I've finished Fable 2. I'm not sure how long I played it, but I'd guess about 20 hours.
It's a lot better than the first game, I'll say that right off. Sadly, with some of the really impressive offerings this fall (Fallout, Dead Space, LittleBigPlanet) I think Fable gets a little overshadowed.
When I think back to the original Xbox, Fable is not in my list of top 10 games - it doesn't stand well with games like KOTOR and Riddick as being especially memorable. The huge list of disappointments that came with the first Fable also permanently mar that title.
Fable 2 does a lot of stuff right, but it's got its share of problems.
Peter Molyneux managed to reign himself in this time around. He didn't make lots of stupid promises that he couldn't keep. He showed us, instead, already implemented gameplay concepts. He just overinflated them a little.
I should try this "structure" thing I've been hearing about while writing.
The things I liked about Fable are pretty easy to whip through, so it's going to sound like I hated the game, but that's not true. The combat is quite a bit of fun. Switching between ranged, melee, and magic is simple and fun, and it really is a three-button system. I wish there were some more tutorials for counters and combos, but even without them the combat was easy to pick up and managed to keep from getting boring through the whole game. One interesting decision made by the guys over at Lionhead is the choice to remove death from your hero's list of life possibilities. You get knocked out and jump right back up. Honestly, there's no reason to die. The game borders on being too easy, but it would've been annoying and unnecessary to send you running all over the place.
The experience system works well too. You don't really level up the same way you might in other games; it's more gradual. It feels organic and incremental rather than like a sudden change.
The save system is mighty nice too, in terms of enforcing your decisions. In a lot of these games, you can save, try something, and go back if it doesn't work. In Fable, once you've made a decision, that's your decision. The game saves and you're stuck with it. It puts some real gravity behind the things you do. No taking make all those three and four-ways with my wives...
That said, a lot of Fable, once again, doesn't live up to the monumental expectations that inevitably come with it. I'll start with the dog. As the man himself said, it's just a dog. He certainly helps along with the game: finding treasure, attacking downed enemies, and growling when trouble is near. However, I don't feel the game would be lacking without him. Even his involvement in the final story is a bit of a disappointment. I'll be honest: I just never cared a lick about the dog. I'd say the lack of cutscenes in the game played a role in this. The dog didn't have any sort of real character beyond that of the endlessly faithful dog
The expressions, too, felt entirely unnecessary. With Fable being so minimalist in the hud, the overly complex expressions wheel felt rather shoehorned in. It added some really unnecessary meters and menus to the game. Even ignoring that, it just felt too goofy for a game as serious and generally grim as this. Alright, so I just slaughtered an entire town. Now I think I'll go visit the next down, fart and burp like a jackass for 2 minutes and suddenly I've got a huge discount?
Speaking of discounts, I'm not sure how I feel about the economic aspect of the game. I liked that there are so many options available. You can work, you can hunt for treasure, you can invest in property, not to mention more shadowy options like gambling and slave trading. To get the best weapons out there, you'll need to do at least a little investing. It's pretty well integrated, but again I don't feel like it helped either. At least it wasn't a pain in the butt like the expressions.
Another gripe I have pertains to sort of the general attitude of the game. It puts on this show like it's somehow less "gamey." You don't get treasure from crates or missions. Even then, it's telling you that you can shoot 50 gargoyle heads and collect 50 silver keys to get special items! Then you fart and burp like a jackass for 2 minutes.
Once again referncing how generally HUDless the game is trying to be with the golden crumb trail, I have to complain about the worthless map system. You'll get a mission to go to Location X, where you haven't been yet. You get that crumb trail. But then there's no indication on the map of what direction it's in, or what the nearest 'already visited' location is to it. So you can' just quick-travel to the nearest spot and then walk, you have to walk all the way there. I mean really, what?
Then there's the... number halo, for lack of better word. Every transaction you make, whether it's monetary, emotional, or pure/corrupt, is represented by a number over your head. So when you sell 10 potions and buy 10 more, you get to watch numbers tick over your head for the next two minutes. Then if you own any property that is making you money, you get a little status message about that. And about your wife. By the end of the game you'll have a constant string of numbers over your head. There's even one point where you're in a sort of dream sequence and even THEN you still have numbers appearing over your head.
This information could've been delivered more elegantly, is all I'm saying.
Now the graphics, they're nearly impeccable. The world you run around in is one of the lushest, most gorgeous game environments. Coming off of Fallout 3, it's truly refreshing to find everything so colorful. It's definitely not a brown game like so many out there. The character designs are cartoony but consistent and they feel like they fit into the sort of Dickens fantasy world presented. I do wish the game wasn't always stuck in Autumn as it seems to be. With the amount of time it spans, some snow and such would've been a real treat to see.
In all, I DID enjoy the game. It's just not quite as memorable as some of the other stuff that hit the market this season.
It's a lot better than the first game, I'll say that right off. Sadly, with some of the really impressive offerings this fall (Fallout, Dead Space, LittleBigPlanet) I think Fable gets a little overshadowed.
When I think back to the original Xbox, Fable is not in my list of top 10 games - it doesn't stand well with games like KOTOR and Riddick as being especially memorable. The huge list of disappointments that came with the first Fable also permanently mar that title.
Fable 2 does a lot of stuff right, but it's got its share of problems.
Peter Molyneux managed to reign himself in this time around. He didn't make lots of stupid promises that he couldn't keep. He showed us, instead, already implemented gameplay concepts. He just overinflated them a little.
I should try this "structure" thing I've been hearing about while writing.
The things I liked about Fable are pretty easy to whip through, so it's going to sound like I hated the game, but that's not true. The combat is quite a bit of fun. Switching between ranged, melee, and magic is simple and fun, and it really is a three-button system. I wish there were some more tutorials for counters and combos, but even without them the combat was easy to pick up and managed to keep from getting boring through the whole game. One interesting decision made by the guys over at Lionhead is the choice to remove death from your hero's list of life possibilities. You get knocked out and jump right back up. Honestly, there's no reason to die. The game borders on being too easy, but it would've been annoying and unnecessary to send you running all over the place.
The experience system works well too. You don't really level up the same way you might in other games; it's more gradual. It feels organic and incremental rather than like a sudden change.
The save system is mighty nice too, in terms of enforcing your decisions. In a lot of these games, you can save, try something, and go back if it doesn't work. In Fable, once you've made a decision, that's your decision. The game saves and you're stuck with it. It puts some real gravity behind the things you do. No taking make all those three and four-ways with my wives...
That said, a lot of Fable, once again, doesn't live up to the monumental expectations that inevitably come with it. I'll start with the dog. As the man himself said, it's just a dog. He certainly helps along with the game: finding treasure, attacking downed enemies, and growling when trouble is near. However, I don't feel the game would be lacking without him. Even his involvement in the final story is a bit of a disappointment. I'll be honest: I just never cared a lick about the dog. I'd say the lack of cutscenes in the game played a role in this. The dog didn't have any sort of real character beyond that of the endlessly faithful dog
The expressions, too, felt entirely unnecessary. With Fable being so minimalist in the hud, the overly complex expressions wheel felt rather shoehorned in. It added some really unnecessary meters and menus to the game. Even ignoring that, it just felt too goofy for a game as serious and generally grim as this. Alright, so I just slaughtered an entire town. Now I think I'll go visit the next down, fart and burp like a jackass for 2 minutes and suddenly I've got a huge discount?
Speaking of discounts, I'm not sure how I feel about the economic aspect of the game. I liked that there are so many options available. You can work, you can hunt for treasure, you can invest in property, not to mention more shadowy options like gambling and slave trading. To get the best weapons out there, you'll need to do at least a little investing. It's pretty well integrated, but again I don't feel like it helped either. At least it wasn't a pain in the butt like the expressions.
Another gripe I have pertains to sort of the general attitude of the game. It puts on this show like it's somehow less "gamey." You don't get treasure from crates or missions. Even then, it's telling you that you can shoot 50 gargoyle heads and collect 50 silver keys to get special items! Then you fart and burp like a jackass for 2 minutes.
Once again referncing how generally HUDless the game is trying to be with the golden crumb trail, I have to complain about the worthless map system. You'll get a mission to go to Location X, where you haven't been yet. You get that crumb trail. But then there's no indication on the map of what direction it's in, or what the nearest 'already visited' location is to it. So you can' just quick-travel to the nearest spot and then walk, you have to walk all the way there. I mean really, what?
Then there's the... number halo, for lack of better word. Every transaction you make, whether it's monetary, emotional, or pure/corrupt, is represented by a number over your head. So when you sell 10 potions and buy 10 more, you get to watch numbers tick over your head for the next two minutes. Then if you own any property that is making you money, you get a little status message about that. And about your wife. By the end of the game you'll have a constant string of numbers over your head. There's even one point where you're in a sort of dream sequence and even THEN you still have numbers appearing over your head.
This information could've been delivered more elegantly, is all I'm saying.
Now the graphics, they're nearly impeccable. The world you run around in is one of the lushest, most gorgeous game environments. Coming off of Fallout 3, it's truly refreshing to find everything so colorful. It's definitely not a brown game like so many out there. The character designs are cartoony but consistent and they feel like they fit into the sort of Dickens fantasy world presented. I do wish the game wasn't always stuck in Autumn as it seems to be. With the amount of time it spans, some snow and such would've been a real treat to see.
In all, I DID enjoy the game. It's just not quite as memorable as some of the other stuff that hit the market this season.
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