Sacred Plus Interview

GameZone Online has conducted an interview with Ascaron Entertainment’s Alan Wild, in which the international product manager discusses the expanded version of Sacred. Here’s a snip:

Q: Tell us about the magic system. Is this a traditional PC RPG?

A: SACRED Plus has lots of different types of magic. In terms of spell casting.

You find a rune; learn the combat technique, learn magic like “Hellfire” (an intelligent flame that tracks down the nearest enemy), or you can increase your level in it if you have learned the spell (or skill) already, or you could have it imbued into a weapon or armor.

As mentioned previously, you do not use mana, but the energy of “concentration”. This energy is assigned directly to the action slot you put the spell into. The whole available amount of concentration-energy can be read right at the active or inactive slot. For example: If you use a spell that needs 10 points of concentration, your 40-points-spell will drop by these 10 points. So you have to wait until it has regenerated, before you can use it.

It’s a really cool system, and requires some skill in timing your combat techniques tactically. Imagine you cast a 40-points-spell first and then it regenerates. When the regeneration reaches 10 points, your 10-point-spell will be available again. So, you switch your active spell, cast it, etc.

Of course all spells are interesting, as each spell has a special gameplay function. We have spells and combat techniques that change the players’ parameters, like the regeneration time of spells, his health or his visibility to enemies. While other techniques bind enemies to the spot, disable them or turn them into less dangerous opponents for a short time (so, I do not recommend to turn a dragon into a bunny, the dragon might take it personally and that large opponent’s changing time could be just a little bit too short to run away). Some techniques are designed to work against a single opponent causing heavy damage due to an attack with several slashes, while others have area effects like rotating slashes against multiple enemies, pulsating flame circles, stomping jumps, and so on. Also, some characters are able to summon pets, like the Vampiress, the Wood Elf, or the Battlemage.