This game is developed by Ascaron Entertainment and was released on PC in 2008 and on Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2009. Unfortunately for Ascaron, they already have gone bankrupt. Sacred 2 can be best compared with the classics Diablo and Titan Quest.
The storyline: A mysterious force called T-Energy is the source of all life and magic in Ancaria. It was originally solely under the control of the ancient race of Seraphim, however over time as they lost interest in the world they gave some of their control to the High Elves. With this power, the High Elves quickly became the dominant race of Ancaria. A power struggle is raging between two factions within the High Elves. The nobility and clergy are each trying to gain control over the T-Energy. Other races take advantage of the distraction the conflict provides and try to gain control of the T-Energy themselves, so they can become the dominant and most powerful race. As these events unfold, the T-Energy goes increasingly out of control and changes into a destructive force that mutates creatures, destroys cities, and renders entire regions uninhabitable. The campaign selection you make will determine whether your story involves healing the land, or intensifying the chaos.
You’re able to choose from six different characters: Seraphim, the Shadow Warrior, the Inquisitor, the High Elf, the Temple Guardian and the Dryad. Each of these characters have their own abilities, Tech Trees and class quests. At the beginning of the campaign you can choose whether you join the dark side or the light side. However, you can’t choose a side if you’re Seraphim (light) or the Inquisitor (dark). Unfortunately you can’t change your karma by doing certain quests. But at least there are many, many side-quests (500). The first time I played this I was trying to beat all the side-quests, but I wasn't able to find them all. Of course, it’s recommended that you play these side-quests, because there aren’t many main quests so the playtime will be reduced by at least 25 hours (and they’ll give you enough experience for the final boss-battle).
In this game there are multiple difficulties: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Niob. You can only unlock the Gold difficulty by completing a Silver campaign and so on. It’s recommended to immediately start playing at the Silver difficulty, because most players spend the most time on their first playthrough. When you start with Bronze (like I did) your enemies are weaker than you are. So when you’re level 20 your enemies are level 15, and thus you'll get little experience points. Each time you level up you can spend some skillpoints on your attributes. You can also collect runes, which you can use in your Tech Tree. In the Tech Tree you can learn your character various spells, abilities and various improvements.
In this game you can also mount horses, which makes you stronger and faster. Each character has its own unique mount that you can unlock by completing the unique mounts quest. It’s not hard to find this quest so I’m not giving away a spoiler with this.
Ancaria is a huge world, you can play for 20 hours and most likely you'll only have discovered 25% of the map. And that’s why it’s almost impossible to find all the side-quests. In this time-period you’ll find many weapons and armor.
The graphics of this game are great. The reflections in windows, the shimmering water, footprints that are left in the sand all contribute to a more immersive environment with great detail. It certainly looks a million times better than Runescape. Off-topic, but there are tons of RPG’s that are way better than Runescape, so why are there still so many people playing that? When you’re playing for free you'll have to play with shitty graphics, you can only do a few quests and you’re maximum level is limited due to certain skills you can't train.That's something that's really bugging me, that people aren't willing to slap down 60 dollars or less for a game that can be played free forever, but instead choose to pay for a membership which only allows them to play for a month.
I've experienced some flaws in this game: The game’s characters all have these very annoying voices. I can’t really express how bad, but to say the least: Most of the time while playing I turned down the voice volume, because I was getting a terrible headache. Another thing is that when you’re in battle with multiple enemies your character automatically determines which enemy he attacks. So if you want to attack another (stronger) enemy instead it’s almost impossible to focus your character on that enemy.
The game itself is rather good, but like any other RPG it gets tedious over time. Mainly due to the fact that you'll end up fighting the same enemies over and over again. If you're a real fan of the oldschool RPG's such as the Diablo series and games with similar concepts when it comes to gameplay, this game might be a good purchase for you.
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