Sacred 2 Archives. Part 1

[SheHawk 198]

Sacred Archives

Part 1

 

In the very beginning of my gaming life, I played games such as Battle Ships, Connect 4, Chinese Checkers, Guess Who, Mouse Trap and ordinary Checkers. I was never one for playing Chess, it simply held of no real interest to me and being a person with learning difficulties, it was darn too hard for me to be able to play the game, let alone, be able to understand fully how the game works etc. And then one day along comes: The Dungeon’s And Dragons Board Game, sadly I can’t quite remember which version of the board game, I think there was a series of these.

So please do forgive my vague information, I was born in 1969, way back in the Day when even Tomb Raider wasn’t a house hold console game, games like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Gallaga, etc. Were the kings of the then days of Arcade and pocket games. I forget when those things came out, the pocket games that is. Before I can tell you about my own personal experiences with Sacred 2. It is important to know some of my background story first. Move on anytime you get bored.

But know this before you move on. I would have never gotten into playing Role Playing Games if it were not for being introduced to D&D First and to shed light on what I used to play in my childhood and teenage years. I promise, I will get to the really good parts. But all good things comes to he, or she, who waits. While I did not quite fully understand the more complex rules of the board game and trying to get used to all of those strange different coloured and different sided dies.

There truly was some element of Dungeon And Dragons that I liked, even though I totally sucked at playing the actual board game and I am so okay in admitting that. But it was for me at least a very, very long time, before I got my hands eventually on a PS One Console, I had at the time only two games Xena: Warrior Princess. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xena:_Warrior_Princess_(video_game)

And Tomb Raider.

For a short time I got a little hooked on Tomb Raider, but I did like the Xena Warrior Princess game, even though it was quite difficult for me at least to play that game and then along came my true 1st RPG Title. Gauntlet Legends, but it actually, it was not until by now a very old PS One title indeed, came along that started my passion for RPG. That title was: Dark Stone. And I must admit, it was far better than GL. In so many ways, it was open world and dungeon play, all in one. I do not and cannot recall if there ever has been another PS One title to rival Dark Stone or better it.

And then of course the PS2 Came out with games such as Warriors Of Might And Magic, Baldur’s Gate 1&2 and later much later on after that, Champions Of Norrath and Return To Arms. By which this time I really was truly hooked into RPG and finally the PS 3 Comes out with a game title called Sacred 2, by this time, I never heard of the game before it, Sacred. But Sacred 2 beats all of those other titles and it’s a real game changer, it’s not all about just hack and slash or spell casting, Sacred 2 incorporated the need of both of those elements and then some.

And I have never stopped playing the game ever since I bought it, not only is it the most compelling RPG that I have ever played to date. It’s quite a learning curve, certain combat arts are weak, while others are strong and on top of all of that, you have a certain number of skills and all depending on one’s character build, not to mention armour and weapon modifications to boot. Sacred 2 definitely is not like any other RPG that has ever come and gone before it and probably not ever since it.

I did try Oblivion, Elder Scrolls 4 once, but there is so much in that game, I can’t see how anyone can play it without a walkthrough, I certainly can’t. Sure it’s very well immersive enough, but one can get lost inside that game, especially someone not used to such a wide open world RPG like that. Whereas Sacred 2 is actually easy in how to follow the world map and the mini map. True it took me quite a while to figure out what my goal was and there was as I later on found out, that there is so far much more to the game than that and I have been playing the game now 8+ years, I stopped counting by the time it had gotten to 8 years of game play and no real closer to mastering it, so to speak.

But that is never going to stop me, no matter how daunting it may seem to be, to a person like myself. I like the different character classes of the game, what each character contributes to the game and for me personally, so far the Temple Guardian, has the better back story than the rest of the other characters, as it is interesting to learn that him and his species, as best as I can tell, or the game seems to hint at it and I could be so wrong, but they are even older than the War Angels and one really compelling thing, that the Temple Guardian Hologram of himself, sub/self, whatever you want to call him, through the Temple Guardian’s own side quests as his tale unfolds.

Speaks of the Dragons and how so wrong it was to go to war with them, it’s a long shot I know, but this indicates to me at least they were all under the influence of The Great Machine, how or why had it taken over them, is anyone’s guess and what function did they serve before being taken over? In the game scattered about are T-Energy Consoles and as I understand it, and sorry again if I have this part wrong, but only the Temple Guardians can and know how to use them.

Why is that? The world of Sacred 2 seems a blend of old meets modern sci-fi like tech, almost. I have some theories, and please be gentle with your comments, I know that not everyone is going to agree with them, but I hope it’s not against the site rules for me to share those theories and more with you all? Until next time, I hope you have enjoyed so far, part one of what I like to call Sacred 2  Archives.

 

Edited August 3, 2019 by SheHawk

[Flix 5,116]

Great post. Thanks for sharing it.

It's funny you mention the Temple Guardian quest, as I'm actually in the process of rewriting it completely for a mod. So I've been reading through all the dialogues and journal entries for the quests.  It's... interesting.  It's kind of scattershot in terms of quality and clarity, but it provides some good backstory to the game world.  It's some of the only backstory, truthfully.  This is the only way we learn about the Dragon Wars, what and why the Great Machine exists, what the T-Energy terminals are, etc.

 It's also probably the character quest most related to the main quest, since they're both about finding and accessing the Great Machine.  It's kind of weird the TG's quest has him obtaining access keys for the Great Machine when all the characters (including the TG himself) can just waltz right in without the keys.

You noticed that Sacred 2 has heavy sci-fi elements, while Sacred 1 is almost entirely straight medieval fantasy, except for a few hidden easter eggs.  If I had to guess for the reason for this change, it would be because Ascaron inherited Sacred 1 from another team (Ikarion) who had already established the world as being part of The Dark Eye RPG fantasy universe.

With Sacred 2, though, they had free reign to invent, and I believe the Ascaron devs were HUGE sci-fi fans.  So my feeling is they wanted to borrow heavily from sci-fi shows like Star Wars (lightsabers, the General Grievous-style monowheel, and tons of easter eggs) and Stargate (the cyber-Anubis Temple Guardians).  These two shows blended mystical fantasy and ancient mythology with hi-tech science fiction ideas.  And let's not forget that the "ancient civilization was actually highly advanced" has been a fantasy trope for a few decades now.

[SheHawk 198]

Ben, I am honoured by your comment and I thought that the Modicom Wheel of the Temple Guardian was similar to the one as seen in Attack Of The Clones, as you have mentioned. I eagerly await for the Temple Guardian Mod that you have mentioned, I have the Light Sabres Mod and for the Seraphim, The Rotating Blades Mod, there was another mod that I was interested in, but the modder mentioned that they might/may mess things up like the Rotating Blades, so I decided not to get it. I like the mods I have so far and I would not want anything to mess up those or my Sacred 2 Gold Game that I have with GOG in anyway. I am more than happy to share my thoughts and theories about this game since I have at least 8 years and over of my own personal experience with playing this game and hopefully, that has to account for something. What I am trying to say that I hope I have not just simply wasted those 8 years spent playing the game if it is all for nothing. I look forward to more of your thoughts on my continuing posts. If this helps, I have had this idea that originally there was at first only two of them made by Anubis, but not the same one of Stargate TV Fame, the idea runs along similar to Data and his twin Lore. Anyway more Temple Guardians are build and this Great Machine is some form of a sentient AI or something that becomes aware of the Temple Guardians and finds them to be kindred souls of a sort, also, it detects this T-Energy coming from Ancaria and for whatever reason, it is seeking a new power source, the hows and why he takes over the Temple Guardians I never really got around to figuring out and it's probably just all a dumb idea at best, but if you like any of it, you can have it. I have no use for the ideas anyway, honestly, I am all out of ideas for that, which would have been a story based on my own take on the story of Sacred 2, though the ideas were mostly about the Temple Guardians, but there was a few stray ideas to explain how and why each character including the Temple Guardian himself, how and why they got to where they each start off from, in the sacred 2 game.

Edited August 3, 2019 by SheHawk