Sacred 2: Fallen Angel

I agree with the reviews here, this game was so badly released it played like a BETA and so badly bugged to hell it crashed every 10 minuets with frequent BSODs plus since its release 6 weeks ago its had 1.2 GB of fixes (with a 450MB on release day), but with the latest (620MB engine fix) 2.31 patch its much better and stable.

However, it still suffers from the now familiar Nvidia/Creative driver conflict in Vista, so, if your running vista, and it crashes use your Motherboard sound chip, not your Creative Card. When it working, its a fun and a HUGE game.
Sadly crippled by a rushed bugged release
Enjoy

This one will keep you going for quite a while. I've only played a small portion so far, but unlike Sacred there are no real bugs, "so far", especially those that stop you completing quests.
The graphics are bright and very detailed, the sound is atmospheric with some great tunes.
If you've played any of the Diablo's, this game is very similar in the arcade style combat , item set collecting & Multiplayer coop/PVP games.
I think Sacred 2 improves the RPG element 10 fold over Diablo2 but still manages to keep it simple enough.

I have it running full on, on a modest spec system.
Intel Quad 3.2 Ghz Processor 4GB Memory Nvidia 8800GTX on Vista32
p.s they also encourage you to copy the DVD's and give them to your friends to use as a sort of limited Demo, as the full Activation serial you get can only be used on one PC.

This game is terribly buggy even after 1.1 gig of patches. Moreover, it introduces new bugs every day. Currently it impossible for the majority of the online population to create a game, and they are therefore stuck to play on public ascaron server, also unable to progress their online campaign status.

The enemies are also bugged, they will disappear underground, and you will not be able to target them unless using aoe attacks, if your class has one. Amazingly, this happens also with bosses that are 20 times bigger than standard enemies, they will get stuck underground, they will not attack you, and it will take 30 minutes to kill them with aoe attacks. This still happens after the latest patch changing what should be a thrilling fight into a snorefest.

Be careful; this game may look pretty at the start, and it takes a good 20 hours of game to realise how many flaws and bugs there are. You will lose items, your stash once filled with precious equipment will inexplicably become empty without nobody touching it, and countless other problems.

This game is, as of today, effectively unplayable online by a large part of its customers, and there has been zero support from the devs. They do not know what is causing the bug and are not doing anything to improve the problem. Save your money for another game, even if you find at 20$ this game is not worth the stress and frustration it will cause you.

I have seen this game reviewed several times now as just another hack and slash rpg. Whilst the combat element may be seen as repetitve (what games combat isnt?) the number of side quests available is huge, and these are both varied an intersting. It was only by fully exploring these that i stumbled on what must rate as one of the best bit of cut scene animation I have ever seen in this type of game -- namely The Rock concert. Watching a gloriously programmed 5 minute performance of a heavy rock track, with its audience of gyrating goblins, orcs etc. was an absolute joy, and took me by surprise. this, alone, i thought, made buying the game worth it. If u like a game with fairly in depth character development, then dont miss this. The graphic detail is lush, and I have found the game to be fairly stable, which is saying something in these days of high detail games. The one or 2 glitches that I found didnt prevent me from playing the game, and could be ignored.

If you have played Sacred you will know what to expect. Hack, slash, kill monsters, collect loot and go shopping. The narrative is somewhat vague compared to the first game but it's endless hours of mindless hack and slash fun - not to mention the joy of riding around on a horse. Sound effects are suitably earthy and it has retained its sense of humour from the first game.
I'm not one for multiplayer so I can't comment on that side of things but the single player campaign is vast - especially if you're completist and do all the side quests!
I experienced no problems installing this game and it runs fine on medium settings on my old 3ghz xp tower and my 1.8ghz vista laptop (more so after the latest patch). Ascaron are pretty good at supporting their games and fixing any bugs.