Sacred 2: Fallen Angel Previews

A couple of new GDC previews of Ascaron Entertainment's upcoming Sacred sequel have surfaced on the web. The first is at GameSpot:
You will once again roam around a large virtual world, slaying all manner of monsters left and right and pursuing up to 650 side quests, only in this case the world is going to be much larger. It's also in 3D for the first time, and one of the interesting things about Sacred 2 is how the game is being optimized for the Xbox 360 and PC. For instance, the Xbox 360 version will take advantage of the system's three CPU cores to offer up better visuals. One core will handle the game itself, another will take care of the special effects, while the third will be responsible for streaming the game's content so that there are no level loads. So the Xbox 360 version will feature advanced features such as fluid dynamics. Think of your character kicking up leaves into the air and then those leaves swirling about realistically in the wind. The PC version won't feature that because Ascaron says that you'll need a quad-core CPU, and those aren't widely available.

The second is at GameZone:
The 360 version was not quite as advanced in terms of development as the PC version, but there were noticeable differences. The PC version is a point-and-click mouse-controlled game while the 360 obviously utilizes the controller. But in the 360 version, all the menu interfaces have been redone, and the hot keys are reconfigurable. The 360 version will allow two players to play onscreen in its seamless world. Some effects are also available (like some environment effects) on the 360 that are not available on the PC version.

And the third is at Warcry:
The Sacred 2 world will be huge, seamless (no load times) and beautiful. Tall grass waves as critters make their way through it toward you. Fallen leaves flutter in your footsteps. Shadows dance and windows offer a dappled view of the world, through their thick, milky panes. The character creation and item-based RPG gameplay also offer tons of unique surprises, many of which are still in development, but what I saw looked quite nice.