Fable 3: Play King

[Tigranes]

I played Fable. I thought it was irreedemable rubbish. The story was generic and boring, the combat was simple, boring and far too easy, everything looked like a bloomified parody of a CRPG. Fable 2 seemed to promise nothing new that wasn't more dives into the well of trivial and super-easy gimmicks, so I never bothered.

 

This looks interesting, however:

 

One way Fable III does that is by allowing players to pass judgments as law, changing the fabric of the kingdom.

 

"Conventionally, a game is all about a hero's journey," he said. "You start weak and build up your power, take on the bad guy and then the credits roll.

 

"We decided why stop there."

 

Key to the second half of the game is carefully balancing your need to attract followers with promises, and the followers insistence that you keep your promises.

 

"On the journey to becoming king... the temptation is to promise everything," he said. "Then you become king and you realize, 'Oh **** baby, this is not so simple.

 

The other stuff about super-minimal GUI and morphing weapons are the usual Molyneux gimmicks, and the Touch command could either be great or simply linear, but I like the sound of playing King. Real C&C? Could it be?

 

Graphics look slightly more visible this time, too.

[Purkake]

Molyneux promised us that we could touch children, he better not let us down.

[Blodhemn]

I look forward to Peter's prerelease hype more than I do any of his games so this oughta be fun.

 

The look of the game is about the same to me.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Molyneux promised us that we could touch children, he better not let us down.

 

He's a rank amateur compared to the Nintendo DS and iPhone slogans. It's like it's marketed at pedophiles.

[Purkake]

But Natal and Milo will change everything!

[Diogo Ribeiro]

But Natal and Milo will change everything!

 

Yeah, they'll become as "culturally accepted and representative" of us like hentai and rape games are of Japan.

[mkreku]

Preview up at Eurogamer:

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/fable-iii-x10-preview

 

I must say that it really does sound exciting. And I love that they've replaced the experience points system with followers! Brilliant! Morphing, trade-able weapons sounds very neat too. Oh, and the hand-holding mechanic could potentially be a blast. True co-op (as in, you're not in any way connected to each other, other than being in the same world) is another great feature.

 

If only it wasn't Molyneux hyping it..

[Hurlshort]

It always SOUNDS exciting.

 

I actually thought the original Fable was a decent little adventure. I played the sequel and was enjoying it until it totally crashed on me. I've never had such a buggy game on a console, to be honest. I probably won't touch the third one just because of that. It basically corrupted my save so I could not finish the game.

Edited February 12, 2010 by Hurlshot

[Purkake]

The Fable cycle:

 

(Brought to you by the Sonic cycle)

Edited February 12, 2010 by Purkake

[mkreku]

I actually thought the original Fallout was a decent little adventure.

You need to check your brain, it is currently malfunctioning.

[Hurlshort]

I actually thought the original Fallout was a decent little adventure.

You need to check your brain, it is currently malfunctioning.

 

It's been a rough week, I've been super tired. My wife is 6 months pregnant, my daughter has discovered that she can postpone her bedtime by saying she needs to go pee every 15 minutes, and Ashley broke up with me in Mass Effect 2.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

I actually thought the original Fallout was a decent little adventure.

You need to check your brain, it is currently malfunctioning.

 

...my daughter has discovered that she can postpone her bedtime by saying she needs to go pee every 15 minutes...

 

Smart kid.

[Tigranes]

"More than half the people that played Fable II understood and used less than half the features in the game," Molyneux says, recalling an eye-opening piece of research that changed his whole approach to the sequel. "As soon as you see that you think, 'Oh my God, what a talentless bastard I really am'."

 

So the HUD fades away, the combat is ruthlessly simplified, and in a stunning move against the prevailing winds that have blown XP from RPGs into virtually every other genre in recent years, the whole concept of gaining experience which is spent on new abilities has been scrapped.

 

More artificial discourses that will once again have power to sway arguments and gaming preferences when they never should.

 

We'll see if it's the imagined manifest destiny of the "simple" that defines Fable 3, or its determination to open new possibilities...

 

Wait, hold on, I could just put my money on Heavy Rain.