Sacred (game)
Sacred is a PC role-playing game, released in 2004, with characters of various races (dark elf, wood elf, vampiress, etc.) each with their own missions.
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The Game
Sacred features various gameplay and graphical aspects.
Characters
Upon beginning the game, you are given a choice to start with six different character types-the Gladiator, the Dark Elf, the Wood Elf, the Vampiress, the Battle-Mage, and the Seraphim.
Each character begins in a different part of Ancaria (the continent that Sacred takes place in), and with a diffirent starting quest. For example, the Gladiator starts in a colosseum, enslaved by his master, while the Seraphim starts in a church. Throughout the game, the characters all recieve different sub-quests.
Each character is also restricted to a certain set of items, and has a different set of skills. Some characters both have one same skill, but they are increased seperately. For example, if you were a Gladiator that wanted to increase his attack skill, and found a badge that had the Seraphim symbol, but was labeled to increase the attack skill, he wouldn't be able to use it.
Story Line
A great monster has accidentally been set loose by a sorcerer, and your job is to find the four elements of Ancaria (wind, fire, earth, water), and use them to defeat the monster. The hero has different objectives before this, but eventually, they all lead up to this one final quest.
Graphics
The graphics of Sacred do not resemble the graphics of a traditional RPG. The entire background of Ancaria is rendered in 2-D, while the objects in it are 3-D. This eliminates the need for most loading times within the game.
Ancaria
The whole of Sacred takes place in the continent of Ancaria, where there are several towns and villages. Even when you begin the game, 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. To both the east and the west, there are large forests, blocking the way for further travel. In the game, there is an option to buy horses, that can be used for faster travel, and to battle opponents. In November 15, 2004, Sacred Plus was released as a free expansion to Sacred, that added more land in Ancaria.
Items
Sacred features a vast array of items that can be found from shops, dead monsters, or "magical hiding places" in many of the rocks and bushes throughout Ancaria. Many of the items can be only equipped by one type of character, like wings can only be equipped by a Seraphim.
There are also several potion types, such as the typical mana-heal or health heal, but there are other types, like Potion of no Undead Revive, which stops Undead from reviving once you kill them. Also, monsters occasionally drop a "badge" that increases a certain skill if used.
Also, if the player owns a horse, several different types of saddles can be bought to be used on the it. These saddles increase the speed, defense, and damage done by the horse.
Sometimes, a monster drops a set item. Much like in Diablo 2, these set items will become much more powerful as gathered together, and are useful. Some items also can be imbued with better stats. If you take an item with a number of small boxes inside of it, you will be able to imbue it by taking it to a blacksmith, and then using either jewelry or one of his techniques to imbue it as many times as there are boxes in it. Onece imbued, it cannot be reversed.
Skills
Every character in Sacred has a different set of skills that are available to him/her. The only way to obtain them is to find a badge of that skill, and use it to make it available to use for you. Each character has about 10 different skills that can be unlocked and used. To increase your level in a skill, you must find another badge and use it. You can take a skill, and drag it to one of the empty circles to be able to enable it and use it.
There are also several "skill masters" spread throughout Ancaria, which can combine up to four seperate skills into a combo, which you can use in the game. One of the skills in the game, Bee Eff Gee is a reference to the Doom, Doom 2, and Doom 3 weapon, the BFG9000. This skill can only be used by the Seraphim and is described as a mystical weapon that shoots strange blobs of energy.
Enemies
The enemies in Sacred range from lesser demons to thiefs, and, of course, get more powerful as you progress in the game. All the monsters respawn whenever you load your game again. They are also all generated in random positions throughout a certain area. Occasionaly, you encounter a enhanced version of one monster. One of the most powerful creatures is a dragon, which you encounter each time you obtain another element of Ancaria.