5/8/09

Sacred 2: First Impression

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!

10 comments:

darcspeed said...

Nice write up! I didn't see anything that put me off from buying it. I can get used to 1 click looting and low fps as long as the gameplay is engaging enough. What's the estimated play time?

Mark said...

Thanks darcspeed!

I'm unsure of the estimated play time but I imagine it's a lot--the game is HUGE! I plan on playing the game more over the next few days and will definitely post more about the game.

Will Al-Azzawe said...

Thanks for the write. In the infamous IGN review of this game, they mention some crashes that resulted in corrupted save games, did you experience any of this thus far?

Mark said...

I played the game some more today. No, not a single crash, corrupted save files or missing data.

I really wish the game ran as smoothly as it does in the dungeons.

Speaking of dungeons--they repopulate quickly. I died in one and by the time I ran back all the monsters had completely respawned. I dont get that.

Unknown said...

Hi, i would only wanted to know 1 thing, does the enemies come in armies like those in diablo where at least you get like 7-8 mobs chasing you around your ass when you start to lure? Or most of the time, you only get like 2-3 enemies tailing you before you get more just to see the earlier one lost aggro on you? Thank

Mark said...

Ethan,

So far the mobs/monsters have not been clustered together like they do in Diablo. It's sort of been 2-3 guys at the most.

Again, I feel like I need to toss this out there again: The game is huge and I'm only a few hours into the game, so things may change.

cheesemonger said...

any major slow down in the graphics?

how big is the game if you fully install to the 360 HD using nxe?

Mark said...

No the framerate doesnt drop low enough to be a hinderance and there is zero slowdown at all. I think only the hyper-sensetive will notice the framerate.

The installation is 6.8GB I beleive.

Anonymous said...

Question,
hopefully answered?
I also own the PC version, but have been playing PS3 version for only a couple of hours.

I cannot get the questbook to scroll down or turn the page. It only shows the main quest and 5 completed side quests. I can get the books I have read page, but like I said I cannot get to my active side quests because I have done more than 5. ANy help would be greatly appreciated

Mark said...

FYI--I will be posting a (sort of) lengthy update on my progression today so hopefully some questions will be answered. Some of you might find it intereting overall. :)