Aimless questing coupled with a lack of emotional envolvement make it hard to recommend
But the writing and the inclusion of a theme are far less well developed. Sacred 2's main story and side quests are bland or lacking. They do not inspire any interest nor do they make you want to continue on to the next step in the arc of the main quest. The biggest problem with Sacred 2 is that there is nothing driving the game and, without goals or a good story, the game really just devolves into a mind-numbingly boring series of mini-quests.
I can understand some of the angst players have about this game. It is like the programmers did an awesome job of doing everything right - except they managed to leave out what every RPG has to have, a passable story. Aside from a quirky sense of humor, there is no sense of anything being accomplished besides your level going up. And frankly, that is not enough.