How Sacred 2 will change hack-and-slash gaming (2 of 2)

Will you be able to "farm" bosses, and what is Ascaron's perspective on the controversial topic of "boss farming"?

AE: There will be differences depending on which game mode you play. In the single-player campaign, because the bosses are part of the story, they will stay dead after you kill them.

If you play the "free" (non-story) mode, then the bosses will re-spawn after a certain amount of time. In the online modes the bosses will be re-spawned after you have closed the server and started a new one. Because this is not a persistent world, the player does not have to wait until re-spawn, and can just start on a new server to fight the boss again.

Inventory management is a sore spot in many hack-and-slash action RPGs, with some players complaining of "Tetris-y" inventory screens, and others liking the old-school Diablo II feel of an intricate inventory. Where does Sacred II fall in regards to its inventory?

AE: The inventory will have a "sort function" so that no Tetris playing will be necessary, which means that all items are displayed in a classical screen. It's easy to sort your inventory items to keep them aligned.

Item management has been streamlined, making it more accessible.

Item management has been streamlined, making it more accessible.

We also have stackable items, as well as the ability to dispose of items to get gold directly without the need of a trader. You can also quickly clean up your inventory by pressing a key and clicking on an object to immediately throw it out. In other games, you often have to drag and drop the items, one by one, which takes a lot of time and is annoying.

Hellgate London was seeking a similar goal to Sacred II, in that it tried to expand the notion of Diablo-style hack-and-slash RPGs. Unfortunately, Hellgate Lodon was panned by critics and fans alike. What mistakes did Hellgate make that you won't make with Sacred II?

AE: Rather than criticize someone else's work, let's instead comment on our game's advantages.

Our world is very detailed, and is created by hand, so there's no randomly generated, procedural stuff. Everything is hand made by our team of level designers and graphics designers. The world has 12 regions, and the environments change seamlessly as you move between them. So when you travel, you can go from green tundra, to desert, to jungle, to coastal environments. There is a real feeling of being immersed in a realistic environment. There's no hard interruption because of loading different areas.

Moving between environments, like this lush forest, will be seamless.

Moving between environments, like this lush forest, will be seamless.

From an architectural point of view, even the dungeons and upper world are connected. The world, even though it's a fantasy one, is believable. Every house in each region follows a detailed design document describing the leading class, the ordinary people, the way they live, the architecture, and the lifestyle. Sacred 2 has the most detailed level design I ever have seen, and reflects the work of 32 level designers and three years of work.

Another advantage of Sacred 2 is that it will not cost money to play on our dedicated, closed network servers. We offer LAN, instant co-op, open net, and a lobby that is the central point of the Sacred 2 MP. There is no plan at all to have either monthly fees, or two "classes" of players, paying and non-paying. We will offer new quests, items, and armor as downloadable content on the Xbox 360 and PC. This will be the only "paying" part, plus buying the game off course.

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Don't miss part II of our interview with Ascaron Entertainment on Sacred 2 next week... in the meantime, find out more about the game in our preview.

Comments [13]

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Sire

I was just saying the past few days, "where are all the RPG's on the PS3?" Here is yet another example that the 360 is pulling ahead in this category. . . This game looks pretty cool, I really liked Diablo as well. . . So "Age of Conan" in September I believe, so that's cool, . . these kind of games are always a lot of fun.

gundappaswami

Finally a good rpg that doesnt require u to pay for playin online multiplayer....

TheTeacher

That actually looks like it could be cool. Personally, I'm more excited about Fallout 3, but it still has promise (even though paganfest is right).

Sire

sonyboy69 Posted at: 05/07/08 at 7:18 PM PST Sire Posted at: 05/07/08 at 6:14 PM PST I was just saying the past few days, "where are all the RPG's on the PS3?" Here is yet another example that the 360 is pulling ahead in this category. . . 360 will never pull ahead against sony in the RPG catagory. it wont even pull ahead of Wi in the RPG catagory. where are the ps3's rpg's? well FF13, White Knight Chronicles, Star Ocean 4 and Valkyria Chronicles are all gears for Fall 08. Eternal Sonata is hiting ps3 this year (more than likely be a forgotten joke tho due to the other RPG' later this year for ps3). FF13 Versus and Kingdom Hearts 3 are 09 bound. 360 has 6 RPG's. Enchanted Arms, Blue Dragon, Lost Oddysee (flop), Oblivion, Eternal Sonata and now this. 2 are on ps3 and 1 is ps3 bound. ps3 has 6 (not counting Eternal Sonata, Oblivion or Enchanted Arms). who has more RPG's again Sire?
You haven't been able to play an RPG for 2 fcken years. . . . whether sonyboy69 deems them as flops is IRRELEVANT, . . millions still love and play them, . . and by the way, I'm not talking completely fagged out turn based RPG's like FF, . that's way to gay for me.. . . if all of these games come out on the PS3 in 08 on the PS3, . I'll eat my foot.. .. . and remember a RPG in which boys are gonna want to play, are a bit different then a game like "Age of Conan", more for men (adults). . . you see, you don't have to HIDE "Age of Conan" or Sacred 2, or Mass Effect when your friends come over like you would FF or KH, unless of coarse you want them to forever question your sexuality............Funny how you can say that Enchanted Arms, Blue Dragon , Lost Oddysee, Mass Effect, were all flops, . . these kind of games will NEVER sell like GTA or Halo3........And by the way boy, I wasn't talking about turn based, . . I could care less about turn based, as most other people as well hate them, . .REMEMBER, I am talking real time masculine ass kicking games

Sire

Oh and Sonyboy69, did you forget about Too Human? Another RPG geared towards men, not boys..........

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