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Brilliant Flix. .. I just saw now that you were running this Daemon hunter blog with a new toon...  Im enamored of what that mod team has done... all these changes make the game certainly more accessible as it was very much more of an arcade game than Sacred 2 with the very small (hugely challenging and heart breaking :cry:) short times o fthose buffs... Im a mad follower of where your daemon goes... very exciting! With that mod are you able to get a MP going with others, or does it only allow the lan play to transfer items> That's a huge boon!

:bounce:

 

gogo

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On 8/14/2019 at 5:47 AM, gogoblender said:

With that mod are you able to get a MP going with others, or does it only allow the lan play to transfer items

I'm sure old school LAN parties would still work as well, if you've got your buddies physically with you to join your LAN.  For connecting with friends in foreign countries, something Tunngle or Hamachi should work, but I haven't tried those options yet.

 

Daemon Chronicles, part 2

Here are Syanna's first steps in Silver.  It's a notable difficulty increase from Bronze, where every mob was dying with one hit.  Here are her skills at level 6:

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By default a brand-new Daemon has already learned Weapon Lore and Magic Lore, which is fine, but I always alter my options.txt to allow me to freely choose my characters' starting skills.  So I started Syanna with Weapon Lore, because I know I want her to proficient with some kind of melee weapon, and Hellpower, because I'm going to be casting her spells for support, and I want to keep the regeneration times and casting speed low.

My next choices were Concentration, to keep the regeneration time of her special forms and combat arts low, and Constitution, because I remembered my old Daemon had a big problem with survivability.

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Here is Syanna rescuing the imprisoned Seraphim, her polar opposite. Nevertheless, the Seraphim is grateful.  I wonder if she calls everyone "Child of Darkness and Light" or just the Daemon?  I forgot that this "quest" is basically a secret and not actually in the logbook, though there is a hint in another quest, "Abducted" where a kidnapped novice mentions a rumor about a Seraphim. 

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Resistances are good and will continue to be good when I learn the Armor skill, with the exception of Poison!  The Daemon has very low Charisma, and no skills boost Poison armor, so I suspect she will struggle with resisting this element.  For now I am socketing amulets with Poison Resistance.

This is shortly after picking up Infernal Power and Soaring Daemon.  Infernal Power is a must-have buff that thankfully has a nice beefy 3 minute duration now.  I keep it up and running at all time.  I like to use Soaring Daemon for quickly traveling distances between quest targets and quest givers, for instance.  I can't remember which quests are timed, but I know there are many quests that you can fail if you take too long.

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I bought a cheap horse, but there's really not much point; in Sacred Reborn, the Soaring Daemon becomes faster than a horse!  She also can't use her special shifted combat arts from horseback.  So I haven't really been bothering with mounted combat or buying horse equipment. 

I love using Soaring Daemon to get from point A to point B so much quicker.  No fences, bushes, rivers, lakes, canyons, can stop her, even cliffsides can't bar her way when she's flying.  It's so liberating to zip around in the air.

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Here I am shortly after recruiting Wilbur in main campaign.  Companions in Sacred Reborn are much more robust and hearty, they should no longer fall dead all the time.  Another much-needed change.

I sure do love all the pre-rendered 2D landscapes and backgrounds.  It lends a really quaint a charming look to the game.  I still wish for a remastered version like the Infinity Engine games got that allows higher resolutions, but even the Overlookers Clan couldn't pull this off.   EDIT: They did it! Sacred can now be played in HD!

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Here's a mysterious hint about a strange village to the east.  I wonder if it's referring to the easter egg recreation of Tristram, the town from Diablo?  I could not tell if the language is a clue or just a made up phrase,

 

More on how Syanna is progressing next time!

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1 hour ago, Dragon Brother said:

So going down a google rabbit hole reveals a fair bit about the phrase on that grave stone.

It looks like the quote is a Lord of the Rings reference. The phrase "et eärello endorenna utúlien" translates from Quenya (one of Tolkiens languages for the elves) into "Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come" and is part of a phrase spoken by Elendil (father of Isildur who first "killed" Sauron) when he came to Middle Earth and repeated by Aragorn when crowned:

Since Middle-Earth is east of the great sea maybe it suggests that a village to the east is inspired by a town from the Lord of the Rings?

Haha what an awesome find.  I now think it's probably just a LotR easter egg, but I'll keep my eyes open for anything Tolkienish  to the east. This was around Faeries' Crossing, so like half the game map is to the east.

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17 hours ago, Flix said:

Haha what an awesome find.  I now think it's probably just a LotR easter egg, but I'll keep my eyes open for anything Tolkienish  to the east. This was around Faeries' Crossing, so like half the game map is to the east.

Keep us posted, it would be great if you found Rivendell somewhere or something, but I agree that this phrase is probably the extent of the reference. I love how much the Ascaron developers added to the games in tribute of other things in life that inspired / entertained them. I've never quite seen a game series do it quite to the same extent as they did.

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Daemon Chronicles, part 3

At this point I'm starting to settle into a groove.  I cast my shapeshifted form (either Battle or Fire, or Soaring if traveling fast), then Internal Power, then set out for battle.

VhMNKun.jpg

When I encounter a mob, I cast two more spells that I've added to my repertoire: Call of Death and Blazing Disk.  Call of Death increases damage dealt with each enemy killed.  Although it is nerfed from vanilla, it lasts 1 minute, and Syanna can rack up a huge damage boost in that time.  Blazing Disk (also with fixed 1 min. duration) is useful as sort of companion that seeks out enemies to hit with fire and physical damage.  The damage is greatly buffed in Sacred Reborn.

There is an obvious synergy between Infernal Power and all the Daemon's fire spells, including the Fire Daemon form.  So I will typically use Fire Daemon unless the enemies are particularly fire-resistant, in which case I opt for Battle Daemon instead, for the physical damage.  The secondary combat arts that each grants are pretty great, except for the slow animations.  The Battle Daemon uses Assail, which is a nice multi-hit attack, and the Fire Daemon gets Fire Wall, which sets the ground on fire.  It's a little slow and hard to target though.  Left click attacks are enough for most fights.

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At this point I've taken Sword Lore as my weapon skill.  I had considered Dual Wield but really disliked the run animation (a weird prancing tiptoe) and Ranged Weapons is not available to the Daemon.  Then I checked the Wiki, and saw that all the weapons in the Daemon's sets are swords.  So, swords it is.  I'm not planning on taking the shield skill Parrying, because I'd like the option to switch between using a 1h sword+ shield or a 2h sword.  So far it's worked well, because my attack speed is already maxed out, I just pick whichever sword gives me the best damage.

I have also learned the Magic Lore skill, which boosts all her spell damage.  Blazing Disk is now more than capable of finishing off basic trash mobs on its own, so it's a bit like having a companion creature.

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I ran across the Unknown Warrior in the western forests.  Chain quests in Sacred 1 are a rare and special thing, so I wanted to make sure I helped him to safety, since he'll be showing up again.

BUGFIX: Sacred Reborn fixes the crummy bug in which you could not complete The Unknown Warrior quest if you already completed "Riddles in the Desert."

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Advancing the main quest after rescuing the Baroness Vilya.  The main campaign quest companions are much stronger now, and very useful to have with you, since they're not falling dead constantly.  However, the basic escort quests are still a bit of a headache, since they can easily die, especially since mages in Sacred Reborn have more powerful spells that do more damage.  I've failed a few escort quests due to a Sakkara Priest or Goblin Shaman deciding to target my escort.  A single spell is enough to drop some of these fragile escorts.

Here's a great change in Sacred Reborn that has helped me a lot.  The Blacksmith forging arts are powered up and more useful.  The Defensive bonus has greater Defense % and an addition Physical Regeneration bonus.  The Offensive bonus has greater Attack % and additional Wounds Increase Damage Dealt.  And the magical bonus has significantly increased Mental Regeneration, over double the original values.

image.png.222e7c8a2f9652594cade847cbcf5944.pngimage.png.dcf8eab496ca002dee2b67d97c523ba8.png  

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Beautiful review... you really hit on all the pionts that I thought were annoyances when running this daemon when it was released.  I feel like we're exactly on the same page when you said you got into a "routine" of having to set up all her buffs to get the damage up... I remember doing this as well, ...but such a satisfaction when it all went off perfectly and and you can take out an entire army.  Happy that these buffs now seem to last for a more fair time... Yah... Sacred Underworld was a hard game... Its amazing seeing so much enjoyment being derived from the inception and execution of this mod for a game I'd alwaysthought was going to never be able to be modded well.

Good on that team, and Flix, thanks for this bright inspiring review

:)

 

gogo

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Daemon Chronicles, Part 4 (Into the Desert)

Syanna is venturing to the arid wastes of Khorad-Nur and the Plains of Urkuk.

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You know, I never noticed that you had the very RPG-ish choice of helping the Orcs by fighting the Undead Dragon, but it's totally optional.  You can reject helping them and carry out the main quest that way.  I chose to fight the Undead, naturally.

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At this point I've got all five CA slots open on the interface, and I stuck Dread in the fifth slot, though I don't use it all that often.  Dread creates a static pentagram shape on the ground. Any enemies standing within its influence have drastically reduced attack and defense.  I haven't really needed it, but sometimes if I'm really swarmed I'll use Dread to keep from getting hit too much.

 

Fighting D'Cay, Lady of the Orcus (AKA the Undead Dragon) was my first real challenge in Sacred Reborn, and also my first death - though I just reloaded the save so as not to lose that sweet Survival Bonus.

DCay.jpg

So why was it so challenging, when my Daemon can clean up regular mobs and even elites with no trouble?  Well, Dragons got a big boost in Sacred Reborn.  Here's the relevant part of the change log:

"Greatly increased physical resistance, experience gained, health, movement speed and meteor storm damage. Now each dragon has one weak resistance, one middle, and one extremely high, for example: The D’Cay is vulnerable to fire, medium protected from magic and extremely resistant to poison."

So fortunately this Dragon is very vulnerable to fire, my strongest damage type.  Unfortunately, I don't have very good Poison resistance, and Dragons are now FAST.  I remembered Dragons being big lumbering things that slowly plodded after you.  Now, the Undead Dragon was so fast I literally couldn't run away from her when I ran out of health potions.

So while I was licking my wounds, I took a second to reflect on how I'd built my Daemon thus far:

XEdIcMI.jpg   82Qwmtt.jpg   eKk68on.jpg  

Sets:  I'm still at the point where I'm not picky, I'm just grateful for whatever set items drop.  Luck has given me lots of pieces of Pandora's Box.  I also have all the rings from Aarnum's Regalia.  I'm hoping madly for the sword to drop so I can get that full set bonus!

Attributes:  I split my attribute points equally between Strength and Physical Regeneration.  The Daemon already has really good Mental Regeneration without even investing any points. I may want to invest in more Endurance in the future to boost elemental resistances.

Skills: I've added Armor Lore to the lineup to increase overall resistances and also to boost my movement speed while wearing heavy armor. I've only got 1 skill slot left, and I'm planning to learn Agility when I hit level 50.  It think it's also providing that Physical Resistance +15% in my set bonus list (see Armor Glow on the Wiki, another really cool feature that was lost in Sacred 2).

So, after reloading, here was my strategy against the Undead Dragon:

  1. Use Fire Daemon instead of Battle Daemon  - no way am I able to face tank her or even use my weapon.  I'll have to kite and rely on fire spells to wear her down.
  2. Fill up the inventory to the brim with health potions.
  3. Socket several amulets with poison resistance into my armor.
  4. Create a combo with 4x Blazing Disk. I totally forgot about combos!  They follow such different rules than Sacred 2.  With this combo I can summon 4 blazing disks at once, and then regenerate the combo with Concentration potions and be ready to summon more!

fCAQtLZ.jpg

Overall this strategy worked.  Her poison breath still hurt but not as much as before.  I cast Fire Wall on the ground and then kited to avoid her swipes and keep the flames constantly underneath her.  Meanwhile the 4 Blazing Disks are constantly wailing on her.  I had to spam health potions like crazy but I finally wore her down!  I couldn't get any pics because it was too frantic, but here's the proof:

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And... wow!  The change log wasn't kidding, Dragons are much stronger now.  But that experience gain was huge as well.  I gained three full levels from the kill!

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The Orcs are pleased I helped them and let me into the city.  My time in the Desert is over for now. Time to head to Braverock Castle.

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This is just something I noticed that I liked while playing Syanna.  Unlike the other characters, the Daemon is frightening to citizens, and they all run away screaming initially.  However, as you complete more quests, some kind of hidden reputation system kicks in, and NPC comments go from hostile to neutral to (finally) warm and welcoming.  It's a nice touch.

dW14rLe.jpg 

 C0ZEZN5.jpg   7rFTUWo.jpg

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Noticed this as well! but never got so far into campaign to notice the sway in public sympathy.  I was mostly just in HC servers leveling up... I believe I got her to niobium, now wish I'd gone to town more.

And... was nice to the citizens of course

;)

gogo

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13 hours ago, MetaL said:

Hi, I'm one of the developers of ReBorn mod. It's pretty cool to see such chronicles, thanks to Flix for that :thumbsup: 

I'm glad that Darkmatters veterans like ReBorn mod so much, thank you all for your kind words :gogo:

Some fun fact: Few weeks ago I made some stream sessions with Daemon on ReBorn. My goal was get max level from 0 without transfering items and any exploits (even without owerspawn). You can find playlist with this stream sessions here. I commented in russian 99% of the time, but game in english language anyway. So my stream sessions and these chronicles happens almost in the same period :friends3:

Great having you here on the boads, MetaL!  Love that Sacred's attraction is so strong that it's inspired such an powerful Mod for what the very first game.  Daemon was one of my very favorite characters, and reading Flix's diaries wth the character after your mod has enhanced and updated so many of the options was delightful.

 

It's delightful work, cant imagine the hours :bounce:  I've also created a new community group and color for you and your team if they ever visit the forum here...

Thank you!

:gogo:

 

gogo

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On 8/29/2019 at 3:07 PM, MetaL said:

Hi, I'm one of the developers of ReBorn mod. It's pretty cool to see such chronicles, thanks to Flix for that :thumbsup: 

I'm glad that Darkmatters veterans like ReBorn mod so much, thank you all for your kind words :gogo:

Some fun fact: Few weeks ago I made some stream sessions with Daemon on ReBorn. My goal was get max level from 0 without transfering items and any exploits (even without owerspawn). You can find playlist with this stream sessions here. I commented in russian 99% of the time, but game in english language anyway. So my stream sessions and these chronicles happens almost in the same period :friends3:

This mod is fantastic. I'm very glad it was created.  I am a slow, methodical player. I like to explore every dungeon, try to find every quest, and even roleplay a little bit.  I expect it will probably be weeks or months before I finish all the content.  We'll see what level she ends up at.   I am savoring every moment.   Many thanks to you and your team.

 

Daemon Chronicles, Part 5: BraveRock'n'Roll

Syanna is on her way to Braverock Castle, but along the way she stopped in the western forest areas of Timberton and Wolfdale.  There she met many Wood Elves and even tried to broker peace between them and the humans who settled in the forest.

FmnAx8d.jpg

 

Along the way, she also finally reached level 50, and learned her 8th and final skill: Agility. This skill boosts both attack and defense rating. It is a good all-round skill for any weapon-user.

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At Braverock Castle she received and completed many side quests, including some escort quests made quite difficult by powerful mages lurking around.  There were many saves and reloads involved.  Finally she met with Prince Valor and got the next mission.

CkmfjrU.jpg

 

The main quest wants me to head north to the Seraphim Monastery, but I'm taking advantage of having a powerful sorceress on my team.  I'm taking Shareefa and we're going questing together.  Here we are setting out to adventure south of Braverock in the areas of Shires Pen, Bravesbury, and Hedgenton.

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As you can see by the screenshot above, I've swapped out the fifth CA slot to use Hell Sphere.  Wow, this is a cool spell.  You conjure these orbs that act like sentries and fire beams of magic/fire damage against any enemy that comes close to you.  Between this and Blazing Disk, I barely have to swing my sword in some fights!  We'll see how these spells fare against bosses.

Sacred Reborn Feature:  All spells in this mod have their own individual regeneration time.  This means if you cast Blazing Disk, only Blazing Disk's cooldown is triggered! This opens up wonderful possibilities in gameplay, allowing you to juggle multiple spells and attacks on the fly, instead of playing the waiting game all the time.

 

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Not quite sure I get this joke, but another little easter egg hidden message discovered nonetheless.

 

More on Syanna's current equipment: before I had almost the entire Pandora's set, but then more pieces from other sets dropped, so I have an even split between several different sets, getting bonuses from each.

RVmIV02.jpg

 

It wasn't the Aarnum's blade I was hoping for, but a wonderfully powerful sword from Taelon's set dropped from a random mob.  I love how socketed set jewelry still activated set bonuses in Sacred 1.  It really opens up possibilities in configuring your equipment.

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Next time: Syanna is going Dragon hunting in the Plains of Tyr-Hadar!

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Would be interesting to see how this build holds up when doing the Underworld campaign.

Also, D'Cay isn't the first Dragon you can encounter. There's one hidden on the islands south of Crows Rock Castle, which can be accessed by either jumping / flying from the shore noth or Porto Vallum or by taking the dungeon route underneath DeMordrey's castle.

 

Not sure if you plan to take on all Dragons, but the most logical order would be

1) the one from Crows Rock;

2) Tyr-Hadar Twins

3)  D'Cay

4) Dragon west of Mascarell

5) Element of Air Dragon

6) Element of Fire Dragon

7) Element of Earth Dragon

8) Element of Wate Dragon

9) Gloom Dragon (either from Mystdale Castle or while heading to that campaign point)

 

All in all, ten Dragons  to deal with, meaning ten interesting fights.

 

Thorin :) 

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On 9/7/2019 at 6:11 PM, Thorin Oakshield said:

Also, D'Cay isn't the first Dragon you can encounter. There's one hidden on the islands south of Crows Rock Castle, which can be accessed by either jumping / flying from the shore noth or Porto Vallum or by taking the dungeon route underneath DeMordrey's castle.

This was in fact the first Dragon I fought, quite by accident, but I had to retreat because I couldn't even touch it damage-wise.  I'm guessing it has very high fire resistance per the mod, and I hadn't worked out any good boss-strategies yet.  We'll see how some other Dragon fare before I head back to Draconis Mortis.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/30/2019 at 5:38 AM, gogoblender said:

Great having you here on the boads, MetaL!  Love that Sacred's attraction is so strong that it's inspired such an powerful Mod for what the very first game.  Daemon was one of my very favorite characters, and reading Flix's diaries wth the character after your mod has enhanced and updated so many of the options was delightful.

 

It's delightful work, cant imagine the hours :bounce:  I've also created a new community group and color for you and your team if they ever visit the forum here...

Thank you!

:gogo:

 

gogo

hi, I'm sorry about that community group functionality having those impacts...this week I'll work on it again to have that colour 😊

Thanks again for all the time you and your team have put into this!

:gogo:

 

gogo

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  • 1 month later...

This is a terrific old-school style write up... bravo!   Your pacing and strategy had me hooked.  lol I remember having my heart in my mouth the first time a group of us attempted to take out these twin terrors and we lost a few in the attack rip friends... 

Also love your note of how Sacred had all these tiny little quests popping up in delicious places...  this land had lots of delights...and I cant imagine dragons moving that fast:)

:oooo:

 

gogo

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9 hours ago, gogoblender said:

Also love your note of how Sacred had all these tiny little quests popping up in delicious places...  this land had lots of delights

Yes it gave the world a lot of character and charm.  Even little areas that didn't have quests, would kind of tell their own little story if you paid attention to the details.  I could see the dead conjurer on the ground, his leftover preparations for the spell, the cracks rent in the ground from his ritual, and the demons spilling up out of it, in a place where there were no such enemies.  Makes it feel like there's other things going on beside the character's own journeys.

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Ben, I dont know how you keep finding the time to keep up with all you modding and then go through this new mod and chronicle everything for us ...  I feel like I'm playing Sacred from the beginning all over again with my Daemon :bounce: ....  I agree with you re the polar environment...and in fact it had slipped my mind that this was such a vital and beautiful millieu in the game.... I remember so many members of the community all thrashing those giants at once for experience over and over... a great memory...

and what about that cursed gold... does it disappear after a while or stay intact?  I in fact have forgotten

:lol:

 

gogo

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