Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (Playstation 3)

Review of PS3 version. This is the usual addictive RPG type games that has been lacking in a couple of months or years. The transition from PC to console game play is perfect. For a while I couldn't image playing RPG on a console, but I gave it a shot and definitely would say the console would be the prefer choices now. Like its PC roots, there minor bugs in this game that is annoying and makes it less refine then Diablo. This RPG is a bit of Diablo and Baldur Gate.

Game-play

This game is as fun as the Diablo series, but a little less refine and buggy unlike most console games. The hack and slash, weapons customizations, levels do feel like Diablo. The swamp, desert, underworld does seem it was taken from D3. Otherwise when you first start out clueless like Balder Gate with very little tutorial, you end up figuring things out a couple of days later. The control layout is amazing where everything is quickly accessible. It is that you will have to figure most things yourself. It been a week and I just figured that the gem goes in the grey socket and amulet or amulet goes in the gold. Also you can wear rings or an amulet. The map is good but need some work, Chapter 5 where they overlay the underworld and real world is confusing at first. The quest are great, but some are buggy, like the tasks was can't be done because of some odd reason; this is like 2 in 600 quests. The online version works fine with a second controller in private or up to four others in public setting. Too bad you can't use the keyboard and text, but you can use your Bluetooth mic.

Strategy

Bosses aren't that tough in general, especially if you got a lot of heal potions you can just stand there for 10mins pressing the heal and action buttons. Once in a while you switch gears if one boss is more susceptible to fire or ice, but that is it. Some players I seen, have mastered some spells and kill things off quickly, so the leveling of skills and item forging is as deep as Diablo, but it is a little confusing which skills or attributes is better. Get a horse or a mount creature, since it will save a lot of time running around between quests. You can combo some spells together also, I got 3 in 1.

Design,

Wow, is what I got to say on some of the level details for such a big open world game. The detail is amazing and the levels are very different. I love that you can zoom in and out like in Heroes of Might and Magic V. You can play it as a 3rd person or zoom out into the regular overview of RPG. The enemies are Diablo like clones in type of magic. The teleport system is alright, you about a minute or two away from any portals. The characters weapons and armors is very detail and nicely designed (unique) like Diablo and much better than the cheap looking items from Baldur Gate. The enemy too looked unique and had some varies.

Conclusion

This is an awesome game that I just decided to pick up rather than wait for other hack and slash RPGs to come out like Demon Souls (DS), Dragon Age (DA) for the console and Diablo 4 for the PC. I am not disappointed at all. I got to say the story telling or movies animation and music scores (background) didn't drawed me into the game or created great atmosphere as many other RPGs I played. The animation looked amateur. It is the action and everything else that kept me playing. Funny how the PS3 is lacking in PRG since its release, but by the end of the year and early next you got DS, DA and the White Knight Chronicles.

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this game,is great this is one of the best games ever made! i look foward to a part 3! keep up the good works

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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!

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