Sacred Role Playing

08 Kasım 2008 – 16:00
0 Okunma

The Sacred single player demo provides a tutorial to the game, and permits players to adventure as one of two characters, either the cunning Gladiator, or the angelic Seraphim warrior, both with their own unique history. Each character begins at their own individual starting point with an initial quest, and is allowed to explore a pre-defined area of the map. The first two towns and surrounding countryside that are the most likely to be encountered in the full game are the backdrop for the “Blacksmith’s Rescue” and “Combo Master” major quests, as well as side quests.

Creatures are totally unrestricted within the accessible areas of the demo – anything found in the full game can be encountered. Fortunately for the player, character leveling, items, combat arts & combo moves are equally unrestricted.

Many of the features from the full game are represented in miniature…

• Play as two (six in the full version) different heroes like the fierce and entertaining Gladiator, or the angelic warrior Seraphim, pursuing quests from their perspective, and gaining unique powers.
• Create your own custom combat combos – blending hand to hand, ranged combat, and spellcasting styles into specialized combat abilities.
• Explore an enormous, densely populated world – meeting more than 300 unique NPC’s across 30 main quests and over 200 subquests in the full game.
• Fashion custom armor & weaponry via Blacksmiths, who improve or alter your equipment to your exact specifications.
• Horseback combat – heroes can cast spells, fight hand to hand, and fire ranged weapons while riding.

DEMO REVIEW
Sacred is a fun, fast-paced, versatile role-playing game from German developer Ascaron. The two character classes available in the demo (Gladiator and Seraphim) are different enough to keep you from getting bored if you want to play them both.

It�s also cool how the game starts each of them in different locations, with different starting quests. When you begin your game, Sacred�s friendly help/tutorial system does a good job of teaching you everything you need to know to start adventuring.

You�ll have plenty to do, too. There are thirteen quests in the demo (including the smaller side quests), and a large amount of countryside to explore. The game encourages you to explore, in part because your compass always points toward both your main quest and your currently selected side quest.

It�s refreshing not having to worry about getting lost, or wondering where you need to go next to proceed in your missions. You have both a world map and a minimap at your disposal. Both are useful and detailed, but it�s a little difficult to navigate your character while the minimap is up since it blocks your view of everything except the borders of the screen.

Fighting is of the Diablo-style, click-�em-till-they�re-dead variety. (And while clicking faster makes them dead faster, you can also just hold down the button if you�re lazy like me.) Weapons are varied and plentiful, and can be modified at the blacksmith. The right mouse button activates special attacks, and you can string together combat actions into combos.

Being able to ride horses is a refreshing addition to the genre. Not only does it let you travel the world rapidly, but you can even engage in combat while mounted. (Tip: to pick up loot without having to dismount, click the �Get All� button.)

Sacred has a few problems. The graphics and sounds get the job done, but they�re not the best in the business. Animations are good (especially the sexy Seraphim when she poses with a spear), except that characters who run go way too fast. Some of the text in the game wasn�t translated well from the original German. Pathfinding is adequate, but characters sometimes have problems entering and leaving buildings or maneuvering past each other in tight spaces.

None of these problems are show-stoppers, though. The demo is full of things to do, people to see, and monsters to kill.

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