Larian Studios Forums General Chat RPG Chat Sacred

OK, my thoughts on the demo. (Random, just thinking them up and posting them!:D)

Overall: <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> This game is fantastic to look at. Beautiful scenery, fantastic character movement/artwork/special move graphics. It is very easy to play, the quests are simple (this may change in the full game though) and the map is pretty easy to follow.
I like the skills system allthough you are rather limited in the points you get to spend. Characters are not as totally customisable as D2.
Combos are excellent, I hope they don't make the game too easy.
Horseriding is awesome! No complaints there. Fast transportation for the fedex quests is excellent.

Bad points/niggling irritations:
Charcters tend to get stuck a lot moving around. I guess going 3D messes things up a bit. D2 beats this game on character movement/pathfinding. DD also had the same problem for me.
Characters should talk a bit more. I think the sound will be improved in the full game though.
The inventory needs a bit of work in the armour/weapons artwork. Looks a bit shoddy. Hopefully this will improve in the full game.

That's about it for my brain.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/stupid.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Here are some additional observations of mine.

1. The location of items, people, or places you need to find on a quest are displayed on a map and easily located. Now some might like this feature, but it makes the game perhaps easier than it should be. It does help avoid doing a quest in an inappropriate order.

2. Quests can and do fail. You could agree to escort someone who then gets killed.

3. As Womble mentioned you don't get enough customization possibilities for your character. You can select skills, but not stats--points for strength, vitality, etc. are added automatically by the game when you level up.

4. On the other hand each character starts in a different location with different initial quests which is a nice touch.

5. The Seraphim suffers from the same unrealistic sexist artwork found in many games. What woman in her right mind would go into combat dressed in a bikini? Even a bikini with wings! In fact the only RPG game I recall where the female character starts out appropriately clothed is Blade and Sword, created in China, so I guess this is a fault common to the genre in America and Europe. When the Seraphim does get some clothes on her I think they look tacky.

6. It doesn't look like there is any randomization in the game--at least not in the demo.

7. Characters can open chests in front of the apparent owner and take the gold without any complaint nor repercussion--unrealistic.

8. They look cool on horseback. The whole horseback thing seems to be nicely done and is a nice touch indeed.

9. Bottomline: The game is good. Fortunately it will not be released at the exact same time as BD so I shoud be able to get and play them both when they 1st come out.

10. Download the demo at night while you are asleep if you have a dialup. You won't be disappointed.

Actually I've just been browsing the sacred forums a bit and the reason for limiting stat upgrades to 1 point per lvl is to keep characters 'in character' throughout the game. So for the demo the galdiator will always be slower than the seraphim but hits like a steamroller!
Therefore I've gotten to like the limited stats thing, allthough spellweaving gladiators will not be seen, or battlemagi wielding huge axes. Oh well... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

Another thing that is cool is that strength is not just required for wearing armour, carrying weapons etc. Strengh is the main skill for improving close combat effectiveness, as it should be. Therefore strength is increased the most on the Gladiator, along with hitpoints. He is not that hard to hit though.

Similarly, dexterity increases defense and combat speed. The Seraphim seems to get more dex than str so she is very fast, capable of dealing a furious flurry of blows but without the 'punch' of the gladiator. She also takes less hits to compenste for less hitpoints.

I don't particularly care if the Seraphim looks and sounds like a porn star. Its just funny really. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Random monsters should definately be included. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> They have given nm and hell act 5 in v1.10 D2 a whole new twist. (apart from the fact some are bugged)

The need for 'thievery' from chests and suchlike should be included. Who would be the best thief though? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />

The demo is awesome. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> will have to go a long way to beat this game for me.

10. Download the demo at night while you are asleep if you have a dialup. You won't be disappointed.


Tried that last night and because of those darn popups I lost my connection, but I am going to try again tonight. I really want to play this demo.

This is incorrect. There is a button on the top left of the stats window that you press to give you the chance to change stats.

here's a preview on Sacred in Adrenaline Vault, which the person who previewed the game also mentioned <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" />

Interestingly, the cover of the game looks *very* different from German and English versions, don't ask me why.

In the German RPG Chat we are currently *very* deeply discussing RPGs, buyers / customers and the lot. There is a point where we agreed that a great number of customers are male, and a great amount of developers are also male. Personally, I don't remember any development company that had consisted of at least 60 % female members.

So we must fear that there are certain "styles" out there that are more or less dictated by the male "sense" of beauty - have you ever noticed female PCs and NPCs with scars ? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

This discussion was originally invoked by a writing of mine about the social structure in Gothic I - it's based on men, and women are just ... like gems no-one are allowed to touch, so to say. Also, there are rather few riddles, and rather combat, which had led me to the suggestion that this game - and others like this - attracts a certain kind of customers - young, not very intelligent (at least measured at the tone in the forums there ) , preferring hack & slay. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badsmile2.gif" alt="" />

Cleglaw, I quoted parts of your text in the German Sacred Forum.

An Answer by a developer is this one :



Translation : "A 3 metres long bi-hand sword [a sword where you need BOTH hands] is from a psychological point of view not less "sexist"."

I've just played the demo.

1. The open map. Definitely nice, and DD-esque. One could spend days trying to uncover all the fog of war, and there's always a little thing here and there to break the monotony that would have resembled Diablo 2's kill-and-loot routine.

2. No dialogue choices. Sigh. You can only accept or reject a quest; what a bore.

3. The seraphim looks ridiculous. Hips, boobs, and moaning noises when getting hurt that sound like a porn star faking sex? Please. I'm not going on a rabid feminist arc, but it really looks laughable. I would like to know who selected the voiceacting. The starting attire is, as someone else's said, a bikini. The Amazon in the Sorceress in Diablo 2 wear somewhat revealing clothes, but nowhere near this degree of tastelessness. Cater to male players? I hope most males have better taste than this. Besides, other RPGs have not-so-appealing female avatars and can still sell well, don't they? Things like this make me realize how wonderful Bioware/the late Black Isle really are. (For NPCs that recognize and react to the PC's gender, for designing female models that look normal and wear sensible clothing, etc.) If you want to know, I also find one of the male models (the blacksmith's) equally ridiculous. There are bulging muscles, and there are muscles that look like over-inflated balloons.

4. Formulaic. Again, very DD-esque in this aspect: for the most part, the game follows the usual fantasy RPG mold. Nothing new here. I highly doubt the full game's story will deviate much from the fantasy cliches. With luck, I'll be proven wrong.

5. Nice graphics. As far as character models go, anyway. Zoom in, look at the environment, and watch your jaw drop at the crude pixels. I don't know why the zooming in was included at all.

Yeah, I'm playing the demo at the moment. Zoomed out, I'd say the graphics were better than DD's (especially the spell effects). The horse is great too.

But the characterization is not as good - DD had three-dimensional characters, and it's looking like Sacred's story is not as deep. In fact, a big difference is the quality of the narrative. Maybe in the original German it's really good, but whoever did the translations for Sacred wasn't as good as whoever did it for DD. Sacred's english narrative lacks soul.

Having said that, I'm really enjoying the demo and I'm definitely going to buy it. It'll give me something fun to play while waiting for the REAL king of RPG, Beyond Divinity. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Some said the same thing for <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> - vice versa. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

(What I mean is that some people said that the German narration of <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> "lacked soul" , in contrast to the English version.)

I thought she was HOTTT!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> Ahem...I mean, what a travesty. Seriously though, this kinda thing should be limited to in-game brothels like DD. I couldn't even play the Seraphim because I was too distracted. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" /> I guess I should have zoomed out. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

It is strange that the two games are coming out at about the same time.

However, Sacred is significantly different. Unlike beyond divinity which is sort of ultima diablo, sacred is more straight Diablo. PEople on this board obviously like DD, but thats not what sacred is trying to be.

So for the people bored by the conversation strings in DD might like it more.

Im not sure how close to the actual game the demo is. The demo itself wasnt very entertaining to me, but it looked great. Im likely to get both games.

Sacred has multiplayer also. I think its going to be a lot of fun.

To me, that's not strange. I've always been a supporter of the view of an "invisible bond that connects both. The bond is DSA - SAcred was once Armalion, an DSA-based game, and the the predecessor of Divinitzy was LMK, also a DSA-based game. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />




Yes, that's right : Sacred was developed as an action-RPG , but it was quitze late that the gaming magazines positionedit as a possible "D2-killer", with Ascaron following that point of view. At least that's how I see / saw it, and I'm watching the game since the Armalion times.

And don't underestimate the power of German gaming mags : They are biased towards hack & slash, as it seems to me, and graphical "blenders" get often *much* more points than games without excellent graphical representation but with good story instead.

That's a common point of criticism among German gamers.

Well, i did enjoy them demo....it was rather easy, as some pionted out, but i think the game itself will be worth the money.

And, as to the seraphim...maybe it is easier to fight in less clothes? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Less constriction i suppose. I think she is nice.

Less clothes -> less weight -> faster movement ! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />

If we go by your logic, everyone -- male or female -- should fight naked and things like arrows and protection be damned. Not like breastplates and such would keep arrows from doing maximum damage. Or deflect sword blows. Nor should you think of the elements -- rain, snow, and all. {/sarcasm^2}

Dumb fantasy women and people who portray them annoy the Nine Hells out of me.

Here is a link to a lengthy analysis of ranged combat on horseback which I posted on a Sacred fansite.
Analysis of Ranged Combat on Horseback

Relax, Winterfox <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
Would you feel better if you knew that most people who sees women in Fantasy wearing a chainmail bikini (it should hurt!) are idiots who never touched (or saw) a female in their life? I never liked Boris Vallegio anyway. I wouldn't want to fight wearing only boxers with a heart-pattern and I laughed when Julie wore the 'Crimson-Bikini-Of-Doom-Which-Puts-Fear-And-Lust-In-Ennemy's-Heart' in Heavy Metal 2000 <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />.

Cleaglaw:
Another few disadvantages in horseback archery:
- It's difficult enough to hit a moving target. Now if the archer is moving too... Only a few tribes were able to shoot from a ride in the antiquity.
- If the horse get shot or scared, you get yourself a good rock-*sand*witch, if you're lucky, and a 300 pound of meat on top of you, if you're not. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Actuall in the Sacred demo that is not a disadvantage. While both are moving you auto target and hit the monster. At first I thought this was only true if you were galloping away with the monster following straight behind you, but it is also true if you circle around him and he is also moving. Your accuracy depends on your % chance to hit, and not whether you are both moving. It is devastatingly effective.

I don't know about the horse falling on you--hasn't happened in the demo.