The next game I will review is the Playstation 3 version of Sacred 2: Fallen Angel from the guys at Ascaron Entertainment. It is the sequel to the first Sacred game, originally released in 2004 for the PC.

Sacred 2 is the first game in the series to get released on Next-Gen game consoles. It’s possibly the best non-J-RPG to be released this Spring, and it could be a great alternative from playing the .Hack games or from playing a Pay-to-Play MMORPG.

Story

The land of Ancaria is on the brink of war. Long ago, the Seraphim, an angelic warrior race, handed over the T-Energy to the High Elves, a group of people skilled in the art of magic. T-Energy has many uses: in combat which would make the Elves unstoppable, which is what they intend on. Some High Elves even oppose of its use.

The use of T-Energy is the High Elves way of expanding their economy and warfare. This transformed the once beautiful Ancaria into ruins from many battles against the Elves. In the conflict, other dominant races, such as the Dryad and Temple Guardians, find themselves at ends with the High Elves and race to find new lands free from T-Engery.

It is up to the player whether to save the land of Ancaria to the way it once was, or join in on the impending war. The choice is yours.

Gameplay

Upon starting Sacred 2 for the first time, you will find the usual options: Continue, Start Game, Select Character, Leaderboards, Achievements, and the Game Options menu. At the Character Select screen, you can create your character. Choose from the following races: Seraphim, High Elf, Dryad, Temple Guardian, Shadow Warrior, or Inquisitor. Depending on your character’s race. It is up to you whether to save the land or add to the turmoil…

The general controls of the game take a while to get used to. To access the menu (for Quests, Inventory, Combat Arts, etc), you hold down the R1 Button, followed by holding down the left analog stick in the direction of the menu you want. It’s different from pressing just one button to access everything at once, but I can’t complain.

The character movement is what you would expect playing World of Warcraft. There is one thing that I would like to see in other RPGs is the ability to buy a mount as soon as possible. In Sacred 2, you can buy a mount at anytime (provided if you have a Riding Skill up to date). Mounts can be easily obtained on the cheap, but be prepared to pay more depending on the speed and level of your Riding Skill.

Being a Hack-’n-Slash game, all you need to do is press the X Button to get rid of your enemies. You can also use spells depending on your class. You can customize your character with equipment found on enemies and from rewards from quests. Leveling up is a peace of cake, as well. Getting to Level 8+ is a breeze once you start following Sacred 2’s countless quests.

There are some quests that are too hard to do along and could be done with another player—either Online or Offline. This game is a lot of World of Warcraft in terms of appearance, but it’s not like any MMORPG: you can’t just walk up to a player and ask if they can help out. You can find players by searching from the main menu or continue a campaign online as you would offline, and wait until a player (or three) comes along. Sacred 2 also offers PvP mode, where you can battle against other players in parties.

Audio

The music in Sacred 2 is preformed by German Heavy Metal band, Blind Guardian. Whereas in MMORPGs with otherworldly tunes preformed by an orchestra, many of the songs have a dark Metal theme (Similar to the songs of Black Tide). It does contain songs that have a medieval feel to it, but the mixture doesn’t dull the mood.

The sound effects in Sacred 2 perfectly corresponds with the events; walking, running, attacking, etc. The voice acting in the game is decent and fits the characters well. Another plus: when you talk to NPCs, they will actually speak—especially to another NPC, as if you were eavesdropping; where in modern traditional RPGs (e.g.: Final Fantasy X) you will see speech boxes outside of cut scenes.

Graphics

The opening movie of Sacred 2 is well done and totally life-like. The gameplay graphics is similar to what you would expect in a non-J-RPG (and a little better than WoW, actually). It can also be glitchy when you kill enemies; they will continue to stand for several seconds until they normally fade away.

There is one problem I have found: the text is too small (playing on a SDTV). Depending on the lighting (in the game), you won’t have a hard time reading. But if it’s dark in both the game and in the room, you may have to find a lit area to read the text.

Replay Value

Sacred 2 has excellent replay value as it has different campaigns varied by the character’s race and level. Once you have gotten most of the quests out of the way, you can try your hand at various tradeskills for bonuses. For the Playstation 3 version, it makes the game more enjoyable by earning Trophies.

Overall Value

Despite a few flaws, I recommend check out Sacred 2. It’s pretty addicting, and it earns many pluses with the multi-player. Plus it’s worth the $60 if you can’t afford monthly MMORPG payments.

Thanks again to RocketXL for making this review possible!

Rating:

Popularity: 7% [?]

Written by: Sanjo-chan (507 Posts)

Posted on: June 1, 2009 4:53 (Games)
Tag(s): playstation 3, reviews, sacred 2
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