Topic: Sacred 3 -> Update: Former Keen Games dev apologizes for Sacred 3

[MysterD]

NEW -> 08-18-2014:
PC Gamer -> Former Keen Games dev. apologizes for Sacred 3


OLD:
OWNet -> Sacred 3 Reviews compiled.
IGN -> Sacred 3 preview.
GamesRadar -> TWO Sacred universe games announced -> Sacred 3 and Sacred Citadel.
Deep Silver is teasing Sacred World.

[MysterD]

GamesRadar -> TWO Sacred universe games announced:

Sacred 3 - Not much for info on it, but it has been announced...

Sacred Citadel - a 2D Brawler w/ very cartoonish and stylish-look.
TRAILER for Sacred Citadel.

[MysterD]

IGN -> Sacred 3 preview.

It has a few obvious influences, but more than anything else, Sacred 3 is like Warhammer: 40,000. On one side of things, you have deadly serious heroes with a strong sense of culture who are devoted to doing what's right. The Safiri, for instance, harness the sun to power their warrior merchants. Meanwhile, the oppressed Ancarians are a group of guerilla troops who use nasty tactics to keep themselves safe.

Sacred 3's enemies, however, are ridiculous, goofy green-skins with a hunger for violence and armor made from slapped-together garbage.

It's a fun mix that works well with the familiar but improved-upon action-RPG gameplay, and it proves new series developer Keen Games -- a start-up -- has a great understanding of what makes Sacred tick.

The one major difference in that respect is that PlayStation 3 is its lead platform -- this is an RPG engineered to appeal to a console audience. This influence means Sacred 3's click-click-click combat -- regardless of platform -- is more action-oriented than automatic. It looks the part, too. The presentation gives players the traditional isometric camera, but the moment-to-moment flow of a fight has plenty of satisfying violence. Enemies obey the laws of physics in believable ways. They go flying when bashed, recoil in pain when hurt, and interact with each other when, say, you throw one into another.

If your sorceress knocks someone down with a wave of spiky magic crystals, I can execute them with my brute's big blade. If I stun a group, you can shove them off a ledge or into each other.

Sacred was always better in co-op, so Sacred 3 leaves it on at all times. Even if you're not connected to three online pals, you'll have a trio of A.I. allies rolling with you as you fight off large groups of bad guys. And no, before you ask, you do not have to be connected to the Internet at all times to play.

Like you, each ally is his or her own developed character with a distinct set of active and passive skills. Everyone has a small number of abilities to equip at a time to keep the team from getting overpowered, which doesn't limit combat as much as you'd expect. Actually, if you play your cards right, combining powers with your team gives you additional ways to take down foes. Complementary skills are something Sacred 3 wants to make its name on, and we're told to expect plenty of creative four-player co-op combos.

Sacred 3 looks to do what its predecessors couldn't: put itself on par with the modern standard of its genre. So far, there's little evidence it's doing anything to advance beyond that, but at first glance, this is an impressive 3D action RPG with combat and characters you can get behind. It's a role-playing game where you have an actual role to play, and because it empowers players by making them think about how they work together, it becomes a strong co-op game instead of a strong game with co-op.

[Xessive]

Sacred 3 is out and people are pissed! haha

Talk about a misleading title. If you've played any of the Sacred games (except Sacred Citadel) you're expectations of Sacred 3 would basically be that it is an action RPG akin to Diablo and its ilk. BZZZZ WRONG! haha

I really have no idea why previews had any trouble describing this game more accurately. It's basically X-Men Legends or Marvel Ultimate Alliance in a Sacred-themed universe, minus the loot.

The game really should have been called Sacred Citadel 2 or something.

[MysterD]

SACRED 3 - REVIEWS:

METACRITIC:
PC.

Scored out of 10:
StrategyInformer -> 8.0
GameInformer -> 7.5
Games TM -> 6
Eurogamer -> 5
Destructoid -> 5

Scored out of 5:
Escapist Magazine -> 3 stars.
GamesRadar -> 2

No score:
TotalBiscuit -> "WTF is...Sacred 3?" (30m 47s)
RockPaperShotgun -> "Wot I Think."
RockPaperShotgun -> Let's Not Play - Sacred 3.

[MysterD]

Sacred 3 is out and people are pissed! haha

Talk about a misleading title. If you've played any of the Sacred games (except Sacred Citadel) you're expectations of Sacred 3 would basically be that it is an action RPG akin to Diablo and its ilk. BZZZZ WRONG! haha

I really have no idea why previews had any trouble describing this game more accurately. It's basically X-Men Legends or Marvel Ultimate Alliance in a Sacred-themed universe, minus the loot.

The game really should have been called Sacred Citadel 2 or something.

For any Sacred fan that played the two previous games (open-world ARPG), this just looks like a disaster.

It looks like they took out almost everything that made Sacred 1+2 great (once you patched it and/or installed mods) - the open-world aspect; loot-crazy; level-up crazy; upgrading crazy; inventory; etc etc. One of the things that made Sacred series stand apart was the huge open-world - most ARPG's games (think Diablo series + Torchlight series) aren't super free-roaming in their game-world.

Sounds like controls w/ KB-mouse ain't so hot there, either - kind of like how Dungeon Siege 3 was, before it got patched-up.
While DS3 was nowhere as great as the previous 2, it was still decent.

Thing was - DS3 still had loot-craze + upgrading skills; and plus a much-improved story.
It looks like S3 has NONE of that!!

Ugh - what a bloody shame.

I'll be curious about S3, once it hits a Deep Silver Humble Bundle or winds-up in some bundles. Seems inevitable, given the likes of this kind of disaster.

[Xessive]

It's clearly a console port but even worse it's evidently not worth the $50 price tag.

I'm glad I only paid $30 (thank you vouchers) so I'm not quite as pissed off as others.

Having played some of it already, it's difficult to recommend the game. Even at a lower price it's not that good as a brawler.

If you're itching to play a brawler I'd say wait since the remake of Gauntlet coming soon and that's going to start @ $20.

[MysterD]

PC Gamer -> Former Keen Games dev. apologizes for Sacred 3