Update: So I guess I was wrong, Sacred 3 player reviews are pretty bad, and I currently have over 200 hours in D3 expansion and still playing. What follows is my dumbass opinion.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/247950/
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So obviously not much is known about D3 and even less is known about Sacred 3, but from what I've seen of D3, and after having played Sacred 2 - my eager anticipation of Diablo 3 has waned.
After having played every Diablo clone, I didn't think it was possible for the HnS genre to get any better. So I was fine with the fact that Diablo 3 was going to reuse many of the same mechanics and features of the prequels and clones. That is until I played Sacred 2.
My first impressions of S2 were pretty bad but only because I was expecting another perfect Diablo clone. It's rough around the edges and the voice acting sucks. It more than makes up for its deficiencies with it incredibly deep class customization system, the best part of which is NO SKILL TREES! After having seen the benefit of this I will find it hard to go back to Diablo style class customization.
In S2, skills are earned by consuming runes which are dropped by npc mobs. These Skills/abilities belong to a specific specialization that has a corresponding mastery; when enough points are added to the mastery a modifier is unlocked for all the skills in that mastery. Select your modifiers and change your fire ball spell into dual fireballs with homing. This system allows you to make several choices: what skills to specialize in, degree of proficiency, and the behaviors of individual spells abilities. You have complete control over your character not a single point goes to something you don't want.
Compare this to how Diablo does class customization: having to put points in useless skills that don't contribute to your play style just so you can unlock the skill you do want. This is dull and obnoxious.
Another great thing about Sacred is NO MANA, I cant stress how liberating this is. Instead of managing a constantly fluctuating value of mana through pots, stats and abilities, Sacred limits skill use with regeneration delays on every skill, this is a fixed value that is altered by how you set up your stats/skills/abilities. This enables you to do interesting things like spam skills, or pull off combos. It also gives you a great deal more control over combat.
I cannot speak to how open the world will be in Diablo 3, but the Sacred 2 world felt almost sandbox, the world has more in common with Oblivion than it does with the Diablo clones.
Cliffs:
Sacred is awesome due to lots of control granted to the player through combat, class customization, gear system.
Diablo 3 will be more of the same, archaic? I'll probably play it anyway.
Sacred 3 has begun development, and if it's anything like previous games, it will be a far more interesting experience.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/247950/
****
So obviously not much is known about D3 and even less is known about Sacred 3, but from what I've seen of D3, and after having played Sacred 2 - my eager anticipation of Diablo 3 has waned.
After having played every Diablo clone, I didn't think it was possible for the HnS genre to get any better. So I was fine with the fact that Diablo 3 was going to reuse many of the same mechanics and features of the prequels and clones. That is until I played Sacred 2.
My first impressions of S2 were pretty bad but only because I was expecting another perfect Diablo clone. It's rough around the edges and the voice acting sucks. It more than makes up for its deficiencies with it incredibly deep class customization system, the best part of which is NO SKILL TREES! After having seen the benefit of this I will find it hard to go back to Diablo style class customization.
In S2, skills are earned by consuming runes which are dropped by npc mobs. These Skills/abilities belong to a specific specialization that has a corresponding mastery; when enough points are added to the mastery a modifier is unlocked for all the skills in that mastery. Select your modifiers and change your fire ball spell into dual fireballs with homing. This system allows you to make several choices: what skills to specialize in, degree of proficiency, and the behaviors of individual spells abilities. You have complete control over your character not a single point goes to something you don't want.
Compare this to how Diablo does class customization: having to put points in useless skills that don't contribute to your play style just so you can unlock the skill you do want. This is dull and obnoxious.
Another great thing about Sacred is NO MANA, I cant stress how liberating this is. Instead of managing a constantly fluctuating value of mana through pots, stats and abilities, Sacred limits skill use with regeneration delays on every skill, this is a fixed value that is altered by how you set up your stats/skills/abilities. This enables you to do interesting things like spam skills, or pull off combos. It also gives you a great deal more control over combat.
I cannot speak to how open the world will be in Diablo 3, but the Sacred 2 world felt almost sandbox, the world has more in common with Oblivion than it does with the Diablo clones.
Cliffs:
Sacred is awesome due to lots of control granted to the player through combat, class customization, gear system.
Diablo 3 will be more of the same, archaic? I'll probably play it anyway.
Sacred 3 has begun development, and if it's anything like previous games, it will be a far more interesting experience.
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