Sacred may look like a Diablo clone however there are some aspects that makes Sacred a world on its own.
Graphics: 8
Sounds: 6
Value: 10
Tilt: 8
Actual score: 7.6
1996 was a fantastic genre breaking year. On one hand you have Quake that revolutionised FPS as we see it today, Tomb Raider placing smooth action/adventure in 3D with the leading star a female protagonist and Diablo which brought in real-time RPG. Naturally with these successes arrives clones and these clones are still being used today. For any game to overcome this ‘clone’ attribute needs to be unique enough to stand out in the crowd so in 2004, the German developer Ascaron Entertainment released the action based RPG named Sacred and within itself have some revolutionary aspects however overall still an orc-stomping, undead smashing and easy to pick up RPG.
With any good RPG needs a good story as there will be many hours of traveling with your alter-ego throughout the lands of where they hailed from. In Sacred I feel that the storyline is a bit weak as the intro explains that Shaddar a necromancer and due to his many mishaps of trying to take control of Ancaria (the continent which Sacred takes place) got a little desperate and decided to summon a great Sakkara demon, yet all goes off beam as the protective pentagram wasn’t set-up correctly. Well, like all demons I presume, get ticked off and decided to go on a rampage. Well, guess what your task is…
To start things off, Sacred has six characters to choose from however sadly these characters are static meaning you cannot choose the sex or even the looks of the character. However all is not lost as these characters will display a good blend of different styles of game play; that said the heroes-in-waiting are the Gladiator (male fighter), Dark Elf (male poison using warrior), Wood Elf (female archer), Battle Mage (magic plus weapons – a nice combo to oppose that dreaded stereotypical mage), the ever so popular Seraphim (similar to a female paladin with very revealing attire) and my character of choice the Vampiress (a female knight that can turn into a vampire with minimal penalties). Logically these different arch-types will process different skills and combo arts (combining up to four different spells and/or maneuvers into one massive swipe) therefore considering the ‘static’ character creation approach there are still many options to make things interesting.
Another good approach to avoid this ‘static’ creation is that all starting characters will have a different beginning quest and location. Even though all characters locations are in close proximity to each other, this makes the opening sequence individually tailored (e.g. my Vampiress started out in a haunted mansion whilst the other character I have played, the Gladiator started in an arena, some five minutes real time running distance away). Yet once completed the first couple of quests it eventually merges into the single main quest. Speaking of which, you can play the game three ways: completing the main quest, completing the side quests (which can take time as I recall there are over 300) or do both (which I have done) all with three levels of difficulty being bronze, silver and gold therefore wander your heart away. There are two additional difficulties being the Platinum and Niobium levels however these needs to be unlocked by completing the previous level difficulty. Yet don’t expect the quests will fall on your lap as exploration is the key with plenty of easter eggs (e.g. I saw Tristram (the town that Diablo is based on) and a Pac Man cave to name a few).
Speaking of which, the continent of Ancaria is hugely detailed in every aspect of the word. All beautifully presented and logically placed (as in river flows from the mountains, deserts next to shrub lands, forests locations, towns and so forth) the attention to detail is by far the best I have seen in a very long time. This also extends to villages, towns and cities as some buildings are multistory high, impressive castle structures, fortifications and so forth (as a sidenote my favourite being Icecreek Pass and the Volcanic Planes). Take note that all of these structures are in a well designed 2D format yet the characters and beasts are in 3D and you can zoom in three times to get close to the action. Also considering the vastness of Ancaria, Ascaron had made this simple to map via the auto-map feature and quest markers throughout by a simple click of the button.
The developers Ascaron also made some changes to make this game a memorable experience and not just another clone. The first being the combo arts where each character possess different skills yet can combined up to four (by an approved magi) to complete one devastating blow, yet the more powerful the art the longer it takes to regenerate (yet there are stats that can assist in speeding up the process). Another one actually stems from Diablo II is the concept of imbedding items to weapons and armour to make them more potent and lastly the notion of horseback combat. Sadly though this idea is good yet it’s really too cumbersome especially when collecting loot (that involves getting off the horse, collect it then hop back on – all this takes approximately three seconds – now times that by killing literality ten thousand foes…you get the idea).
With all of these features naturally there will be problems yet I’m surprised for the amount of things that can go wrong and looking at the big picture there are not so many bugs to be too concerned about. I will however discuss the more problematic ones. The first being the collision detection; on the surface it looks like you can free roam Ancaria however all is still based on an invisible hexangular grid therefore where you think you can swipe or move to a certain location you’ll get this ‘pause’ treatment where the PC is calculating what the do next (not a biggie however can cause serious issues when encountering a boss battle like a dragon or entering a dungeon). The next is the concept of spawning enemies where you think you cleared out a bunch of critters, in no time they are back in full vengeance. Yet to avoid all of this is to slaughter the nominated amount displayed for that region but the issue here is that humans have only seventy plus years of living time. I have cleared just one of the smaller ones and it took me an entire day (as any saving will reset the counter again) and not going to worry about clearing out the other eight plus regions.
The sounds for Sacred are a mixed bag. Musically the tracks are professionally composed and well suited for any given situation yet considering the majority of the tracks are quite short in length and trampling through Ancaria involves plenty of fighting, expect more ‘combat’ tunes than ‘exploration’ ones therefore it can be quite annoying. On the other hand and this one is a major no-no is that any good RPGs needs a good story therefore voice acting is a must. Unfortunately for Sacred it’s a joke as it seems that the developers used their own staff to complete this (and they should be sticking to what they do best – programming).
In Ancaria there are literally plethoras of things to do and tinker around. As mentioned before about the free roaming, side and main quests and collecting goodies will determine the time taken to complete this monstrous game. The recommended hours are around sixty however for me I’ve clocked just shy at one hundred and ten hours. Mind you I have discovered the majority of the land, side quests and naturally completed the main one but just because you finish the single player there is still the multiplayer aspect where you can play either co-op (up to four players), hack and slash (up to sixteen players wreck havoc anywhere in Ancaria) and Player Vs Player and of course you can play the game at a higher level (which gives the player better experience and equipment) and don’t worry, the online community is still strong.
Therefore on the surface, Sacred may look like a Diablo clone however there are some aspects that makes Sacred a world on its own. The concepts of horse combat (buggy but it’s still there), free roaming, beautiful scenarios, a great blend of land and dungeon combat and the simplicity of the interface certainly enriches the game play. However because of the story and voice acting is on the weak side, Sacred is really for the person who simply like plenty of action – and action is what this game is all about.