Sacred (video game)

Sacred
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Developer(s)	Ascaron
Publisher(s)	Encore Koch Media Red Ant Enterprises Linux Game Publishing (Linux version)
Designer(s)	Aarne Jungerberg Michael Bhatty Hans-Arno Wegner
Series	Sacred
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, Linux
Release date(s)	Microsoft Windows Sacred Plus Linux Sacred Gold
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer

Sacred is an action role-playing game for Microsoft Windows and Linux released in 2004. It takes place on the magical continent of Ancaria, with characters of various races (dark elf, vampiress, dwarf, etc.) each with their own missions. More than 1.8 million copies of the game were sold worldwide. In 2008 Linux Game Publishing announced that they would port the game to the Linux operating system.

Sacred was developed by Studio II Software and Ascaron Entertainment and published in 2004 by Encore in the USA release.

Gameplay

Characters

Upon beginning the game, players are given a choice to start with one of six different character types:Gladiator, Dark Elf, Wood Elf, Vampires, Battle-Mage and Seraphim. The Daemon and Dwarf were additional characters added in the expansion Sacred Underworld and included in Sacred Gold.

Each character begins in a different part of the area around a town in Ancaria (the continent that Sacred takes place within), and with a different starting quest. For example, the Gladiator starts in a colosseum, enslaved by his master, while the Seraphim starts in a church. The Dark Elf starts on a cliff with a Wood Elf companion. Throughout the game, the characters all receive different sub-quests.

Each character class is also restricted to a certain set of items, and has a different set of skills. To increase these skill levels, characters must find runes that correspond to those skills, a rather novel system in contrast to the more mainstream model of skill points. Some character classes have identical skills, but the runes from one class cannot be used to advance skills in another class. Runes may be traded and used for crafting.

Items

Sacred features a vast array of items that can be obtained from shops, various containers (chests, barrels, graves...), dead monsters or "magical hiding places" in many of the rocks and bushes throughout Ancaria, which are indicated by a yellow sparkle. Many of the items can be only equipped by one type of character, like wings, which can only be equipped by a Seraphim.

There are also several potion types, such as the typical health heal, but there are other types, like Potions of Undead death, which stops Undead from reviving once players kill them, and "Potions of Concentration", which regenerate players' combo attacks so they can be used faster. There are no mana-heal potions in Sacred, because mana is not a feature of the game. Also, monsters occasionally drop a rune that increases a certain skill for a certain character, if used.

If the player owns a horse several different types of saddles can be bought to be used on it. These saddles increase the speed, defense, and damage done by the horse. Only one horse may be owned at a time, and the horse can be damaged and killed.

The names of items are in five different colors, (white, blue, yellow, brown, green) which represent different quality classes of equipment:

Sometimes, a monster drops a set item. Much like in Diablo II these set items will become much more powerful when gathered together and are very useful and sought-after in multiplayer games. However, this is not to say that unique items are inferior to set items. Unique items are usually individually better than set items.

Some items also can be imbued with better stats. If players take an item with a number of "slots," indicated by small boxes in the inventory screen, they will be able to imbue it by taking it to a blacksmith and then using either jewellery, a rune, skeleton skull or one of the blacksmith's techniques on it up to as many times as there are slots in it. Once imbued players can remove one rune or piece of jewelry from it, but all other items in the slots are lost when they do this. Though players cannot use a rune or jewelry which is not of their class, they can socket it in an item to gain the benefit of its magical and possible stat-raising properties.

Skills

Every character in Sacred has a different set of skills that are available to them. The only way to obtain them is to find a rune of that particular skill and use it to make it available to use for players. Each character has between 11 and 22 different skills that can be unlocked and used. To increase their level in a skill, players must find another rune for that skill and use it. There are also several "combo masters" spread throughout Ancaria, which can combine up to four separate skills into a combo, which players can use in the game. The combo masters can also trade runes they cannot use or do not need for a rune of their choice.

Setting

Storyline

A great Sakkara demon was conjured into existence by the necromancer Shaddar. The conjuring went wrong, and the Sakkara demon is now loose in the world of Ancaria. The heroes must find the five elements of Caesarian (wind, fire, earth, water, void), and use them to defeat the monster. They meet Prince Valor and he thanks them for rescuing Wilbur and orders them to report to Baron DeMordre to bring reinforcements to stop the Orc invasion but he betrayed them and Wilbur is killed. With his dying breaths he warns the hero to report the Prince that Baron has betrayed. The hero arrives at the orc invasion and find most of Valor's troops have been slaughtered only Sargent Treveille is left dying and tells the hero to find Baroness Vilyia she knew where the prince is. They find Vilyia and she leads them to Valor into the forest where he and his surviving troops take refuge. Each hero has different objective along the way, but eventually, they all lead up to this one final quest.

Ancaria

The whole of Sacred takes place on the continent of Ancaria, where there are several towns and villages to be visited. Even when players begin the game more than 70% of Ancaria is already available to be traveled on. To the south of Ancaria, there is a vast desert and lava-ridden plains. In the north, there is a wall of mountains and an icy backdrop. In both the east and the west there are large forests, blocking the way and stopping further travel. In the game there is an option to buy horses, which can be used for faster travel and to battle opponents, but will not affect players' ability to traverse difficult terrain in most situations.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 76.38/100 Metacritic 73/100 Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com B- GameSpot 7.6 GameSpy IGN 7.8/10 X-Play

Sacred garnered average to good reviews from the media. 1up called it "Diablo for masochists", while IGN called it "A diamond in the rough".

Versions

• Sacred – the original game, was released in February 2004
• Sacred Plus – Free expansion pack, was released in October 2004. It adds 2 regions, monsters, quests, items
• Sacred Underworld – Expansion pack, was released in April 2005. It adds 2 player characters (Daemon and Dwarf), 6 regions, 2 acts, new monsters and items
• Sacred Gold – Released in August 2005, this version is the full release. It contains: Sacred (original), the Sacred Plus expansion, and the Sacred Underworld expansion

Prequels

• Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, released in November 2008, is the prequel to Sacred.

Sequels

• Sacred 3
• Sacred Citadel

External links

• Sacred Official Website
• Wolfe's Lair Sacred fansite/info guide