Temple Guardian: Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (360, PS3, PC) Review

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
Released: November 11th, 2008 (PC) and May 12th, 2009 (PS3 and 360)
Developer: Ascaron
Publisher: Deep Silver
Genre: RPG

THIS WORLD IS SAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCRRRRREEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDD

I'm just gonna tell you straight up. I love this game. I fucking love it. If I just rated it based on what I purely thought about it, it'd be along the lines of "Why the hell are you reading this? GO BUY IT NOWWWW" but that's really unfair...anyway...

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel takes place 2,000 years before the first game, so you don't need to play it to know the story. In fact, the stories aren't even related at all (from what I understand anyway) Both games take place in the same place, Ancaria. In Sacred 2, there is this magical substance known as T-Energy. The Seraphim get lazy and decided to give some of to the High Elves to keep. The High Elves got into a conflict, with the clergy fighting the nobility. Because the High Elves were in charge of the T-Energy they became the most powerful race. Other races went "bitch no" and wanted to be the dominate race. Everybody is fighting everybody else and the T-Energy gets out of control and starts to corrupt the land.

That's....basically it. I really don't get the story from then on. It's very poorly presented in game. The beginning cinematic is kick ass. However, the main quest is extremely odd and I can't quite connect it to the main story. You go around saving towns, joining orc factions, slaying dragons. I'm sure it all ties in, but I really don't feel like sitting through the small text the NPC's blab on about. Of course the story does all wrap up and it makes sense, but only if you pay close attention. Each character also has a slightly different version, but they all end up in the same spot. To add to that, almost all the characters have a light and evil campaign.

There are 6 classes you can play as. First off, are the Seraphim. The ancient foolish race who lent out the T-Energy in the first place. Each race has a fixed gender and look. The most you can change is the hair color (and maybe...1 out of 2 hairstyles) The Seraphim are a race of sexy babes who like to poke things. Well, they both poke things, fire spells, AND heal. She can do pretty much everything, she even has a spell to give her a powerful ranged weapon. Her story is pretty simple, she is one of the few Seraphim left who remember when they used to be guardians instead of assholes. So playing her through, you're saving Ancaria. She has no options to play an evil version. (she is the one pictured above)

The Shadow Warrior is the...well no. The classes in Sacred 2 aren't black and white. He is a warrior type character, that can also summon the dead and cast necro spells. He is a corpse himself, having died in battle. He was risen from the dead so he could once again serve his High Elf master. The process went wrong and the Shadow Warrior successfully rebelled against his master. On the light campaign he chooses to try to save Ancaria, and in the evil campaign, he just wants to go to Elysium (place where dead people go) so he destroys The Great Machine anyway to stop the T-Energy flow. The High Elves are a pure magic based brand. They cast many types of spells and don't like to fight up close, but they can if needed. On light, she goes to save Ancaria, while evil, she decided to seize the land for herself and the High Elves.

The Dryads are nature whores. They are mainly ranged fighters, they can heal, and cast spells to hurt enemies. Their story is basically the same as the High Elves. Light leads them to stop the T-Energy from messing up everything, and evil means they just want to rule. Temple Guardians are robotic dogs. They can hold a 1 handed melee weapon and they have a Mega Man like blaster on them. They also have spells to attack. Light campaign leads them to go turn off the Great Machine so they can restore balance. Evil campaign has the same basic goal, but he's much more reckless. Finally, the Inquistor is up. He looks like a magic wielder, but he fights up close. He also can fire spells. He's very selfish and only wants his own goals, so he can only be evil. There is so much nice detail payed to each one of the characters. They all feel different and are extremely unique.

Along with the 6 classes, and 2 campaigns, numerous dungeons, and there are so many quests. At least 700, with main and side quests combined. The max level is above 200. Anarcia itself is huge. Special skills, mounts, and items can be found so you will be busy for a long ass time. Oh, and did I mention there are 5 difficulties? Sacred 2 is played in a top down view, point and click RPG. A lot of people describe it as a rip off of Diablo 2. To be perfectly honest, I find it just as good as Diablo 2, maybe a little better. There is so much to do, it's quite amazing actually.

However, a lot of criticism comes from everything being similar. You fight...and fight...retrieve an item...then fight some more. When you walk out of a town, you get attacked by everything. It really warms my day when muggers and bears team up to kill you. It actually doesn't bug me. I mean, it's like that in Diablo 2. You can't walk 2 steps without being attacked in either game. But once they're dead, they're dead until you load up your game again. I find it refreshing. I guess it depends on the type of person you are. If repetitiveness doesn't bug you, then it's fine. With all the exploring and difficulties and quests and levels, you'll be doing a lot of fucking fighting.

Ancaria is a beautiful land. There are several aspects to it, such as a grassy area, a plains, several islands, a desert, a jungle, and more. It can be difficulty to stray from the path and explore, as there are hidden little snags. (like a slope that won't allow you to go down on) Some people will find this very annoying, as everywhere you go, the game always has an object or a tree in the way to snag you. You don't know that you can't go there until it's too late. I find this not an annoyance though. It's just a simple "Oh, I can't go there" so I backtrack. But like I said, it depends on who you are. Ancaria can be explored through in multiple ways. Along your journey, you come across resurrection stones. Once activated, you will spawn there when you die. You can also just teleport to the one you've activated. There are also individual teleporters in certain cities. Once activated, you can use them anytime to get around. And finally, along with horses, you can buy special class mounts. The Seraphim gets a tiger to ride, the Inquisitor gets Spider, the Temple Guardian gets a neat cycle thing whose name I can never remember and so on. The special mounts give you nice bonuses.

When you level up in Sacred 2, all of your attributes go up. However, you get 1 (sometimes) more points to spend (if you go a long time without dying, you get special bonuses, like more points to spend. The opposite happens if you die). I know it may seem like a waste at first, but it adds up nicely. On certain levels, you may choose a special skill to level (like a mastery for swords, armor, blacksmithing, there are tons) You also get special trees. Each character gets 3 branches to use skills and spells from. You level them up by using runes you find or buy. When you raise the skill of that tree (using the special skill) you can add special effects to some of your combat arts. You may also assign multiple arts to one button, creating an actual combination. It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. It just adds so much more to the game. You can have so many combinations of different characters. They're all very balanced as well.

The game does scale. (No, not horrible Oblivion style) It does so very smartly. Each difficulty does not go above a certain level. Easy, lowbie monsters will ALWAYS be lowbie monsters. They will just scale in level so you get some XP from killing them. End game monsters will ALWAYS be difficult (until they hit the max level for that diff anyway...) It does not do it evil Oblivion style and just murder you. It's very fair and balanced, have no fear.

The music is wonderful in this game. The main theme is provided by Blind Guardian. Along with the majestic traveling and town music, each character has different battle songs. It's very refreshing to listen to. For example, the Seraphim has angellic battle music, the Temple Guardian has more of a techno beat, the Shadow Warrior has Blind Guardian, ect. It's so fucking awesome how much detail they put into the characters. It really makes up for the lack of customizing their looks.

And speaking of detail, this game is just filled up the ass with easter eggs. Just to name one, there are graveyards spread across the world. Read them for a laugh, or for a nod to certain actors, bands, singers, artists, and authors. (For example, on a stone, it mentioned Health Ledger) There is even an alien from the Alien movie in this game. So it's really fun running around and finding neat things like that.

The controls aren't bad. (Console version) They are pretty smart actually. It may be awkward at first, but you get used to them. R1 opens up a menu, where you then use the joystick to move to inv, combart arts, quest log, ect, you then release R1 while still holding the joystick and it will open the menu. Of course, you can move to and from menu once you are inside you're inventory or something using the shoulder buttons. The interface is pretty clean. I'm not too sure about the PC version, but from what I've seen it looks decent. In both versions, there is a minimap in the screen that easily points you in the direction of your quests.

So you're prancing along, slaying things, leveling, and you start to feel lonely. Then grab a friend to play. Sacred 2 support a offline and online multiplayer. 2 players for offline, then 4 for online (Console version only, of course the PC version supports more. To my understanding, it's 6 for campaign, and 16 for PVP modes) You don't have to worry about your character either. Anything you do is saved,. So if you are constantly switching between single and mutliplayer, you still keep your quests, items, and levels. Then you get to store it in your stash, that holds a buttload and is shared between all your characters.

Now, to some people, there is 1 super amazing flaw that destroys the game for them. There is no way of pausing (I'm unsure about the PC version) Select is the map, and start brings up the options menu. If you are going to get up, clear out the enemies first, then backtrack a little, then leave so you don't die. I find this amusing as pee. It doesn't bother me in the least. Sacred 2 is nice. Now, if it did nothing but throw monsters at you, then I'd be pissed. The game doesn't do that though. The game also has some bugs, but none of them are major. Sometimes a character will get stuck, just wiggle around and you'll break free. Nothing to panic about.

Sacred 2 really is a unique game. It's a wonderful RPG. Unfortunately, it won't be everyone's cup of tea. It is rather huge, and is nothing but fighting. The story is a little hard to get into, and there is no pause feature. There are also many snags. There is so much tiny little detail put into the game though. The characters are extremely original and fun to play. You feel so accomplished at level 139 and on top of the world, yet with so much to still conquer. My guess is that this game is for those who LOVE to do Baal runs in Diablo 2.

+ I got both my blog name and screen name from this game
+ Ancaria is huge and beautiful with many atmospheres
+ So fucking much to do! (with plenty of fighting)
+ The characters are unique.
+ Great Music
+ Multiplayer
+ It has an expansion...
- ....that isn't out for the console versions or outside of Europe
- Loads of snags
- Fighting and fighting
- Story is presented poorly
- No pause feature
- Fighting and fighting and fighting

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel gets a 4.4 for all versions. I wanted to give it a 5 :L But some people don't like fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting.

Notable Console Differences: Supposedly, the console versions are cleaned up more. (less bugs and more people playing) SUPPOSEDLY, don't hold me accountable. I can't run the PC version. However, the PC version also gets Blood and Ice (the expansion), so if you're European you're fucking lucky >:C

Temple Guardian

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (360, PS3, PC) Review

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