Preview Sacred 2 ganderings at IGN

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Sacred 2

<a href="http://pc.ign.com">IGN</a> has a <a href="http://pc.ign.com/articles/854/854461p1.html">preview</a> of <a href="http://www.sacred2.com">Sacred 2</a> based on some demoing they saw at that recent game industry trade show. It covers fighting monsters in groups, dragons, demons, and all sorts of happy stuff. Anyway, here's the clip that irked me the most:
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<blockquote>Ascaron made a point of mentioning how there's no randomly generated content in the game; every object has been placed with a purpose to make the world feel more unique. Because the world is seamless, there's also no loading when heading into the game's many underground dungeons.</blockquote>
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Well, that's a damned pisser. Even though the random side quests in the original were fairly mundane ones such as "Go here and kill this" or "Go here and kill this and get back this", they at least showed you around the landmarks of the world. Not to mention it gets dull in multiplayer doing the same side quests over and over.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://ve3d.ign.com/">Voodoo Extreme</A>

 

[thesheeep]

I also don't quite know why they removed those random quests.
Doesn't seem necessary to me.

But are you sure they are needed for MP?
Just look at Diablo 2. It has no random quests and its MP is popular as ever

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

But are you sure they are needed for MP?
Just look at Diablo 2. It has no random quests and its MP is popular as ever

Moat of the Diablo 2 players tend to do runs on bosses for ph4t l3wt, which bores me to tears. Once they added fixed sidequests in Sacred, there were a few that were so annoying, I just didn't feel like doing them. I never really felt that way about the random ones prior to Sacred Plus.

 

[thesheeep]

Guess we will just have to see if S2 gets that boring after a while. I fear so, as every Hack&Slash game does so after a while (at least for me). I will definately test this game before buying it.

 

[nik2008ofs]

Even though the random side quests in the original were fairly mundane ones such as "Go here and kill this" or "Go here and kill this and get back this", they at least showed you around the landmarks of the world. Not to mention it gets dull in multiplayer doing the same side quests over and over.

No comment about the multiplayer, but properly placed fixed side quests can show you the game world just as well as the random ones. It's a question of correct overall design, not of a particular gameplay mechanism.

 

[Annonchinil]

I hope they have PvP multiplayer like Nox.

 

[bozia2012]

The most important is that gore is in. I'm a bit tired of blunt axes from TQ.

Well, at least in the European version - yanks and will get the neutered version along with a Teen rating (and according to devs there will be no way to enable flying body parts by editing the files like it was previously).

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Well, at least in the European version - yanks and will get the neutered version along with a Teen rating (and according to devs there will be no way to enable flying body parts by editing the files like it was previously).

Which just means I get the thrill of importing the Eurotrash version. I get a little bit sick of publishers dictating silly shit like gore for a meaningless rating. I could see the point when Wal-mart wouldn't sell mature rated games, bnut they obviously will if the game makes a bit of money. Catering to ratings is one of the reasons PC gaming appears to be hosed.

 

[Binary]

I don't care much about the random quests but... no random drops?

Another one to take off my list...

 

[Balor]

Action-RPG with no random drops is really strange indeed. Viable (see Witcher, but it's more of a classical RPG), but still strange.
Oh well, we'll see. If you put more effort into character advancement, and make combos REAL combos, not that half-baked shit they had in Sacred 2, it might turn out more like Blade of Darkness, it and fucking rocked.

 

[Section8]

So... they're removing one of the most crucial elements to keep people playing Action RPGs? Bold move, but I can't see it paying off.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Well, keep in mind, this is IGN we're talking about. I seriously doubt there are no random drops in the game or randomized items. In fact, I doubt the guy who saw the game or wrote the article even knew Sacred had random quests. It wouldn't be a bold move to get rid of the item generator or drop rate deal, it would be a stupid move.

I could be wrong, but I'd be stunned if they actually ditched that.

 

[CarolynHacker]

Hello Let me start by introducing myself, so you'll know whether you find me to be a credible source of information or not. I am Ascaron's International Sacred Community Manager, and I've been playing and loving Sacred 1 since it came out. I was a fan and player long before I was an employee.

I had the pleasure of being at GDC, which is where the IGN preview for that article (as well as many others, which can be found organized differently in the first two posts of this thread) occurred. The thing to keep in mind about press coverage coming from events like GDC, is that it's a very chaotic information packed environment, and reporters are human. Every time I heard the point they mention stressed, it was always in the context of the construction of the world itself, not the general gameplay mechanics. I think this is just a case of understandable but unfortunate paraphrasing, that looks like it applies to a lot more than it really does.

Now, I agree with some of the above posters - random loot drops are a huge part of the fun of an ARPG, and I have seen absolutely nothing (and you can bet I've played it as much as possible any time I've had the chance) that would indicate that the loot drops in Sacred 2 will not be random. Sure, there may be the occasional fixed thing needed (such as when "Hack" drops in S1, always at the same point, specifically to introduce the new player to the concept of socketing in the tutorial), but by and large I don't think you have anything to worry about.

The other thing mentioned here is the old random quests - I'm afraid I may disappoint some of you here. From reading this developer blog about his work on the quest system, it doesn't sound like the old random quests will be back. This is a pure guess on my part though, I must confess that when I had the chance to play the GDC version, I was having way too much fun hacking and slashing and checking out the incredible world details to look at the quests. If it does turn out to be correct, I hope you'll still give it a chance because I think it will be offset by the sheer volume of quests they're talking about it having. Everything I've seen and heard about what's planned in the quest area makes me think I won't miss the random quests at all.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

It's not so much the sheer amount of quests that bugs me. I just liked the random quests because they were different in every game play through. I also liked that they were tied to landmarks in the region, so you could get sent to an area you'd never been before when you were first trying out the characters. I also wish there were randomly generated dungeons in Sacred because I tend to like randomly generated content in Action CRPGs. Most of the good ones are just real time, graphical rogue-likes after all. Sacred would be the only exception to the Action CRPGs that I've liked that didn't have randomly generated areas.

 

[Halenthal]

I'm in favor of random quests also, even the standard FedEx quests, and randomly generated areas. What I'd really like to see is Sacred with a static world aboveground and a lot of randomly created dungeons. With an ARPG, it's *gotta* be replayable. First time through is fun, second time...you've already seen it.

But hey, I'm a roguelike kinda guy also. Put Sacred's graphics on top of ADOM and the universe would collapse in on itself just from the sheer awesomeness of the game.

I'm sure the drops will be quite random, and Sacred 1 had an interesting system going that somehow or other decided what monsters and loot you'd get based not only on what level you were but what area of the game you were in-no uberloot in the first town, no matter what level you were, and no +1 Dagger of Boredom in the last areas. It wasn't perfect, but it was workable. It'll be interesting if they've kept that same train of thought but updated it.

Nice to see you here Carolyn If I didn't know better, I'd say you were stalking me, but I'm not that lucky.

 

[Stupor Mundi]

Was the Blind Guardian music video shown at GDC?

 

[CarolynHacker]

Was the Blind Guardian music video shown at GDC?

Not at the CDV booth where Sacred 2 was running I'm afraid (and I was way too into getting my hands on S2 to spend much time checking out the other booths). We had a trailer running on the front screen, and inside the booth there were 2 machines each running playable versions of the PC and Xbox 360 versions.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

What I'd really like to see is Sacred with a static world aboveground and a lot of randomly created dungeons.

I tend to agree. The nice thing about doing things that way is you can have as many dungeons as the player likes which gives them options. If the player likes dungeon crawling, he can always do whatever it is that generates new ones. He can pick up dedicated dungeon generating quests from quest givers, a job board, or what have you. The more ways there are to make the game create content for you, the more unique each play through will be.