Hiya Cym,
Can you tell some of us a little bit about Sacred 2?
Like, how does it run on not-quite-top of the line hardware and whatnot???
If you don't mind. Thanks.

I'm curious to know your thoughts about the particulars of the gameplay. I've been watching this for a while ever since Sacred 1 pleasantly surprised me.
What do you think of the characters, leveling system, loot system, enemies and so on?
My biggest criticism of Sacred 1 was that their weren't enough different enemies and that the world, while big, was sort of samey. Like, entire tracts of featureless land would be filled with endless hoards of one or two enemy types, with some monster types so ubiquitous one wonders why they hadn't overthrown the human kingdoms by then.

I believe you'll find the Steam version also contains the DRM (I'm not positive on that, but I think I recall reading it elsewhere). Not sure about the D2D version.
For those wondering, the DRM is SecuROM and limits you to 2 activations (I believe there's a revoke system though).
Anyway, the game looks very cool and I've been reading some good things about it. It's a no-buy for me due to the DRM, but I'm interested in hearing others' thoughts about the gameplay though.

Graphically I like Sacred 2 - it does suffer (like its sacred original can) with slowdown in town areas - which can be very annoying when the game runs smooth elswhere.
Aside from that it looks really really pretty - animations for creatures are some of the best I have seen in a long while and really take a big step towards things being more realistic in a game.
Story and quest wise though its like Sacred - a little hollow - though things are better second time around many quests still make you go - "just why should I bother" for the fact that they really are rather poorly thought out (take these worms to my brother the fisherman.)
The overall story I have not got too far into, but what it needs is more flesh on the bones, I know its a hack and slash at heart, and it does this really well, but it needs something more to its story - some longer conversations, some interaction and some better voice acting (this latter could really help a lot).
I do like the game and the fact that they take the time to give each character a different feel and structure to both their playstyles and also to their campains, with character specific quests and (for some) the choice of being good or evil.
Character wise I like the changes to the skill tree system with enhancements offering that little bit extra to abilities.
further they have also made the stat points and attributes simpler to understand than before, which makes controling your characters inventory simpler, though I do wish they would overall either explain the system more in the manual or simplify it a bit, its a little bias towards those sort of players that like to spend a weekend mathhammering a perfect character in theory ;)
Overall its a good fun game which whilst I don't find myself playing non-stop I do find the urge to come back to regularly - its easy to pick up and quick to play. Also they have gone and given the collectors edition something to realy make you pay a little extra (it was something like £4 more in a shop which was very reasonable) which is enhanced graphics (though it does hit the system a bit) in the form of better textures.

I have it and like it too. I really wanted to make a powerful dual sword Seraphim, but I'm having trouble with deciding what skills I need? I read you don't need sword lore but dual wield and tactics. I thought sword lore unlocked a modifier though? Not sure how to build the character but the game is good.

I have a Core Duo with 1,83 Ghz, X1600 with 256 MB and shared memory, so it adds up to 512 MB and 2 GB Ram. I played the demo a bit, and while i did not like the game itself that much (to much Sacred not that long ago probably), i think it would run fine, as long as it doesn't slow down in more populated areas etc.
Of course, i had some options off and so, but i could play it, and thats what counts.
If you have something similar, or most likely, better (even if you only spend $100, you will get something way better today), you should have no problems with running it i think.
I also can play games like Gears of War, World in Conflict etc. on my laptop, so yeah, if Sacred 2 doesn't run well enough, they did something horrible wrong.

Well my system is an AMD X2 6000+ with 4 gigs of ram, an 8800 GT, and Vista Home Premium.
The game runs quite well besides some tearing onscreen, but the problem is turning V Sync on crashes the game for me, so I have to put up with it.
As far as systems that can run it, I don't have the minimum specs onhand, since I bought my copy digitally. If your system is within the past couple of years you should be able to run the game no problem.
Oh yeah, it defaulted to medium graphics on my system, and games like Fallout 3 default to high graphics. So graphically, it is a bit intensive.
Your best bet is taking a trip to your local game shop or visiting www.sacred2.com and checking the minimum specs to see if you can run it.
Other than some minor screen tearing it runs like a champ on my system, and I seem to have avoided some of the issues that are common in the Sacred 2 community.
Good luck, and I hope this helps :)
-Cym

The character variety is quite nicely done, imo. There's casters, melee, and ranged, all par for the course in a hack and slash, and each class seems to have its own feel.
The leveling system seems more streamlined than Sacred 1. The loot is plentiful, though it's hard to get good drops sometimes early on.
So far there's a variety of monsters to kill, but there isn't a huge variety. I'm barely into the game though, so I can't comment on how varied it becomes early on.
Hope this offers some insight for you,
-Cym

From Impulse's DL page:
Minimum:
* Windows XP / XP64 / Vista / Vista64
* 2.4 GHz Processor
* 1 GB Available System Memory
* 256 MB 3D Video Card (Nvidia GeForce 6800 / ATI Radeon x800)
* DirectX Compatible Sound Card
* 20 GB Free Hard Drive Space
* DirectX 9.0c
* Will not work with the following integrated graphics cards: Intel 82810 / 82845 / 82852 / 82855GM & GME / 82945G / 845G / 852 / 855 / 865G / 900 / 910GML / 915GM925 / ATI Radeon Xpress Series, ATI Radeon 9200 and earlier/Nvidia GF440MX and earlier/VIA/S3G Unichrome IGP (and other models) and all SiS cards
* Please turn off anti-virus during installation to prevent file lock issues.
Recommended:
* Windows XP 32/64-bit SP3 / Vista 32/64-bit SP1
* 2 GHz Dual-Core Processor
* 2 GB Available System Memory
* 512 MB 3D Video Card (Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS / ATI Radeon HD 3870)
* Mouse w/Mouse Wheel
* Sound Blaster X-Fi w/Surround Speakers or Headphones
* 25 GB Free Hard Drive Space
* Broadband Internet Connection for Multiplayer

only reason I read that sword lore was not needed was some people saying that there are also single handed axes which you might wish to duel weild, which would not benefit from the sword lore bonus. However considering that it does unlock sword abilities I consider it worth getting.
I would make sure you had sword lore, duel wielding, armour and constitution at least - that way you get the best our of your armour and your health is high so you can take a beating without passing out.

Any real reason to stop playing the 10 dollar sacred and go out and buy the 50 dollar sacred 2? Or is it a title I can wait on to come down in price?

Oh, well, even if I loved Sacred 2 to death and it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, I would always recommend that.

My only major gripe with sacred original was that every time they released an update it corrupted all the save files - so you had to export your charcter and start all over again - with the map being so large (and the early stages really being no challenge at all) it got boring quick as progression was slow.
That said Sacred 2 feels more refined than Sacred provided that you have the computer to run it.
Although sacred original does have a larger cast of availible characters (favourite was the demoness very good dragon killer was she - put points into flight and then use her firery orb -- the wings let you dance round and round a dragon avoiding damage whilst the orb(s) constantly shoot it with rays of fire - takes time to kill but works well :))

Thanks for the reply.
I'll try to put together a build, can you look at it and let me know what you think? That's really my only problem, just making sure I'm building my character correctly for how I play and what benefits the skills I'm deciding on.