Sacred Interview, Part 2

RPG Vault have posted part 2 of their interview with Product Manager Alan Wild and Lead Game Designer Michael Bhatty about Sacred, the upcoming Fantasy-RPG from Ascaron:

Jonric: Will there be any friendly NPCs, and if so, what roles will they play? Will there be any that can join your character to form a party? And how important will they be overall?

Alan Wild: There will be a number of friendly NPCs, and their importance in the game will vary. Certain NPCs will offer you quests, others will offer to join your party, whilst others will have more... unrevealed purposes. Let's just say there will be some interesting points that transpire.

Michael Bhatty: So much can be said - NPCs have different functions. Some are the traders for combos, equipment, weapons, armor or better horses, while others are imbuing smiths or just the nice NPC who gives you your reputation-feedback. This means that an NPC's greeting gives you your status in that region. It feels quite different when a citizen says "O! That is you!? I've heard you were dead!" (Maybe one quest solved or worse) compared to "My hero!" (All necessary quests in that region solved).