Sacred 2 - Heading to Xbox 360

Worthplaying has news from GDC that Ascaron has announced an Xbox 360 version of Sacred 2 (the link includes three new screens).
More information.

Just what we need on the PC. Another dumbed down RPG with a shitty interface designed for a controller. And PC gaming dies a little bit more. Cross this one off the "most anticipated" list. Is there anything left?

i could care less about sacred 2 but did keyser soze kill your whole family doctor_kaz all of your posts seem rather negative?

I care about Sacred 2, think it will be fantastic.
Originally developed for PC, so let's hope they won't ruin the interface.

Lets not worry before time After all "Sacred 1" didn't require much brain activity and it didn't have a very complex interface - so I see no reason why they can't make a good sequel for both PC and consoles. Doctor_kaz's comment is, IMHO, just the same old and tiresome tirade that certain people like to throw at any game that dares to come out for the consoles as well as PC. It's stupid, immature and shows no understanding of how the games industry works to generalize an entire platform like that…

Originally Posted by doctor_kaz
And PC gaming dies a little bit more.

I am shocked and outraged.

This doesn't change much, I don't think - adapting Sacred for a X360 controller doesn't seem a far stretch.

I think this is a good development. I mean, action RPGs aren't really that in depth anyway, I actually prefer playing them with a console controller on my couch. Also, it'll give Ascaron a lot more exposure in the USA, where I'm sure most console owners have never heard of them.

Would Oblivion had been different if it was made only for the PC? Most likely.

That said, I dont think that cross-platforming definitely ruins a title, there's too many examples of good games to say that. Will it be different? Again, most likely, but whether it's to it's detriment or not is to be seen.

I must say that I'm put off this title already in a way, but it has nothing to do with this info. I'm a Wood Elf type of player, and I'm told she will not even be making a return appearance. They better start showing me something other than cheesecake shots of the Seraphim, or this title might just slide right off my list!

Originally Posted by KasperFauerby
, just the same old and tiresome tirade that certain people like to throw at any game that dares to come out for the consoles as well as PC. It's stupid, immature and shows no understanding of how the games industry works to generalize an entire platform like that…

Wrong — it's a reaction based upon years and years of experience of watching developers and franchises go to complete shit because they were transferred to consoles. Generalizations are not a bad thing when they fit 99.9% of the population. You'll never go wrong predicting that an RPG that comes out on both PC and consoles will have a terrible interface that features crap like layered menus in place of point-and-click and drag-and-drop inventory. There are absolutely no exceptions to this rule in at least the last four years. Kotor, Kotor 2, Fable, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Oblivion, all had terrible interfaces and were clearly designed for controllers. Fable's shitty interface was so consolized that the "Run" and "Special Attack" functions were bound to the same key!

As far as the original Sacred goes, a console controller wouldn't even be able to replicate half of what Sacred did without making completely gimping the gameplay or making it outrageously slow and klunky. All of the primary attacks and special abilities that you could map to the number keys would take up all the buttons on a console controller, just by themselves. And that's a huge problem for an already derivative Diablo-ish RPG where story and dialog are nonexistent, and something like the interface is paramount to enoying the game. This is not the type of game that can flourish if it has a bad interface, like Kotor did. And I haven't even mentioned yet how the role playing system will probably be stripped down and gimped to make the game "more accessible". The only way that I can see this game being any good on the PC now is if the XBox 360 version is developed almost totally separate. But that hardly ever happens.

I'm not really a Sacred player, so perhaps that underscores my lack of outrage. But, he's right on the interface. If you are going to put it out on PC, please include a frickin' drag-n-drop scalable interface…and they never do. It doesn't have to be that way - but it always is.

Still, it's something we will all have to get used to for better or worse. My interpretation of Microsoft's Games for Windows initiative is that PC = Xbox 360 interchangeably.

Originally Posted by txa1265
This doesn't change much, I don't think - adapting Sacred for a X360 controller doesn't seem a far stretch.

But the resources that are going to be diverted from the PC game is very real indeed, and *does* mean much (I'm assuming this is a simultaneous release).

Every time I see a RPG created with consoles in mind, I think how great they could have been without the console-stuff .. if they dropped the mini-games and created more content for the mainplot, or if the battles wouldn't be more tactical and interesting when the battle-system would be created with mouse and keyboard in mind, and not with those stupid controllers… I won't buy any games that are created for consoles as long as possible… probably when they are in the Bargain-Bin and when there are no alternatives anymore… or probably I go back the old games.. there are dozens that I haven't finished yet…

Originally Posted by doctor_kaz
As far as the original Sacred goes, a console controller wouldn't even be able to replicate half of what Sacred did without making completely gimping the gameplay or making it outrageously slow and klunky.

I wasn't sure about that until I looked:

Let's see … here are the sacred controls *other* than Left & Right mouse clicking:

TAB, Middle mouse button - Minimap
Numpad + or -, Mouse wheel - Zoom
ESC - Close window, open Game menu
A - Autocollect items (SP only)
I - Inventory
F - Combat art screen
C - Combo screen
L - Logbook
M - World map
O - Options
S - Save / load menu
F8 - Quickload
F9 - Quicksave
P - Pause (SP only)
H - Help
Space - Drink healing potion
Q - Drink Undead Death potion
W - Drink Mentor potion
E - Drink Antidote
R - Drink Concentration potion
1 - Select weapon 1
2 - Select weapon 2
3 - Select weapon 3
4 - Select weapon 4
5 - Select weapon 5
6 - Select spell 1
7 - Select spell 2
8 - Select spell 3
9 - Select spell 4
0 - Select spell 5
Enter - Chat window

We have already seen Oblivion's version of 'adequate PC controls and interface' (which meant that the controls weren't adequate and the interface didn't work well on the PC), so why should we expect better?

Perhaps we should just hope that Ascaron build for PC and cuts off stuff that impossible given the limited X360 controller.