Sacred 2: Fallen Angel - Collector's Edition

Let's get the 'collector's edition' out of the way. The figurine is misleadingly positioned in the shot, the perspective makes it look larger than the couple of inches it actually is. It's like a gashapon toy, with a bendy sword. The Map/Poster is a double-sider rather than separate (cheap), orchestral background music renders the CD fairly meaningless. In other words, don't bother unless you can get it for the same money or a couple of quid extra. Publishers really need to do better.

The game. It's flawed, glitchy, and constantly threatens to tumble over into "why am I doing this?" territory (similar to Two Worlds, which it closely resembles in numerous ways). The skill system is initially impenetrable, choices made are unreversible and result in players being forced to advance their characters without knowing if they're actually doing it 'right'. If any game needed a strategy guide, it's this one, and as sod's law would have it it's one of the few recent console RPGs which have none.

Combat consists of holding 'attack' for the most point, the skill system does have depth but it literally takes several hours to even start to get a handle on it. Skills are mysteriously locked when on horseback for no reason, quests are generally of the fetch or "kill this" variety. The voice acting is so bad it's funny, yet the hammyness stops it being flat, which is where Two Worlds fell. The teleportation system is patchy, glitchy and travel can sometimes be a chore.

So where's the fun? I don't know exactly, but it's mixed in there somewhere. After spending umpteen hours wandering around, completing quests, discovering the mechanics of the thing ("so that's how you increase your running speed" etc.) it dawned that I'd gone past the point of the initial must-collect-stuff frenzy and gotten to the point where the game sinks or swims on what it allows you to do with all that stuff. That's the point where even the most persistent Two Worlds player will start to lose the reason for playing and where Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom breaks down completely. That hasn't happened, in fact the game is getting more and more enjoyable.

I've only used one character so far, but there's six to go at, and both light and dark story paths. One of the coolest things (and it seems insignificant) is that skill levels are raised with randomly dropped items, whereas attributes such as strength raise with character levels and an additional point per level for you to distribute. What it means is that you get the predictable character improvements while at the same time given more reason to power through mobs of enemies, moar skills!

Despite exploration being muted by the fact that you can't actually do anything with the different locales except trade and get more quests, the sheer volume of quests does buoy the experience because of the constant drip-drip of background info. Suddenly coming across a village which isn't marked on the world map (the majority of points of interest and settlements aren't) and the promise of more quests is a real shot in the arm. The little touches like that and the shared hoard for all of your characters to dip into really helps round it off.

It's not the easiest game to describe, but in brief: if you like your RPGs ultra polished steer clear. If you want to play co-op then approach with caution, bugs ahoy. If you have managed to stick with Two Worlds, then jump right in. If you don't mind imperfect RPGs then get now or wait for a price drop, cos If you do like what you play with this one, it has just as much gameplay to offer as Fallout 3 or Oblivion. Their superficial thieving and scavenging facets don't really do more than what Sacred 2 manages. Hope this helps you.

iI'm not going to pick on it like some people, but I'm not going to say it's the best game in the world like most! I'm going to REVIEW it (like people should!!) by telling you what's good... and whats bad. I'm going to start good coz i'm in a good mood :D
Good
its a fun game, if u like rpg's and if u have the time for it, it makes you want to keep playing it to just get better and better like a "Good" rpg should. The equipment is amazing, there is a vast amount to choose from and all the drops auto level. Good game to start with a good chouse if characters and skills to level up. And all in all a fun "good" rpg. The camera is O.K don't listen to the other guy it actually pretty good... well I liked it, its simple to use and control, you can zoom in and out. (depending on what is comfortable) and the details is alright.
well that finishes that. I'd like to say I liked this game... a bit but I'm doing my best not to be one sided like everyone seems to be in these reviews, but I'm sorry if this next bit should one sided. (if you are reading this and already have the game, you'll know what I'm saying is true :) )
So... bad points
Bad
all in all there are allot, simple ones get on my nerves allot in games like this, and this one has a prime example, you can't change the sex of what race you pick (if you can please tell me!!!), and when most of the races are girls and chances are your a boy (not to offend girls that play this game) your kind of stuck only having two races to chouse from it you want to be a boy. But (and this is a BIG but) there are enemies everywhere you walk!!! and although there easy and there is a fast travel method to certain places, when you have to go some where that's 5miles away and you have never been anywhere near that before, you looking at around 100000 enemy to kill on the way, it got to the point when me and my mate just forgot fighting them and just brought some horse and rode through while they followed like a dog. But disaster struck when we came across and enemy with a freeze spell that stopped use in our tracks! And we both die losing 100000 coins worth of horse o goody!
And here i must end the review due to boredom of righting. Hope it helped. And thank you for fining the time to sit down and actually read this without being bothered about the size :D bye

I think the first thing to talk about is what an RPG is all about, if we go back 10 years or so then most of the RPG's then were very much like Sacred 2, in that you level grind, pick up loads of equipment, do quests and generally have a good time. This is the sort of RPG that Sacred 2 is, it is not like Oblivion, and not like some of the FF series that i think most people will now compare it to. In terms of classic RPG then, Sacred 2 is excellent, i have spent about 70hrs playing it and have still not finished it, the game world is huge, and i love to explore it, finding random little villages everywhere where you can pick up quests etc. There has been a lot of negativity that surrounds this game, and i think that it is unfair, people focus on such things as the now infamous camera angle and the graphics. Let me try to address these, firstly the camera angle was tricky, for the first 10 mins but then you realise that it actually is pretty good, as it does give a good view of your surroundings. Secondly the graphics, i feel that today too much is made about graphics, obviously its nice if games look good but its not the be all and end all. If a game does have bad graphics let it be said, but this game does not. The environments are lovely, the enemies are well realised, so i don't see the problem. One of my favourite parts of the game is the 'special mounts' as the name suggest each class gets its own unique thing to ride on, i've only ever played as the inquisitor and his giant spider looks great. Another good point is the story line, there is the main story line, which depends upon whether you follow the good or evil story as well as individual class quests. There are some negative points, like the fact that the classes are pre-set male or female, you can't change that, which is a shame. Also there are a few bugs, but these don't ruin the game at all. If you enjoy what RPG's used to be then you will totally love this game. If you are new to the genre then there are worst places to start than this

j2000nr

Got this game on release and it it just great fun, the game world is gigantic with a lot of quests to do, however graphics wise it looks somewhat dated... Reminds me of Dungeon Siege with how it looks and plays, needless to say it is a great game and a must for any Blind Guardian fans like myself.

Am somewhat miffed though as I did NOT receive a soundtrack in my collectors edition and I can't seem to contact anyone about it =/

I really wanted to like this game, as I love the old RPGs where you wonder around collecting new items, leveling up, upgrading your character etc... but this game is really dull, the combat is boring (hold down one of the buttons, that's about it), you never feel like you are on a quest for anything, it's just a case of walk to point A, kill/collect something, then walk back to point B, so what if there are hundreds of quest you can go on, they are all the same and very boring !! The graphics and sound are pretty poor as well.

I had more fun playing Too Human, and that's not saying much. I traded Sacred in after 5 days (I couldn't get to the shops any time sooner).

Also - the collectors edition is a rip off, the model is only 2 inches tall and bendy plastic (no where near as big as it looks in the photo). But as it's cheaper on Play.com than the normal edition is in the shops, you can't really complain.