I should probably write something more detailed about Fable since I recently finished the game. I’ll try not to give too much away for those of you who haven’t finished yet.
For those of you who have finished the game, here’s what I did: Whisper’s dad wasn’t pleased with me, and at the end I kept it. Both of these actions were totally contrary to my nature while playing the game, but I was so annoyed with the people involved by the time the choice presented itself, I just had to take that path.
Even so, I’m not sure what difference the good/evil business makes. It seems like the main quest would be the same no matter which path you chose. Perhaps things are slightly different if you choose the other path, but I doubt it. I’ll have to play again. Still, I doubt that the lack of involvement of the alignment has anything to do with the length of the game.
What bugs me about comments saying the game is too short is that they assume that everyone wants a game that takes two months of real time to complete. Fable was the perfect length and difficulty for me.
The argument that when you spend so much money on a game you should get hours and hours of gameplay is strange. Why should that be true? No, you should simply get the measure of enjoyment provided by the game for the price. If it were true that the price is directly proportional to the depth of the game, then I’ve got a lot to say about racing games, which really don’t offer their money’s worth.
I don’t understand how people can feel hoodwinked by the quality of Fable. Fable is the most innovative RPG to come along in quite a while. Even if there are a few flaws, it does a lot of things very right. At worst, Fable is a short but beautiful console RPG. At best, it’s a genre-changing catalyst.
Most of the the things that Fable does right concern taking the tedium out of gaming. I really hate talking to every character in town just to piece together enough of the story to know what’s going on. I really hate walking down a single path in one direction never to return to any place I’ve ever been before. Endless and pointless dialogue trees suck. Fable addresses all of these issues well.
The thing that bothers me about open-ended games like Morrowind is that it’s difficult to know where you left off the last time you turned off the console. In Fable, most quests are easily completed in a finite amount of time. You can pretty much start the game with a fresh quest each time you turn on the console. No more would I be asking, “What was I doing again?” and have to read through pages of logs.
There are a few things that Fable could do better, and I suspect that Fable 2 (you know it’s gonna come) will include some of these things.
More involvement of the good/evil aspect would be appreciated. As I said, I haven’t played as both, so maybe there’s more to it than I’ve seen already.
Something needs to be done about RPG weapon types in general, and not just in Fable. A weapon cannot be “legendary” unless it is wielded by a legendary figure. “Master” weapons are created by master blacksmiths, and are not simply available from any old anvil. Here’s a novel concept - If I made a sword from steel, it would suck. If Masamune made a sword, it would be pretty good. The labels for the weapons in Fable are too elementary, and I would rather that a descriptive ratings system was used.
The controller layout. I’m not sure how I could improve it, but I kept holding R to block. As I would realize this is the wrong button, I would switch to Y, and inadvertently switch my spell list. Ack! This is probably just a personal problem.
My main disappointment with the game was that I could not continue after the last main quest element was completed. There were quite a few quests that I could not complete, and there were quite a few skills that I hadn’t sampled. I suppose I can play the game again to do it, but I’d like to have this character try.
It would also be cool if there were additional quest cards for after the completion of the main story thread. They could be a little random. Some could have more involved stories. It might even be good to include some more random quests during the main thread for additional flavor.
A subscription service via Live for periodic new quests would be truly awesome. Suppose the game included a year of supplemental download quests, and then the next release would include the same, and so on. That would rock.
For me, Fable was a great game. I’m going to play it again. It’s the sentiments of these teenage-minded uber-gamers who complete everything in one sitting that ruin everything. They’re the reaosn why Live usually sucks, because I can’t get an evenly matched game. Perhaps someone needs to start a ratings service that rates games for family guys who spent their own hard-earned money on the XBox and its games instead of plugging it into Mommy and Daddy’s TV and playing instead of bathing, eating, and partaking in society.
