Convince me to buy this game

[Lazzie 0]

Hey, I'm Lazzie. I'm in my early 20s and graduated from university in May 2009.

 

I love PC action RPGs. They're one of my favorite game genres. I really liked the original Sacred, Diablo I and II, Baldur's Gate I and II, and Titan Quest. Recently I've felt the need to play another good grinder, but I've heard from most of my gaming friends that Sacred 2 is nowhere near as fun as the first Sacred.

 

So that's where you guys come in. Break down Sacred 2 for me, tell me why it's good or bad, better or worse than Sacred 1, and I'll decide whether I buy it or not. I'll be getting my next paycheck tomorrow, so if you Sacred 2 pros convince me then I'll probably pick up the game this weekend. So come on, everyone. Convince me to buy this game!

[Sunfire 0]

Hmm, lets see.. Community, making new friends, great graphics (if you can handle them).

Nostalgia of S1, Great challenge.

Really don't matter what I say. Buy it and try it,,. It will speak for itself.

I have 3 license's now, if that means anything.

Again,, Welcome.

Jet

[Little Faith 24]

I'll just take a moment to rain on everybodys parade here:

 

There's one big negative: Sacred 2 comes saddled with SecuROM and no amount of whitewashing is going to change the fact that it is a goddamn rootkit.

[Raventiger 0]

I'll just take a moment to rain on everybodys parade here:

 

There's one big negative: Sacred 2 comes saddled with SecuROM and no amount of whitewashing is going to change the fact that it is a goddamn rootkit.

 

Ok my turn to come in here. I was one of those people who made a number of posts regarding Securom when the developers announced it. I didn't pick the game up when it was released as a protest vote. I didn't download the game illegally as I am against that, so that meant I went without.

 

I have just recently picked up Sacred 2 and speaking as someone who has personally been bitten badly by Securom in the past, let me just say that whilst Sacred 2 does have it's issues, Securom is not one of them. It may be an issue with the expansion and Windows 7 but that's something I'm hoping Deep Silver will sort out with a patch. Sacred 2 will revoke it's license automatically upon uninstallation so you don't have have to worry about activations and losing your game.

 

The problem with Securom is that you can't make blanket statements about it, simply because it has a number of options and different developers/publishers choose different options depending upon their needs/desires at the time. Ascaron choose some pretty good options for it's implementation of Securom with this game, unlike say EA with Spore.

 

 

Now getting back on topic, Sacred 2 has a deeper method of customising your character's skills then any other game I've seen. I haven't seen Titan Quest so I don't know how Sacred 2 compares to that. The world is immense, the humor is great, and the game is beautiful graphics wise. I suggest downloading the demo and giving it a try to see how you like the game.

Edited September 3, 2009 by Raventiger

[Barsby 0]

Hmm, never played Sacred1, but did spend obscene amounts of time playing all the others you listed there, so I'll just comment in relation to them:

 

The camera. You might be ok with it, but the default settings are horrendous. Use the camera fix - you can find it somewhere on Darkmatters - to escape the hell that is the default camera.

The controls - are terribly limited. I have to assume it was designed with just 4 skill hotkeys (5 with the expansion, assuming it will ever be available in Australia ) to allow easy conversion to console controls. If you were a big diablo fan like me, you'll no doubt spend a long time praying for a mod that allows D2 LMB/RMB hotkeying. It's pretty similar to TQ in that respect, both of them need a UI overhaul in a big big way.

Other bugs - have been pretty minor, I have to say. I do find the occasional quest where I need to collect 5 thingos, and only 4 are spawned, forcing me to exit and restart. Every time it has happened though, lucky number 5 has been waiting on the ground when I run back to that spot.

Frustration - the AI of followers in escort quests. Dear freakin' lord. All they do is run around building the biggest train possible, willfully trying to get themselves killed. Fortunately, there aren't too many and any that are vital to advancing the main story or the class specific story have god mode so you can just ignore them.

The world - it's completely static, like TQ. The map and all dungeons never change, which is a bit of a dagger in the back for replayability.

 

On the flip side!

The world - is huge! It's also not utterly linear like TQ. There are so many quests you can pick and choose. If you like the look and feel of an area, explore it more fully and do all the quests. If you think an area smells a bit, zip through it - explore it to reveal the map (and thus improve drops from what I've read) but give the quests the flick. Or not, whatever you want. The points is you don't have to follow the same exact footsteps with each character, on each difficulty. Kind of a pseudo-randomness.

It's pretty! Eye-candy is never a bad thing. Characters, animation, mobs and world, they are all very, very nice to look at. Assuming your PC is up to it, of course

Loot! There's lots, it's very Diablo-esque, prefixes, suffixes, sets, uniques, legendaries, etc. Sadly, from what I have seen, sets seem to be hard to beat for armour. Uniques seem to be winners for weapons/shields. Because of the way the items work - where there is an upgraded version of each set every certain number of levels, it does mean your characters tend to get a certain look reasonably fast and it is unlikely to change. I did see the screenie gogo posted recently, of a rare with rare mods, socketed with rare jewelery that seemed to kick the behind of any set item, so there are those elusive special items out there, wanting to be found...

Skills - the character building options are pretty detailed. There are a lot of choices to be made in how you build your characters. You will want to do your homework on your planned build, down to the smallest detail in how you customise the main combat arts you intend to use. There's no re-speccing options like TQ. It's Diablo - once the click is made, it's made. So, both good and bad, for me.

 

I'm not trying to sell, or not sell, here. Just pointing out my observations.

[Epox 2]

well its just fun, but not as fun as BG2

[Chareos Rantras 0]

Yea to follow Epox post: Buy it, Love it, Fun it!

 

 

 

cheers!

Chareos Rantras

[Chrona 82]

Yeah, its a lot of fun...

[chattius 2,527]

We have 5 kids, so a copy of sacred 2 costs as much as one visit at McDonalds or at a cinema with whole family. But is has been great fun for the most of our family: My 14 and 11 year old daughters play, my wife and me too (if we get the time) beginning in decembre 2008. Our 7 year old daughter prefers to play Zitter (austrian/german music instruments with 42 strings) and our mixed twins with their 18 month are too young. So its really a game for whole family, 2 game computers and one multimedia computer in living room, so we can play on 3 computers with our 2 copies in a mini lan. Or use 2 computers to play online.

 

I know the age is claimed as 16, but I even use sacred2 for teaching problem solving. So I ask my kids to turn off a buff and try to play without it. I would be against blind mass slaughtering, but using creativity and wit to play funny, away from mainstream characters is okay for me as a parent.

 

And luckily sacred2 allows it, to get an idea for a character and try to play it. Sacred2 has no ninja, but you can try to turn a dryad to look like a ninja and to fight like a ninja with bare hands.

 

Modifying combat arts, choosing fitting equipment to play your idea, I like it.

[Chareos Rantras 0]

We have 5 kids, so a copy of sacred 2 costs as much as one visit at McDonalds or at a cinema with whole family. But is has been great fun for the most of our family: My 14 and 11 year old daughters play, my wife and me too (if we get the time) beginning in decembre 2008. Our 7 year old daughter prefers to play Zitter (austrian/german music instruments with 42 strings) and our mixed twins with their 18 month are too young. So its really a game for whole family, 2 game computers and one multimedia computer in living room, so we can play on 3 computers with our 2 copies in a mini lan. Or use 2 computers to play online.

 

I know the age is claimed as 16, but I even use sacred2 for teaching problem solving. So I ask my kids to turn off a buff and try to play without it. I would be against blind mass slaughtering, but using creativity and wit to play funny, away from mainstream characters is okay for me as a parent.

 

And luckily sacred2 allows it, to get an idea for a character and try to play it. Sacred2 has no ninja, but you can try to turn a dryad to look like a ninja and to fight like a ninja with bare hands.

 

Modifying combat arts, choosing fitting equipment to play your idea, I like it.

 

Thats the kind of family that I want to have, all playing Sacred 2 (or another fun game), it's so fun! Playing with people you like & love...

 

 

cheers!

Chareos Rantras

[Zonc1 0]

+ best character development system there is

+ graphics, animation, world design are top-of-the-line

 

- multi is only extension of singleplayer, with some terrible features (like PvP death count)

[Lazzie 0]

Well, hm. From the sound of it all I would probably get into this game, and if I did I'd probably buy the version of Steam, which avoids some of the negatives associated with SecuRom. I reckon that Sacred 2 is far from a bad game, but has a few fundamental problems that can be really bothersome (I.e. the camera) and a few things that might be improved with patches and expansions.

 

For me, I think I'm probably best off waiting. My computer probably needs an upgrade if I want to enjoy the game properly, since Sacred 2 is a big game that has framerate issues on older machines (the newest game I have on my PC is Titan Quest), and a Gold version or something similar would be best for me to track down when the time comes. Plus, I could always save my money to eventually upgrade to a better computer.

 

Thanks for the comments everyone, they were entertaining and enlightening.