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Fable NTSC
Lionhead
Big Blue Box
15 Sept 2004
Two words, F%#'n AWESOME
Now that i have played through the game a few time here is an update. I still love this game.
First off the graphics are amazing! From the wheat swaying in the grass to your berd swaying on your face everything is insanly detailed.
The combat in Fable is extremely simple yet it has the ability to be a great combat system. The two main weapons, a sword and a bow, are given to you in the training levels. Each weapon is automatically set to the white and black buttons. All you have to do is hit the appropriate button then attack, that’s it. Or is it....you can also block with each of the weapon, holding down the attack button longer for the bow allows the arrow to fly faster and with less of an arch causing more damage. While blocking you can roll around with the left thumb stick. This comes in handy to get behind an enemy and hit their unarmored backside.
Magic in the game also has a very accessible with the game pad. You hold down the left trigger and the a,b,x,y buttons become spells instead of melee or ranged attack buttons. Hold down the button with the spell of your choice and it is cast that’s it.
Targeting is very Zelda like. Hold down the left trigger and a red aura appears around your target. You can also hit the right thumb stick and the target get switched to the next, something that was missing and sorely needed in other games that utilized this kind of targeting system. Although you don’t need to target your victim to attack. Hostile can be swung at and hit quite easily with melee without targeting. Although trying to hit a moving scarecrow with out targeting is a challenge.
I enjoyed the leveling system. There are three main pools of experience. Strength, Skill, and will. You gain Xp in each of this pool by killing enemys with the weapon attached to the pool, melee for strength, bow for skill, and magic for will. In the leveling window it will explain what a boost on a certian attribute will do along with a sweet miniclip of the action.
The amount of action your character can do is extremely apparent right off the bat. I could walk around and beat people up on a whim. Finding small side quests is a snap. Just talk to random people and they will ask you to do something. Early examples are finding a teddy bear, exposing a cheating husband, beat up a bully, and buying a gift for your sister. Each mission allows you to accomplish it in varieties of ways. For example you can find the cheating husband and he will then ask you to keep quiet about his adultery. If you do he will give you a gold coin. You will also receive your first bad deed. But you can also turn around and tell the wife about the husband and receive more money and a good deed. But this came at a price. Everyone in town knew what i had done and started making comments like "A diliquent today and fiend tommorow" or "that boy is nothing but trouble". So it is true that everything you do will be watched and it will affect you.
Like Kotor you can pick your side in this game. You can be the knight in shining armor (complete with halo) or the evil bastard that kills little girls (complete with horn that spout from you head). But becoming one of this takes a lot of practice. There are many levels toward begin good or evil and everything you do will shift you one way the other.
The menu system is tied to the d pad and is extremely easy to use. Hit the up and you can access food, weapons, among other things. The d-pad is also home to your expressions from laughing to smiling to farting you can do it all.
The depth of this game is incredible. you can talk to anyone and actaully read most anything, or you can blow past all this and complete the task at hand.
On the down side this game has been extremely easy so far. The training was a snap and the "final test" to become a Hero is a meager test to see if you understand the combat system. Also there is no character customization in the beginning. You just start the game. But the ability to get tatto's and hairstyle is alot of fun.
I have found that I could get through the game in <20 hours. But i would miss a lot of what makes this game great. From finding the silver keys, making the demon doors open, owning shoping, marrying and killing women, getting waste and puking, finding the time triggered events. Yes the game is easy, yes you can breeze through it, yes you can go from pure evil to pure good in a snap, and yes the ending "cienmas" are a huge let down. But the gameplay, combat, customization, sidequests, and interaction witht he npcs make up a lot.
So in closing if you're looking for a Final Fantasy on xbox this is not the game and you will hate it. But if your looking for a fun ADVENTURE game with some RPG elemets this game is awesome if you are willing to take your time. If you want a game that will hand you unlimited hours of gameplay this is not it. You will have to work to get to the best parts of the game.
Edit : updated
This post has been edited by skyjedi: Sep 23 2004, 07:58 PM
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Fable
Sep 16 2004, 02:59 PM
Anyway, so far all comments about Fable I heard are disappointing. Luckily I still have my PS2 so more Star Ocean and Final Fantasies for me. 