Does anyone still remember/play Sacrifice?

[jh24]

Hello everyone,



First, my apologies for my English, it is my second language and I'm not really good with grammar.



I'm curious, do some people still remember or play a game called 'Sacrifice', developed by Shiny Entertainment back in 2000? What are your thoughts or impressions on it? I found a copy of this game on a budget shelf in my local computerstore around three weeks ago. It brought back memories of the great time I had with the game years ago, until I lost the disk.



I installed the game and I was drawn immediately back into it again. Although an old game, the graphics still look nice IMHO. It is a RTS, although I read it can't entirely be called that.


In short, (basic description to avoid spoilers), in the game you're a wizard, who has fled his own world and has arrived in a mysterious realm, ruled by five different gods. During the game you can ally yourself with one of them, who in return offer you protection and the command of several devastating powers and units. Each god has a campaign consisting of 9 missions, and there is one final mission. The best thing was, that in the first part, (and in the second although less frequent) you switch between the different sides, giving the campaign a lot of replayability and a endless different ways of playing the game. The campaign IMO is well done and really makes you wonder what will happen next, filled with twists and turns and you never really know who you can really trust until the very end.


Each side offers a different experience and strategy, so a player can experiment and find out which way suits his way of playing best. For example, the goddess of life, Persephone, gives you powerful and IMHO balanced units and several powerful healing spells. While other wizards of the other gods can only heal one creature at a time, you can heal many of your soldiers and beasts at the same time. Using this ability right, could swing the battle in your favor. Many of the units abilities are geared towards protecting/healing. The ultimate fighter for Persephone, a dragon, can restore other units lives. Another unit, called the mutant heals other units closeby when he dies, etc. A disadvantage could be that Persephone doesn't really have strong offensive spells, so wizards fighting for her have to rely a bit more on their units, supporting them whenever possible.


Another example would be Stratos, god of Air, his units are mostly weaker then those of the other sides, but they possess superior speed, allowing the wizard to withdraw them quickly from losing battles and then to strike quickly again at a time and place more favorable to him/her. Stratos offers powerful ice, lightning and disrupting spells and even a tornado. Your units may be weaker but if you can prevent your opponent from effectively targeting your armies, then that doesn't really matter. There is more micro-management involved if you choose to fight for Stratos and I never really got a good feeling for it, although when used right, this side is incredibly powerful.



I also played some multiplayer games several years ago, but unfortunately the opponents I fought against were (mean, for the lack of better words) calling me names and insulting me (my parentsd, family, etc.) every second. I'm considering to try multiplayer again although I don't know how active the community still is. I read that despite recieving very positive reviews, it did not sell well.



Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading!

 

[kadozer]

Mana whores FTW

 

[RainofTerra]

I don't play it anymore but I do remember this game, it was great at the time. I'm sure it is still great if only I could find my disc!

 

[tyguy]

Hello everyone,



First, my apologies for my English, it is my second language and I'm not really good with grammar.



I'm curious, do some people still remember or play a game called 'Sacrifice', developed by Shiny Entertainment back in 2000? What are your thoughts or impressions on it? I found a copy of this game on a budget shelf in my local computerstore around three weeks ago. It brought back memories of the great time I had with the game years ago, until I lost the disk.



I installed the game and I was drawn immediately back into it again. Although an old game, the graphics still look nice IMHO. It is a RTS, although I read it can't entirely be called that.


In short, (basic description to avoid spoilers), in the game you're a wizard, who has fled his own world and has arrived in a mysterious realm, ruled by five different gods. During the game you can ally yourself with one of them, who in return offer you protection and the command of several devastating powers and units. Each god has a campaign consisting of 9 missions, and there is one final mission. The best thing was, that in the first part, (and in the second although less frequent) you switch between the different sides, giving the campaign a lot of replayability and a endless different ways of playing the game. The campaign IMO is well done and really makes you wonder what will happen next, filled with twists and turns and you never really know who you can really trust until the very end.


Each side offers a different experience and strategy, so a player can experiment and find out which way suits his way of playing best. For example, the goddess of life, Persephone, gives you powerful and IMHO balanced units and several powerful healing spells. While other wizards of the other gods can only heal one creature at a time, you can heal many of your soldiers and beasts at the same time. Using this ability right, could swing the battle in your favor. Many of the units abilities are geared towards protecting/healing. The ultimate fighter for Persephone, a dragon, can restore other units lives. Another unit, called the mutant heals other units closeby when he dies, etc. A disadvantage could be that Persephone doesn't really have strong offensive spells, so wizards fighting for her have to rely a bit more on their units, supporting them whenever possible.


Another example would be Stratos, god of Air, his units are mostly weaker then those of the other sides, but they possess superior speed, allowing the wizard to withdraw them quickly from losing battles and then to strike quickly again at a time and place more favorable to him/her. Stratos offers powerful ice, lightning and disrupting spells and even a tornado. Your units may be weaker but if you can prevent your opponent from effectively targeting your armies, then that doesn't really matter. There is more micro-management involved if you choose to fight for Stratos and I never really got a good feeling for it, although when used right, this side is incredibly powerful.



I also played some multiplayer games several years ago, but unfortunately the opponents I fought against were (mean, for the lack of better words) calling me names and insulting me (my parentsd, family, etc.) every second. I'm considering to try multiplayer again although I don't know how active the community still is. I read that despite recieving very positive reviews, it did not sell well.



Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading!

For someone that says english is his 2nd language, you sure write it better than a lot of natives

 

[GregP24]

For someone that says english is his 2nd language, you sure write it better than a lot of natives

QFMFT

 

[jh24]

Thank you for the replies and your kind words about my English. I'll try to keep improving.
I still haven't tried a Sacrifice multiplayer game, maybe I should give it a try this evening. I updated it with the latest (multiplayer) patch.


Thanks again!

 

[LuminaryJanitor]

Awesome game. One of my favourite RTSs of all time.

For me, what really sets it apart from other RTSs - aside from the fact that it's played from a third-person perspective, of course - is the resource system. The combat mechanics, the building construction / destruction and the mana system alone would have produced a relatively generic RTS, but fixed number of souls on the battlefield, and the resulting strategic tug-of-war, takes the gameplay in a very different direction.