How does the online work

[Unembellished Genius]

Are there lobbies. Is it friend invite only. Drop in Drop out?

[Night]

You can create/join public or private lobbies by speaking to the NPC next to the cannon in the Ark (Once you've unlocked the NPC that is).

[Unembellished Genius]

Originally posted by Night:

You can create/join public or private lobbies by speaking to the NPC next to the cannon in the Ark (Once you've unlocked the NPC that is).

is there text chat

[emo princess]

Originally posted by Night:

You can create/join public or private lobbies by speaking to the NPC next to the cannon in the Ark (Once you've unlocked the NPC that is).

please do not make us have to unlock playing with our friends

[XDemonR]

Originally posted by Night:

You can create/join public or private lobbies by speaking to the NPC next to the cannon in the Ark (Once you've unlocked the NPC that is).

He's not here after the rescue

[Hozeb]

Originally posted by Night:

You can create/join public or private lobbies by speaking to the NPC next to the cannon in the Ark (Once you've unlocked the NPC that is).

the npc doesnt appear after rescue, any way to make him appear?

[Flarthorn]

Do not forget to go to options and "login"
In the main menu screen, go to options, go to general tab and under "User account" you have to login through some account or steam

[CheeseyHR]

Originally posted by Unembellished Genius:

Originally posted by Night:

You can create/join public or private lobbies by speaking to the NPC next to the cannon in the Ark (Once you've unlocked the NPC that is).

is there text chat

Yes, there is text chat, as well as voice chat if you are interested in that.

[koelnkraft]

Originally posted by Flarthorn:

Do not forget to go to options and login"
In the main menu screen, go to options, go to general tab and under "User account" you have to login through some account or steam

oh man I was running around like an idiot because I didn't notice anything to log in to on first start up. They could have added some info in the box that told me I was not connected when I tried to accept my friends invite or put that option somewhere more prominent.
Thanks!

[Duskey]

You can unlock co-op within the first like, 10~ minutes of play, i got the unlock in my literal first run without ever playing the game really beforehand, and ran into him on my way to my inevitable death to the first boss w/ not knowing what i was doing. If ya can spend 30 mins in dark souls 1 in the "tutorial" or smnth to go play with friends, or any other game that requires that beforehand, you can send a run or two solo as a tutorial/introduction period before co-op. its weird to hide it behind a npc but theres been much worse systems in other games. Just go get it!

[Bel]

It's true that it doesn't take much to get the co-op unlocked, which is good. But I will say that for a game that is billed so hard as a co-op game, dropping in after buying and just having no idea how to make co-op wasn't the best first impression and might be worth re-tooling. But yeah go do a run or two, you can't miss him, he's not hiding.