Fable III

game

Entry posted by MagitekAngel August 21, 2009

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Fable III was announced just a few short days ago, and I am under the impression that Microsoft wanted very badly for me to be excited about it. After all, they have just lost one key advantage they held over Sony, that being console price.

From what I've read, the basic idea is that you'll be playing as the son/daughter of your hero from Fable II, and that you will become the leader of Albion. Despite Peter Molyneux's tendency to make big promises about his upcoming games and then fall just a bit short (perhaps he would feel right at home as a politician?), both the original Fable and its sequel were very good games. In all likelihood, Fable III will be a very good game, too.

But I'm not very interested.

Why not? It's not something I'm sure I can put into words as of yet. I suppose I just don't see enough progress. Molyneux has gained a sort of infamy for overhyping his projects, and yet so far he is mostly talking about how, as the ruler of Albion, you now get to manage your citizen's taxes. Is this really the best innovation Lionhead studios has to offer?

I didn't play the original; I bought it for my girlfriend. Six months ago, I bought her Fable II as well, and this time we both played it. I liked it, thought it was a good game, even a great game, but I have yet to finish it. Somewhere along the line, I lost focus and moved on to other things. I just recently started playing again for a few days, but then I bought Oblivion and that was pretty much it for Fable II until I beat this latest addiction of mine.

Maybe my inability to completely "get into" Fable lies in its morality system, which is more or less its trademark and biggest selling point. As much as I appreciate the innovation and opportunity for multiple play styles, I've never been able to commit to anything less than a completely vanilla "light side" hero. It is the same for me in Knights of the Old Republic, but in that series, even playing vanilla, there is still an intriguing challenge in exploring the conversation trees, finding the right things to say, and winning the adoration of your allies. Not being able to particularly enjoy running around extorting and killing, even in a video game, Fable's keystone feature is wasted on me.

And that brings us back to Fable III. There just doesn't seem to be anything new and exciting. Of course, this might change, as more details of the game drip out, but when I'm not completely enthralled with the prequels to begin with, there is little for me to be excited about.

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EricBall 241

Posted September 3, 2009

Heh, the first time I played through SW:KotOR I was a generic light Jedi. Later I went back and tried to play as a truely evil dark Jedi to unlock HK-47, but I found it suprisingly difficult to make the necessary conversation choices. Slaughtering Jawas and Sand People? No Problem. Telling Carth it's all his fault? No can do. (It's also difficult to get a high enough repair skill and actually survive some of the boss battles.)