes, there is not issue with shared progression.

The actual issue right now is that the game has severe micro stutters for many people, no matter the level of hardware.

[Shoah Kahn]

Originally posted by GodfatherPlunger:

direct invites work, but direct invites without password are just normal coop without shared progression

I assume that, if the direct invite is made by a player to someone who is not +/- one boss away from their progression point, the co-op sessions will default to progress being saved only on the host's side... correct? That is also why I thought (and actually read to this effect) that the shared style of co-op only worked via non-invites -- i. e., inviting would connect players irrespective of respective game progression and, thereby, circumvent that +/- one boss restriction... Also reconciling the notion that the shared functionality was really only there to facilitate the "Friend Share" play method, and made more restrictive than the standard co-op as such (to still maintain some incentive for buying the "full" game).

in a none open world game you have to be in the same area in coop

So, players can venture throughout an entire "area" without being dragged back together? What are "areas" defined by -- the title pop-up? As an example, could one player be inside the Defiled Sepulchre, if the other were up at the top of the Skyrest Bridge, just before the Pieta fight (because the "Skyrest Bridge" pop-up does not occur until one enters the hub)...?

I don't think there is level scaling in this game at all and there never was

Hmm.. Well, that's why I asked, because my online searches gave varying claims; most implying that was indeed scaling, and even quoting numbers -- many suggestive of the halving of the client's efficacy when inside a host's games. However, I wasn't sure whether game updates had changed things, and the claims were just randoms who could have been confusing their builds' functionality...

Not sure what you mean by that conclusion and steam invites.

As broached, if one invites directly via Steam, it would seemingly have to bypass the "shared" aspect of progression, given that one can invite anyone from whatever point of progression they have reached (assuming the games connect). Irrespective, I'm not that concerned about lock-step sharing progress, because of the nature of how I'd likely play co-op... I'll test it out this weekend and see for myself, either way.