Game News Spruiken de German-ze bitter? Sacred 2 Demo released

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Sacred 2

If you garble in the tongue of the failed self-proclaimed Ubermensch, you can now <a href="http://www.sacred2.com/de.html">play the demo of Sacred 2</a>. It's a 1.7 GB download (about the same as what your average patch weighs in at these days).
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In other news, the game reached Gold status a few weeks ago so you should expect it in stores soon. In the meantime, English speakers can <a href="http://www.sacred2.com/en/the-game/special-mounts.html">check out an article about mounts</a> for each of the classes:
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<blockquote><b>Dryad:</b> The Dryads respect nature and ever since the Great War they have hated T-Energy. It makes sense that their special mount is a Monitor Lizard because these giant lizards compliment the Dryad's preference for ranged weapons very well.
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<b>Temple Guardian:</b> All characters except for the Temple Guardian have a “biological” special mount. He on the other hand uses a modern, T-Energy powered monowheel, a machine that is as imposing as it is dangerous. The Temple Guardian can use his combat arts even when sitting inside the Mobiculum.</blockquote>
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Energon Cube powered wheels are cool. Also, Monitor Lizards! As if you've never wanted to ride one of those? RPG Vault also have an article <a href="http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/912/912184p1.html">about some of the fun you can have in the swamps found in the game</a>.
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com">Where I intend to steal all my news from today</a>

 

[bozia2012]

Is the gore in or not? Pics or it didn't happen.

Also: who likes Sacred's art design? I hate that cheap, plastic, kitsch look. It's like "My first night with 3D studio" + Power Rangers + ummm... something else.

 

[Morgoth]

Just another attempt to pull a cheap WoW meets Diablo nonsense.

Nothankyouverymuch.

 

[Sir_Brennus]

Just another attempt to pull a cheap WoW meets Diablo nonsense.

Nothankyouverymuch.

Are you dumb or what?

1996 Diablo
2004 Sacred
2005 World of Warcraft

Do they own a time machine at Ascaron or how did they pull that trick?

And by the way: Producing a prequel for a 1,8 million (PC only!) seller is anything, but not "cheap".

Just STFU if you don't know shit.

 

[Rat Keeng]

<b>Temple Guardian:</b> All characters except for the Temple Guardian have a “biological” special mount. He on the other hand uses a modern, T-Energy powered monowheel, a machine that is as imposing as it is dangerous. The Temple Guardian can use his combat arts even when sitting inside the Mobiculum.

Ich = verkauft

 

[Morgoth]

Just another attempt to pull a cheap WoW meets Diablo nonsense.

Nothankyouverymuch.

Are you dumb or what?

1996 Diablo
2004 Sacred
2005 World of Warcraft

Do they own a time machine at Ascaron or how did they pull that trick?

And by the way: Producing a prequel for a 1,8 million (PC only!) seller is anything, but not "cheap".

Just STFU if you don't know shit.

Lol. First, WoW was released in 2004. Second, the Art design can also be related to Warcraft3, which was released in 2002.
Sacred 2 is just an unimaginative clone that tries to be a bit Wacraft with Diablo gameplay, just more crappy.
But Germans always had bad taste....

 

[Texas Red]

T Energy? Sounds like a Mr. T energy drink.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

I shall report from the gaming Front tomorrow, my Kameraden.

 

[JarlFrank]

I wonder when I'm going to get my review copy.

Just asked their PR guy again, hope to get it before release. Or maybe he fears the wrath of a Codex reviewer?

 

[bozia2012]

Is the gore in or not? Pics or it didn't happen.

Check this thread

 

[bozia2012]

Is the gore in or not? Pics or it didn't happen.

Check this thread

It doesn't look too good...

 

[SimpleComplexity]

Okay as promised, some impressions:

Installation/Download/Ads:
The demo is a pretty huge file (around 1,7 GB), i wonder how much of the fullgame i already own. The installation is kinda slow and when you start the demo you`ll find out that the publisher/developer loves DELL, because that damn logo of their company is unskipable. I also read something, that the demo wanted to connect to Wikipedia (i can`t tell you what exactly it was though).

The game:
There are 6 classes you can choose from, in the demo only one. The seraphim womyn. I picked her and start the game, where a movie-like cutscene kicks in where some seraphim womyn is lying around and dying. I don`t know if it`s the mother of the character or what, i simply wasn`t interested in the story. Then you can play the game. So i walk around and the first thing i noticed are the grapHiX, the sounds and the isometric(-like) camera! Unfortunately the game wasn`t designed to be played in one fixed camera position. You can, but it`ll be a pain if you don`t rotate it sometimes. Overall, the camera isn`t bad.

The whole game reminds me on Titan Quest. If you kill enemys, they ragdoll themself to death. The graphics are also very similiar, although i think this one looks a little bit better. Later in the game, you`ll meet some NPC`s in a city/town/village. Now comes the suckage. Example: Kill 3 bandits and come back.

[accept] [don`t accept]

No dialogue trees, or whatever. This game is just about grinding, killing masses of creatures, collecting phat loot and leveling up. It`s your usual Action-RPG. There are some positive things, the ambience sounds are really well made, combined with the graphics, it`s a great interactive screensaver. I also saw some creatures attacking other creatures and not only me. That`s a nice touch.

There were also some minor bugs that i`ve encountered, so be warned.
I´ll play this demo slightly further, i can make some screenshots if somebody wants.
Last thing, i can already say that this isn`t Codex worthy.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I can't say I expected anymore. It is Sacred 2 after all.

in S2 (drops are assigned to a specific player for x seconds, then they're up for grabs by anyone for y seconds).

When you hover over an item, it'll say whether it's assigned to another character or not & how long before it's "released".

Apparently it's customisable as well. This is what Diablo 3 needs. Everyone can see the loot, you're aware who "owns it" and there's a count-down until you can pick it up. I assume those who don't want it could dump the system entirely by having a 0 second count-down / turning it off.

 

[Uz0rnaem]

@SimpleComplexity
Can you tell us anything about the game's "map linearity", or is the demo area just too small for that? I'm asking, because Sacred's huge, open world was one of the reasons why I enjoyed it a lot more than most other action RPGs. Also, are the controls identical to the original (fully point&click), or does it use direct WASD controls + mouse to pick things up?


I wish I could just try it myself, but I don't have access to a decent computer right now.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

I haven`t played the original Sacred, maybe those people love this game. I have no idea.

It seems to me like you can go everywhere you want. Unfortunately the respawn rate is very high. I can`t tell you the details, but i had to kill the same monsters in the same area that i recently visited. I hope there`s fast travel or teleporters for that. There are some slots for mounts. I popped up the global map and the demo is maybe only 5 % of the whole world, so i wouldn`t worry about the size. The controls are mouse heavy, you can do everything just with a mouse, but it´s slower. This is how i play: I put my fingers on WASD to rotate the camera / or to pop up the inventar on F, there´s a button which collects everything in a radius, pretty handy (Q), while i control it with the mouse. The keys are customizable, of course. I don`t quite like the interface, especially the icons on the inventar, i never liked those mini pictures for your armor/weapons. I prefer those Fallout/Diablo-like big images for my weapons/equipment with the slot system.

 

[Uz0rnaem]

Thanks. I'm a bit surprised, actually. Since it's a multiplatform game, I just assumed it would be shit and never paid much attention to its development, but even though you seem displeased, it doesn't sound like it's too much of a bastardization.

I hope there`s fast travel or teleporters for that.

I'd guess so. The portal system they used in Sacred was just a broken annoyance and many people bitched about it. It felt like it was designed for a game with a much smaller world map. They've probably tried to implement a proper one this time.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

I don`t know what you call bastardization, maybe those exclamation marks every NPC has who offers a quest or maybe one of those quests, where you need to collect 3 amulets and bring it back to the questgiver. Or is it that funny bug when you kill somebody his ragdoll physic get stuck in the floor and he still moves.

 

[Barghest]

Have they gone Diablo-style with the save games? I like the option to be able to save anywhere.

 

[Uz0rnaem]

I don`t know what you call bastardization, maybe those exclamation marks every NPC has who offers a quest or maybe one of those quests, where you need to collect 3 amulets and bring it back to the questgiver.

No, that's Sacred alright

I meant a bastardization of the first game, not the RPG genre. I wasn't worried that it would turn out to be yet another hack 'n slash, with meaningless dialogs and WoW-like quests (because that's what the original was like too), but that it would be a linear action game, with severe consolitis and void of everything I liked about Sacred.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

Have they gone Diablo-style with the save games? I like the option to be able to save anywhere.

They don`t care what you like. To answer your question, it is Diablo-like.You can make different characters, but you can only save once. I doubt they will change it in the fullversion.

@Uz0rnaem: Rest assured, nothing has improved. Except for graphics and sound ambience.

 

[Uz0rnaem]

@Uz0rnaem: Rest assured, nothing has improved.

Yeah, sorry if my comments make it sound like I'm advocating stagnation. I'm just somewhat bitter about sequels in general and when I hear "multiplatform sequel to a PC exclusive", improvements really are the last thing on my mind.

It's not like I think Sacred was perfect and a 1:1 rehash would be the ideal sequel, but as long as certain elements remain intact (exploration of a seamless world, a certain degree of non-linearity and, of course, the core gameplay), I'm willing to overlook the return of some old flaws, like the exclamation marks, or the simplicity of the quests.

Anyway, thanks for all the information.

 

[Barghest]

They don`t care what you like.

I was thinking about getting the CE version, but I'll not bother now. I dislike checkpoint style saves, and would have liked the option to save anywhere (Like the original)

Bloody multiplatform support.