I have to say, without a doubt the worst aspect of this generation has so far been the utter lack of quality RPGs, both the Western kind and Japanese kind. The list of traditional RPGs available for the PlayStation 3 is slim to none, and the future doesn't hold much in store, aside from a game or two. With that said, games like Sacred 2, while not traditional, do appease a number of RPG fans, even if it's for a short time. Much like Baldur's Gate, and the Elder Scrolls games, Sacred is a hack 'n' slash Action-RPG. But unlike Baldur's Gate, and the Elder Scrolls, Sacred 2 suffers from a number of problems that were unfortunately never corrected between the preview build and this final copy.
First off, just like other Action-RPGs, you'll start the game off by creating a character. Well, actually, you don't do much creating, because the only aspect of customization you have in the creation process is the type and color of your hair, and that feature is available to only the female fighters. There are six classes of character to choose from, and none of those classes give you the option of being a male or female - so if you wish to be an Elve, you're stuck playing as a female. Likewise, if you wish to be a warrior, you're stuck playing with a male zombie (literally, the warrior is a ressurected zombie).
So the creation process is absolutely non-existent, and that's just lazy. Of course as you progress through the game, you'll be able to customize certain aesthetic aspects of your character when you acquire new armor and weaponry, but that doesn't really cut it for me, and I doubt it'll cut it for others who are used to games like Oblivion. The game's combat, obviously, works with both magic and physical attacks. Your fighter can use a variety of different items and magic spells, and they can all be mapped to either the D-pad (magic spells) or the standard face buttons (physical attacks).
But Sacred 2 is fundamentally flawed as it lacks a number of touches that are supposed to make a hack n' slash enjoyable; most notably, the combat. What I don't like about the combat system is that it feels clunky. Where as games like Champions of Norrath, and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance boasted utterly smooth combat with impeccable fluidity, this game just feels choppy and clunky. There is simply no attention to detail in how the combat plays out, and that's a shame because it makes fighting feel boring and redundant fast. Furthermore, for some reason your supporting cast of A.I. fighters will take it upon themselves stray the course and pick fights with enemies. What's worse is that they'll often piss off enough enemies that you'll be forced into the fight, as well. Why can't my damn partner just stick to me?
The game career is split into two quests, Light and Shadow. There is a co-op option, which, unfortunately for the PlayStation 3 version is limited a bit. You see, with the Xbox 360 game, you can have two people playing local, and have two others join from the online world. The PlayStation 3 version only allows two people, so if you want to have online jumpins, you can't be playing with someone else - you are limited to just you and a partner. Not that this omission bothers me terribly, because I don't find Sacred 2 to be a very good game, anyways. It falls well short in a number of important gameplay elements that Action-RPGs are required to have. Oh, and navigating the game world sucks.
An HDD install is presented to you, requiring full install of 8GB. Loading times are essentially wiped away with a full install, although we still experienced two to three second transitions here and there.
Back in the preview build, Sacred 2's biggest issue wasn't the gameplay, it was something far worse: it was the deathly slow framerate. Had the game shipped with the framerate seen in the preview build, I'd have scored this game no more than a four. But because of the delay, Ascaron was able to clean up the slideshow that this game was initially. It's still not perfect, as I still noticed dips when moving the camera around, but it's nowhere near as bad as it once was. Additionally, from afar, the visuals may look pretty, but once you take a closer look at the texture work, you quickly realize Sacred 2 is not a good looking game. In fact, I had to go back and pop in my PS2 copy of Champions of Norrath, and I'd go as far as to say that Champions looks prettier than this game. Sure, there's a pretty color palette here, a nice variety of monsters and enemy designs, but beyond that, this game is bland and below average.
Lastly, the audio is ho-hum. A pleasant ambiance plays in the background, but the voice acting may upset some. Listening to the dialogue can be pretty painful at times, and it leads me to wonder exactly who approved and/or was in charge of directing the voice actors. It also doesn't help that the story is pretty dumb, and to make it worse, the voice acting only contributes to that. Beside that, what you'll mostly here is the sound of your attacks, grunts, and a few random comments from your character. Nothing impressive. Nothing worthy of turning the volume up.
Sacred 2 has the potential to be a good game. Ultimately, it's combat, boring story, convoluted world map, and lack of character customization drags it down considerably. With just slightly more fluid gameplay, this could've been a fairly enjoyable experience that fans of the genre would like. But unfortunately, all of those flaws coupled with bland visuals make for a game you're better off passing.
my thoughts exactly, enjoying it a bit though..
this is so obviously a 'budget' title, what happened to the 'budget' price though?
meh... i knew this title was going to be mediocre when i heard of it, but thats too bad.
I likely would have passed on it either way because these types of games have never been able to hold my interest for very long anyways, but it would have been nice for the people who are fans of these games.
Yo Thug you watch Boondocks? And yeah I was calling BS on this game when I first saw the screenshots. I'm sure it has its qualities tor fans of this type of game, but it's just not for me. It's probably going to be something of an acquired taste by the sounds of it. Good review.
Last edited by Byakko2009 on 5/25/2009 11:01:32 AM
yeah i do
funny show, one of my favorites
and damn it wont give me the option to delete my posts
Last edited by ThugNificent101 on 5/25/2009 11:10:27 AM
Man, I was hoping this game would be good, as I really liked the old Baldur's Gate & Norrath games on the PS2.
Guess I'll have to pass on it...
Im not saying this game is perfect, cuz its not, but it's not as bad as you making it out to be.
Have you forgotten that this game is a PC port? This is the first PC port to gaming system that Ascaron has done, as far as im aware. By the way, you may want to read up on what is going to be patched, before you start saying xbox verison is better.
yes some of the things you said are true but you just straight out making this game sound so bad, which it is not. im really starting to think that most of the reviewers are so desperate for a damn RPG, that you are being so over critical when one freaking comes out. you wanna pick at every single little piece of flaw that you can find.
i've been playing this game a lot (level 52 inqusitor) and been having a blast. One thing about this game is that you can be in a party of 4 Inqusitors and chances are everyone will be playing their chara in a different way. it's all how you build it up and what skills you choose to use.
why don't you take some more time to enjoy the game with someone online, with a mic, and actually try having fun instead of just looking for every little flaw you can find in the game.
Last edited by crapreviews on 5/25/2009 11:11:25 AM
I think the review was fair. I don't want to seem argumentative here, but don't take it so seriously. I figure it will be an acquired taste for most gamers, which is why I think a 6 is fair. RPGs are not rated on gameplay alone which I'm sure it's addicting in Sacred 2, but again there's just too much of the game that screams "average!". Just don't take this review to heart and don't forget why YOU are having fun with the game. Trust me, I know about my favorite games getting bad reviews, but I still play them.
also it doesn't even look like you put any effort into your review. almost staight "6's" across the board. seriously... it just looks like you said F this game and gave it a "6" for the hell of it.
hell it's bad enough you got Ben posting false info about PSN possibly going to be a paid type thing, when actually the survey was for a PSP game rental service.
Last edited by crapreviews on 5/25/2009 11:32:20 AM
Also I wanna add that, while online features are a plus, RPGs are traditionally fun right out of the box and shouldn't be the focal point of a console RPG. Again, not saying you don't have a valid complaint, but a 6 tells someone like me who wants traditional RPGs to only look to Sacred 2 if I'm the most die-hard RPGer, which I'm not.
Everything about the game is absolutely average, thus the 6s down the board. Because a 6 is average, to me. That is my rating scale. This game doesn't do anything just above average for me, because it's simply...just average.
You're having fun with it? Great. I didn't.
Also, your theory of people being so desperate for an RPG that they'll tear anything less than perfection is severely flawed. When you're hungry for something, you will take anything, as long as it's edible. Same applies to the gaming world.
And I also cannot review a game and base the score on the possibility of patches. The game is reviewed in the form it is shipped. That's the bottomline.
@mixedkidbox - Arnold is pretty clear in the review as to why he doesn't like the game. You're long ramble doesn't really say anything other than "give it a chance" and "I'm having fun playing with my friends." Sorry, but these games cost a lot of money these days. You gotta come up with something better than that if you're going to counter a review.
First this isn't Oblivion with customizations out yo butt. if you want Oblivion, play Oblivion. Again, i will say this game has some flaws, yet again i state: This is a PC port of Sacred 2, also this is Ascaron's first game on a game console if im not mistaken. i think overall they didn't do to bad.
This game offers a lot of side quests to do, besides just the main story quest, which you can use to help level up. There are a ton of towns to visit. The world is very big, not including the underground dungons and sewers. You can easily get around by buying a horse, or your special mount (which you have to do a quest for), or using one of the teleport waypoints thru out the game that you run into.
As far as customizing... You get to pick what skills from several different lists that you want your chara to specialize in, you apply attribute points into stats the way you want to, you also can forge items/runes/gems/amulets into weapons and armor to make them have certain stats or effects that you may want them to have.
You can play the story mode online with 4 other people if you want (although light path charas cant story mode with dark path charas), or do free world (which is do whatever you want.. like farm or mini boss hunt), or you can even do PVP. Playing online with a friend who has a mic is a lot of fun.
There is also a lot of difficulty modes: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Plat, and NIOB which is the hardest. Your charas go all the way up to level 200.
I know theres some other things you guys may wanna know just cant think off the top of my head.
Last edited by crapreviews on 5/25/2009 7:41:20 PM
Oh yeah also anything levels, items and things you do online carry to your offline player and vise versa.
