Sep 03, 2008
Sacred: Multiplayer Gem is Coming Back
by windshell
Announcement that Blizzard is developing new sequel to the most popular franchise before WoW series - Diablo bring the smile back on gamers’ faces worldwide. One game, often considered very similar in style to Diablo series, that was very popular among casual RPG players was Sacred, a multiplayer gem that is coming back with a sequel too.
 For those who hadn’t chance to play it, Sacred is an action role-playing game released in 2004 for Windows platform. More than 1.8 million copies of the game were sold worldwide. Besides Windows, game was announced to be released on Linux platform as well in this year.
Sacred 2 or fully entitled as Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is the second game in the Sacred series. It is actually a prequel which takes place 2,000 years before the events of the original Sacred. Like its predecessor, the game takes place in a fantasy setting in the world of Ancaria. While the first game was mix of 2D and 3D, a new Sacred 2 engine means that the game is rendered in 3D perspective, whilst retaining the viewpoint found in older isometric games.
Sacred 2 will be released for Microsoft Windows, as well as the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. All versions will contain the same content and the main difference will be in the user interface, which has been designed to allow optimal control for the hardware differences of each platform.
Linux users will probably have to wait a bit, until Sacred 2 game came out on this platform as well.
Sacred 2 Gameplay
World
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel features a very large and open world, with seamless transitions from region to region without neccessity to load each new region when player switches between them. All areas of the world are hand-crafted to create a level of detail, and give a sense of authenticity. There is a wide variety of different regions in Sacred world, from arid deserts to lush tropical rain forests. Every region differs in climate, terrain, architecture, inhabitants, flora, fauna and even light.
The world also contains dungeons and caves going as far as 2 levels deep, and surface dwellings of up to four stories. The surface map of the world is 22 square miles.
In addition to playable characters and enemies, different neutral creatures to inhabit the various regions, enemies and NPCs (non-player characters) will be introduced.
NPCs will behave realistically within the Day/Night cycle. This means that players might not be able to find a merchant in the middle of the night because he's home sleeping.
Campaigns
There are two campaign path choices in game: Light and Shadow. The players select the path they want to follow at the beginning of the game, and this choice determines the ultimate goal of their character. Throughout the gameplay, the paths intersect at different points. That basically means, that on one path you may be asked to help defend a town, while in the other you may be the person attacking the town.
Classes
Like in previous Sacred game, there are 6 character types. But, unlike in Sacred where the following characters were introduced: Gladiator, Dark Elf, Wood Elf, Vampiress, Battle-Mage and Seraphim, Sacred 2 will introduce some small changes.
Classes in Sacred 2:
- Seraphim: The only class from Sacred that appears in Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. She embodies all that is good, therefore she can only play the Light path.
- Shadow Warrior: An elite warrior, returned to life against his will after his death on the battlefield.
- High Elf: A student of magic, freshly emerged from the academy ready to explore the world and expand her knowledge.
- Dryad: Adept at ranged combat, nature magic and voodoo.
- Temple Guardian: cyborg creature adept with mechanical and technological arts.
- Inquisitor: He embodies all that is evil, therefore can only play the Shadow path.
Each class has different class specific equipment and animations that are dependent on the weapons they're wielding. Maximum character level will be at least 200.
Character Customization
Character customization is accomplished in a variety of ways. Players can choose will they be using a mount or not, also a wide variety of equipment and weapon types.
Players will also be able to modify their class specific combat arts or spells.
Mounts
Players in Sacred 2 will be able to use horses as they could in Sacred 1, for transportation as well as in combat. Each class will also get access to a special unique mount type via quest.
Quests
World of Ancaria is full of a variety of quest types. Current estimates indicate that there will be 100 core campaign quests as well as hundreds of side quests. The side quests will include character specific quests, as well as quest related to the specific deity you choose when creating your character.
Multiplayer
Although Sacred 2, as well as first Sacred isn’t intended to be an MMORPG, multiplayer is very important and very significant part of this game. Multiplayer mode in Sacred 2 will feature so called "hot-swapping" capabilities, which allows players to leave their single player campaign, join a friend's game in multiplayer and then return to their single player campaign at the point they left off, while retaining any levels and items that they received while in their friend's multiplayer game.
All gaming platforms will allow a variety of game modes, with five distinct multiplayer modes.
Maximum number of players will vary based on the platform and game type:
- Microsoft Windows: Maximum of 16 players per game.
- Xbox 360: Maximum of 4 players via Xbox Live, or 2 offline.
- Playstation 3: To be announced
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