My history with Fable has always been... abusive. Except i was the Abuser. I wanted to like it, but i just had to keep hitting it. It was asking for it!
Who wasn't excited for FABLE1 if you owned an XBOX back in the days of old? I'm NOT going to do the normal 3 paragraphs bitching about Peter Molyneux.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Molyneux
He's a salesman. Whatever. I'm over it now.
Fable1: I hated being called a "chicken chaser". I redid the opening tutorial as a child like 6 times avoiding any chicken i can find. Obsessing: to the point of waiting for their random patrol paths to pass so i could sneak past. And I was still called a Chicken Chaser! It made me so angry that I couldn't outsmart the gam.
Fable2: The dog sold me on it. I've always wanted to be a dog owner (thanks dad!). I bought the gam the day it came out. Ignoring the Salesman's PR shpiel. Instead, I hated the clunky melee combat and the absense of skill range combat system. Too much focus on townsfolk. I sold the gam after the first week.
Here i am now in 2010, i got hit with a HEAVY REGRET for some odd reason. Out of nowhere! Maybe it's my new commuting job and my lack of music... I have a lot of time to think now. So i borrowed a copy from my friend Matt and started playing... This time with no expectations and a few rules.
1: Critical Path only*
*2:. Only do a sidequest if it sounded interesting! ie- none of that repeating content stretching bullshit or "helping clear a cave"
3: No "jobs"
4: No bothering with the townsfolk.
The Fail Trail:
It wasn't until i was right before the "first hero" that I turned off the "gold trail". This little thing is most likely the #1 problem with the gam! My enjoyment went up near 400% when i turned this Golden Trail off. This trail always tells you that you are going the wrong way. True, I didn't want sidequests, but i still want treasure and EXP if i can get it. Sometimes i actually HAD to turn on the trail for a second just to point my way. The gam was designed with the trail in mind. The minimap is a little rough to read when you are far away from the TV. Inside "the spire" I NEEDED the trail as that place was just an ugly repeating texture level.
Now why did they put a trail in, if they could have put that same functionality into the dog? Imagine replacing the "ball" shortcut with "show me the way"? It fits with the dog fiction perfectly...Hell, turn the dog into a bloodhound and you are all set. If i get lost, or i want to pick up my mission, I'll hit up on my D-pad and my dog would Woof, and I'd follow my dog! I would LOVE to follow my dog! Running with my dog in a pretty environment are my favorite brief memories from Fable2.
When i finally found my characters "look" and my appearance starting organically shaping into it i had a big happy moment with the gam (taken with camera phone)
I started to look like a Cyber Pirate in a storybook world. At one point my only good eye became a glowing red light.
Usually I play an evil character in any gam that gives me a "choice". But I was the most goody two-shoes sci-fi pirate the world of Fable has (n)ever seen.
I fixed the economy in every town I came across. and I slightly broke a rule by creating a secret life. I had a wife in Bowerstone that looked like every other NPC. Decked out our house with the best furniture and had 2 kids. When i hit Bloodstone, I Married 3 prostitutes (that all looked the same). I made them neighbors and I had a kid with each. I saved the economy in this town too and it slowly transformed into a fairly nice garden town with each visit! That was a gam perk I wasn't expecting. But each visit was flooded with 3 triplet whores yelling at me... while my 3 kids from different mothers would want attention. They still "loved me" cause i made the household budget extremely high with each wife. And they would still be working the corner on the street. So in short: Money can buy happiness, and habits are hard to break.
The Love/Hate Magic System:
I went all "Will". Which is easily the hardest way to play until you hit your first "max", then the gam is broken-easy. Switching Spells requires way too much finger gymnastics. Early on in the gam it is easier to use a standard pain spell then try and play the gam with any form of Strategy. Lightning and Fire, i am looking at you. Once you start getting your spells Varied enough it actually is a fun magic system. Light up buttons on the left side let you know what level spell you're at, as well as the audio cue of a different spell type (lightning crackle vs. VRMMMMM of a Force Push) and then an entire Camera pans out on each level of spell. 3 different ways to let you know your spell channeling is moving up the totem pole. Some subtle some not. Early gam as a Will user almost made me quit. Would have loved the opertunity to remap my melee/range buttons to a different spell if I wanted to dedicate myself to Will. Would have loved to have done some strategy early on.
End
As I went in with no expectations, I was actually swept off my feet... A little bit! A couple of times! A couple interesting "twists" that weren't spoiled for me in the 2 years since the gam came out. Not sure how I woulda felt if I left the trail on the entire time. The Environment graphics were pretty spectacular, even with a bit of foliage draw-in. I think it has the best implemented "bloom" of sunlight still to date. The magic system surprised me after i unlocked a lot of variety for it. I have no idea what the "fixes" or "changes" are for Fable3, but I will end my Fable2 review without a "score". I'll use some "airquotes" and say I am excitedly curious to know what gets ported into Fable3 and what changes are in store if i try to keep the same play style.
So is the abusive relationship with this series is now over? I'll give her another chance to not screw up, or I'll bring the belt out again.
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