I have tried many "fixes" to no avail. Usually my system locks up after 1-2 quests or perhaps 10-15 minutes. This also happened over 1-2 years and another computer system - both Alienware. Is Sacred2 this crazy for everyone? I don't have this kind of trouble with Divinity or Two Worlds or Star Wars. The only way out is (contrl+alt+del). Nothing else works - oh, I guess I could unplug the computer.

When I first started playing Sacred 2, I thought my system had locked up during combat. It turned out there's a spell effect that temporarily paralyzes your character. If that's not it, then, no, I don't really know what's going on. I never had major problems with Sacred 2. Try updating your video and audio drivers. There's also an unofficial patch you can install that apparently fixes lots of bugs. I never bothered with it, but it sounds like you might want to try it out.

This is because the game has a notorious Memory Leak bug that the developers never gave 2 shits about patching, or rather I should say due to them going bankrupt during development. Instead it was up to the community to find ways to correct this issue after release. It would be best to obtain the community patch here: http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/91-community-patch/.