So true, i did the same and thought it was too dramatic, also WTF at reaver, the character is great but his role later in the game is a joke, so
the dude tried to kill me and is a murderer and shit and now i have to work with him? i should've killed him as soon as i got to the throne, the whole thing feels like a horrible M.Night Shiamalan movie gone bad, yes a bad movie gone even worse, so frustrating and leaves me with no desire to go back to the game after that horrible final chapter.
This really threw me off too, would it have killed them to have had some kind of explanation? I think logically Reaver would be too powerful to simply kill him when you're on the throne and would be the only man in the kingdom with an understanding of the advanced machinery required to keep it afloat. I don't think it's a stretch though given the only reason he attempted to kill you in the first place was because you were aligned with a faction who was trying to bring him down, just wished there was some exposition on it.
I don't see why people are complaining about him turning an area into a quarry when he literally says that he'll turn that area into a quarry.
I wonder if the farting minigame in Fable 2 is a metaphor for Fable's development as a game. Starts up well, looks like it has promise, but someone held down the button for too long and missed their window to make the perfect fart.
This is game is really hillariously bad in so many ways.
I got the mission to raise support in Bowerstone, to get the resistance to trust me. This is what I did to complete it.
1. Played a strange board game.
2. Seduced a married women in a different town by her husbands request, by tickling her and playing pat-a-cake, then I killed the husband to complete the mission.
3. Gave the finger to two kids.
4. Farted in a womans face.
5. Danced with a guard.
6. Killed a couple villagers in a nearby town.
7. Stole everything I saw.
All these actions gave me the gold seals needed to get the leader of the resistance to say: "- People are starting to believe in you" :lol
I watched some gameplay videos and it really seems like Lionhead went out of control with streamlining the experience. Building blocks ae there for a nice story, and good gameplay, however by insisting on gimmics Molyneux ruined what was good about Fable 2, while adding nothing of interest to Fable 3.
Just started the game and sunk a few hours into it.
Oh dear.
Although I can see I'll be hooked - I played the lute for a good ten minutes - this is an extremely unpolished game. Everything seems to be flickering, UI elements pop-in separately, animation is blurry (seriously, try and rotate the camera and still make sense of the scenery), the action UI is abysmal, the actions themselves are a huge downgrade... I don't understand how they can sell us this for £40 with a straight face. Someone, somewhere is seriously taking the piss, and it's a real shame after similar problems with New Vegas because I was hoping this would sate my RPG-lust. If it stays this janky I'm not sure it will.
I've got four more titles coming this winter. I hope one of them is actually finished.
Edit: Oh yeah and what the fuck was that all about with the holding hands at the start? I don't understand how it has been coded to break contact when you go up a set of stairs but that bit was really shoddy, very poor introduction to the game.
First a patch. Then the expression wheel. Nothing gets old faster than Dance -> Patty Cake -> Tickle -> Fetch Quest. If this was the actual design intent than I've completely lost hope in Molyneaux games.
I didn't really like Fable II, but I bought Fable III today and I absolutely love it. Of course, it's quite unpolished, but even that has it charms. The start of the game is absolutely amazing, in the castle and everything. It feels so absurdly different from the second game that it feels like a different series altogether. I'm not sure what to think of the new emotion system (too many button pushes) and the hand-holding system is cute but really glitchy (letting loose when going up a flight of stairs for example). All in all I really like it so far. I am now inside the
Have finally managed to put some decent time into this game. I've had to share it with my wife which is making it difficult to play ANY games let alone Fable.
Anyways, I've just finished winning the support of Bowerstone and I'm really, really enjoying the game. I enjoyed Fable 1 and 2, but couldn't bring myself to finish the 2nd game as I watched my wife finish it and thus saw the ending/choices - at the moment, I am well ahead of her in Fable 3, but I can see myself finishing it regardless.
When the game first begins in the castle - I was stunned by the graphics - after coming off Castlevania LoS, Reach, Enslaved etc - these graphics looked fucking awful by comparison. Thankfully once you get into the open world and out of the mess of cutscenes and jilted conversation and following - that is the first 45 minutes or so of the game - it really starts to pick up. A combination of the artstyle and great draw distance makes it a gorgeous game to look at 90% of the time. It's just a shame that the framerate drops randomly to a crawling rate. There's no excuse for the game to be slowing down when I'm playing Lute Hero - because nothing important or taxing is happening - yet it's severe enough that it can cost you your gold multiplier - a minor grievance but still annoying.
The sound and music is top notch. The magic sounds devastating. the guns all sound pretty unique and a few of the rifles/muskets really sound like they have a punch to them. The music is amazing, it feels very epic when it needs to, but otherwise just 'fits'. That is to say, it's not so overdone that you're noticing it frequently or listening for it, but you know its there and it really adds to the atmosphere.
The gameplay is Fable 2 redone. For some this is awful - for me it's good, for my wife it's brilliant. I'm enjoying combat much more than Fable 2... I'm not sure why, but I'm finding the improved magic system and awesome finishing moves keeping me excited going into each battle, and more importantly, there seem to be way more enemies/battles. The Hollow Men fight with the mortar etc was just the right length/quantity in terms of enemies and I really enjoyed myself.
The relationship system is improved - it now takes 5 minutes to make someone fall in love and marry you, instead of 30 seconds... however the expression wheel being gone is not great. While I was never a huge fan of doing expressions in the vague direction of someone to make a relationship bar move... it was at least as good as going into a seperate scene (albeit very quick) and performing one of four predetermined options (and usually only 1-2 of those being positive). I'm really getting sick of having to dance or play pat-a-cake with men everytime when I could just as easily being chatting, whistling etc... it takes away from the sense of roleplay a little... I just don't think my hulking, armour wearing, hammer bearing, rifle-toting bad ass hero would be hugging the first man he sees in town and swinging him around. Additionally, the fetch-quest missions for relationships are annoying - and I'm sure that they would be far more enjoyable if you could pay someone a daily upkeep (make it expensive so it's available later in the game) to deliver/retrieve these packages for you. It would save you from a lot of wasted time, and annoying quests in your quest list - just because you wanted an extra guild seal for befriending someone - and they want you to now go to some random area and return.
The removal of the menu system and being replaced by the Sanctuary is awesome. There are a few issues with it (not being able to see what gifts/gems you own without visiting a pawn shop) but otherwise I find it a vast improvement. That being said, I don't know why they haven't allocated a button to switching between a few customisable weapon/magic presets. I just don't like having to go to, and return from the sanctuary just because I want to try a new spell combination, or use my new sword etc.
That being said, the quests are far better... I've already enjoyed myself 100 times more than Fable 2, just by playing the mission where
you are shrunk down and have to play a D&D style game where they have stuffed up and you have to fight killer chickens etc
. It was really enjoyable, and a shining example of why Fable really seperates itself from any games that could be considered similar.
Unfortunately, this Jack-of-all-Trades Master of None gameplay and design leads to glitches and bugs that are often funny or harmless - but can border on frustrating. My wife seems to be constantly losing the golden trail - and it won't return until she selects the quest again, and lets it load for another 10 seconds or so. It started off as "Oh, that's fine - it's a big game and it lost itself"... now it's "FFS, it's gone again and I have no idea where to go... I'll do a different quest". My biggest glitch was an unusual one.
- Decided to open the Demon Door in
Brightwall - where you need something innocent.
- Met a woman in Brightwall, took her on a date etc, married her (Bridge wedding - yay)... had to move her into a house, and the only property I owned that wasn't shops were in Dwellers Camp.
- Left her there for a while, I got some cash, bought a few houses in Brightwall, and moved her into one
- Had a child with her, waited until my daughter was walking and talking and grabbed her hand to lead her to the door.
- On my way, I interact with my daughter and she tells me she wants a Toy Gun (I don't have one, and at the time, could not buy one from the shops I could access/find).
- Get to the demon door, and he acts like nothing is there - just repeating himself on want exactly he wants to see... the whole time my daughter repeatedly telling me she wants a present... I'm ready to kill her.
- Try it multiple times, standing in different locations, approaching at different times etc and give up.
- Play Halo for a while, and the next day come back to Fable 3
- Head to Brightwall, find my daughter (the Toy Gun quest is gone, though she is still asking for a present, less frequently however) and lead her to the door.
- The door proceeds to tell me that my wife is gorgeous but hardly innocent etc, and to find something pure... WTF?
- Go to receive my present from my wife, and decide what the hell... I'll take her to the door. The demon door proceeds to sob and tell me that my daughter is gorgeous and innocent etc... and opens. What the fuck.
This is annoying, however more importantly it's a credit to the game as a whole that even after all of this, it's still one of the most fun games I've played all year. The game just oozes style and atmosphere - and is without a doubt the funniest game I've played period. Between the gnomes, some of the crazier quests, the letters from Arthur etc it's just constantly getting me to smirk or chuckle.
The game is so wildly uneven, it makes for a really bizarre experience. I love portions of it, but others seem totally thrown together. Some of the design decisions are also really odd. The part in
Aurora
was really cool why couldn't a bigger focus been placed on that, instead of making a really terrible Fable 2 rehash for the first two thirds. It's fun enough, but it's a big mess.
The whole holding hands thing is just an elaborate follow mechanic. And Peter talked about it as if it wasn't going to be this revolutionary new feature. Typical Molyneux.
Looks like I spoke to soon, all my kids are back. Still can find them but now when I look at the homes they were in it says they are there. Must be a glitch. Sold off all my rented homes, sick of fixing them all the time. Kept the shops and a personal home in every area. Still have 2.5 mil in the treasury and another 5mil on me. Gotta drain my personal cash soon so I can grab the weapon there. Love this game
The whole holding hands thing is just an elaborate follow mechanic. And Peter talked about it as if it wasn't going to be this revolutionary new feature. Typical Molyneux.
The whole holding hands thing is just an elaborate follow mechanic. And Peter talked about it as if it wasn't going to be this revolutionary new feature. Typical Molyneux.
I'm not sure, but I think I accidently cheated on a quest. Minor quest, but still... the one where I'm supposed to go to the sewers and look for James' engagement ring. I dug it up instead someplace else in Bowerstone without even entering the sewers.
Nice to see I wasn't the only one caught off guard with the abrupt ending. :lol
For those that had all their citizens die, what are you going to do next? I'm super rich and own all of Albion, but it's rather boring with everyone dead except for guards and a few quest people. I'm probably going to start a new character once a patch comes out.
What sucks is that I didn't get a chance to see the result of all the "good" decisions I made because the ending snuck up on me. I wanted to visit all the areas of Albion I improved before the final showdown....Oh well...
I had my family living in Old Bowerstone before I went to Aurora. Now that Old Bowerstone is destroyed, did my family croak??? During loading screens it says I'm not married and no kids. If so thats really lame.
So when you're King, can you just go stand somewhere collecting money from rent/profits and not have the days until attack advance? I want to keep making "good" decisions, but its obvious everyone will die if I do. I'd rather just let the game sit for a little bit and collect enough money to keep everyone alive. Everyone here keeps mentioning the abrupt ending so I don't want the attack to happen out of nowhere when I'm letting the game idle.
Finally finished it after 14 hours. After I became queen I just ran through the story quests to finish it, I'd had enough of the game by then. It's probably my biggest disappointment of the year so far, it really feels like a step backwards from Fable II.
It's also one of the buggiest games I've ever played, I've never had my Xbox freeze so many times in one sitting.
Damn, the sidequests in this game absolutely SLAUGHTER the ones from Fable 2. There's more meat to these side quests than there was to the main quests in F2
This is game is really hillariously bad in so many ways.
I got the mission to raise support in Bowerstone, to get the resistance to trust me. This is what I did to complete it.
1. Played a strange board game.
2. Seduced a married women in a different town by her husbands request, by tickling her and playing pat-a-cake, then I killed the husband to complete the mission.
3. Gave the finger to two kids.
4. Farted in a womans face.
5. Danced with a guard.
6. Killed a couple villagers in a nearby town.
7. Stole everything I saw.
All these actions gave me the gold seals needed to get the leader of the resistance to say: "- People are starting to believe in you" :lol
I actually killed two people in Bowerstone market and tore down several frontdoors in Industrial and got the same thing. WHat makes it even more hilarious is that the resistance leader says that people are starting to believe in you, while people in the streets say things like "you're awful", "I know what you did, and I didn't like it.", etc etc.
The least they could've done was lay down a seperate dialog for people going the evil route, ie. Page saying "People are terrified of you, but see that you're what they need to overthrow the throne." or something like that. It really breaks the suspension of disbelieve.
Also: being evil doesn't come with benefits like in Fable 2. Women won't sleep with you out of fear, people won't give you gifts out of fear, etc etc. Being loved is better than being feared in this game. On the other hand, most weapon-upgrades come from evil actions, so I guess it balances out a little bit...
so far it's not that great. I still want to like it, but I'm either put in a situation where I hold a button down to complete the quest or just do a long combat session where I would have to try to die, it's almost impossible not to. It has an interesting setting and premise but the gameplay has consisted of tapping and/or holding buttons. I really do want to like this game but it feels so empty so far. fuck
Also: being evil doesn't come with benefits like in Fable 2. Women won't sleep with you out of fear, people won't give you gifts out of fear, etc etc. Being loved is better than being feared in this game. On the other hand, most weapon-upgrades come from evil actions, so I guess it balances out a little bit...
I finished the game. I liked Fable 2 more, that game just introduced so many new ideas like no death failstate, and the dog acting as your minimap, etc., in Fable 3 all that was old hat and the stuff they added this time just didn't catch me. I felt less attached to the character since I didn't start as a kid and didn't really get to customize him at all. I don't like the trend of taking the same engine and releasing a new game at full price, this, Bioshock 2, Dead Rising 2, and Fallout New Vegas, for me the sense of exploring these games for the first time is just never captured in the sequels, at least this was from the same developer. Selling Dog outfits as DLC available at launch is lame too. At first I thought it was a joke in reference to horse armor but now that I see they are selling black dye I think they are serious..
I'm back from doing most of the post-game stuff and I suppose I'm now finished with Fable III. I'm glad I started a new game from scratch after encountering my game save-killing bug a few days ago, because I mostly enjoyed the game and didn't encounter another bug of a similar nature.
Unfortunately the "Kaboom!" achievement didn't register for me when I got 2000 points in the mortar game. Not sure why. I'm also a little annoyed that you can't get the Crime Spree achievement after you become king.
And is the co-op even worth playing? All I know is that I tried to connect several times to other players this afternoon and the game refused to connect me. Then I tried tonight, got connected, and was then immediately kicked out by the other player. I know I could probably hook up with another Gaf member if I really wanted to, but I'm simply finished with the game. I really wish the developer hadn't limited some of the achievements to co-op. Also, the clothes- and weapon-trading ones look to be immensely tedious.
Co-op is nice, better if you're playing with someone you know. (Though the random games were good, the guys I was playing with usually guided me or were looking for silver keys and rare items and a few were giving me money and items without asking)
There has been some problems with Live because of the recent update though, so some of the disconnects might've been because of that.
Currenly playing with a friend, which is now scared to play without me since he has been close to die a few times; and he wants the achievement for not dying.
But I help him, we joke around, stop sometimes to compare characters (he was surprised when I loaded my "evil female" because she was shorter and skinnier than his female character and was all pale and with glowing red tattooes and white eyes).
I'm playing with him mostly with my male one since is the only one I've maxed the stats and finished the game (A little over 40 hours). With the female I'm only 6 hours in and haven't even finished doing Sabine's requests.
regarding changes in appearances, Im glad the game doesn't make your character look like a deformed troll due to increases in strength like Fable 2 did, at least in 3 you have the choice based on the kinds of weapons you prefer.
I don't know if I'm imagining things, but I feel that my game suffers from worse slowdowns and general framerate issues after the new dashboard update. Sometimes it runs like syrup in slow motion - can't say this happened before. Framerate wasn't great and v-sync was non-existant, but it didn't ever get this bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF740-fz1T4
"Thousands of lines by John Cleese...but you'll really only get to hear like 5."
"There are thousands of combinations for this weapon, but you'll only see 1."
So far it seems that using guns and possibly upgrading gun skill level increases height while using hammers increases muscles, so sticking to swords and magic might be your best bet. There is also a lot of discussion flying around about magic making your skin pale, so if you don't want that either you are basically limited to only using and upgrading swords.
For all the hate the Fable II morphing system received, you could just avoid upgrading certain stats (or degrading them) to keep your character looking human. As long as you didn't upgrade physique, accuracy or have more than 4 total spell levels in magic you wouldn't be muscular, tall or glowing (which was easy - max health, max gun damage, level 3 whirlwind and level 1 time stop).
So far it seems that using guns and possibly upgrading gun skill level increases height while using hammers increases muscles, so sticking to swords and magic might be your best bet. There is also a lot of discussion flying around about magic making your skin pale, so if you don't want that either you are basically limited to only using and upgrading swords.
For all the hate the Fable II morphing system received, you could just avoid upgrading certain stats (or degrading them) to keep your character looking human. As long as you didn't upgrade physique, accuracy or have more than 4 total spell levels in magic you wouldn't be muscular, tall or glowing (which was easy - max health, max gun damage, level 3 whirlwind and level 1 time stop).
Ah, that explains why my character looks like a porcelain doll - or Marquis de Singe.
I also have a bad cut on the left on my face. At first I thought it was makeup to go with the white porcelain skin. I have been knocked out so many times, due to me going OCD on the chests in Road to Rule. Which probably means I'm underpowered in all areas.
Does unlocking the expression chests somehow alter your appearence too?
I actually killed two people in Bowerstone market and tore down several frontdoors in Industrial and got the same thing. WHat makes it even more hilarious is that the resistance leader says that people are starting to believe in you, while people in the streets say things like "you're awful", "I know what you did, and I didn't like it.", etc etc.
The least they could've done was lay down a seperate dialog for people going the evil route, ie. Page saying "People are terrified of you, but see that you're what they need to overthrow the throne." or something like that. It really breaks the suspension of disbelieve.
Also: being evil doesn't come with benefits like in Fable 2. Women won't sleep with you out of fear, people won't give you gifts out of fear, etc etc. Being loved is better than being feared in this game. On the other hand, most weapon-upgrades come from evil actions, so I guess it balances out a little bit...
I so badly want to show Peter Molyneux this, and ask him the question: Are you satisfied with this? Just knowing that he has read it would be enough.
I always liked Molyneux and his games, from Populous to Dungeon Keeper to Black & White 1 to Fable 2. But that a Fable game has problems like this in 2010 is so f*cking dissapointing.
So far it seems that using guns and possibly upgrading gun skill level increases height while using hammers increases muscles, so sticking to swords and magic might be your best bet. There is also a lot of discussion flying around about magic making your skin pale, so if you don't want that either you are basically limited to only using and upgrading swords.
Its really simple. Using melee weapons makes the character more muscular. Using firearms makes the character taller. Using magic makes the tattoos on the character glow.Characters become pale when their morality becomes "good". These are the only ways to change the characters appearance, there are no others. Unless you consider scarring, which I have yet to see happen.
leng jai said:
Man whats up with the bread crumb trail? I got a very early quest from Walter and it the trail sends me to some notice board about some lute quest.
I guess the overall feeling is that this could have really benefited from an extra 6 months in the oven.
I hope for the next Fable, they hold it off until the release of next gen Xbox. The 360 is tapped out and is unable to cope with Molynuexs ambitions, with a generous development period and some extra horsepower i think the next Fable will be an accumulation of all their ideas and be better off because of it.
- They really need to make the combat tougher, as there is no struggle, and how can you appreciate victory when there's no struggle to attain it? Im not scared or forced to use specific tactics, there is little penalty to being struck.
- Animations - Need to be overhauled, its canned and robotic at times. Its hard to play this then jump into Red Dead where Marston is dynamic in every sense.
- Mini quests, the villager friendship quests are quite offensive, in this day and age why are we still relying on fetch quests to pad out games?? Please look at Fallout, Mass Effect with how they handle minor quests. VEry inventive - especially quests that involve conversation over action.
I have a few more. Lionhead nailed the look and universe though, i cant fault them on that, its an interesting and inviting world, shame the end result of exploration seems so unsatisfying.
I guess the overall feeling is that this could have really benefited from an extra 6 months in the oven.
I hope for the next Fable, they hold it off until the release of next gen Xbox. The 360 is tapped out and is unable to cope with Molynuexs ambitions, with a generous development period and some extra horsepower i think the next Fable will be an accumulation of all their ideas and be better off because of it.
- They really need to make the combat tougher, as there is no struggle, and how can you appreciate victory when there's no struggle to attain it? Im not scared or forced to use specific tactics, as there is little penalty to being struck.
- Animations - Need to be overhauled, its canned and robotic at times. Its hard to play this then jump into Red Dead where Marston is dynamic in every sense.
- Mini quests, the villager friendship quests are quite offensive, in this day and age why are we still relying on fetch quests to pad out games?? Please look at Fallout, Mass Effect with how they handle minor quests. VEry inventive - especially quests that involve conversation over action.
I have a few more. Lionhead nailed the look and universe though, i cant fault them on that, its an interesting and inviting world, shame the end result of exploration seems so unsatisfying.
I was thinking about this too when I was playing the game. That hopefully 'next time' they will get it right. But I think thats wrong. They had this game engine now for something like 5 years. The studio worked on this platform for the last 6 or 7 years possibly. That they couldnt get it 'right' this late in the 360 cycle just blows my mind. If they release a game this much of a clusterfuck, I have zero faith that they will be able to program a game on new hardware. It seems to me they wanted to hurry this one out, and possibly focus on Kinect games in the future. Lionhead probably will give up trying to chase their own lofty goals and pursue Kinect family friendly games. If there is a Fable 4 on any new system though, I will be sure to rent first.
Yeah, I kinda lost hope for the series now also. Not that future games won´t be good games, but they won´t be games for me. I want Fable games with ambitious character development and a dynamic world, where the NPC´s reaction are convincing and affect the missions.
But they have hade 10 years development time for the three games now, and this is the best they can do.
*Stupid NPC reactions.
*Locations with walls everywhere.
*Lesser and lesser character developments with lesser and lesser character morphing.
*Game features that are of no use - the dog.
*Game features that just doesn´t make sense - like the one that you can only carry specific kind of food at one time.
*A complete lack of challenge.
*Expressions that just get more and more immature for each iteration, and now have reached the level that they completely break every sense of immersion.
My hope is that a completely different developer will adopt the initial ambitions that Lionhead had with the Fable series.
Its really simple. Using melee weapons makes the character more muscular. Using firearms makes the character taller. Using magic makes the tattoos on the character glow.Characters become pale when their morality becomes "good". These are the only ways to change the characters appearance, there are no others. Unless you consider scarring, which I have yet to see happen.
That's the odd thing though, I've seen a fair few people commenting that their character is pale regardless of morality. Equally there are also people saying they are pale despite never using magic. The same situation with swords, some are saying it increases muscle mass and others are saying only hammers do that.
It'll probably be a few more weeks until all the conflicting comments balance out and we find out exactly what modifies your appearance. For now though, hammers and guns are out if you want a normal looking character.
I like having a Dog though. A few quests requires you to search an era and dig up an item. If I didn't have the dog, the spot I had to dig would be a preset mound or something like in WoW that only activates once the quest is accepted.
It's also nice to hear the dog bark when there's treasure nearby. And he warns you when there are enemies nearby - sometimes before I can see them.
So I wouldn't call the dog useless. Could use a little tweaking though. But he's very useful. And it's nice with a bit of company as well.
The bottomline for me, about the series was that Fable 1 was overly ambitious (or hyped, your choice). It didn't deliver on the promises, but it did deliver a very competent experience for my part. I didn't care about broken promises, I cared about what we DID get.
Fable 2 was expected to deliver on the parts where Fable 1 failed. Plus something about feeling loved, emotional stuff and all that. Fable 2 was ambitious, because it was the first on the X360, touted as a flagship title and everyone had very high expectations of it. It was a great game in my opinion, despite the shortcomings.
Fable 3 is more of the same. While I'm perfectly fine with Lionhead just wanting to create a fun game, Fable 3 doesn't feel like an ambitious title. Well, apart from the weapon morphing though. I love the game, equally as much as the other games in the series I'd say, but now it just doesn't seem like this is an ambitious title anymore. I know what to expect from Fable now, and I'm happy with that. They should of course strive to improve on the formula, maybe cut down on the streamlining aspect of the game (because every developer seems to think streamlining=dumbing down), and concentrate on making a fun game.
