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[Review] Sacred 3: Nothing's Sacred Anymore
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
With a pair of well-regarded titles already in existence, both firmly planted in the action-RPG genre, Sacred 3 had what amounted to a built in audience on which to unleash the game. Yet it does not take long playing the game to determine that Deep Silver and Keen Games have let down the series' existing audience and are unlikely to garner very many new fans either.
The bottom line is that simply calling a game "Sacred" doesn't mean it that it actually is Sacred.
Read more of Suzie Ford's Sacred 3: Nothing's Sacred Anymore.
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Comments
This game just screams "MEH" to me as well.
The decision to go with yet another hack&slash (and a terribly executed one at that) while retro games like the original are actually making somewhat of a comeback is sort of baffling too.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Absolutely agree with what was said in the article, though I think some of the ratings are a bit high. I bought the game even though there was a lot of negatives and people screaming "Run Fast and Far Away!". But I have a lot of friends that I got into Sacred in the early days, and I wanted an un-biased review. So I bit the bullet, and boy were people right.
The worst for me was the impossible keyboard control, just to move your character in a straight line down a corridor. yes, a game pad did help, but you have just thrown away 50% or more of your playerbase just by awful controls.
Glad the developer published an apology, though he did not have to. The company really needs to send out an apology and remove this piece of trash from existence.
I saw it streamed and thought that it might be ok if on the 80% markdown of a Steam sale as it was not worth $50 from what I saw. Now wondering if want to pay that much if forced to gamepad to enjoy the gameplay.
Watched PS4 D3 streaming and thought about how simple the game seems there over the PC version and I did not think the PC version was that difficult. If this is designed for a controller then guess that is why it looks like a base game that is waiting for the extras to be put in like loot.
Smile
so they managed to make a sequel for amazing arpg, thats stripped of pretty much all features that actually made it so good, and put a $50 on it
at least it looks like gamers have finally decided to stop paying for crap though, because steamcharts for this one look rather depressing, lol
http://www.steamcharts.com/app/247950daily high 167 :P
Steam price £39.99 .. elsewhere on the net £20.99. Steam over charging again!.
Twitch tv .. 20 viewers.
I think one could simply of linked to Sacred 2 and said play this instead, in all honesty. It's on steam or, if you are the odd individuals who hate it, Good Old Games as well.
http://www.gog.com/game/sacred_2_gold
The game, as many have honestly said, is so far unaligned with its predecessors that it's nigh criminal to even be labeled as a numeric sequel. Sacred: Citadels at least had the decency to identify (and price itself accordingly) as a spin off title removed from the main series mechanics.
A shame, of course, because Sacred 2 was, while arguably weak at times, rather charming overall. It wouldn't of won any "Best Of" titles to me, but I had played and enjoyed my time with the game. This one, no...
Really bad game that should have never been called Sacred 3.
Regarding the controls, I have to say that Keen Games managed to ruin WASD controls in a game like this one. A proper WASD control in a top down environment attaches the mouse to the aim of your character so your character will walk in any direction and always be facing towards the mouse cursor.
Im always wishing more ARGPs offer the option of proper WASD controls and these guys not only limited the game to that single option, they did it wrong...... /facepalm
"A fool and his money are soon parted"
Lots of reviews not a single one good about this game and you had to go and support them so they'll make a even more shoddy sacred 4 or take the name of some other fairly well know game and destroy it.
Still that's why shoddy campanies like this one use the names of past successful games. They know they can just rush any crap out the door with a name on it and some fan will buy it for name alone even when they've been told (a lot) how bad it is.....
Sad
Deep Silver just wanted to milk that franchise a bit more. Since the Original developers, Ascaron, dont exist anymore they got this company that has no memorable development record and just made a mess. Also i believe Keen games said before that they wanted Sacred 3 to sort of resemble Sacred Citadel, which apparently was the worst Sacred spin off ever made. So i really still dont know how could they call this Sacred 3 when it was not even claimed to be a proper Sequel.
The REAL developers behind Sacred 1 and 2 are actually making a spiritual successor to Sacred. Website is here. It was called Unsacred, but Deep Silver threw a hissy fit over that name, so it was changed to Unbended.
Looks promising so far.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
Is it my imagination, or is this theme pretty much the constant (though encountered sooner and more obvious in Sacred) in MMO's anymore, the (general) theme that causes an eventual game-failure for players either sooner, or later, depending on the mix of detail elements in the game:
Cater to the quick-buck idea of pew-pew, gerbil wheel (e.g. dumb) grinds. Throw some "eye candy" at the game to keep players distracted, but, overall, simple, mechanical grinds covered in paper mache.
I remember the original Age of Conan intro Trailer, the panoramic views of landscapes that looked spectacular, with the commentary stating " . . . a Living, Breathing world . . ."
Marketing at it's best.
I keep coming back to some kind of idea, a ponder: Why is the idea it's got to be one of the BIG dev houses can only make a good game, coupled with so many dev houses bought up by bigger publishers (e.g. NCSoft)?
Where do things break down in business management to the point a dev house with a style, flavor, "spirit", what have you, to the point they have to "sell out" for a larger money stream? On the surface we can find all sorts of "obvious" answers.
Why don't we see some enterprising soul avoid the disease of "try to be everything to everyone because "success" is only measured by money alone" . . . and select a target audience, a game play and environment profile, then hire a dang good accountant they trust and work well with, and manage the business profitably so it can GROW.
We've got an entire industry flooded with run-around pew-pew, give players too much way too fast. That segment of the player population is satisfied in selections 3x over.
"Living Breathing world" . . . that would indeed be the next step. Of course not everyone might have the same thoughts as to what that means.
What would that mean to you, in the context of a subscriber logging into a game you pay for. What would you value, or keep you subscribed over a longer period of time?
Apart from the business stuff mentioned above in general, Sacred seems to have fallen prey to the "standard" anymore for release: Satisfy the pew-pew and easily repeated gerbil-wheel dynamic, that's good enough.
The legacy of the Bobby Kotick school of game design?
Thanks for the article.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Wow, I haven't played Sacred 3, but this really sounds like an overly bias, hate filled review.
First of all, I did own and play the original, and while it did have some cool stuff to it, it was far from being a quality ARPG. I remember it was actually so buggy, broken and unstable at launch that I gave up on playing it. Only when the expansion pack was released, did I finally pick it up again and complete it. And even then, it was a snore fest of a game. I really don't understand why people would be surprised that Sacred 2 and 3 aren't very good either.
But despite that, this review really has me scratching my head. One moment, you rage about the game because they attempted something different in terms of loot and advancement. And then, the next moment you are chastising the game because it doesn't do anything innovative. What? It seems to me that trying to create a new way of doing equipment and advancement in an ARPG is pretty innovative. Maybe not successful, but at least they tried.
Lastly, the point about controls. Again, maybe they weren't successful with it, but I applaud them if they have attempted to do away with that Diablo style control system. I have always hated that control system. I don't feel like I am playing my character, I feel like I am playing the mouse pointer. Yesterday I started playing Diablo 3 on PS4, and I am just blown away by how much better it feels and plays with a controller instead of that gawd awful mouse driven control scheme. It made me seriously wish that PC ARPGs would get away from the mouse, and build a more console style control system.
So maybe Sacred 3 isn't a very good game overall, but at least they tried to do some things different, rather than be another reskinned Diablo.
Um... Been playing Sacred 2 for hours... I'm only lvl 10. There is no way to get to lvl 60 in a half hour unless you're hacking/using cheat codes, so no clue what you're talking about.
Smile
Sacred a game a have good memories on came out around 2004 Best RPG then according too PCGAmer
Then there was the expansion pack Sacred Underworld in 2005
Around 2008 Sacred 2 Fallen Angel came too light
Around 2009 Sacred 2 Ice and Blood
Then the waiting begins 5 years later there was sacred 3, My magazine Gameplay said already wait by buying sacred 3,
because the the greatness you had in last 2 sacred games for PC games is gone. Only a nice trailer. And rest of game play is worthless. This is game made only for soul purpose too cash in on the good name of sacred.
This game is not even worth 1$. All the greatness what ascaron has made, will be gone for ever throungh hands from Keen games and only be made for ps2 gameplay something what a PC gameplayer who used too his mouse not wants.
I still have Sacred II with nice map and a good story what I can play for hours. Too forget this horrible sacred 3 game.
AK