Silver_fox

Well, I'm not a big part of the CM patch team, I participate in CM development only as a translator, but I know enough about CM and Sacred modding to say this much: It's a myth that CM devs have far superior tools denied to everybody else. The only editor CM devs actively use that was never released to general public is for in-game texts. All other things in CM and other mods are accomplished through editing the same txt and xml scripts than everybody else can access. The things that require disassembling and reassembling any dll and exe files are just as impossible for CM devs as they are to you. Which is why there are many known bugs that are repeatedly reported to CM bugtrecker and that remain unfixed, just because they are not in scripts and changing the hard code is impossible.

There is only one thing I can tell you, Munk, besides the fact that it was an awesome piece of gamer's rant. The lack of choice is now a general gaming tendency. It happens not only with RPGs, but with other games as well. You think that FPS haven't changed much - and the first thing that comes to my mind is that picture I found on one gaming forum some time ago: They also became very short, but that's another general tendency. I guess that games that can be played for a long time are considered not profitable, because if you have a game you can play you won't be buying more. But now you also think twice before buying many games - Are the four hours of gameplay really worth the price? In RPGs the lack of choice and customization is felt better than in other games, because these things were a staple of the genre. Action RPGs like Sacred never were much about choice of actions and plot advancement, which is why they require more choice and variety in character development to be interesting. And that is where many new games of the genre are lacking. Even though I'm a big ARPG fan, the only project I'm currently looking forward to is Grim Dawn - it might not have a huge world to explore, but it offers a very good variety of character builds and playstyles to try out. And even Grim Dawn is developed independently of big publishers, nobody wanted to fund the game despite Titan Quest being an acclaimed success. The lack of good AI is also omnipresent. With Internet technology advancement, multiplayer games are becoming more and more popular. As a consequence, many developers consider singleplayer campaigns only as an addition to multiplayer engine, and AI only as a means of training before facing human opponents. They are partially right - it is impossible to create an AI that would be as good as a human, so it would never offer the same challenge. But looking at many of the older games, it is possible to notice that PvE and PvP can both be challenging, just in different ways. In Sacred 2, PvE and PvP builds are usually very different, because single human players and AI mobs and bosses offer different kind of playstyle. And then there are people who just don't like playing against other people - if the current tendency continues, they would have very few games to play. Now it looks like the game development branched into big publishers who do modern graphics and physics and indie devs who make interesting or at least somewhat original game design and mechanics. Why is that we can't have the top-notch looks and interesting gameplay at the same time, probably no one knows.

Just why are you sure that the Sacred 2 devs did it? If they did such testing, most probably it was done with special test version, where collisions just were not compiled into the code, or by playing in test mode where modules of the game engine can be turned on and off from console. One thing that has to be understood - "no collision" behavior is not achieved by adding a special mechanic, but by removing collision handling from the game. There is a giant script called collision.txt that describes just how big a distance should be kept from each model in game, and it regulates all collision mechanics in game. There is no way of removing collisions just for the mount, only for the game in general, and then it would look very broken. Removing collision to allow flying above rivers might not sound bad, but it would also result in flying through trees, houses and NPCs, in characters walking the riverbeds, in characters sinking through the hills etc.

>"...Well, no. Which is why I just mentioned it here..." Ok, I'll put it more clear: It is possible to allow a Dragon's to have its own CAs if we make it a horse-type mount. But who would want it after that? Even if it was possible to replace only one slot with Dragon's CA, I'm still not sure that many people would have liked it, and not preferred to keep all slots for themselves. >"...The point of the idea was about how one could maintain the illusion of flying..." Well, I understood it. The point of what I said was that making a jump-looking CA requires qute a bit of effort and results in a mere illusion of flying, which can be seen on videos but in game does not feel like it, because you know that you have to use a CA to cross a river, not just fly over it. And this illusion is just visual, it adds no new mechanics because HE already has a teleport CA, it's just differently animated. >"...even though the Dragon flies, when you stop to use a combat art, it lands on the ground..." As opposed to DM's Dragon Form that never lands. The CA execution animations are always started from idle state. For DM idle is animated like hovering and flapiing wings, for the mount it's a grounded state. So even if the mount gets jump-like animation, it won't be seamless - it would land, than take flight for a distance and land on the opposite side, before taking flight again for the running state. We can get a seamlessly flying look for the mount by changing the idle animation, but then the process of mounting the flying dragon would look quite awkward.

>"...Ideally we'd have some way to add something like the Dragon Form's Jump CA while mounted..." The only way something like this can be done is by replacing one of the CA slots while mounted, like the horse CAs do. It might be possible, but I don't see a reason to do it. The Dragon is HE's mount, and adding a jump CA to it would create just a differently animated version of Shadow Step. Is there a reason to bother so much with the creature scripts to mod in a mount CA that won't be much different from the rider's one?

>"...no modern game is bug/glitch/patch free anymore..." No, they always have something that can be fixed later, and it the devs tell you otherwise, it's just an advertisement trick. When I said that the game is finished, I did not mean that it's bug free, just that all important decisions about its looks and mechanics were already made and programmed, so it is unrealistic to expect any big change. I bet it goes or would go through testing phase. No program, game or otherwise is ever released completely untested. But no internal testing can catch all bugs in modern games...

>"But I beg all creators of mounts do please add a increased run speed %" Like Flix said, adding this bonus to mount's bonuslist would have no effect, because it's run speed bonus - it increases the movement speed on foot. More to come, it's one of the bonuses that don't work correctly on mounts (even if you try to add them, they don't appear in the tooltip). However the new mounts are faster than the old ones, even without Riding. The speed change was made in the creature description. To give you the numbers, High Elf's speed on foot is 160 digits, Fay Drake's is 230, Dragon's is 250. There is no creature in this game that is faster than the Dragon Mount. Making them even faster is possible, but is not an incredibly good idea, because Riding increases mounts' speed by percentage. The Dragons are already fast without Riding, if we make them even faster, with Riding they might become uncomfortably fast. >"...these new Elite Mounts are all as fast or faster than the normal mounts..." Except that I slowed down the Shadow Warrior's armored means of transportation. This beast looks so heavy, I can't imagine it running as fast as the Dragon flies. Still, it's speed is not bad (better than vanilla tiger). >"...Is this awsome dragon actualy flying..." The Dragons do fly, because that's how they are animated. Sadly, the game does not have a definition of flying. All it has is running and walking. All creatures who look like they fly, actually are considered running at that moment. It means that even though they fly, but they still can not cross a river without using a bridge and can not fly above walls. Putting it simple, the Dragon Mount flies the same way as Dragon Mage's Dragon Form. It's impossible to make it otherwise.

Even though I can agree with most things written here, I have to say that it's a bit late to write such letters. The release date for Sacred 3 is set and it is set to this August. That means that the game is already finished, or almost finished. Most probably right now it goes through the testing phase and finishing touches. We already know that we won't see the vast world open for exploration. We already know that we won't see the same unusual approach to character design and the same diversity of character builds. Whether or not we would see a good ARPG remains to be seen. But regardless of anything else, it won't be made in the same way as Sacred 1 and 2. Who knows, maybe the Deep Silver managers only knew that Sacred series is a Diablo-like RPG, the one that aspired to outdo Diablo but in the opinion of reviewers did not manage? Maybe they did not bother to figure out what made the concept of Sacred any different and just thought "If it's Diablo-like, let's look at Diablo and make a similar game". Maybe they just decided that the open world is a very expensive feature that most players won't bother using anyway, without understanding the obvious fact - the players who did not bother to explore Sacred usually decided that it's inferior to Diablo and quit playing it after a day or two. It's those who explored the difference in the world and character builds, learned more about the game and understood it, those people became fans and they would be the only ones who really looks forward to the next installment. Putting it simple, there is still a chance that Sacred 3 would be a good game, but there is already no chance that it would be a polished version of Sacred 1 or 2.

I understand this. It's easy to notice the similarity of Darker color scheme to Armatin's Legacy, but that does not make the look worse. In fact, I was a bit surprised by the dark design - I expected such colors to make it visually similar to Armatin's but was not reminded of this set when I looked at your pictures. Instead, it immediately reminded me of Hellknights. All in all, the new design is not worse nor better than the original red and gold, just different. It makes less festive and more menacing impression, creates different mood. Both designs have their right to exits and deserve to be present in game. It's a good idea to make one of them into random items, and I understand your decision to keep a light version as set design. SW has enough dark sets already and would benefit from addition of a brighter one. It's just that in this particular case the spiky and edgy model design seems to favorite darker textures, so I won't be surprised if quite a few people would prefer the look of random item variation.

This new texture looks very good - now SW looks like a proper Hellknight and obviously means serious business. The original texture, the one this set uses in the current version of the mod, is bright and colorful. It makes an impression of dress uniform, maybe. It's a suit of armor that is mostly for show, something worn for parades and tournaments, not for battle. New, darker texture is a proper battle suit - and you don't want to cross a warrior who wears it. Suddenly, all the spikes stop looking like an excessive elaboration and blend into a general picture of a powerful and menacing warrior. Not to mention that with this texture the set bears rather strong visual resemblance to Diablo's hellknights, so the item names look well-matched. I hope to see this new texture in the mod, either as an update of the current one, or as a new design.

This interview told me nothing new either. It's quite curious to see how Deep Silver behaves in regards of Sacred 3 - they try to keep the title in the news without actually telling a thing about it. Gameplay trailer that shows only very few snippets of gameplay, and even those are seen clearly only in slow-motion. An interview with publishers that goes on and on but brings almost nothing we never heard before... As if they are scared of telling more about their game, or just not excited about it. I just remember reading an interview about Unbended a few days ago - there is not much to tell about this project yet, but still the devs are willing to talk about some details and plans. And here we have an almost finished project all important facts about which are kept dark. Is it deliberate?

A gaming portal called Gamingbolt posted an interview with Deep Silver creative producer Sebastian Reichert where he talks about upcoming Sacred 3. It's titled "Simplifying the Classic RPG for Action’s Sake" and... well, the title sums it up. From the sound of it, S3 would lack quite af few features of its predecessors. Though they still plan to focus on Combat Arts out of which "You select a few to take along for a quest". I wonder what it means - Diablo 3 approach to CAs or something more? Full Interview can be found here: Sacred 3 Interview: Simplifying the Classic RPG for Action’s Sake

There are quite a few Niob polearm boss-killer Seraphims out there, so this kind of build reaches the high difficulty without much trouble. With Polearms, it's generally better to take on RT as the secondary aspect, using Archangel's Wrath as a boss-killing CA. It does wonders when used with Lifeleech % polearm - great base damage + lifeleech + keeping distance and avoiding attacks from bosses. Though if you're planning to use Divine Protection and Warding Energy buff, it's better to take Warding Energy Lore instead of Toughness (Toughness is a good skill choice mainly if you have Damage Mitigation +% on lots of armor pieces, if not, switch to WEL) or instead of RT Lore. If you're planning to go into the Cursed Forest (or generally add-on locations) Spell Resistance is another good skill choice. The working Niob polearm build can be along the lines of: Armor Lore Constitution Polearms Tactics Lore EW Focus RT Focus Concentration Warding Energy Lore Spell Resistance (or Toughness) There is an empty slot for EP or Bargaining, whichever you prefer, or RT Lore, or maybe Combat Discipline if you want faster regen times. If you take untility skills, do it early in the development, if fighting ones, leave them for the end-game when more power might be needed. Or maybe you can include both Toughness and Spell Resistance, if you feel lack of defense, though with mastered Armor, Constitution and Warding Energy you shouldn't feel weak.

In the end, I really like how this set turned out - similar, but not the same. It allows the playable Seraphim to wear Sophia's beautiful armor while still keeps her individuality. I think, if Tom returns to Dark Matters, he would approve of your take on the set - because I don't see what is there to disapprove of. The bonuses are not extremely geared for one aspect, and that's a good thing. Quite a few items can be considered generally beneficial for the character, some others are equally useful for all casters. (Can you post the stats for wings, by the way?) So, the set pieces would probably be worn by many Seraphims and not just because of the looks.

They are finally released! These are the beautiful-looking weapons and their stats are nothing to complain about. I'm looking forward to finding them in game. The only minor note, it that this Rebellion model design is from the classic Devil May Cry (DmC 4 version if I'm not mistaken), and not from the reboot as the link implies.

I'm a bit overwhelmed with all work that goes for the mod, so I never found a chance to comment on those weapons. They are really good, both look, name and stats-wise. The only thing that looks a bit off is that the Runeblade actually appears to be better than Boneslicer, though maybe that's intended. Boneslicer isn't fully worth its legendary status, but it's a good sword. With Decayer's Brand I see no problem at all - it's a good sword, but not overpowered. >"...she'll needs an oxcart to carry all to the antiques dealer..." I believe there were a few in Ancaria and they have various implements on them - and she can take the pitchforks and shovels and take them to the dealer as well.

> ".. eyes all over their wings.." Something akin to the Faceless in Heroes of Might and Magic?

Thank you for your kind comments! I'm glad that you like the introduction and hope that you'll like the creatures themselves even more. I updated the Dragon post to include the stats of the new mounts. You can see that they are more powerful than High Elf's original special mounts. That is exactly the idea behind the Elite Mounts - they are not meant to be just an alternative for the original beasts, but rather a late-game upgrade for them. In the original Sacred 2, you get your special mount in Artamark, and stick to it till the next difficulty. There is no way to imporve this creature - it levels up with you, but the bonuses it gets with levels are not worth likewise increasing penalty. The Elite Mounts were created to change this situation for the better.

The Seraphim's wings in the Sacred 3 trailer: They do not look this impressive in the gameplay video, but the design is the same.

>"...you would think this kind of games requires at least 1 milion $ or more..." That statement is only true for the games made and released by big publishers. Please, don't be offended, but it sounds like you never really had any interest in indie games before. One big difference about them is that they never have giant budgets. Because indie games are usually developed by small teams of enthusiasts and never have top-notch graphics nor expensive modern graphical engines. Indie devs don't have to pay salaries and insurances to some few hundreds people, do not have to buy the latest graphical engines and do not have to hire professional animation studios to do the motion-capture animations for them. That is why indie games don't need billions to be done. That is also why they never have fancy graphics, but it's not graphics that makes the game interesting to play. In fact, 25000$ does not sound completely unrealistic for the indie scene. It's not much, but it's at least possible to reach. From what I remember, the most well-known vaporware scums that happened with kickstarted games always had well-made sites and good publicity before disappearing with the money. Those people never had intention of doing a thing besides a website, so of course they poured all energy into the look. Mediocre web-design for Unsacred site may be a sign that its few devs work on the game and not the outward appearance. I might be overly optimistic, but I still wanted to point out that these signs do not necessary indicate a scum.

These feathered wings are really good. Thank you both for taking them into the game, at least as random item - the texture is too good to just be discarded (even though it does not have much volume, all feather details still make it interesting to look at). >"..."Sacred 3-style" wings..." For this, they need to be glowing and semi-transparent ghostly wings. But then again, we can make a texture that would look exactly like that (referenced from ghost enemies or new energy shield items).

Recently, the mages of Tyr Lysia began talking about the wondrous animals that appear in the possession of certain powerful mages. These beasts are told to have innate affinity with magic of different kinds, and help their elven companions to speed up spellcasting as well as protect them from the elements. One of these creatures now accompanies the warden of Celioth Tower. It seems to be equally attuned to all elements and protects the rider from all kinds of incoming damage, while allowing her to cast all spells quite effectively. Together, they observe the roads that lead to the tower and quickly fly to fend off every attacker. The Dragon in warden's possession is of a Wild Dragon variety. It is not focused on any kind of magic in particular, but offers good protection from every kind of incoming damage. Other people talk about a mysterious lone ranger who appears in the Desert. In presence of the Lady in Black, this hot desolate place becomes even hotter. Only she and her Dragon are immune to the heat, and they certainly enjoy wathing the fireworks. That's not surprising - the Flame Dragon is perfectly attuned to the Pyromancer's magic, and boosts fire spells while protecting the caster from fire damage. Then, there is a beautiful woman, who is not afraid to visit the most scenic and most dangerous beaches of Ancaria alone, because she knows that her Dragon would protect her while she is catching the rays of the sun. If any danger comes too close, they are always ready to become airborne. This is the Rime Dragon, who has powers over Ice and Storms. And finally, an expert in Ancient Arcane kinds of magic recently came to the Library of the Seraphims in pursuit of more knowledge. While the Elven mage herself is certainly remarkable, the winged ones paid more attention to the Dragon who was circling the skies above their island. The fourth Dragon is, obviously, all about magic and Arcane spellspower. These four Dragons were designed, animated and textured by Pesmontis, so don't forget to thank him for the fact that the High Elf is getting a real dragon in addition to her Fay Drake. They are furnished with stats that match all four of the Elf's aspects as well as provide additional meant of defense. The Dragons are very agile, so they fly fast and can evade attacks.

Somewhere in the world of Ancaria there is a priest who was destined to serve Gods in a remote location. He stays in his half-forgotten temple and rarely sees people except for hunters and travelling merchants who stop once in a while to make offerings to the Gods. This priest spends his free time breeding and training exotic creatures. Those rare times when he goes out of the temple, his pets usually follow him. He thinks that animals make good companions to lone travelers like him... and like you. There are also some rumors that this priest does not mind experimenting with machinery, so maybe if you manage to find him and pay him a visit, he would show you results of his experiments. With this, I start releasing the information about the Elite Mount project that had been in the works for quite some time. It began as a part of CM patch, then halted in its tracks and now is continued by me, Pesmontis and Flix as a part of the CM Items mod. As the mod is undergoing gradual integration into CM Patch, there is a possibility that the mounts would eventually return to CM proper and would be released as a part of CM v150. But it's just a possibility, and the first release, regardless of anything, would happen with CM Items mod, so this is the place to look for new mounts. We are not going to tell you the exact location of the temple where the priest and his pets reside, but this thread would gradually fill you in on his merchandise, so stay tuned. There are plans to create new Elite Mounts for each of the seven playable characters - these mounts would be better than the original special ones, but the opportunity to purchase them would open up much later in the course of main campaign. A couple of Elite Mounts are ready, so it's more than just talk, others are in process. Read on to learn more about the mount variety: High Elf's mount - the Dragon: Introduction and Stats - Video bonus mounts - new Wind Serpents: Introduction and Stats Temple Guardian's mount - the "Buzzsaw" Mobiculum: Introduction and Stats - Video Shadow Warrior Armored Hellhound and Inquisitor Armored Spider mounts - Introduction and Stats Dragon Mage's Armored Draconicicon mount - Introduction and Stats Seraphim's Cyber-Tiger mount - Introduction and Stats Dryad's Armored Lizard mount - Introduction and Stats Download Elite Mounts Mod

As we are talking about favorite pieces, I have to say that my personal favorite, besides the obviously awesome wings, is the helmet. Because you just made it fit. Really and truly fit. People always complained about Endijian's set, about how it was different from the rest of the game's style and unfitting for the Seraphim who is otherwise a hot babe in chainmail bikini, and how its pieces never match the rest of seraphim's armor. And you just took the (awesome in my opinion) helmet model from the Ancient set and combined it with the models based on the most minimalistic Mistique set - and you made them look good together. It's a wonder. You're right that it sort of looks like a fighter pilot's helmet, but the Seraphim is a fighter and with those wings, she can be considered a pilot. The tiger is a nice touch - she never forgets about her favourite cat even when she is on foot. Out of all small decals this one is the most visible and recognizable.

Your descriptions are always interesting to read. Even though I've seen the models and the stats before, this thread kept my attention for some time, and it was time well spent. (And I can always look at these pictures once again just because they do look good.) Now all I need is to find the pieces of this set in game and make my Seraphim a Star.