Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo (
More info?)
weretable and the undead chairs <happy@nightmare.time> wrote:
> /troll
>
> Er... I downloaded the demo. It seems okay but my mind isn't made up
> yet. How many of you are playing Sacred? It seems like a game I
> might tire of more quickly than D2, but I dunno...
Part of the problem with Sacred is that it feels a lot like Diablo but
it isn't like it in many ways which sets up certain expectations and
causes D2 players to bring ineffective impules into their gameplay.
Those expectations will ruin the game for you unless you play long
enough to set them aside.
You may tire of it faster than D2. I'm sure that few games can live up
to D2/LoD. That being said, if you stick with it long enough to
understand how to play, you may find yourself enjoying it. If you want
something which is D2, Jr. or a substitute for D3, you're going to be
disappointed. Diablo is an incredibly good game. Sacred is simply a good
game.
_________________________________________________________________
If you're interested in pursuing Sacred, here's some info./advice:
First of all, abandon your notions of character building based on D2. In
Diablo, higher skills are always better since most of your power is tied
up in boosting your skills. In Sacred, this is not always (or even
often) the case. There are 3 elements which mix fairly significantly
(skills/attributes/combat arts). The equivalent to skill points in
Diablo are combat arts (which are increased in power by runes). The
initial impulse of a D2 player is to boost combat arts as high as
possible. This is a serious mistake and not necessary in building an
effective character (and is sometimes counterproductive).
In Sacred, the game designers have set up a situation where the player
has to balance increased combat art levels against regeneration of that
skill (that's equivalent to having enough mana to cast a spell or not).
You can override that to a certain extent using combos (which allow you
to cast a sequence of spells or attacks with one click) but, on the
whole, you need to use attribute and skill points carefully to get a
good build.
A word about combos, incidentally, they seem fairly useless until you
realize that one of the best ways to use them is to stack 4 of your best
attack into one combo. This allows you to rapidly use the same attack
type without worrying about regeneration (and you can refill the combo
with a potion to repeat it). Even in tough situations, you usually don't
need to initiate a combo of 4 of the same attack more than 3x. The game
is very good in maximizing combo effectiveness by autotargeting nearby
targets once those closeby have been killed.
The other thing about Sacred is that the map can be annoying at first
because you have to navigate around a lot of obstacles and there's no
town portal skill. There are combat jump and phasing skills (equivalent
to leap and teleport) which will allow you to get around some obstacles
but there are limits on their use. The annoyance level of the map
diminishes a lot after you move to future difficulty levels as your map
is perpetual for any particular character (and you will memorize the map
eventually and know the most effective routes). That is, once you
explore an area in the lowest difficulty level (Bronze), that area is
uncovered in all future difficulty levels for that character. Also, once
you find and tag a portal (which is like a waypoint) in a difficulty
level, it will be tagged in subsequent difficulty levels. Navigation
becomes much easier...and, you can always use a horse to move faster
around larger areas.
What I found useful when I first started playing was to find a map on
the internet which told me where to look for the portals (since they're
not always easy to find unless you try and clear every bit of the map).
I think the designers set things up to encourage exploration of the game
world which was a good thing but sometimes it can be irritating,
especially if you're used to running around big squares of terrain in
Diablo which don't really present you with obstacles to get around. One
thing that also helps is to stick to roads on the map when travelling
between towns.
If you are careful to tag every portal (portals are like waypoints) in
Bronze, you will find things are much easier in Silver (and other
levels) in terms of getting around. I've got a Battle Mage (SP) who has
found navigation pretty easy in Silver after getting all the portals in
Bronze.
Someone has mentioned all the quests but the thing is that you don't
have to do any of but the main quests (which are shown by a yellow book
on the map). All other quests are optional. You also don't have to talk
to most of the NPCs if you don't want to. On the mini-map, all
unimportant NPCs are shown as blue dots. All NPCs with main or secondary
quests are shown as white dots. NPCs with tertiary quests are light blue
dots (they only show up after you do a certain number of secondary
quests). So, it's not all that hard to ignore the unimportant ones and
focus on the important ones if you hold down the tab key and look at the
dots.
There are a lot of things about Sacred which I like better than D2 (and
some things I don't like as much). For instance, in D2, the most
effective way to get better gear is to wear mf gear and farm areas. This
is tedious and rewards persistance over better play. The way to get
better gear in Sacred is to not die. You get a survival bonus which
increases the chance of special items falling. You are rewarded for
being better at the game.
Also, the stash in Sacred is huge compared to D2. I've been able to save
not only every set piece for my class of character but every set piece
that has fallen period (so I can give them to future characters if I
want). Also, since characters play to a much higher level (250 or
something), sets have better long term utility. Also, set piece defense
numbers scale with difficulty level. That is, a given set item may have
a defense of 100 in Bronze and may be found later in Silver with a
defense of 250. It's not like low level sets in Diablo where you
eventually have to abandon them because the defense numbers on them
aren't good enough. You can replace the same set item with a new one
with better defense. Sets also do not seem too hard to complete if you
have a decent survival bonus. I've completed two for my battle mage.
Just like in D2, there are uniques, rares, sets, socketed items, and
plain items. Socketing items is far more powerful in Sacred though since
you can socket rings and amulets with fairly meaningful attributes into
items. Socketing in D2 can be very good but in Sacred, it seems better.
Also, life leeching gear seems to work in magic attacks in Sacred (or at
least it appears that way for me when I wear "hit draws life from
opponent" gear).
The things I don't like as much are the obstacles in the terrain which
force you to go around too many long stretches of terrain and the
infrequent portals. The game needs at least twice as many portals
(waypoints) IMO, particularly since they don't have a teleport skill
with the flexibility of what you have in D2. This is a bigger issue when
you're unfamiliar with the map and later matters far less though.
Also, unless you do the secondary quests and make areas "at peace",
monster regeneration can be annoying for some players as they will
respawn constantly and at or near your level. The method of regeneration
is both a blessing and a curse. It allows you to milk areas for exp. by
respawning the creatures as long as you want (and since they respawn
near your level, there's no diminishing returns). You can respawn them
instantly by going into a cave and coming back out again. On the other
hand, if you're struggling in an area and haven't had the time or chance
to put the area "at peace" and reduce the spawning and creature level,
you can feel it's tedious battling things constantly. However, I find
the spawning much less of a problem now as I did when the game was first
released and there was no way to control spawning (the "at peace"
concept was introduced with the "Sacred Plus" patch).
Anyway, you may not care enough to continue to play. I took the time to
say this because there was a transition I had to make to enjoy the game
and I think it's good to get your money's worth out of anything you buy
so I'm trying to be helpful. I've found that resources on playing Sacred
are scarce or confusing at best and there's very little that helps a
Diablo player understand the difference from the perspective of having
been a Diablo player.
I'm not trying to convince anyone to buy the game, mind you, but rather
help those who have already bought it. It's still buggy and that can be
annoying. I've had the game reboot my computer a few times (only in
multiplayer though) and sometimes had some quests which refused to be
completed even though I did the necessary tasks. Also, I did have a cow
follow me around for a fair bit of the Bronze level but I liked that.
;-) And it's not for everyone. No game is.
Shari
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