Sych

There's sort of a happy "middle ground" between "low" levels and "high" levels I prefer. It's the point when I feel the character is reaching their maximum potential (skill potency, item quality, etc.) but before these things become normal again and the new feel of power and accomplishment starts to stagnate and becomes the norm. This point is different across games and even across different characters in the same game. e.g (MMO); When your warrior gets his shiny awesome armor and borders on unkillable, but before he turns into your clan/guild's main raid tank, ceasing to become a warrior and becoming little more than an armor-clad side of beef tasked with getting slapped around by whatever Grand Duchess Pixie Dragon Buffalo Watergod thing the clain/guild decided to kill.

Take a break from it. You're burning out. I'll assume you play a lot, or at least Sacred 2 is one of your most frequently played games, if not topping the list. Every video game I've considered good enough to invest hours upon hours upon months of game time in I've burned out on at some point. Some I take a break, maybe a week, maybe a year, and come back just as strong. Other times I feel I've got everything out of it I can and it never leaves the case again, destined to die at the bottom of the pile of games. You can try playing something else for a while, but the risk is burning out on that and even gaming in general. Or read a book or something. EDIT: Also, burning out is more common with games involving grinding, leveling, and such. There's a level of monotony with these games and sometimes playing too much magnifies this aspect to the point of fixation.

I don't know if there's things like loot tables for bosses, or if anybody has done that sort of research, it's far from readily available on the internets, either due to the quality (or lack thereof) of such information, or this game isn't as popular as say, some high-profile MMOs where there's millions upon millions of people involved in such operations. I'm not even sure (don't know if anybody is) of how loot tables work and if bosses drop certain items with any degree of consistency. I know you're probably just asking in general, and hopefully someone with more experience with the game and drops can add insight. I'm not that person, but I'm fairly certain there's no available information as specific as Go kill X if you want item Y.

Ok, you're correct in assuming I play console, XBox360 specifically, and I'm well-aware of the various bugs, glitches, issues, and so-on this game suffers from. I've also played my share of RPGs, probably more I can think of off the top of my head, and many of those suffering from similar issues (especially in early lives of MMOs). Perhaps I've developed a resistance to seeing this kind of stuff; I accept as "coming with the territory" and unless something is truly game-breaking (preventing any sort of enjoyable play) I can usually at least tolerate it. I'm not suggesting this is the right way or what everyone "should do," I'm just defending my perspective. I didn't say anybody (in that thread or otherwise) was stupid or wrong. It's impossible to on issues of subjective opinion anyway, but moving on. It just seems that many of those people (again, referencing the linked thread) are digging for reasons to sling mud at Ascaron, an entity they're unhappy with for one reason or another. This becomes questionable, to me, when people are identifying things like paying for DLC as a reason Ascaron is bad. The localization thing between countries (fixing Europe's game before ours) is an entire other layer that's often more a legal or logistical issue as opposed to developers just being lazy or randomly deciding what to fix when and where. Point being, I know the game has issues and I'm not trying to deny that. But either because it's well-known and played out at this point, or people are just more frustrated, instead of constructive criticism-type feedback, or just understanding, patience and toleration, you get threads like that more in the tone of Ascaron is bad, and here's why. I also find your reference to Blizzard interesting, considering Blizzard is notorious for going through its stages of controversy and forum-hate.

I have mixed feelings. I do understand some of the frustration players are expressing, but the reasoning (to me, personally) is a little off. First, there are people complaining about having to pay for new content (DLC) as if it's a new trend, instead of the standard it's been for...a decade? At least? Also, there's the classic Stop adding new stuff until you fix the old stuff argument. While attempting to avoid beating a dead horse, the people of that perspective need to remember (or learn) that there are usually various "teams" of people working on different aspects of a game; in this context, patching current content and developing new content. While you can maybe make a moral argument focusing on the company adding new stuff while the old isn't perfect, there's nothing preventing them logistically from doing both simultaneously. Honestly the thread (or the bit I forced myself to read) reads as nothing more than the typical responses to a typical situation laden with misunderstandings.

"Mob" in RPG terminology usually refers to any single NPC (non-player character) that can hurt you. I want to say it originated as an abbreviation of mobile something or-other, but I could be wrong. A group would simply be "mobs," "group of mobs" or I suppose even "mob of mobs" if you desire.

There is an important distinction between "skills" and "combat arts" that I think you're a bit cloudy on. You can always reference something like the Sacred 2 Wiki pages, but basically, it's like this: Combat Arts are the things you actually "use" to fight. You click on them, the character does something. To improve them you consume runes with the combat art's name. Skills can be thought of as supplemental training to improve your character in general. Something like the Sword Weapons skill improves your ability with swords. To improve these, you open the skills screen and spend the points you earn when you gain a level. I believe the in-game tip you are referring to is referencing skills, as there's a limited number of points you can use to improve your skills, which is obviously restricted by the level cap ultimately and hence, you cannot max all of your skills. For combat arts, you can improve those (which is done by eating runes, not putting "points" in them) as much as you like, although that has its own drawbacks such as making the regeneration time for that combat art longer (you must wait longer for it to "recharge"). My apologies if I'm misunderstanding you and this is all just nonsense. Feel free to ask for clarification here, or check the aforementioned reference tools if you're still a little unsure. The distinction was confusing for me too, since many games use the term "skill" and "combat art" interchangeably. If I am incorrect and the game is in fact talking about combat arts, it may be subtly and poorly referencing combat art "modifications," which is another upgrade mechanic that's somewhat complicated.

Shadow Warrior. I feel I've had enough experience with the classes I had any interest in to get a ... feel ... for each. I could mix it up with different builds and such, but I base my choice on style, narrative personality (SW is forged of pure win), and appearance too. I've always leaned more towards the warrior/tank class(es) in RPGs anyways, so I'm not surprised. Temple Guardians look too gimmicky, and Seraphim too crazy-looking, not that I'm trying to judge anyone based on their favs. Unless it's Seraphim.

This. It's the typical occurrence in many games. There's a few different oddities I've seen/heard regarding people getting disconnected from games, from disappearing items to corrupted save files. Not trying to scare anybody, I wouldn't say it's a frequent occurrence.

I have heard fire damage helps. Do a quick check of the opponent's weaknesses to damage types, as well as their own damage types and adjust your attack damage properties and relics (resistances) to fit. This is general advice that can change the outcome of a fight, or at least make it easier. I don't know if there's a "best level" for bosses, if it's just too hard, level some and come back. Most of my boss fights thus far have started strategic and ended up a toe-to-toe slugfest between frat boys with me chugging health pots instead of Natural Light by the case. Play with blacksmith mods to change weapon damage, try different methods, etc. but if you're barely leaving a dent after 5 minutes, might be easier to just grab those few levels.

Same boat as you, Milk. My first character a week or so ago was a SW, played for a while, with no idea of really what I was doing. Last thing I did was kill off the Kobold Chieftain at Level 15 which involved a 10-minute slugfest and chainchugging health pots. My new SW just killed him in under a minute with no health pots at level 10. Little bit of knowledge (and build strategy) goes a long way, eh?

I approve of this message. I just switched to a new one after my old one started connecting (electronically, not physically) when it felt like it instead of when I told it to.

It's preference; I don't think there's anything unique to Sacred 2 that puts on a new spin on games that do both PC and console. Comparisons generally fall along the same lines.

Hook up with people "outside" the game, whether it's forums, real life friends, people you play with often on Live, etc. Easier (and less frustrating) than just trying to randomly find people.

I've had the same thing happen (I'm on XBox). It does seem to occur more often when there's a lot going on; I could almost anticipate these weird graphics freezes when my Inquisitor was about to maelstrom/Palpatine Lightning a crowd of 30 goblins. And it's not just regular lag where everything stops for a moment. As Kingy specifies, the image is frozen, but you can see the life bars of engaged enemies which move as normal if you change your view, yet the picture stays frozen. Everything is still "working," we just can't see it.

They're supposed to. You cannot use abilities on the "normal" horses (you do get a couple of horse tricks, depending on which you buy), and this includes buffs/auras. Your class-specific mount allows you to make use of your abilities while riding. And yeah, I agree on buff display randomness. I've had the graphic displays for buffs act goofy on every character, just did some quick testing with Overview open to see if the stats were effected by the buffs.

Sup guys. Started playing like a week ago, still bouncing between a couple of new characters until I get settled. GT: Psykologikill

Hey guys. Picked up Sacred 2 for XBox360 about a week ago. Back in the day, Diablo 2 ate chunks of my life for weeks at a time. A bit of nostalgia for the genre and a dry spell in games did it for me. Love the game so far, trying out a few different characters to see which I want to invest some time in. The guides and advice here have been a huge help.