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[Ghost]

I'm curious as to Fable II's narrative. Is it better than the first and does it stand up to linear story lines in its dynamism and scale? Having read the Gamasutra interview with Molyneux, it seems like a lot more effort was put into creating a compelling story, but what's the consensus here?

Linear storylines generally provide more excitement because the increased authorial control over the narrative allows for a more gripping plot and more interesting characters. Is Fable II's story what you would call "gripping"?

I think the main story in an open RPG like this is always difficult to build, if you make it too gripping you end up with a game like Mass Effect that funnels you through quite a linear path because the main story is the only thing worth caring about. And if you leave it too open you get a game like Fallout where the ending is ultimately a disappointment because you've never engaged with the story.


Fable 2 hits the middle ground between the two very well imo, the game creates several compelling characters (notably the dog, but also the other three heroes), gives them solid roles and motivations and sets you off on a journey with twists and turns you wont see coming. It's not so gripping that your attention can't wander onto the side quests or the demon doors or just plain exploring, but it's interesting enough that you never feel like going back to it is a chore (I know Fallout felt this way to me at certain points).

Like most parts of the game, I think it hits a sweet spot.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

What started to annoy me after a while though was the bunch of useless stuff put in the game. I'm not a real fan of the expression reel mechanic. Even though it kinda fits in Fable 2's cartoony universe, it's still weird to get a person to marry you in 2 or 3 expressions. The result is that you can basically marry any NPC in the game, but those characters are never developed. Ergo: you never feel like your family has any worth in the game. I chose to marry Alex (the girl from the Ghost sidequest), because with her there was at least some reason and backstory to the marriage. You can mess around with it for a while, but ultimately it's a hollow mechanic. Probably my biggest complaint in this game.

Maybe it was just me, but the marriage stuff felt borked anyway. On my first playthrough I married Alex, but then pretty much ignored her, so it wasn't that suprising when she divorced me. On another playthrough married her again, came back regularly, checked the family tab all the time to make sure she was still happy, came back to Bowerstone Market and she was divorcing me again. Checked the family tab and she was either happy or very happy, the little opinion bar thing was completely to the like side, not even close to the crossed out ring thing, which I assume was meant to symbolise divorce.

 

[dirtmonkey37]

I think the effort was put into exposition, in making sure the player knows what's going on. As for making the narrative more compelling, not so much.

No.

The main point of interest is how the world reacts to your choices. The actual plot is pretty basic.

Ah...Likeliness of my buying Fable II: -1.

Well, I'll pick it up in '09 for sure.

 

[Creamium]

Maybe it was just me, but the marriage stuff felt borked anyway. On my first playthrough I married Alex, but then pretty much ignored her, so it wasn't that suprising when she divorced me. On another playthrough married her again, came back regularly, checked the family tab all the time to make sure she was still happy, came back to Bowerstone Market and she was divorcing me again. Checked the family tab and she was either happy or very happy, the little opinion bar thing was completely to the like side, not even close to the crossed out ring thing, which I assume was meant to symbolise divorce.

hmm well I never had that happen. I could ignore her for days (ingame) and still come back to a wife that'd be happy again after 2 shows with my sock puppet or a couple of dances. In my first playthrough (before my save file was corrupted) she followed me to the Hollow Men quest and she died then and there because i forgot to dismiss her. 'your wife is dead. your child has been put into a home'. Oh, ok :lol It's pop ups like that which make you realize how lame it all is. The wife died and you stop for one second, you don't care and continue on with the sidequest

 

[Wiggum2007]

Maybe it was just me, but the marriage stuff felt borked anyway. On my first playthrough I married Alex, but then pretty much ignored her, so it wasn't that suprising when she divorced me. On another playthrough married her again, came back regularly, checked the family tab all the time to make sure she was still happy, came back to Bowerstone Market and she was divorcing me again. Checked the family tab and she was either happy or very happy, the little opinion bar thing was completely to the like side, not even close to the crossed out ring thing, which I assume was meant to symbolise divorce.

Not borked, Alex from the ghost quest is just incredibly high maintenance, you pretty much have to jack the hell out of her allowance rate to be able to leave for any decent amount of time without her getting pissed. My 2nd playthrough I married the whore in Westcliff and it was soooo much nicer not having to check on my wife every 10 minutes.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

Ah well, I've settled for the single life of a wealthy landowner. Seriously, while it lasted I kept thinking that my marriage was depriving me of rental income from the house.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I think the effort was put into exposition, in making sure the player knows what's going on. As for making the narrative more compelling, not so much.

I think that's about right. The story was clearly and well told, but aside from a few moments, it was still pretty conventional.

Spoiler

Assemble the Three Heroes(TM), for only they are powerful enough to help you avenge yourself against the evil villain who is resurrecting Ancient Technology(TM) to Rule the World(TM).

I've played variations of that story many times. But at least it was well done.

 

[Creamium]

I was browsing the thread to see hero pictures and

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13355662&postcount=4085

holy shit :lol

how do you get your character to look like this? I was an all out good guy in my playthrough, but yesterday I spent minutes just blasting away people in Bloodstone to see the effects, and all I got was an evil face. My evil bar was at max. Maybe something will happen if I go corrupt too. But still, the horns! I haven't seen many heroes with horns.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I was browsing the thread to see hero pictures and

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13355662&postcount=4085

holy shit :lol

how do you get your character to look like this? I was an all out good guy in my playthrough, but yesterday I spent minutes just blasting away people in Bloodstone to see the effects, and all I got was an evil face. My evil bar was at max. Maybe something will happen if I go corrupt too. But still, the horns! I haven't seen many heroes with horns.

Be both evil and corrupt. Drink booze, sleep with the hookers, buy a house and charge double the rent.

My (male) character looks like that, but is much fatter, has a pair of pony tails (to match the horns in front), women's make-up and is covered head to toe in glowing blue scars.

Also, I run around in nothing but knickers. For the ladies.

 

[Creamium]

Cool, thanks. And I've just bought hot pants. I'm gonna waste an evening on creating a monstrosity. I've bought the entirity of Bowerstone so I should hit that corrupt mark pretty fast.

 

[Costanza]

where's the big announcement

 

[F#A#Oo]

any news?

 

[F#A#Oo]

where's the big announcement

Great minds think alike...

 

[Randy Lanzarote]

Announcement might be in 30 minutes time....possibly. Someone said 9am PT. :/

 

[Nexus Zero]

Not borked, Alex from the ghost quest is just incredibly high maintenance, you pretty much have to jack the hell out of her allowance rate to be able to leave for any decent amount of time without her getting pissed. My 2nd playthrough I married the whore in Westcliff and it was soooo much nicer not having to check on my wife every 10 minutes.

I married her too, thinking 'at last a woman who knows how to dress for a hero' and not clocking the 'whore' part of her name until after the wedding :/ Plus she left me after I decided to see how easy the women in Bloodstone were, though I thought it was a bit odd that news of my infidelity made it all the way to our family home in Bowerstone before I did

 

[Wiggum2007]

http://www.lionhead.com/?newsid=60

DLC coming in mid-December, Knothole Island + new quests for 800 pts, awesome! This is just the kind of DLC I was looking for: new regions and quests. The additional free DLC is a nice little bonus too.

Hopefully they'll keep the pace up with DLC like this, I was really excited for Mass Effect DLC packs and look how that turned out.

 

[RichardAM]

Not free?

 

[F#A#Oo]

Awesome...I hope it's lengthy...

 

[Randy Lanzarote]

http://www.lionhead.com/?newsid=60

DLC coming in mid-December, Knothole Island + new quests for 800 pts, awesome! This is just the kind of DLC I was looking for: new regions and quests. The additional free DLC is a nice little bonus too.

Hopefully they'll keep the pace up with DLC like this, I was really excited for Mass Effect DLC packs and look how that turned out.

I'm interested, providing of course that there is 800pts of gameplay to be found in the DLC. Mass Effect's DLC was well worth the 400pts so for 800 I'm going to be expecting something with a bit more length/depth to the gameplay.

 

[Ghost]

Exactly what I wanted from DLC for this game. Cant wait, better finish my second play through before mid-december.

 

[Wiggum2007]

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2008/1124-fable2pdlc.htm

Link with a few small pics.

 

[nli10]

I married her too, thinking 'at last a woman who knows how to dress for a hero' and not clocking the 'whore' part of her name until after the wedding :/ Plus she left me after I decided to see how easy the women in Bloodstone were, though I thought it was a bit odd that news of my infidelity made it all the way to our family home in Bowerstone before I did

I've had the good lady wife appear whilest I was still collecting ladies for my 10+ females event - from another town no less!! She declined to join us

Alex has double the maintainance posted on her door so she was fine with most things.

I also had two husbands in Bloodstone (like a FireDoor my character swings both ways - yet is a good & non corrupt character overall) living next door to each other which was great for watching arguments. As I have 3 mil in property and set them with massive allowances they were fine with me though.

My title is Queen.



DLC sounds fun, will use it to get my coop achievements and evil char started 800 points is pretty reasonable I guess.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

a special Weight Loss Potion

:lol

I wonder how many players have NOT run into the "Fat, Fat, hero" thing. I assumed I'd be able to walk it off, like the first Fable, but apparantly Fable 2 has been made static in this regard.

 

[Monocle]

The DLC looks good, though maybe not $10 good. I think I'll wait for impressions before I take the plunge.

 

[Ghost]

:lol

I wonder how many players have NOT run into the "Fat, Fat, hero" thing. I assumed I'd be able to walk it off, like the first Fable, but apparantly Fable 2 has been made static in this regard.

Celery is your friend.

 

[nli10]

:lol

I wonder how many players have NOT run into the "Fat, Fat, hero" thing. I assumed I'd be able to walk it off, like the first Fable, but apparantly Fable 2 has been made static in this regard.

I'm tempted to make my Evil playthrough a max weight lady.

 

[Twig]

The DLC looks good, though maybe not $10 good. I think I'll wait for impressions before I take the plunge.

I'd pay $5. \:

Guess it depends on how long the island is. On the other hand, it is snowy, which makes it all the more tempting.

 

[Confidence Man]

There's a pie which makes you instantly skinny. Magnificent Pie or something.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

God, I love the enforcer. I haven't touched my sword since I got it.

 

[Manager]

720p versions:

 

[TunaMarshmallow]

1. I love the game, but there are things about it that bother me. I've been playing the entire game as evil as I possibly can. Then, yesterday, just to see what would happen, I donated a couple hundred thousand dollars to some poor dude. (I have a fuckload of money for some reason.) I immediately went from 'totally evil' to 'totally good'. That's fucked up.

2. Can anyone tell me how much of the game I have left (roughly)? I've 'unlocked' Bloodstone, and my current mission is some Hero quest or something. Any ideas?

 

[Tubobutts]

The DLC looks pretty cool. Knothole Glade was my favorite region in the first game. There's also a bit more info over here http://www.lionhead.com/fable2/KnotholeIsland.aspx

Edit: Awesome. They're adding in armor.

 

[Creamium]

2. Can anyone tell me how much of the game I have left (roughly)? I've 'unlocked' Bloodstone, and my current mission is some Hero quest or something. Any ideas?

Nearly there. I'd say you're about 80-90% through

 

[Haeleos]

Wow, 800 points... no thank you.

Anyways, with this announcement, I'm done with this game. There was nothing outside the main quest of any real substance, the game world's scale felt very unneccsarily linear and small... it felt like I was playing an Onimusha game. A lot of the "big moments" that took place in the game were nothing more than arena mini games and contextual button press events... and this is besides the mediocre co-op, itemization and monster variation. I just can't see why everyone gets so excited about this game. There isn't one aspect of it that feels well thought out... here are some examples that immediately come to mind.

- Get married to one of 1000 lookalike forgettable NPCs so you can have a constant money sink throughout the game.
- Take on blacksmithing or woodcutting and play a golf swing meter minigame that increases the difficulty by jerking around the framerate.
- Use the time control ability to make your enemy's animation freeze and become unattackable.
- Have 30 NPCs gather around you and shout canned reaction sound effects each time you enter a town, impeding what you were trying to do there in the first place.
- Have your dog constantly find worthless treasure for you to dig up while ignoring the screen full of enemies you are fighting.
- Why would you want to play as your own character in co-op?! It's not like your character's appearance and customization is pretty much the main reason you'd play this game.
- Prepare for the Crucible! Where we spawn in the 6 or so recycled enemy types that we've pitted you against up until this point in the game, including the boss, with nearly no plot explanation.

This game was made for a more casual target audience for sure, but that shouldn't be an excuse for the laziness that pervades nearly every aspect of this game. My GF identified most of these problems while playing through the game as well, and she is far from a hardcore gamer.

 

[TunaMarshmallow]

Nearly there. I'd say you're about 80-90% through

Fuck, that sucks. I've really enjoyed it!

Thanks for letting me know.

 

[myDingling]

Just got this from gamefly and had a question about achievements/sidequests. Is it possible to "do everything" on one playthrough, or am I gonna have to do one evil run and one good run. Can I play the game as good to the very end and then turn evil by killing some towns and still get an idea of what an evil playthrough is like?

Sorry, RPGs bring out the OCD completionist in me but I rarely have the time to do multiple playthroughs anymore...

Also, I installed this to the HDD and yesterday I got a frozen screen after trying to play the Archstone game -_- not cool. How buggy is this game?....

 

[Costanza]

DLC sounds awesome. I was considering selling the game but now I'll keep it

 

[boutrosinit]

Wow, 800 points... no thank you.

Anyways, with this announcement, I'm done with this game. There was nothing outside the main quest of any real substance, the game world's scale felt very unneccsarily linear and small... it felt like I was playing an Onimusha game. A lot of the "big moments" that took place in the game were nothing more than arena mini games and contextual button press events... and this is besides the mediocre co-op, itemization and monster variation. I just can't see why everyone gets so excited about this game. There isn't one aspect of it that feels well thought out... here are some examples that immediately come to mind.

- Get married to one of 1000 lookalike forgettable NPCs so you can have a constant money sink throughout the game.
- Take on blacksmithing or woodcutting and play a golf swing meter minigame that increases the difficulty by jerking around the framerate.
- Use the time control ability to make your enemy's animation freeze and become unattackable.
- Have 30 NPCs gather around you and shout canned reaction sound effects each time you enter a town, impeding what you were trying to do there in the first place.
- Have your dog constantly find worthless treasure for you to dig up while ignoring the screen full of enemies you are fighting.
- Why would you want to play as your own character in co-op?! It's not like your character's appearance and customization is pretty much the main reason you'd play this game.
- Prepare for the Crucible! Where we spawn in the 6 or so recycled enemy types that we've pitted you against up until this point in the game, including the boss, with nearly no plot explanation.

This game was made for a more casual target audience for sure, but that shouldn't be an excuse for the laziness that pervades nearly every aspect of this game. My GF identified most of these problems while playing through the game as well, and she is far from a hardcore gamer.

Laziness? I would strongly disagree. The game oozes quality production. Save for the bugs. I mean in terms of the quality of the artwork, design and atmospherics.

Whilst it does have its flaws - easy to max out abilities before the end, little desire for combat after full max out, some bad bugs, shit co-op, not the number of TRULY dramatic choice moments we were promised... the game is a fun ride.

i sadly found the only real moral choice that meant anything to be the one you make at the end of the game. If they had three or four of these in the main spine of the game's progression I think it would've been more impactful. I hope they nail this in Fable 3.

 

[Twig]

- Get married to one of 1000 lookalike forgettable NPCs so you can have a constant money sink throughout the game.

This is my biggest problem with the game.

Well, not necessarily the marriage part, just the way all the characters meld together into a faceless blob. I feel no remorse when I go evil and kill a bunch of dudes and dudettes. They mean nothing to me. They have no personality. I want the NPCs to be unique, not randomly generated from a given set of models and personalities and likes and dislikes. I don't feel a damn thing, like I said, when I kill any given shop owner, barkeep, or peasant. the guards, especially, are all the same damn thing.

On the other hand, I would feel bad (as much as I can feel bad playing a video games) destroying the denizens of Windfall Island in Wind Waker.

I mean, I understand this is a difficult thing to do in a game like Fable 2. You'd have to make the deaths permanent in order for them to really mean something. Otherwise, they'd respawn, like they already do now, and you feel nothing. Etc.

It's just bleh. I still love the game, just like I loved Fable 1. But I hope someone (I doubt it'll be Molyneux, after seeing the direction in which he took this game) makes a game similar to Fable, with the above characteristics.

Oh well.

Also!

Unravel the mystical secrets of the resurrection shrine.

(End game spoilers.)

Oh god I know it's just a pipe dream but I hope that means I can

Spoiler

resurrect my dog

because I hate my evil character. All the choices I made with her made Albion a desolate and ugly place to be. Which is good, of course. I want it that way. But I also want

Spoiler

my damn dog

!! ):

That might be enough to push me over the $5 hump. >_>

 

[woahitsreeo]

any news?

I can't believe all of you missed this... the biggest news of all:

ROAM ALBION AS AN ARMOURED KNIGHT!

http://www.lionhead.com/fable2/KnotholeIsland.aspx

Key Features
Embark on 3 unique quests set in 3 unique dungeons.
Unravel the mystical secrets of the resurrection shrine.
Try on a whole new range of outfits and look like an armoured knight, an assassin, a barbarian or a leather-clad biker, among many others.
Brandish 6 new weapons.
Dozens of unique potions that will drastically alter your appearance.
Customise your weapons the way you want with the new augment tool and a whole new array of augments.
+50 additional leaderboards.

 

[Kill Your Masters]

I can't believe all of you missed this... the biggest news of all:



http://www.lionhead.com/fable2/KnotholeIsland.aspx

Whoa, like the one in the pic above? That would be sweet.

 

[Merguson]

New DLC looks pretty nice. I wonder how long the play-time is...

 

[Creamium]

Just got this from gamefly and had a question about achievements/sidequests. Is it possible to "do everything" on one playthrough, or am I gonna have to do one evil run and one good run. Can I play the game as good to the very end and then turn evil by killing some towns and still get an idea of what an evil playthrough is like?

Sorry, RPGs bring out the OCD completionist in me but I rarely have the time to do multiple playthroughs anymore...

Also, I installed this to the HDD and yesterday I got a frozen screen after trying to play the Archstone game -_- not cool. How buggy is this game?....

I asked the very same question in this thread and the answer is that you can get everything easily in one playthrough. The achievements for good/evil playthroughs are handled in such a way that you get them going for either side. For instance, if you're 100% evil or good, you'll get the same achievement. Same for purity/corruption.

There is one achievement that you could miss... If you're going for a good guy playthrough, sacrifice 10 people at the temple of shadows and then quit without saving. There's a chance that temple won't be available late game, so you better do that when you get the chance.

All the achievements are pretty easy, except for Dollcatcher and Completionist. You're better off leeching those off someone who has them in co-op.

 

[myDingling]

Awesome, thanks for the info Darunia.

 

[Monocle]

(End game spoilers.)

Oh god I know it's just a pipe dream but I hope that means I can

Spoiler

resurrect my dog

because I hate my evil character. All the choices I made with her made Albion a desolate and ugly place to be. Which is good, of course. I want it that way. But I also want

Spoiler

my damn dog

!! ):

That might be enough to push me over the $5 hump. >_>

I think it's reasonable to assume that's what it does. What other function would it have?

Edit:

All the achievements are pretty easy, except for Dollcatcher and Completionist. You're better off leeching those off someone who has them in co-op.

The way you phrased this seems to imply that I could simply join a co-op game with someone who's already earned the achievements and receive them immediately. But that's not the case, is it? Wouldn't I have to be present at the moment they're unlocked by my co-op partner to get them myself?

Edit 2:

dlc looks awesome

http://i35.tinypic.com/2wp0cia.png
bad ass

I'll admit it's growing on me. I read more about it after my earlier post and noticed a number of things that sweeten the deal. I got to thinking that there will probably be some neat new properties to purchase, and, fingers crossed, some eye-catching new dyes (I'm seriously addicted to collecting those things). The additional weapons and customization options interest me the most right now. If they don't appeal to me I'll likely skip the expansion.

(Non-spoilery)

Spoiler

#1 on my list of things that will never happen: A way to purchase the top hat that can currently be obtained only by letting a certain character die in a sidequest. This I learned, incidentally, not a handful of hours after I'd saved him during the mission in question.

 

[vhfive]

dlc looks awesome

bad ass

 

[Chittagong]

I think I've encountered an irrecoverable bug and won't ever be able to accomplish a quest.

Spoiler

I'm doing the "Treasure Island of Doom!" quest finding the 10 treasures. While I was getting the treasure that your dog locates, digging it up from the ground, an enemy hitting me broke my digging animation. It seems that the game registered that I have found that treasure but didn't register credit me for it. Now when I return with the dog there it won't sniff it anymore.

Is there any way to force a dig on the spot, or is this quest lost forever? I've tried exiting the quest, saving and quitting and going back to it, but still the dog won't spot it.

 

[Giard]

Help..I'm at the

Spoiler

Crucible and I'm trying to perfect round the Rock Troll. I'm using Level 1 time control so I have time to cast area effect level 4 shock. I run around in circles when he tries to attack me. It seems my strategy is not fast enough for the Perfect Round...I already "perfected" the first 7 rounds so....I would like to perfect this one as well. Dunno if it gives out a reward, but oh well.

 

[Creamium]

The way you phrased this seems to imply that I could simply join a co-op game with someone who's already earned the achievements and receive them immediately. But that's not the case, is it? Wouldn't I have to be present at the moment they're unlocked by my co-op partner to get them myself?

Yeah let me rephrase that. For this to work, your partner actually has to meet the requirements for the achievement. What he then must do is get rid of one of the abilities needed for Completionist (say, discard any spell) then rebuy that while you're in his game. The achievement will 'unlock' for him again, but for you as well.
Same for the dollcatcher. He needs to have all dolls, give or sell one and then buy it back.

I got lucky and messaged some guy who was handing these out on gamefaqs. To get Completionist legit you need to have Pub Games, which sucks.

Help..I'm at the

Spoiler

Crucible and I'm trying to perfect round the Rock Troll. I'm using Level 1 time control so I have time to cast area effect level 4 shock. I run around in circles when he tries to attack me. It seems my strategy is not fast enough for the Perfect Round...I already "perfected" the first 7 rounds so....I would like to perfect this one as well. Dunno if it gives out a reward, but oh well.

For 8/8 you get a legendary axe. The 7 normal rounds are easy as pie, but the troll can be a pain. The first time I did the challenge I got it, lucky. I just used my master flintlock pistol and started going crazy on him. No spells used. I rolled around and fired until a weak point showed up. I went in guns blazing because I didn't expect to get him that fast first time around, but whadda ya know

 

[GhaleonEB]

I think I've encountered an irrecoverable bug and won't ever be able to accomplish a quest.

Spoiler

I'm doing the "Treasure Island of Doom!" quest finding the 10 treasures. While I was getting the treasure that your dog locates, digging it up from the ground, an enemy hitting me broke my digging animation. It seems that the game registered that I have found that treasure but didn't register credit me for it. Now when I return with the dog there it won't sniff it anymore.

Is there any way to force a dig on the spot, or is this quest lost forever? I've tried exiting the quest, saving and quitting and going back to it, but still the dog won't spot it.

You can use the spade from your inventory to dig anywhere. Give it a shot.