Hey guys, I LOVE hack/slash rpgs, and am really in the mood for a new one and Sacred looks good for the price. Here's the deal though, i bought Sacred 2 and despise it. I find it clunky, it doesn't take itself seriously, and it has no plot.
So a few questions about the original Sacred. Do all these issues stay within the original game? Is there any chance of me liking the original Sacred? Keep in mind, i've enjoyed some pretty bad ARPGs, i don't have that bad of standards. I just want a smooth gameplay expierence (meaning everything is quick and responsive) and maybe an interesting background plot to keep me interested. and that's really it.
Also, do people still play online in Sacred Gold?
Thanks a bunch guys for reading my babble :) I am tight on money atm from buying Gothic 1/2 and pre-ordering RE5, Street fighter 4, and killzone 2 or else i'd just purchase it without being so hesitent ^^

I enjoyed sacred and didn't like sacred 2 so you may enjoy this one. The story is fairy generic but the world is huge and the controls though not as smooth as something as diablo are alot better then sacred 2.
The online has never really been used much, you may find a couple games online at a time but it has no real community.
The best bet would be to download it and try it yourself though as only you really know if you will like it or not.
http://www.gamershell.com/download_5124.shtml

Sacred 1 takes itself a little more seriously from what I've read, but the plot is fairly minimal but long and involving (somewhat of an oxymoron here), and side quests (while varied) are not that spectacular.
Thankfully, the actual game behind all of it is quite fun, there is a huge world, many hidden areas and plenty of loot (including the standard set and socketing items).
Online is quiet, but you do find games now & then with a good number of people. Most online games are locked down for groups of people who know each other, but the Asceron servers are still running.
We (gog community) were looking into starting a game when it was first released. While i'm sure people have, we have not co-ordinated anything massive. Yet.

Sacred Gold is better than Sacred 2 in many ways as has already been stated.
At the current price it's definitely worth picking up if you enjoy "classic" diablo-style hack'n'slash. However Sacred has more exploration to it than any of the Diablos ever had, and you can walk around fairly seemlessly in a big gameworld, though some areas are locked for plot reasons. Exploration is also more fun as there are lots of hidden and semi-hidden goodies to discover.
The gameplay flows pretty well. However the hit-and-run tactic so often used in Diablo fails more often, as your character and the reactions overall are a little slower than in the Diablo games. Leads to a slightly different gameplay for most characters, where simply zerging a camp of baddies is probably a bad move. It's a bit tougher to "get into" than the Diablo games - there's more things to do from the start (you can basically run off in any direction though the Main Quest directs you somewhere), and while the game has some in-game tips and a short tutorial section, I would recommend having the manual handy for the first few hours of the game.
There is a crafting and upgrading items system in the game, as well as the other perks you'd expect from an ARPG.
Get the demo as Ralackk posted and try it out if you're still undecided!

Heh, I find Sacred 2 even somewhat more appealing to me than the first part of it. I find the light path/dark path thingy, choosing your favored god 'n stuff some really nice addition. The humor and voice acting aren't the best I've seen or heard, but there are some good stuff there, too!
I think the two games are totally different from each other and should not be connected to each other by thinking 'well, the other one was crap, probably this one is crappy too'.
I really encourage you to download the demo and report your opinions here.

I'm actually looking forward to Sacred 2 on the 360 as a MP game. However I really like Sacred Gold. Well worth the purchase.
I don't find a huge number of people playing online (Like, say, you'd find with diablo 2 on battle.net) But I do find people everytime I log in to play MP with it. However that isn't often so...there you go.
I'll agree with the rest of the posters: It is really worth the price. Huge world, lots of unique classes, many many things to kill, it isn't that easy of a game either. (at least I haven't found it so.) Which I think is good.

Hey guys, just thought i'd update you guys.
I bought the game yesterday because i came back home for spring break and decided to buy the game for my laptop so i have something to play.
Let me say that i love the game. It's just so much more "streamlined" but in a good way. I consider myself a pretty hardcore RPGer but Sacred 2 just felt overwhelming and tedious where in Sacred 1 i feel i can just relax and build my character how i want it without any distractions. The gameworld is also great. Ascaron really knows how to make a good gameworld for action rpgs.
Also, the dwarf class really adds excitement for me. Dwarves freaking rule!
My only complaint is the slight delay between actions. Had it not been for this i would be playing the game all day but i find i have to take breaks simply due to the fact that the delay gets on my nerves. I always find that the more responsive a game is, the more i love it. i really think responsiveness is an under-rated aspect in games. But whatever, i can handle the game as it is.
Thanks for the replies guys.

Dwarf was the first guy I actually beat the game with, swinging a massive 2 hander just can't be beat. I think you can increase his base swing speed, though I can't remember which stat or skill it was. It helps alot on the normal mobs.
As for your skills they go up in time delay depending on what level you have them at and what a certain stat is(forgot the name of this one as well, mouse over all of them and you should find the one that does physical skills.) so planning how high a damage you want by how long you want the cooldown helps. I think I went for 1 very slow but hard hitting attack for bosses and then a couple fast ones for clearing out the normal mobs.
Sorry I can't actually remember any of the names of the skills its been a long time sinse I last played it.

Yeah, i'm making my dwarf a 2-handed beast. I read up a fun sounding build on the internet where my main attack revolves around Vehemence and a ton of skill cooldown regeneration. Sounds fun to me :D

My wish is that they could remake Sacred using the Sacred 2 engine.. For some reason, no matter what I do, the frame rate for Sacred is terrible.. around 20fps.. While in Sacred 2 I get a good 50fps average.

Hey, did you try right clicking on the Sacred icon and run it with Windows98/ME compatibility mode and then run it as administrator? I had the same problem but that fixed it.

I played the Sacred 2 demo and it didn't seem to be very much like the original, which I love. The combat can be a tiny bit clunky, just because sometimes with spells it's hard to target just the right spot. Other than that the combat's lovely, and the plot is pretty good.