Good builds for two player?

[TychusVR 0]

Hi folks. I just picked up Sacred 2 as a game my fiancée and I could play together. I looked through the build guides on the wiki, and while I think I'm starting to grasp the concepts, they seem predominantly written for players who already know the game - and often already have access to tons of equipment. I'm not interested in building up farmers and shoppers just to make a character I want to play - I want to have fun from the start, but hopefully not make so many mistakes that we have to start over.

 

Since we plan to play almost exclusively as a duo, I'm looking for suggestions for a pair of characters that work well together and give us a bit of flexibility to experiment. Any suggestions?

 

Oh, we're on 360, if it makes a difference.

Edited February 10, 2012 by TychusVR

[darkeidolon 1]

You: (Tank) Dragon mage or shadow warrior or Temple guardian

Your Fiancee: (Support) Seraphim or temple guardian

 

OR try experimenting!

[lujate 578]

Welcome aboard!

 

Where to begin... First off, the console version of Sacred 2 is similar to an early PC version, but there are some significant differences. Some skills (e.g. Alchemy and Blacksmithing) are practically, or totally, unusable. Also, a number of bug fixes never made it into the console versions. Do not let this scare you off. On the flip-side, the console versions have a number of advantages. I started on ps3 and loved it so much that I sprang for the PC version just to get the Ice and Blood expansion (not available for consoles ).

 

My suggestion would be to read through the builds on the Sacred wiki (you have found the wiki, right ) and find a couple written for Fallen Angel. Start on Bronze to get your feet wet, you can always move up to Silver when you get the hang of it.

 

Edit:

Sorry darkeidolon, console means no Dragon Mage.

[gogoblender 3,070]

Hi folks. I just picked up Sacred 2 as a game my fiancée and I could play together. I looked through the build guides on the wiki, and while I think I'm starting to grasp the concepts, they seem predominantly written for players who already know the game - and often already have access to tons of equipment. I'm not interested in building up farmers and shoppers just to make a character I want to play - I want to have fun from the start, but hopefully not make so many mistakes that we have to start over.

 

Since we plan to play almost exclusively as a duo, I'm looking for suggestions for a pair of characters that work well together and give us a bit of flexibility to experiment. Any suggestions?

 

Oh, we're on 360, if it makes a difference.

 

Perhaps consider making one of the two hugely powerful off the bat to make sure both are "covered"?

My take on your challenge... create one of them as being a dryad...right off the bat, if you equip her with blowpipe, she's insanely powerful. Zero travel speed, you'll be yelling with glee and amusement when you see how fast she kills all across the screen. Definite yummer.

 

And, create a low level two bargainer with a High Elf. Put all points in Bargaining and let her do the shopping for both your toons. This simple strategy allows players to get THE BEST EQUIPMENT POSSIBLE at level two in the shop...good enough to last you till level 20 easy.

 

Good luck

 

Oh yeah, and welcome to DarkMatters!

 

 

gogo

[Mystix123 60]

Finally got some time to reply to this (been a busy week).

I've played an extensive amount of time in local co-op in this game, with a few different teams. The dynamics of teamwork changes quite a bit because you are tethered to the same screen.

 

General Warning: In local co-op, you can not switch the party of the characters. In Campaign, you'll both start off in the same party and will share experience/loot. If you go into Free World though, you start off in different parties, thus will not be able to share the experience/loot, but will still be tethered to the same screen.

 

Some general tips:

- Remember that certain Combat Arts can be modified to benefit allies also. When you're tethered to the same screen, both of you will almost always be in range to benefit from this (you both have to be on opposite ends of the screen to not receive the benefits).

- I've noticed that combining a melee based build with a ranged based build leads to one or the other having little to do. Either the ranged character will kill everything before the melee character can move in or, if the the melee character runs ahead of the ranged character, the melee character will kill everything before a ranged attack can hit. Ideally, the best combination for tethered co-op are two of the same style of build (both ranged or both melee).

- A Stealth based Shadow Warrior in co-op does not work well on the console version, especially if you're doing online co-op, as enemies will still attack you, as your partner can be seen. At the same time, especially in couch co-op, one person doing all of the tanking isn't always fun.

 

Honestly, the two best teams that I've played local co-op with are the following:

- Defense built Shadow Warrior (as a tank, Reflective Emanation modded to affect all allies) and a magic based Seraphim (Healing with Hallowed Restoration, damage with Radiant Pillar, Battle Stance modded to affect all allies).

- Two ranged characters: A Fire-based High Elf and a BFG Seraphim.

 

I feel like I'm forgetting some points, so I'll add them later if I can remember them.

[gogoblender 3,070]

 

- Two ranged characters: A Fire-based High Elf and a BFG Seraphim.

 

 

Omgod, no dryad?

 

nooooooooooooo

 

 

gogo

[TychusVR 0]

I've noticed that combining a melee based build with a ranged based build leads to one or the other having little to do. Either the ranged character will kill everything before the melee character can move in or, if the the melee character runs ahead of the ranged character, the melee character will kill everything before a ranged attack can hit. Ideally, the best combination for tethered co-op are two of the same style of build (both ranged or both melee).

 

Thanks, good tip. Our instinct was to go with a melee + ranged combo. I think we're going to go with a seraphim/shadow warrior group. Maybe try a high elf/dryad duo in the future.

 

On a completely unrelated note, what do I have to do to buy from merchants? So far it seems like I only have the option to sell.

[lujate 578]

On ps3, one of the triggers toggles between buy and sell. I assume xbox works in a similar manner.

[TychusVR 0]

Well, that was a bust. We tried playing together for a while, but I don't think it's going to work out. Being tethered to the same screen, stuck at max zoom, made it too hard to see what was going on when it mattered. Only being able to have one player's menus open at a time is what really killed it though. Waiting for someone else to look through their inventory is boring.

 

Does multiplayer online on the console have these same restrictions?

 

Still searching for a good cooperative action RPG that's actually intended to be played on the same screen (like the old Baldur's Gate games).

Edited February 12, 2012 by TychusVR

[lujate 578]

I am sorry to hear that. Couch co-op console A-RPG games are my background (Ice and Blood is my first PC game in many, many years). There are always trade offs. The two player inventory system in Baldur's Gate is the only one like that I can think of. On most games, inventory is one at a time. Some games lock the camera rotation while others lock the zoom. Even when the zoom is not fixed, it frequently zooms out automatically when the characters get too far apart, which in my experience is most of the time. Couch co-op A-RPG games are hard to come by. Baldur's Gate 2 had a to-be-continued ending, but the company went belly up and no sequel materialized. The Norrath series on ps2 just disappeared.

 

Edit:

Fixed typos

[Stormwing 40]

Well, I was kinda wondering how it would turn out in the single screen.

Too bad I don't have any experiences in modern consoling, only getting PS3 next week.

Off the bat I can't quite think of any...

Perhaps Dungeon Defenders? Or Dungeon Siege 3? Though I don't know about their multiplayer excutions..

 

Eternal Sonata could be one, if JRPGs are your cup of tea. Haven't tried, but knowing the types, I'm quite positive co-op should be nicely done. (Though can't guarentee...)

[Mystix123 60]

TychusVR:

Online co-op does not have the same restrictions. Each person experiences the interface design of the single player. This means that there is no tethering (you can be on two different parts of the map completely, fighting 2 different bosses at the same time for example), each person can access their inventory separately, etc.

The only warning that I have for online multiplayer, especially if you're sharing the connection: The console version of Sacred 2 uses a peer-to-peer hosting system. That means when you host a game, your console is the server. If your connection is not sufficient, or if you're downloading/torrenting a bunch of stuff while playing, the connection will be highly unstable, especially for the person connecting to you. Examples of this are high amounts of lag (everyone else will move in bursts around you) or constant disconnects (you will continuously run or attack, even if you're not holding a direction or an attack button).

 

As for the inventory and waiting issues: After some time, when you can speed through the inventory, this becomes much less of a problem. It was something that I noticed off the bat, but my friend and I used to discuss things (in terms of good equipment, if the other wants said equipment, etc), so it didn't seem so bad.

 

 

Stormwing:

Dungeon Siege 3 is plagued with a lot of issues (similar to Sacred 2's couch co-op), only they apply to the online as well...and it gets worse.

For DS3's online, you can't make your own character and take it online (thus keeping experience and items), the character is tied to the host's account. So if you join a random game, you can re-spec whichever character you choose to your own playstyle and play with them, but they keep everything. Also, it seems that DS3's online requires the tethered co-op. It just doesn't keep you tethered as tightly as Sacred 2's offline co-op.

 

Dungeon Defenders is a great game overall. I preface the next section with this, because I'm about to state all of the problems with the game (and it doesn't seem so good afterward).

The split screen is awful. I have a 55" 3DTV, and playing 2 player (thus given half the screen), I had to walk up to the TV and squint to see some of the text in the inventory sometimes. It works much better online (where you get the full screen). The 3D is awful, at best. It tends to distort everything and makes it harder to judge distances. It's one of the few games that actually start to hurt my eyes (and I have the LG Cinema-style 3D, which doesn't have flickering involved anywhere, so it doesn't cause eye strain or headaches normally).

Also, Dungeon Defenders has no console support. There are huge balancing issues (the Squire has the best towers and the Huntress is the best for damage dealing...you'll get kicked from a lot of online games if you don't have a Huntress for DDing), as well as some game freezing bugs. These issues will never be addressed, nor will there be the promised multi-platform play. Instead, Trendy released a portion of the DLC found in the PC version (not even the entire new campaign).

Finally, you can not back-up your save file (at least in the PS3 version), which didn't come in handy when my PS3 died on me.

 

 

Edit - Gogo:

Never liked Dryad.

/takes cover for the hailstorm of rocks about to be thrown.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Mystix123

[Stormwing 40]

Mystics: Well, that kinda blasted those ones outta the sky... Still, thanks a bunch of the info. I'll be sure to consider beat 'em ups as couch-games for a while myself.

Though most of the time I play alone, so not a big issue with me.