2) Fable: Anniversary Edition (Xbox Series X Backwards Compatibility)
Rating: A
This is technically my second time playing the game since the original release of the original version on the original Xbox. So this is my first time actually playing lost chapters, but honestly it has been so long that the whole game felt like a new experience. And what an experience it is.
The game still felt just as polished all around (aside from two framerate-dropping towns). It still told a story that felt much more complete than the ones that come after it (going to address this below), the gameplay still feels smooth in it's own unique way. I always like the fact that Fable wasn't trying to be a world-spanning adventure. It was simply telling it's story of revenge in a small part of it's vast world. For example you don't even really get to see a 'desert zone' or 'lava zone' etc. that you would in other world-spanning RPGs. It keeps it in mostly areas of greenery, forestry, beaches, and seaside cliffs. That's because since the very beginning it
chooses to feel intimate and personal, and due to that it is able to focus on other aspects, like property purchasing and general happy/angry meters of the townsfolk and roaming NPCs in these areas.
Regardless of what didn't make it in the final game (based on Molyneux's promises) I feel that this game more-than-enough accomplishes the goal it was set out to do, and that's why it still stands (as of now) as
the best Fable game to me.
3) Fable 2 (Xbox Series X Backwards Compatibility)
Rating: C-
This is my first time playing, and boy, what a drop in quality. It still has it's fun moments, but there are problems here. Obviously, the elephant in the room, the framerate was never boosted on the BC. That means it remains as an almost-30fps with lots of drops in between. That normally wouldn't be a problem for me, but they combine it with not only the vaseline-smear look of bloom, but
on top of that they also heavily use motion blur when moving and turning the camera. It had the trifecta of everything wrong with this generation of games.
However, even playing past this, the game itself has issues. Most of the NPCs are somewhat T-posing in their neutral stances. Not sure if this was intentional or not but it breaks immersion. Also, gameplay-wise, I feel like they might have fired the combat director from the first game, because suddenly what was smoothly animated and almost japanese-esque in combat design philosophy from Fable 1, has now been moved into the jank-zone with very stiff combat animations, with a sizable delay after pressing the attack button and even a bad delay when doing the side activity minigames which require more and more precise button presses as you go further into them. While it's cool that they added guns, they feel bad to use and aim with. The dog also becomes a hindrance later in the game as the tougher enemies injure him constantly.
They also lean into the heavy handholding mechanics of the games from this gen, which means that they just use a bright trail line to guide you to the next thing instead of using good world and map design to do so like in Fable 1 (which could easily be played without any trails using mostly dialogue and quest descriptions).
Still, what raises it in score is it's unique story of gathering other heroes throughout the years and facing an ultimate evil. Another revenge plot yes, but this time told differently and also expanding upon lore. I liked the idea of you not being the only hero, and I also like the idea of Theresa from Fable 1 becoming a more central figure throughout the series. It has fun twists and turns in the story itself, but there is definitely a moment where you feel the budget suddenly drop and they have to wrap up the game to end it. They also put padding side quests in the second half, presumedly because there must have been a point where they saw the length and budget issues and felt that the game needed a hook in that second half. I didn't really get into them.
Another raise is the fact that the real estate and character happy/angry meters are a bit expanded, as are side jobs and how you earn those titles.
However, at the end of the day if this game were to ever return it needs more than a remaster, it needs a do-over.
4) Fable 3 (Xbox Series X Backwards Compatibility)
Rating: B
This game is a step up from 2 in terms of gameplay. The combat feels much smoother again, from the melee to the guns to the magic, though sometimes still a bit delayed after a button press. There are multiple moments in the game, whether gameplay or story quests, where this just felt more like a direct sequel to 1 than 2 did. It's odd, but cool. I like how much better the presentation is as well, with good cutscene work and good looking, well animated character models to go along with it.
I like that they once again expanded the happy/anger meters and the real estate mechanics. They also made the minigames much more fun, almost as if you're playing something similar to a guitar hero game. They fixed the dog injury issue and instead tweaked his damage to be lower while making him invincible. Thank goodness.
I like the setup of the plot and being a prince/princess who has to work their way back up to kingship, however just like Fable 2 there is a specific moment (much more pronounced here) where you suddenly feel the game's budget stop and they're like alright, we need to make the player enter this third act where they govern. I understand the fans' issue with that governance part being too short, but honestly by that time I had done so much that I didn't mind it. The whole point was 'preparing for the
reapers the swarm' but that final fight with them was underwhelming because again, you could feel the budget gone at that point.
Other than that, my small gripes with the game are the padding quests in the second half (like the second game), and the fact that some of the enemies near the end were starting to attack at a speed that the player's animations simply could not keep up with, making you frustratingly get walloped and waste a potion waiting for them to stop before you could hit them. Also in order to get the best ending without breaking all promises, you pretty much have to have future-thought and buy up real estate before the third act or else you're going to spend the third act grinding out money to reach 6.5 million for the goal, which I ended up doing.
This is a game that is fun but just a bit too ambitious for it's own good, which ended in second half padding and a non-fleshed out big bad that unfortunately hurt the game overall. Still worth a recommendation regardless for the experience.
