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What Sacred 2 unfortunately doesn't have...


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After having played the expansion the following are things I wished Sacred 2 had.

 

 

 

∙ Fixed level uniques with decent stats. Let me explain. Currently most uniques are relatively useless on low levels. The game will even spawn unique jewelry with no attributes or a cool sounding ring with +1 to constitution for example. Only uniques with 3 sockets are somewhat useable due to the fact that you could use it as part of a buff suit or if really lucky socket some bargained jewels or 'cheatingly' Niob whets.

 

∙ There is no progression in the type of amour or weapons throughout the game. No padded leather to start with and sadly no full plate mail of the titan will be dropped only in the last two regions of the game only in Niob mode. Just some more generic looking stuff and a rehash of a higher level set item etcetera. Thus there is no reason to farm what should be the most challenging areas of the game in the most difficult setting of the game.

 

∙ No real difference in difficulty levels. Anybody who has played the game up until Niob and understands the skills and Combat Arts will not find gold more difficult then silver (actually a lot easier due to equipment and CA mods acquired in silver). Going from gold to platinum the same thing and if you completed platinum just more of the same in niob… The game doesn't force you to have a certain strategy against for instance a monster pack that is 'Cold + Fire + Physical Immune' mixed with a monster pack that is 'Frenzied + Multiple Shot + Lightning enchanted'. You sadly always know what is coming next.

 

∙ Tying in with the point above. All monsters in all difficulties are the same, there is no physical immune or hasted or double damaged or frenzied or ghostly or a combination of these attributes mixed monster packs in higher difficulties. Thus you rarely need to change your right mouse button in the later game, except maybe when facing a boss, champions are only monsters with a yellow name and double HP. There is no need to take them out first to stop their auras from affecting nearby monsters.

 

 

 

Yes I am aware that a lot of the issues addressed above are due to having played Diablo 2 for a lot of years. And this game is not Diablo 2. In some ways it is much better but at least for me in the ways that affect replayabilty it comes in at a distant last place which is sad because it has so much potential. In Diablo 2 there was absolutely no way you could defeat hell mode difficulty in solo play at a comparatively low level with a random non optimized build. A 'Physical immune + Fanatacism + Multi shot' Lister pack in Baal's throne room will eat you up and maybe regurgitate the empty clothes in no time if you dare face it unprepared. Thus there were reasons to grind late Hell mode levels for better loot because you needed it to complete the game. Some of the uniques could only be used by a level 85 character for instance.

 

 

 

Well in retrospect I most definitely with out a doubt got my money's worth with Sacred 2 and the add on. I spent a lot of hours in the game finishing Niob with a few characters.

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After having played the expansion the following are things I wished Sacred 2 had.

 

 

 

∙ Fixed level uniques

 

I kinda wished that too, was actually going to make a post about this. The uniques have to keep respawning because of the need for item drops a all the levels, and because Sacred series is the arpg series with largest number of levels ever created.

 

 

By comparison, Diablo 2 is a tiny game with only half the levels.

 

If they had had only 100 levels, we probably would have had the static levels and the "feel" of a unique being unique. Because we have two hundred levels, and only a finite amount of time that a game can be created in, there are respawning items and monsters to populate all the levels because to actually create items and new, unique monsters for all the levels would have been something close to on the level of mmorpg production levels.

 

I'm not sure I like it anymore...I kinda want a unique to be a unique, and when I mention I have the Mourning Sword of Nuclear Winter...I want eveyone to to "know" exactly what kind of stats it has and "grok" what I'm saying.

 

I guess that would be a different game.

 

:)

 

gogo

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Heya,

 

a game's greatest strenght is also it's possible greatest weakness. Works that way with people too...

 

For instance: both systems have their pros and cons

 

* Fixed level uniques are nice; but having to attain a certain level to be able to use perfect gear at that level is somewhat lacking. Certainly when you need to get to 85/100.

 

*Scaling uniques allow for greater optimisation at all levels, with increasing boni. Downside is that if you have every piece of gear stashed, building powerhouses is too easy.

 

All in all, my opinion would be: 'Lets keep Sacred Sacred and Diablo Diablo'. :D

 

Greetz

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I was also disappointed when I saw how the gear in this game worked. It didn't make much sense to me that at level 20 I could be using the exact same gear I would be using at level 200. But I also understand why the game was made this way.

 

It's the build making that keeps me interested in Sacred. I'm a veteran guild wars player, and coming up with all sorts of unconventional builds is what I love doing.

 

If you loved diablo 2 you should really check out Titan quest and it's expansion, immortal throne. Very good games of the same genera that more closely follow the diablo series at it's core. I'm not knocking sacred at all, just throwing it out there.

 

If you want a really different experience that still follows the genera and even has the random map generation of diablo, try hellgate London. There is a mod called the single player revival that adds most of the multiplayer subscription content (the game tanked in the US, it's now only supported in japan after being picked up by a company there) plus other good stuff.

Edited by Sacredtbag
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I am an oldtimer in gaming. There was a game way back called rogue/moria. It had 2 features I haven't seen in a long time. You run halfway across the map you get hungry and tired. I don't expect the action based gamers now to endue a rest, but hunger and it making you weaker should. You have to admit there is a lot of wasted meat in Sacred. There are are tons of bars too.

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I am an oldtimer in gaming. There was a game way back called rogue/moria. It had 2 features I haven't seen in a long time. You run halfway across the map you get hungry and tired. I don't expect the action based gamers now to endue a rest, but hunger and it making you weaker should. You have to admit there is a lot of wasted meat in Sacred. There are are tons of bars too.

 

Ah.. Reminds me of GTA: San Andreas - they put the food thing in there. It was a bit of a pain in the neck. Food could be used to heal your hit points, or could make you bloated like Fat Albert who couldn't easily run very far without getting seriously winded.

 

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I also like Sacred 2 the way it is. I also played Diablo, and I threw it away after hundreds of boss runs giving me nothing but useless stuff. In diablo, by the time you get something decent, you've already outleveled it. Here, the sets and their bonuses scale with level and are well worth both using and keeping them - even if you have a set item which level is low, because the overall increasing bonus is still there.

 

What I also like about Sacred, is that with a good build, items are never a problem and you don't have to farm for a month just to get that item you need - be it a set part or a weapon. That's a pain the the butt which Diablo and many other action or MMORPG's have. I personally like to play Sacred 2 for a few hours and have fun with it rather than mindlessly grind for days and in the end, feel exhausted rather than relaxed.

 

I really like the slightly "sandbox" type of game Ascaron created for us. This is a game in which you can do everything yourself and reap the rewards in the end rather than be unlucky and/or eek a meager living in a world where everything is taken right under your nose :)

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@ DM Naga: there were mods for oblivion and morrowind like that, and I believe fallout 3 as well. They added a lot of depth to those games if you could actually stomach using them lol. Using those plus various other "realism" mods really changed the feel of the game. And if you ever got tired of them, just turn the mods off and go on your merry way.

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I was a huge fan of Diablo 1 & 2. I played them for years, running around hacking and slashing. Such a good stress relief it was. Then I discovered the item editor and could make my own sets. Personalizing stuff made the game even more fun.

 

I went on vacation and stayed with a nephew. He had Sacred on on his 3 computers for hosting multiplayer lan games. My son and I tried it out and were hooked. Sacred's free roaming play hooked me. We played hours on end and didn't get much vacationing done to my wife's displeasure. When we returned home I went online to buy 2 copies of Sacred Gold. We discovered Sacred 2 and decided to buy it from the UK with the preorder of Ice and Blood which was due out weeks. All I can say is I was blown away by the game's depth. One thing I really liked was the vast size of the map. The graphics are years beyond Diablo. I was in love again, I bought a copy for my nephew and a few weeks later 2 pretty boxes of Sacred gold showed up (gotta love em for that). I am sold on Sacred 2 and for the CM patch there just aren't words good enough to praise it. I will buy Diablo 3 when it releases. I am willing to bet once the main quest is done I return to Sacred 2. I have Titan Quest and the addon, it came as part of THQ set I bought to get Dawn of War II. It's ok and I play it once and a while.

 

Oh one other thing I haven't seen mentioned is the ability to hire and equip a partner like Diablo 2 has.

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One thing about gear I didnt liked.. I did epice office quest and Ellen's ring had no any bonus -.- Wa level 42 probably to low in bronze for + combat arts. So I do not do this quest on my TG now, will late for higher level, sinc eit makes no sense do it early.

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One thing about gear I didnt liked.. I did epice office quest and Ellen's ring had no any bonus -.- Wa level 42 probably to low in bronze for + combat arts. So I do not do this quest on my TG now, will late for higher level, sinc eit makes no sense do it early.

 

Yeah.. But did you put it together with Benny's Promise? That should have given you a complete set - and as such a complete set bonus - which should be a +x max hitpoints. On Bronze - yeah... It's nothing to write home about. Maybe about 200 - 250 or so on top of the regular bonus. But it's bronze. Bronze isn't supposed to give you much of anything to write home about. The higher the level, the higher the reward. That's the way Sacred 2 works.

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I know it set, but you know .. you spend hours for epic quests to gedt ring with no bonuses xD. Its not bad to start quest and talk only to kayseer for all skills

 

You also get Stradahl's Hammer... It's a legendary - and it ain't all that bad. Ok.. so it's no Kaldur's Legacy.. But hey. It still does damage.

 

But I do grok where you're coming from. Before Ice and Blood, even the bronze level Ellen's Commitment had at least a +1 to Combat Skills. But with Ice and Blood, there came a rather HUGE nerf on Combat/Defense/All Skills boosts. I was rather shocked when my +7 All Skills sword I was using for a bargaining boost suddenly became a +4 All Skills. YIKES!

 

So if you figure Ellen's Commitment had a +1 Combat Skills - and the nerf was 50%, that would have made it +1/2 - and I don't think the game would know how to handle that. If it was a +2, then it wouldn't be so bad - it'd only be a +1 afterwards.

 

The whole point of the nerf was to make the game more challenging. Prior to Ice and Blood, you could build your character into a tank by adding all manner of + Skills stuff to your armor. You could double every single skill (up to a point) with the + skills stuff. Now it's not quite as easy.. You have to do a bit more work, a bit more thinking to get through the game in more or less one piece.

 

Ah well.. Such is life.

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I know it set, but you know .. you spend hours for epic quests to gedt ring with no bonuses xD. Its not bad to start quest and talk only to kayseer for all skills

So if you figure Ellen's Commitment had a +1 Combat Skills - and the nerf was 50%, that would have made it +1/2 - and I don't think the game would know how to handle that. If it was a +2, then it wouldn't be so bad - it'd only be a +1 afterwards.

 

There are instances where the game does know how to work with decimal skill values.

 

Take a closer look at for instance double skill amulets, or even single for that matter. They all 'seem' to be a rounded displayed number.

 

When you socket, sometimes they will increase due to the bonus from the slot, and sometimes they will not.

 

Given the 15% bonus from a gold socket, there should be no way a +2 Bargaining amulet becomes +3, if it was really +2.0

 

In this example, the +2 Bargaining would really be around 2.6 Bargaining to be able to increase to +3.

 

I can however really imagine that Sacred uses more than just the one way to calculate stuff :D After all.... this IS Sacred :D

 

Greetz

Edited by Barristan
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I know it set, but you know .. you spend hours for epic quests to gedt ring with no bonuses xD. Its not bad to start quest and talk only to kayseer for all skills

So if you figure Ellen's Commitment had a +1 Combat Skills - and the nerf was 50%, that would have made it +1/2 - and I don't think the game would know how to handle that. If it was a +2, then it wouldn't be so bad - it'd only be a +1 afterwards.

 

There are instances where the game does know how to work with decimal skill values.

 

Take a closer look at for instance double skill amulets, or even single for that matter. They all 'seem' to be a rounded displayed number.

 

When you socket, sometimes they will increase due to the bonus from the slot, and sometimes they will not.

 

Given the 15% bonus from a gold socket, there should be no way a +2 Bargaining amulet becomes +3, if it was really +2.0

 

In this example, the +2 Bargaining would really be around 2.6 Bargaining to be able to increase to +3.

 

I can however really imagine that Sacred uses more than just the one way to calculate stuff :D After all.... this IS Sacred :D

 

Greetz

 

I would have to agree... My example above - a +7 All Skills modded sword became a +4. 1/2 of 7 is 3.5 - which would be rounded up to 4.

 

But I think you're also right - there's more than one way to skin the proverbial cat - and there's more than one way the maths in Sacred are figured. In the Ellen's Commitment example we've got a +1 Combat Skills ring. 1/2 of that is 0.5. Rounded up, it'd still be +1 - no change. So rather than let it slip by, they likely went ahead and decided that if the Int value of the result is 0, then the value just simply becomes 0 and thus, goes away.

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But I think you're also right - there's more than one way to skin the proverbial cat - and there's more than one way the maths in Sacred are figured. In the Ellen's Commitment example we've got a +1 Combat Skills ring. 1/2 of that is 0.5. Rounded up, it'd still be +1 - no change. So rather than let it slip by, they likely went ahead and decided that if the Int value of the result is 0, then the value just simply becomes 0 and thus, goes away.

 

Its an odd way of doing it though...I mean lower levels/difficulties you can get alot of uniques spawning without/missing one of the mods on them...frustrating if you play low leveled characters alot.

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But I think you're also right - there's more than one way to skin the proverbial cat - and there's more than one way the maths in Sacred are figured. In the Ellen's Commitment example we've got a +1 Combat Skills ring. 1/2 of that is 0.5. Rounded up, it'd still be +1 - no change. So rather than let it slip by, they likely went ahead and decided that if the Int value of the result is 0, then the value just simply becomes 0 and thus, goes away.

 

Its an odd way of doing it though...I mean lower levels/difficulties you can get alot of uniques spawning without/missing one of the mods on them...frustrating if you play low leveled characters alot.

 

Yeah... But that's Sacred 2 for you... It's how the game scales things up as you go along.

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Can't say I miss fixed uniques too much. As far as I can remember my D2 days (it's been years since I last played that game...), low level uniques were practically unusable, and top tier ones required like level 85; however, I usually finished the game on Hell about level 80 or something, doing multiple Bhaalruns just so that I can equip better gear (what for? I don't need it anyway...) felt like a complete waste of time - but then, I hate boss running anyway. So, the mid-tier exceptionals were the only ones I really used, and those sure were fun.

 

I think the the system worked a bit better with Titan Quest (a great game, still playing it from time to time) with all the optional Legendary bosses that were often much tougher than the main quest ones - at least it gave me something to hunt for with all this top-tier gear. Most TQ uniques also had unique models, which could make your char look truly special (or, in some cases, like a bad cosplay freak).

 

I think the only real problem with Sacred 2 uniques is that too often they don't feel unique at all; when compared to D2 or TQ items, they are pretty plain stuff, a lot doesn't even have a unique model. Sure, they are (mostly) usable items with decent stats, but they don't give anything a right combination of rares couldn't offer. Things like "direct damage" or percent bonus to stats are very, very rare, unique-only models are rare and unique jewelry is a total waste. They just don't feel that special. Not much of an issue, but I sure hope we get to see more "unique" uniques in S3.

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I know it set, but you know .. you spend hours for epic quests to gedt ring with no bonuses xD. Its not bad to start quest and talk only to kayseer for all skills

 

You also get Stradahl's Hammer... It's a legendary - and it ain't all that bad. Ok.. so it's no Kaldur's Legacy.. But hey. It still does damage.

 

But I do grok where you're coming from. Before Ice and Blood, even the bronze level Ellen's Commitment had at least a +1 to Combat Skills. But with Ice and Blood, there came a rather HUGE nerf on Combat/Defense/All Skills boosts. I was rather shocked when my +7 All Skills sword I was using for a bargaining boost suddenly became a +4 All Skills. YIKES!

 

So if you figure Ellen's Commitment had a +1 Combat Skills - and the nerf was 50%, that would have made it +1/2 - and I don't think the game would know how to handle that. If it was a +2, then it wouldn't be so bad - it'd only be a +1 afterwards.

 

The whole point of the nerf was to make the game more challenging. Prior to Ice and Blood, you could build your character into a tank by adding all manner of + Skills stuff to your armor. You could double every single skill (up to a point) with the + skills stuff. Now it's not quite as easy.. You have to do a bit more work, a bit more thinking to get through the game in more or less one piece.

 

Ah well.. Such is life.

 

 

YEs I know that, but second point is that its not also nerf. Its the weak value of +all on this set itself. I just got bennys ring from silver bacause soon I will be not be able to get it . A level 90 and its +2 all skills ...A level 50 ones are like that even on silver ..

 

But overall its nice that sacred provides items around our level or even higher, like I was level 92 but mobs was 103 due to SB so item level 110 dropped. Indeed in diablo and some other old rpgses items you were finding were already outdated

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