Sacred, any good? On sale at GoG...

[Drithius]

I just received an email advertising 50% off for a bunch of strategy games over at GoG. Included in the batch is Sacred Gold for 5 bucks (how is an action rpg a strategy game?).

Was this game any good? Did it grow tedious or remain fun throughout?

[szokol]

If you like aRPG's, it's a must have.

[xSamhainx]

yeah, it was one of the better of the action rpgs. It's open world (big plus there), has mounts (and you can attack from mount if i recall), and the crafting system gives you some customization options. I rolled w/ a Wood Elf ranged character and had a good time

solid action-rpg

[joxer]

It's diablo 2 without cow level. ;)

[coaster]

It's not bad, but the respawn rate gets pretty annoying (especially in the expansion, Underworld). I played with a melee character, given the respawns I should probably have opted for a class with better crowd killing possibilities.

Apart from that, it was OK, pretty standard ARPG fare I thought.

[Gorath]

Sacred was one of the better action-RPGs out there. Its gigantic success (2M+ units sold on PC!) came from being accepted as the "good" game among average Diablo clones - the game "good enough" to give you your fix until Diablo 3 arrives. When somebody asks about a decent Diablo clone, Sacred is a safe answer. The other is Titan Quest.

So I'd rather take Sacred than the Silverfall (2x) and Loki bundle posted in the pricewatch thread.

[bloodlover]

Yep, it's a good game. I had lots of fun with it when it first came out. I once heard that the background was 100% made by hand? Anybody knows if that is true?

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Some say I'm in this game as well, but I've never seen me. Sisaya from the Larian Studios community is the only other named person I know of being in the game.
And in the credits the "Order of noQXs" is mentioned - they were kind of a secred community society if people who were close in touch with the original Armaklion developers. ;) I'm one of them. ;)
There are three grave stones for Armalion in there, too.
If you look very closely, you might still be able to find a few things (symbols, for example) of the TDE game called "Armalion" in it, as which it was originally planned.
The chief of the TDE video games license holder, Chromatrix, says that despite common assumptions, Sacred's look and feel is very much like Armalion would have been.
The most interesting thing I've ever seen in it, though, was the inclusion of a healing "spell" (well, sort of ?) named "Reiki".
I've never seen it in any game, never before and never after Sacred.

[Khalus]

Yer, I had a great time with Sacred. The Vampire and Daemon are my favorite to play as.

As for Sacred II, since I'm sure it'll get mentioned eventually...I just couldn't get into because of the wonky camera, even with the mods, its just blah. Plus the class choices plain suck!

[wolfing]

YADC (Yet Another Diablo Clone).
I keep making the same mistake. Identify a game as a YADC and ignore it. Then reviews come saying it's so good and so innovative and how it's so not like Diablo, so I see it in a special like this one, buy it, play it, have fun for like 2 hours, then catch myself falling asleep as it really is a YADC. So many wasted $ lol. But on the other hand, I've spent a total of $11 I think on the full Europa Universalis 3 with all expansions, and that has kept me religiously playing it for about 7 months now, day after day. That makes up for all my wasted YADC dollars.

[Tilean]

The game is huge and somewhat unique in that you have an open world to explore, though different areas are designed for different levels as far as I remember.
I never really finished it, because I accidentally overwrote a 15 hour save file with a state where my character was killed and was quite enraged by this "feature".

[xSamhainx]

worth 5 bucks, that's for sure. Another title to the online collection...

[Dark Savant]

An interesting The Dark Eye licensed game before it became known as Sacred :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjRL70g7zco

[Fnord]

How much of its The Dark Eye roots can be seen in it these days?

But on the other hand, I've spent a total of $11 I think on the full Europa Universalis 3 with all expansions, and that has kept me religiously playing it for about 7 months now, day after day. That makes up for all my wasted YADC dollars.
If you enjoy EU3, then you have to give Victoria: An empire under the sun or Victoria 2 a try. Those two games are, in my opinion, the best games that Paradox has made to date.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

An interesting The Dark Eye licensed game before it became known as Sacred :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjRL70g7zco

You didn't read what I wrote above, did you ?

[Alrik Fassbauer]

How much of its The Dark Eye roots can be seen in it these days?

Well, I remember the Twelvegods' symbols, especially that of Rondra on a shield and of Boron on a floor plate, late in the game.

The dark hooded "cultists" look like Boron priests (they should have been sparse in the Armalion game, I guess) and actually cry out "For Boron !" or so when they fight (at least in the German game).

There are few othr things, and they are hard to find, at least if you don't have the background knowledge. I didn't find too much, either, because the most was already removed.

In the very beginning of the game you can find a cottage with the logo of the original developing company hanging on the wall in form of a painting.

[wolfing]

How much of its The Dark Eye roots can be seen in it these days?


If you enjoy EU3, then you have to give Victoria: An empire under the sun or Victoria 2 a try. Those two games are, in my opinion, the best games that Paradox has made to date.

I got Victoria 2, but I tried it one afternoon and didn't really hit me as EU3 did. Maybe it's because I don't like the 'modern' setting games, or maybe it was because of some elections they asked me like 300 questions, and then 4 years later, another election and then answer the same 300 questions again.
But I'll give it another try some time. Right now I'm too busy with the Divine Wind expansion (just got it for $4 in Gamersgate) and trying to unify Japan. There's also Europa Universalis: Rome that I left pending a while ago.

[Fnord]

It is a darn shame that they did not keep TDE licence for it. Even though all of my experience with the world comes from the games (Drakensang & Realms of Arkania), I'm growing quite fond of it. It is not my favourite setting, but it beats many of the D&D ones.


I got Victoria 2, but I tried it one afternoon and didn't really hit me as EU3 did. Maybe it's because I don't like the 'modern' setting games, or maybe it was because of some elections they asked me like 300 questions, and then 4 years later, another election and then answer the same 300 questions again.
But I'll give it another try some time. Right now I'm too busy with the Divine Wind expansion (just got it for $4 in Gamersgate) and trying to unify Japan. There's also Europa Universalis: Rome that I left pending a while ago.
Both Victoria games takes a bit more time to get used to, and there are far more things going on that might not be as obvious to a first time player than the going ons in EU (Victoria 2 is still a lot more transparent than Victoria 1 in this regard). But due to the added levels of detail, I find Victoria to be a very satisfying series. Victoria 2 also allows for a lot more automization (though it is not forced upon the player). Ever since I got Victoria 2, my other Paradox games have gone unplayed (and I own all of their in house strategy titles, Europa Universalis 1-3 (& Rome), Hearts of Iron 1-3, Victoria 1-2, Crusader Kings, Svea Rike 1-2, Svea Rike 3 (Crown of the north) & Two thrones, plus Drakar & Demoner (Dragonfire: The Well of Souls)).