Hmm...5hrs in and less than p% completed and still a large map unexplored, mosters to kill tombs to loot. This is the game that Two Worlds wanted to be and Too Human should have been. If you need a Diablo fix before part 3 comes out...this is about the best you will get. I will say tho, the game I would have preferred seeing being ported over to console of this type would have been Titan's Quest as it's the game closest to Diablo right now in fun.
Well, moving right along, the stregnth in playing this game is in its simplicity. All of the controls work as they should and you don't have to fumble too much trying to find the proper button to push to make spells work when they have to. Its a find mosters, kill loot, level up and have fun kind of game without all of the combos and intricate button learning seen in some newer types of games.
As far as exploring is concerned you can't go 5 feet without finding a new quest and truth be told, you can take them and never complete them because sometimes you may get one better than the last or you way finish so far ahead on the map you may not want to travel back to finish another, but that's ok, you don't get penalized too much for missing missions.
There are varieties of monsters to engage and as I am only on level 10 I haven't fought anything huge yet outside of a giant.
Speaking of leveling, so far the first 10 I have done seems to go by quickly considering I only bought it yesterday.
Some of you are on the fence about getting this game...so let me run down some fo the bugs that bring this game down now:
Pathfinding and AI: The map could have had a better zoom feature built in allowing you to really figure where you are going as you have to follow the path to get to your destination. cutting thru the woods will have you backtracking a lot as more times than most you will run into a wall or a mountain and can't find a way around it. The AI is also sometimey as in many cases they just stand around and do nothing when I am attacked. Also what i really hate is when they run off and aggro a large mob and initiate "The Benny Hill Chase Effect" which doesn't end until the mob is dead or your companion
Descriptions of objects could have been better: Sometimes you simply have to experiment with items to figure what they do as the descriptions aren't aways clear in what magical items are for.
NO PAUSE BUTTON. I don't know what Ascarion was thinking but ummmm I really hate being in the middle of a mob fighting and want to step away for a min but CANT because I can't pause in the middl eof playing and have to run into the nearest town in order to get a reprieve. I hope this gets fixed.
No way to sort items self explanatory however one thing I do like is that you have sotrage chests scattered all over to put your items in.
Limited customization: There were some classes I
wanted to choose but because you couldn't change the sex, I didn't.
Camera severely limited: On one hand, it could have been what i got in NWN II but still you are severely limited what you can see around you in terms of distance but you rarely miss much.
Graphically speaking, it's passable for a 360 game as a game of this sort I wouldn't expect to have great graphics...it works for a game of this sort but it's not stellar and the gore facor? Hehe, could have been upped a notch.
What will get you laughing or a straightface are some of the comments you get from your character as they wisecrack thru the game...problem is about 2hrs in you have heard them all.
Thankfully what some will get this game for is the multiplayer aspect and it offers a campaign mode, PVP mode and free roaming mode. One thing I did note is that instead of Ascaron building this as a pseudo MMORPG game, they set the servers up similar to how Blizzard did with Diablo and allow you to instance your own map with up to 4 people joining in and allows you to make small tweaks on who gets in...a nice touch.
All in all, it's not a bad game but not a great game either. it's been out for PC for a little while and seems like it made a decent move to console and while it's not the Diablo killer or Oblivion killer, it's a nice light game to play while waiting for bigger and better to come out later.
Again, here is to hoping that Titan's Quest makes a move to console...but I won't hold my breath.
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My review of Sacred 2 after playing Coop for 4 hours last night.Graphics:
I must say I was wondering how ugly this was going to look after seeing the review about graphics being nothing to brag about. I think they need to clean their glasses or stop sniffing that glue, because the graphics in this game are really good. The world is alive with waves crashing into the shore, rivers are flowing, fish swim in the water, rabbits hop around, stuff swaying in the breeze, grass moves when you run through it, shadows and lighting. It looks very GOOD to me.
Controls:
The controls took a little the get used to but are not bad. You have 12 slots for spells which is good. I found out you must hold A to attack and while holding it can move the left analog stick to change targets. When opening the interface you can use A button to pick the screen you want to go too or just release the Left Bumper.
Interface: The interface is not bad once you get into it. You use the left/right buttons and bumpers to move around and they have lots of screens with info on skills and attributes. I could not figure out how to use the Compare correctly, but it seems to try and switch back and forth between two items you viewed. Hopefully someone can figure that one out. I don't like we cant trade with offline buddy, but I did hear they are looking at that.
Gameplay:
We had a blast doing quests and finding caves to explore and loot. Some quests give more xp and gold than others and there are tons of them too. We started with Bronze but will restart with silver to make it a little more challenging. Finding new loot and a person to swap combat skills out with was very rewarding. Using the different weapons and skills is where this game id fun. The summoning of the undead with the shadow warrior was cool and they explode when they run out of time too.
Overall:
We did not have any framerate issues while playing, but you do have some screen tearing when rotating the camera view. It was not that bad and did not really matter once we got to playing and having fun. If you like these type of hack and slash games you will like this one. It will take a long time to fully explore the large world in this game. I would give it a 4.5/5. Nothing is perfect but this one is close :-)
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I've been waiting for a game like this on the consoles... a full-fledged dungeon crawler that has decent online gameplay.I haven't played the PC version of the game, but 1Up wrote in their review the console version is actually better than the PC version for various reasons.
You get to choose from one of many different classes and then choose whether you want to follow the gods of light or dark... and what you choose directly impacts the flow of the game with differing quests.
I had to knock off a point for some small control issues and some graphical glitches, but they in no way ruin the game at all.
Fun in single player, even funner in online co-op.
Honest reviews on Sacred 2: Fallen Angel - Xbox 360
This game may or may not be right for you but it's PERFECT for me, and here's why: Local Co-op. I'm fortunate to have a wife who loves gaming almost as much as me. This means that a game without local co-op only gets played when my wife is napping. Sacred 2 doesn't have intense non-stop in your face action, which is perfect for me. I like a slower paced game that allows me to relax while playing. The ambient sound is very relaxing too. The sound of waterfalls, waves on the beach, wind blowing through the trees and birds chirping has lulled our baby to sleep on numerous occasions. (Ok twice, the game's only been out 2 days ;)In all of the Lego games we enjoyed smashing stuff and collecting coins. In Resident Evil 5 we really enjoyed looting crates and upgrading our weapons. Sacred 2 is all about killing, looting and upgrading. A perfect combination that we can't get enough of!
While Sacred 2 may be perfect for me, it's not a perfect game. I had to knock off 1 star for all of the minor "nitpicky" flaws. I was unpleasantly surprised when I first popped the game in, that it was a top down third person perspective. I was put off by this at first but I've grown used to it and being surrounded by enemies it's best to be zoomed out so you can see everything. There are minor frame rate drops and occasional pop-in and screen tearing, but for me it's not enough to take away from the enjoyment of the game. There are other glitches where an enemy will be stuck in the ground, or won't take any damage. Reloading the area (by entering and exiting a cave) always solves this problem. Plus with a game this time consuming it's much more likely to come across glitches here and there.
My only other complaint with this game is that you cannot pause the action. I can understand this when you're playing online co-op, but when playing offline, there should be a pause feature. The only thing you can do when you need to pause is save and hope you don't die, or run to the nearest town (where you're usually safe) and set the controller down. (side note: if anyone has found a way to pause this game please post in the comments section)
If you read any of the scathing professional reviews it's important to understand the terminology:
1) Breaking the fourth wall: This is when a character acknowledges the audience. It comes from theater where a set on the stage will have 3 walls and there's an invisible 4th wall between the cast and the audience. One memorable quote from Sacred 2 is when a bad guy dies and says, "I knew I was just an extra."
2) Loot Grind: This is a descriptor for this type of game. You basically hunt down loot from bad guys and dungeons, while you grind through leveling up.
3) Diablo Clone: Apparently Diablo was the first to perfect the "loot grind" (never played it myself) and many games including Sacred 2 have tried to mimic this formula.
Another thing to note when reading professional reviews is that the PC released several months before the console versions, and was quite buggy. The Xbox 360 version has fixed all of these bugs (as far as I know) and yet still gets worse reviews than the PC.
So if you know nothing else about the game, you start off with a choice of 6 character classes. You then have a choice of light or dark campaign and a choice of which god to worship (this essentially gives you a really powerful "divine gift" or magic spell). You have character specific missions, main quest missions and side quests.
On your face buttons you can equip magic and weapons, and can bring up a second and third set by pulling the left and right triggers. Your divine gift is permanently assigned to up on the d-pad and you can assign potions to the other 3 directions on your d-pad.
In combat it seems you hold down the button to repeat the same move on an enemy. You can switch enemies with the left analog stick. You can assign your combat arts (magic) to combos so you can use 2 spells at once.
In local and online co-op you can bring YOUR character with all of YOUR armor, weapons and skills to a friend's game. (Unlike Fable 2 where you were just a henchman) When you join someone else's game you take all of your experience and loot back to your personal game, but the completed quests do not carry over.
Bottom line: if you're able to get past this game's quirks it's a very enjoyable co-op, action, adventure, rpg, Diablo clone, loot grind that breaks the fourth wall.
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**UPDATED BELOW ON 05/15/09**Although I was only able to spend about an hour playing the game yesterday, I feel like I have a few noteworthy remarks about the console release of Sacred 2. Take my feedback with a grain of salt but with that being said I'll do my best to describe what I experienced. At the very least this will provide a morsel of information out there about this highly (for some) anticipated game. Also to confess, I've not played the PC version more than about an hour so I'm not overly familiar with the game in it's many iterations--but I do love dungeon crawlers of any kind like Diablo I & II, Titan Quest, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1 & 2, and Champions of Norrath.
The installation of the game took as long as any other 360 game--roughly 8 minutes. The installation improved load times significantly. I don't mean to imply that loading levels is non-existent but they do load with in seconds.
I decided to play as a Shadow Warrior and check out how melee is handled in this game. You have the option to choose to play the Light or Dark campaigns and select an applicable deity to worship. The Shadow Warrior begins his saga in a tomb and my initial impressions was "cool, a dungeon! There's bound to be lots of loot around here!" I ran around a bit and everything looked well enough. It certainly wasn't mind blowing but it definitely looked better than the games I mentioned above.
Unfortunately, once outside the tomb the frame rate took a little bit of a hit. Not severe enough to make the game unplayable, but I think people who are really sensitive to a slight drop in frames and tearing will be put off by this. Personally, I thought it was a little annoying--but not annoying enough to ruin the gameplay. If I had to guess I would say it dropped < 30 fps.
The fighting was a little strange for me. I felt a little disconnected when fighting (melee) because you don't mash a button. It's not similar to the Baldur's Gates or the Champions of Norraths where you hit a button to attack. Instead you hold down the button and direct your attacks towards the enemies. It works--and I imagine it takes some getting use to--but for me I would rather mash on a button and feel more involved with attacking. It felt a little too passive but I am only an hour into the game. I imagine this is a mechanic that will feel more natural (and perhaps for connected?) in time.
Loading up on loot in these games is always something I look forward to--don't we all? In Sacred 2 (console), looting is done automatically when pressing the LB. Again, you feel a little detached when loot is magically transported into your inventory and where's the satisfaction when you don't get the feel of snatching it up? At least you see it on the ground and know you have to pick it up so the process isn't as drastically passive as Too Human where goodies didn't even fall on the ground but jumped into your inventory. I am sure this sounds totally trivial to a lot of you but for me, I enjoy picking it up and hearing the "clinks", the "clanks" and the "cha-chings" of the gold pieces. For those of you like me, a little thing like that is hugely missed.
I did notice that weapons, abilities/skills and magic can be bound to any of the 4 face buttons. The LT and RT act as a "shift" key so you can bind up to 8 more items for quick use. It looks really effective and I think it's a smart way to handle diversity in combat methods.
In the inventory, I noticed that comparing items is as easy as pressing a button so it does look like Ascaron made an effort to create as console-friendly game. Again, these are very early impressions of a ginormous game. There are still many many things left for me to see and find and get used to. Knowing some of you are as eager as I am for first-hand impressions of this game on the console -feel free to ask if you have any questions!
**05/14/09 UPDATE**
Sacred 2 has this way of luring you back for more--even with its faults!
It pleases me to say that after becoming a little bored with the Shadow Warrior--with it's monotonous melee--I decided to create a different character, a Dryad, and give Sacred 2 another shot. It's not that I dislike Sacred 2, it's that it's got so much potentoil and it's first impression was spoiled! Hey, I love these dungeon crawlers ok?
So I headed in another direction and went with a ranged class to see how differently it would play. The Dryad class can use melee weapons like the Shadow Warrior, but really, it's built for ranged attacks. I have to say, after playing for several hours, I really enjoyed my time playing the Dryad. Sure, chalk it up to personal preference perhaps but it really feels like this game was built for bows-and-magic on the consoles (not the PC.) Come'on, this is coming from a guy who hated the "push-the-stick" melee in Too Human but loved the Marksmen class.
With the class change I dutifully played a few more hours of the game (roughly 4). Unfortunately with in that time I noticed a few more obtrusive issues with the game. Thankfully none of these are deal breakers, atleast not for me. But before I get to those I want to reiterate--I am now enjoying this game, it's just that it's not as refined as I would like it to be.
With that being said....
I cannot find a way to blacksmith in the field despite obtaining the skill to do so. I've checked around on several forums, asked a few people and it appears that this is a common issue amongst players. It's a nice skill to have as Blacksmiths just aren't prevalent in the game.
When browsing the inventory there are two options available to you--"Details" and "Compare". "Details" allows you to--are you ready for this--see more details about a particular item! "Compare" allows you to....see more details about an item! Yes the problem is--both buttons do the exact same thing. This is another very useful feature that would make life easier when upgrading and selling items. Anyone know what's going on with this?
In my previous post I complained about the act of Looting. I'm happy to report that the "catch all" collection system now feels really good and makes my little pavlovian brain salivate with it's "Cha-ching" sound effects.
Just to note--and not to complaint--gone is the color system the PC version of the game uses to identify power level and importance of items and weapons (a la Word of Warcraft) and replacing it is a star system. It works well and I see no real difference between using the two. I'm wondering if perhaps the change took place to better suite colorblind gamers?
Overall--this game is beginning to win me over and I'm excited about that.
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