Sacred 2

[redman5427]

Ok I thought I would start a thread on this game to see if any one still lurks here- I got the game in my hand today, ordered from Go-gamer and got in two days even for dirt cheap shipping.
Game is the international version(which means not censored) and I am a little leary of the 3 time activation limit. Hopefully I can install it on the little woman's computer also and we can enjoy some Lan together. If not, well, she is out of luck. Looks really sweet and I have been lurking on the Sacred2 websites and I guess they have been having some problems with the multplayer but they are almost fixed. You can have sixteen people on the closed multiplayer servers but I am not sure if all can be in the same party or not. Looks like you are limited to characters of the same alignment. Mounts look especially cool, no horses anymore I guess. I will check it out tonight and try to post some impressions. Also, if anyone is interested, I found out that Play- Asia is selling Ce versions to your door anywhere for about 60 bucks. Mine is the regular version and it was about 48 dollars.
More later tonight

[txa1265]

I'm just waiting for the regular version in November ... let's me finish up King's Bounty and then Fallout 3. ;)

With all the recent server outage and no responses to my posting of reviews I had begun to doubt anyone came here as well ...

[redman5427]

Ok I couldn't post last night mainly because it took me untill about ten thirty to even load the stupid thing. **** disk just sat in my dvd and spun, unrecognized. I figured ok, I get 2 installs so I put it in my wife's vista computer and installed. However it wouldn't load, crashing before any splash screens. I am really not happy now so I tried it in another xp computer and it came up to an install screen. The drive in my main computer has never failed to load a single game but whatever and I rigged up the drive that worked to mine and it installed. Loaded too but the story is far from over. Long,long loading times. A very unresponsive mouse. I started a high elf and she got her starting quest ok and I headed out of town. When zoomed all the way out it kind of looks like the Sacred of old and you can see where you are going, strongly contrasting any zoomed in view. You can rotate the mouse by middle mouse button but I'm not sure if it is a blessing or a curse. The buttons for all menu commands are so small I need bi-focals to see them. I tried lowering every blasted graphic setting, downloaded the 455 mb patch(wut?) turned down sound settings and tried it with SLI and without SLI and the end result is it still ran like crap! The grass is loaded as you run along filling in the screen at an incredible rate, problem being you can watch it as you go. Little hitches in the framerate as you chugg along make the experience worse. First quest I got was to kill 5 bandits along the row. My quest log says I have killed enough bandits and the quest guy says I can find them on the road.
I can't help but compare this experience to Hinterland, a wonderful little Indie game I having been playing for two weeks. Loaded up, ran fine, fun to play and works as advertized. # patches including 1 free content patch. response from the developer on website.
Sacred- huge patch that doesn't seem to fix much in the graphical engine problems- no response from developers equals not very much fun. It looks like Sacred 2 is following in it's predesessors footsteps; buggy mess. Hopefully they will fix it before release in the Us cause I can see the reviews now and they won't be pretty

[txa1265]

eeeeeeeekkkkkkkkk! (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wall+of+text)

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20021223_05_mistake.gif

[redman5427]

guilty as charged

I got a couple of hours back into Sacred 2 last night after 2 patches. I can report the game runs much better on my Windows Xp system after patching and I was actually having fun.
However, they have got to fix the textures, especially the grass loading as you are running along on low settings. It's more like a beta now instead of an alpha. Icons and text are still way to small to read on the screen. After applying the hotfix patch, I was able to log on to multiplayer and play for a bit. It seems to be a huge world with lots of replayability with the different classes and the 2 alignments.
Now for the bad news for Vista owners: forget playing this for a while. The patches were not so kind to my wifes computer. Still horrible performance and any time I change the graphic settings the game crashes to desktop. The official boards are full of complaints by Vista owners and looks like a few more patches are needed. It's too bad but Dungeon Lords was at least playable when it came out.

[redman5427]

Well all is well, nothing a little game hardware couldn't fix. I came across a developer's post that noted how Sacred 2 will test every aspect of your computer, ram, video card, processor speed. I upped the ram in my wife's computer from 1g to 2g and also Dx9 was reloaded on and presto! It now works ok. I found a 8800gt card on sale at Best Buy and my computer which already had enough ram is now running it like a champ. I had one crash but turning off AA fixed it. I spent about 3 hours playing last night.

Not a bad game any more, just be prepared to patch, upgrade and spend some debugging time.

[LordFess]

Hows it goin Redman? I played the demo of Sacred 2 with no problems on my Vista machine....I thought about buying the Import CE version of the game from GoGamer when I saw it there but decided against it when I found out that the US version will have more items packed into the box....Anyway I just got Fallout3 and will be immersed into it for quite sometime I am affraid...LoL!!!

[redman5427]

It's going good, The latest patch seems to have fixed a bunch of issues. I had to format my machine due to a virus and since the sound was skipping badly on my ancient SB Extigy card I went back to my onboard card. Sacred woulnd't even start until I patched it.
But, been playing Hellgate a lot til the servers go down.

[redman5427]

Also, what seemed to fix the problems on my wife's vista machine was more memory.
On my xp machine, going to a geforce 8800gt stopped the grass loading as you ran along.
Now the only crash I had was zoning out of a dungeon.

[LordFess]

Have you bought the complete game yet?....I am holding out for the retail US CE version of Sacred 2....If it ever comes that is.:mad::mad:

[redman5427]

yes, I bought the international version from Go-gamer. The one arriving this week is already patched

It's a good game but Fallout and hellgate still have their hooks in me.

[txa1265]

As I'm not getting a review copy, and have several games including Fallout to deal with (still working on King's Bounty, Hinterland and other RPG's plus other PC and handheld games!) ... this is a 'wait and see' for me. And since the Gothic 3 and NWN2 expansions hit next week ... not a near term purchase.

[redman5427]

I was looking forward to the Gothic expansion as well. Do you know if it is stand alone?

[txa1265]

I was looking forward to the Gothic expansion as well. Do you know if it is stand alone?

Apparently the answer is yes.

[LordFess]

Game is the international version(which means not censored) .


How ya doin redman? Hows your S2 game coming along? Hope you are enjoying it. Hopefully mine will be in my hands on Nov 18th from Amazon.com.
Oh BTW from what I understand from the Sacred 2 forums from CDV that there is no difference between the UK version and the US version as far as censorship goes.

[txa1265]

I have back-burnered this, with the NWN and Gothic 3 expansions coming in the next two weeks, as well as the reviews I'm seeing ... this can wait.

[redman5427]

Well, the answer is it is questy
Go here go there, not to exciting actually
I just finished 2 shooters so it is probably me. I'm not to excited yet by it. At least there are no more bugs or crashes.

[LordFess]

What a week in my Gaming experience! Three games I have preordered are all going to be installed on my system in one weeks time :LoTRO:Mines of Moria CE version.....NeverWinter Nights 2 :Storm of Zehir.....and Sacred 2 CE Version.....aaaaw man my head is spinning.....LoL

[txa1265]

My NWN2: Storm of Zehir is here tomorrow. Have Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods coming as well, but looks like that is another 2 weeks wait.

[redman5427]

Hey Fess, haven't seen you post lately, must be The Mines of Moria has its hooks in you.
Thats a game I have been considering getting back into, is it as good as they say?
Getting World in Conflict today so bombs will falling tonight

[txa1265]

I played this for a while and have a review up here (http://www.vgblogger.com/?p=4334).

My Gothic 3 Forgotten Gods review should be up at RPGWatch soon.

[redman5427]

I have to agree with your review completely and just want to add one thing:on my copy(from Uk) I was able to activate 2 computers at a time however only 1 can play online at a time. I was not sure if this is what you meant. I had no problems playing a Lan game with the two computers