Now that I've ironed out my technical problems with Sacred 2, the sequel to the fastidious German RPG from 2004, I can finally get down to the business of saving the world leveling up my character. Although I only fiddled with the original Sacred for an hour or so, I can't imagine it was as good as this. If it was, I wish someone had let me know the way I'm now letting you know that Sacred 2 is as good as it is. When it comes to compulsively addicting fast-paced click-and-slash loot harvesting with fancy graphics, I'd even go so far as to say I prefer this to Titan Quest.

If you're not playing Sacred 2, after the jump are ten reasons you should be.

10) Not too hard, not too easy
The monsters in Sacred 2 are adjusted to be approximately the same level as your character. A similar gimmick annoyed some folks in Oblivion. But here, it's not absurd and it doesn't destroy the sense of ecology, because Sacred 2 simply isn't that kind of game. But because this is such a dynamic game, this is dynamic enemy scaling that actually works. Here it helps create a sense of freedom to go almost anywhere you want without either running you into a brick wall or boring you to tears. There's still plenty of variety among the monsters, and once you get to advanced difficulty levels and more powerful monsters, it'll take more than just power clicking.

9) Bored player characters
Be sure to leave your character untended for a minute or so. And be sure to do it multiple times. This is where you'll encounter the perfect storm of stilted voice-acting, heavy-handed comedy, and borderline inappropriate pop culture references.

8) The horse you rode in on
It's a big world and to get around, you'll definitely need your trusty horse (or something even more dramatic once you get powerful enough). At first I was annoyed that my horse wouldn't fit into my pocket, like it does in MMOs. But eventually, I came to appreciate how realistic it is to have to remember where you parked the horse.

7) Storyline
Or lack thereof. There is a main quest, but you can power through it before reaching even a fifth of the level cap. Sacred 2 isn't overconcerned with its plot about mysterious underground pipes leaking magicalness into the world (that's seriously the plot: bad plumbing!). The real story is how you run around the world and level up your character.

6) Tooltips
This is a game for those of us who love to see the numbers. There's even a single tooltip that reveals every modification applied to your character. During combat, a monster's attacks and armor type are clearly displayed. In fact, Sacred 2 lets you check detailed stats for the last ten monsters you fought. If you like stats, if you really want to get meticulous with how you build and advance your character, Sacred 2 is happy to oblige you.

5) No invisible walls
This is truly a go-anywhere non-linear open world. In fact, if you host a multiplayer game (even if you're playing solo), you'll begin near a dungeon with gates to various regions in the world, all with their quests intact, and almost all manageable thanks to enemies that scale to your character's level.

4) Fight or flight
There are literally hundreds of monsters on the road between you and where you need to get at any given time. You can fight them or run past them as you like. Sacred 2 is only as combat intensive as you want it to be.

3) Convenient inventory
Auto sort your loot horizontally or vertically. Stash a class-specific goody in your chest for another one of your characters to retrieve. Exchanges runes you don't need for runes you do need. Press the "Q" key to suck up all the loot in a radius around your character. For a game with so much detail, Sacred 2 handily minimizes the loot hassle.

2) De-mana-fication
The spells (called "combat arts") in Sacred 2 don't use the conventional mana system of waiting for mana to recharge, hoarding mana potions, or both. Instead, there are cooldown timers for each "school" of magic, and you can heavily modify these based on your equipment and abilities. So go spell crazy! You'll never run out.

1) Characters classes
Choose among six classes, each of which has nearly infinite ways to advance on the way to his or her level 200 level cap. The usual suspects include an evil wizard, a good elf wizard, and a necromancer warrior. But there are also an angel in high heel shoes, a hippie-chick elf who collects severed heads, and a robot dog with a laser gun for an arm. Let's see Diablo III top that.