Is Ice & Blood worth the $20?

[DaveO 88]

I'm nearing the end of the campaign for Fallen Angel on a new Windows 7 machine. I'm wondering how well the expansion works with Windows 7 and if the Community Patch brings in enough content to exit multiplayer.

[Munera 1]

Hey mate. I haven't tried the add-on in Windows 7 so I can't tell you how would it run there. About the CM patch, fellow Barris started a topic with exactly the same question you're asking

 

http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=17643&view=findpost&p=6916596

[Phlaago 0]

I never bothered with online play for sacred 2 but I'm running ice&blood + CM patch on win7 and I think it was worth it for me, I'm getting the occasional lockup though maybe once every hour but it really only frustrating if I forgot to save for a long time.. (like 30 minutes during which my inquisitor had found 3 uniques, 1 was an officers saber)

 

What I can tell you is that you need to turn off compatibility mode for securom to properly verify the key, also I dont run the game in compatibility mode at all with ice & blood.. (2.43 I had to run in XP sp3 mode while s2gs.exe was left running as usual)

[Schot 407]

Defintely worth 20 bucks DaveO and as for Win 7 I have it running on my Win 7 dual boot and on my Win 7 laptop. Runs just fine without any special tweaks.

[wolfie2kX 528]

I'm nearing the end of the campaign for Fallen Angel on a new Windows 7 machine. I'm wondering how well the expansion works with Windows 7 and if the Community Patch brings in enough content to exit multiplayer.

 

Define "multiplayer" - Do you mean a LAN game? Or do you mean OpenNet? or ClosedNet? The CM Patch will work on local game, Single player or LAN or Coop mode, and OpenNet. But it won't work on ClosedNet.

 

As far as Ice and Blood goes - it actually does add compatibility to Windows 7 if you install one of the two patches (2.65.1). Previous versions worked with Windows 7, but only if you tweaked the shortcut to run the game by way of Win XP SP3 compatibility mode.

 

The Community Patch - Too much is never enough! To answer your question - it depends on what you consider 'enough'. The CM Patch fixes a number of quests that were broken or incomplete - like the guy in Orcish Byway who has such a business proposition for you. If you're playing the light campaign, you take him out behind the Runemaster's place and you discover a farm. The quest ends. In the CM Patch, you no longer see him there if you're playing the light side. On the Dark Side, you do actually get more quest - the guy shafts you, you wind up shafting him as well.

 

At any rate, the CM Patch does add new content. And it does so fairly regularly. Each new release adds something new to the mix. Something to keep things fresh. A lot of the more difficult to get/find items - such as lightsabers - now drop fairly frequently. Items like "throwing potions" (think Molotov Cocktails) are now implemented. There's even a DarkMatters special throwing potion that's a Legendary class item. Stuff that could only drop using the infamous Unlock Codes - are now able to drop freely without such cheats.

 

However, one thing to consider. You list your location as Arizona - presumably in the US. As such, which version of the game do you have? If you have the CDV released US version, I'm afraid you'll have to shell out for Sacred Gold. The US version is NOT upgradable to Ice and Blood. You need the Deep Silver release - for the UK and Europe.

 

Due to Ascaron's self destruction, Ice and Blood was never made available for the US market. In which case, you're likely to have to shell out 24.99 pounds - which roughly translates to about $38 - $40 depending on whatever the current exchange rate happens to be. It can be gotten using the link above - Click on the Sacred Gold link in the banner.

Edited February 4, 2011 by wolfie2kX

[TSFF19 0]

I certainly think Ice and Blood (or in my case, the Gold Edition) is worth it, not just for the extra content, but also the CM Patch. =)

 

And buying the Gold Edition is surprisingly simple now that Deep Silver has acquired the series license.

Edited February 4, 2011 by TSFF19

[DaveO 88]

I bought the UK version for Fallen Angel, so I do have the option to get the UK version of Ice and Blood. I am aware of the Community Patch not being allowed on Closed.Net, but given the small amount of activity I've seen going thru Fallen Angel I don't think I'm missing much by skipping multiplayer for Ice and Blood.

[Dragon Brother 619]

I bought the UK version for Fallen Angel, so I do have the option to get the UK version of Ice and Blood. I am aware of the Community Patch not being allowed on Closed.Net, but given the small amount of activity I've seen going thru Fallen Angel I don't think I'm missing much by skipping multiplayer for Ice and Blood.

 

Indeed, some of the clan members haven taken to playing on open net with the Cm patch sometimes...so multiplayer can still be possible.

[DaveO 88]

The expansion pack arrived in the mail yesterday. I'll be using Closed.Net multiplayer to finish up the Fallen Angel campaign. I did notice the ability to export characters, so that makes the time investment worth the cost. One question about export is whether the stash comes across or not and what effect export has on the single player stash.

[desm 329]

Hey DaveO, what a great honor to have you there! You don't know me but I know you from the Might&Magic serie (saw you on some forums)(it doesn't make us younger...) and I even wondered if I didn't download one day, a beautiful music from your site called "Summoning.wav" (or maybe "flute" something).

 

ok, it was just a little wink

 

Have fun on Ice&Blood aha see you

 

(p-s: I don't know the answer to your question as I never exported or played in closed.net...)

 

bye

Edited February 10, 2011 by desm

[Silver_fox 397]

I exported my characters fron the Closed Net and the result is - the character's stash comes with the character (which is logical, since they are stored in the same file) and the common section... comes too. And more to come, it seems to overwrite the common section of the chest you had before, so before exporting it'd be wise to make a backup of the .sacred2chest file if you have something stored in it.

[gogoblender 3,069]

Daveo, this awesome to hear you in Sacred World again. I know the all the new content by the fans with CM Patch has turned this game up side down, and it looks like our play concept has been transformed.

 

How can it not when you see the quality of writing and work going into the Patch.

 

Great seeing you here on the boards again, welcome back!

 

 

gogo

[DaveO 88]

Thanks for all of the replies! It sounds like Ice & Blood has much more activity than Fallen Angel(no surprise). Desm, you are the first person on the multiple forums I visit regularly to mention my previous history with Might & Magic.

[claudius 104]

I got a little burnt out but I'll be back..

 

It was definitely worth the 20 dollars for me. I can't do the grind to 200 though. I'll be back to finish my Dragon Mage once I get tired of titan quest.

 

DaveO you originally answered my questions about S1 on gamebanshee and thats how I discovered the sacred wiki and the darkmatters community. I thank you.