Sacred, new competitor to Diablo?

[LochnarITB]

OK, I've played the demo for a few hours and this is my conclusion:

It's Diablo 2 with better bunnies. :lol:











Well, maybe just a few impressions:

- The graphics are nicer but, at least in the demo, there is no way to raise the resolution. The screen feels somewhat cramped to me.

- The character models are better. As I said, better bunnies. They are little brown hares with good detail rather than white cottontail fluffballs. The other animals are nice too. I sat for a couple minutes watching a deer wander around grazing. You could see the muscles moving in its hind quarters as it walked. You get to ride a horse that really opens up the game and is also nicely detailed. I think there are even different breeds/color patterns to choose from at some sellers.

- I am playing a gladiator right now and he is very overpowered. He dual wields swords and kills pretty much everything in one or two swings.

- There are quests given to you by npc's. None of them yet have been difficult. They have been fedex or kill the foozle quests. Just go and do it, no thought required.

- Path finding is pretty bad. If there is even a shrub in the way, you will get stuck.

- The merchants need a try it out option as it is often hard to tell if what you are buying is actually better than what you have. Buying something and selling it right back nets you only 25% of your original purchase price (I think it was 25% but I didn't check the numbers to be exact).

- The mini-map, opened in the middle of the screen when you hold the tab, is nicely detailed, as is the world map. The mini-map is fully detailed rather than just an outlline overview. You can still move behind the map when it is open too.

- They have included the day/night cycle in the game, much to my chagrin. I have never liked playing "outside" when it is dark. I expect dungeons, etc. to be dark and haunting but I tend to think I would camp/sleep when it is dark outside so that is what I tend to do in games too, if the facility is available. It does not seem to be so in Sacred. There is no stopping to sleep, no rest options, no inns to stay at. Hit points regenerate, at a fairly rapid pace, so rest is pointless.

- So far, it has primarily been outside, other than stepping inside small buildings. The closest thing I've had to a cave/dungeon was walking through a cave mouth to find houselike rooms inside.



As I said, this was just the demo but I think I will probably be picking up the game. I don't know what multiplayer is like but this seems to be a one player game at heart.