Lauded as one of the greatest games ever by many critics, a lot of fans ultimately felt disappointed with Fable 2. Personally, I loved the game (and still do!) but perhaps it was just never going to be able to live up to its hype.

With Fable 3 due to be released this week (tomorrow in the US, Friday for us Euro-types!) is anyone looking forward to it, or are people still feeling too let down to muster any enthusiasm this time round?

Yes but not as much as my wife.

I loved the first fable and liked 2 an awful lot so hopeful for 3, but have new vegas keeping me busy for now.

Hated the last two games. I doubt 3 will change my mind on the series, assuming I even bother to give it a chance. The commercial is amusing, but I'm getting a little sick of Peter Molyneux and his lackluster games that promise way more than he will ever deliver.

isukun
Hated the last two games. I doubt 3 will change my mind on the series

No, I don't suppose it will!

Reviews so far seem to say that if you liked Fable 2 then you'll love Fable 3. Like its predecessors, its focus is supposedly on providing a fun game with a quirky British sense of humour, rather than a deep, hardcore RPG experience so, if Fable 2 wasn't for you, then this one probably won't be either.

isukun
I'm getting a little sick of Peter Molyneux and his lackluster games that promise way more than he will ever deliver.

I don't think that's Molyneux's fault, so much as the media over-hyping what he does and overly excitable fans swallowing the hype wholesale.

He actually has a great track record of introducing innovations to his games which often then become standard in others. The latest (in Fable 3) is an inventory system that doesn't require the player to trudge through interminable item lists. Whether it works or not, I have no idea (Fable 3 isn't released here until tomorrow). If it does work, though, then - whether this particular game is any good or not - it would be great to see that kind of innovation finding its way into more traditional RPGs.

Either way, it'll be interesting to see.

I don't think that's Molyneux's fault, so much as the media over-hyping what he does and overly excitable fans swallowing the hype wholesale.

It is his fault. He's the one who won't keep his mouth shut. The other developers seem to have enough common sense to know how the press works and how they have a tendency to get the fan base worked up. They don't go out and brag about features there is no way they could ever include in their games.

As for innovation, I haven't seen any in the Fable series. It just cobbles together ideas from other games or streamlines elements to the point where they aren't fun, anymore. Even the new inventory system isn't a true innovation, it's more a step back, and looking at the comments online, it looks like most gamers are recognizing just how restrictive it is.

I don't pay any attention to game reporting whatsoever, so I was completely innocent of this "Peter" fellow and things he might have said or promised about the games. I just picked up the games and played them and really enjoyed them. People have complaints about the Fable series, maybe valid ones, but I see the games as DAJB described- fun and funny, not a serious or challenging experience. Half the enjoyment of the games is getting to run around being too powerful and scaring people and having gay husbands and things. I could think of some improvements, but on the whole I thought they were really well done and enjoyable. I'm looking forward to Fable 3, it arrives tomorrow- although I'm currently chest-deep in Fallout and probably won't stop playing that for Fable.

When you're playing one of Molyneux's games, the less you've heard from his mouth, the better. I actually think the guy is fairly competent and talented, but he definitely over-promises. In my opinion he has made several games that were so close to brilliance but held back by some random issue or a lack of cohesion.

I haven't played Fable 3, but I watched somebody play Fable 2 and it looked interesting.

Okay, I've played this through once now, and I've started to play it a second time. The first thing that has to be said, I think, is that - like Fable 2 - it can be pretty disappointing the first time round but, as you replay it, you begin to get so much more out of it.

The first time, the game seems to hurry you from one main plot quest to the next and, by the end, you're left feeling like you've just played through a simplified version of Dragon Age. (Seriously, despite being set in a grim, industrialised version of the Albion we know from Fable 2, the similarities in the story line might even be actionable! Perform quests to recruit allies; overthrow a tyrannical ruler; and - with your armies assembled - confront an even bigger, darker threat to the nation!)

Every now and again, however, you'll catch glimpses of what made Fable 2 so enjoyable and, when replaying Fable 3, you can put this knowledge to good use. Rule 1 seems to be ... ignore the main quests for as long as possible! In between each one, complete as many side quests as you can find, buy properties, take time to interact with as many villagers as possible, perform their little "fetch and carry" quests for them - they may seem like a waste of time but the animations that accompany each interaction ensure that - slowly but surely - you get sucked into Fable's sense of whimsy.

Since your main objective throughout most of the game is to persuade allies to side with you, the game seems to steer you towards the good/moral choices more than Fable 2. This may not be true (maybe if your allies fear you enough they can be bullied into joining your cause?) but there's certainly a feeling that you're supposed to make the "good" choices if you want to successfully complete the game. On which note, I'm not going to give away any specific plot spoilers here since the game has only recently been released, but the "good" ending really does have to be ... experienced! Like Fable 2, you can wander around the world after you've completed the main story, completing one or two additional quests and collecting all those items you never quite managed to find as you raced towards the throne. Your first outing into that "post-story" world, though, is a real eye-opener!

There are changes to the gameplay mechanics compared to Fable 2 and, whilst some people have whined about those online, in all seriousness they don't make make any material difference to the way you play the game. They're not better or worse, they're just different and, if Fable 3 wasn't called Fable, you wouldn't give them a second thought. They work fine!

In short, then, if you like to play games through quickly and toss them aside never to be played again, then Fable 3 probably isn't going to be for you. However, if you like games you can return to, finding something different each time, then you're probably going to get a lot of enjoyment from this. Much like Fable 2, in fact!

Got it last week and completed it by that weekend. Even with side quests it is very short. And I got the collectors edition.

I liked the past two games and I like this one, but there are elements missing from the last game that really should have stayed.

In the end I really wanted to punch Page.

I guess I never came back to post my thoughts on this one. I didn't really enjoy it. I played through it quickly (and did all the sidequests, as I usually do). It just felt so empty and pointless. The stuff you do to get people on your side is all rather dumb. In the end you never really feel like you've accomplished anything by getting people on your side. You never really get a good payoff for that. You're meant to believe that making choices has consequences, but they don't really. Moments that were supposed to be climactic weren't, and it felt like the game peaked too early and you had to drag along til the ending. The last boss was dumb (in the tradition of Fable 2), and the combat, interactions with people, etc were all streamlined so much they weren't fun any more. The whole game was just "push A." By simplifying everything they made it so you couldn't even really mess with people any more or have any kind of impact on the world. After finishing Fable 3 I immediately felt like replaying 1 or 2 because it was so unfulfilling.

Overall Fable 3 was okay, but it just felt like less, less, less.

One other thing I gotta say about this game.

I took on twelve balverines at once. Two of them white. And to date I still haven't been knocked out.

There's no real challenge in combat. You just roll until your health replenishes itself. It makes it WAAAAAY too easy even when it's at its hardest.

I've been disappointed by every single release I've picked up that's come from Molyneux's workshop.

But that doesn't mean the games are necessarily bad. I liked Black and White and the Fable series has a certain appeal to it but like people have pointed out, poor Peter tends to tell tall tales.

It's like he's gets so excited about his work that he starts spouting about how cool it's going to become, promising more then he can deliver.

Really, it's like listening to a 5 year old, bragging about his new toy.

"My new transformer is the coolest guy that has ever been created and will ever be created. He can do all these things that no other guy can do. I can transform him into the most powerful tank in the world and destroy the entire US army. Fwooosh! Baamm! Grooaahhh!
Afterwards, he'll blow up the moon... twice!"

I just started Fable 2 on my new X-Box. I don't play many RPGs so i found it fun and interesting.

However, the menus are absolutely annoying- especially the inventory system with all its clunky categories and buttons. I can see it working nicely if I could control the thing with a mouse. Is it any better in Fable 3? Another thing is the buttons do multiple things depending on the situation, so i keep accidentally (maybe not THAT accidentally) pulling out my rifle and shooting shopkeepers in the head.

Is the interface any better in Fable 3?

It is streamlined a bit, but I didn't have a problem with it in 2 so hard to say.

I haven't played a lot of 3 yet but some of it has been hilarious.

Fable's tactic was "if people complained, we got rid of it completely."

So there's no menu system in Fable 3 at all. Instead when you hit pause you are (instantly, no loading) taken to The Sanctuary, which is like a hub room where you can do all the menu stuff, but in a realized context. So to change clothes you go to the clothes room and there are stands with your clothes on. You pick the clothing item from there. Same with weapons, there's a weapons stand with all your guns or whatever displayed.

The menu system in 2 got super annoying when you had potions you wanted to take, because taking one would take you out of the meny completely and you had to go through again to select the next potion... so in 3 they just got rid of most potions, like the xp ones or the get-taller ones or whatever, and now you can just carry around one food item at a time, one alcohol or something, and there's only one type of health and magic potion. So each one has its d-pad button. If you're carrying around a pie and you want a cheese, you have to give up the pie.

I can't quite remember the button scheme, but you can look that up online easily enough. I belieeeeve there's a safety so you dont' accidentally kill anyone, you have to turn it off. You might not even be able to kill them at all. And townspeople aren't afraid of you any more if you do magic or weapons. They might cower for a few seconds but they don't run away, so if you do shoot one they'll get over it shortly. They also don't follow you around, and you can't entertain masses of them at once, only one at a time, with the same expressions in the same order because they've reduced the expressions system to "push x for positive, push b for negative." It's no fun.

skoolmunkee
They might cower for a few seconds but they don't run away, so if you do shoot one they'll get over it shortly. They also don't follow you around, and you can't entertain masses of them at once, only one at a time, with the same expressions in the same order because they've reduced the expressions system to "push x for positive, push b for negative." It's no fun.

Rats. That's one of the aspects of this game that I really like at the moment. You feel like a real hero when you walk into town and crowds gather around. But, there have been moments where the controls have been frustrating. Like when you hit the 'Y' button to check someone's preferences, and accidentally shoot them in the head.

3 is really not as good or fun a game as 2 in pretty much all aspects. Hate to say it, but for everything they tried to improve they got rid of something good if slightly flawed. The game feels a lot more empty and even more "hurry up and do the main quest"

sama
I just started Fable 2 on my new X-Box. I don't play many RPGs so i found it fun and interesting.

However, the menus are absolutely annoying Is the interface any better in Fable 3?

Yes, the menu (or the lack of one!) is one of the big improvements in Fable 3.

But Skoolmunkee is right in saying that for every improvement there's a niggle. Personally, I much preferred having to win over the villagers one at a time; it made me feel more connected to them. At the same time, however, the limits on the expressions you can use in Fable 3 are ridiculous.

I also liked the ability in Fable 3 to customise weapons by performing special tasks, but there seemed to be far less variety in the items of clothing you can acquire. It's swings and roundabouts.

I can't help thinking that, if Fable 3 had come out first, it would have been better received, just because people would have been more interested with the things that are there, rather than being preoccupied with the things they miss from Fable 2.

If the menu system is the main thing which is driving you nuts though, then yeah - that's gone!

I enjoyed the story aspect well enough, I was glad the main character actually has some kind of voice this time. I suprised they broke from the "start at a child" model. It seemed like a traditional thing they did with the main characters. Though I guess with the when the story takes place, it would be a bit impractical.

But the story still felt way too short and that's WITH doing every sidequest available. The game play also felt way too simple. Like there was TOO much streamlining.

Don't miss the old menu system though. That really did suck.

^^^
I missed the "start out as a child" thing too. That's been an important feature in the games to this point, you feel more like you've had a hand in developing the character and helped them grow into their destiny. Whereas here it's like, you're already a fully grown prince/ss, you just run off because you think your brother is pretty crap at being king. I never identified with her the same way I identified with the main character from 1 or 2. It also had the effect of making the story feel a lot shorter and less epic and you don't really feel a sense of accomplishment at the end.

DAJB
I also liked the ability in Fable 3 to customise weapons by performing special tasks, but there seemed to be far less variety in the items of clothing you can acquire. It's swings and roundabouts.

Not so much customizing them as powering them up. Some of the requirements were a bit ridiculous though, and you still end up sticking with whatever the 4 most powerful weapons you get.

I did quite like the idea of having your hero weapons evolve based on your game actions, but it came off a little too randomized... one of my rifles evolved regarding my "skill at killing balverines" and I'd only killed 2 balverines at that point and gotten stomped pretty bad by them. Even evolved they were always the weakest weapons in the game.

I did like the sanctuary, although I didn't see at ALL how having to travel to a room to travel to a side room to flip through mannequins of your outfits was any faster than flipping through a menu of your outfits, but at least it was more visual. But then the big problem with the sanctuary was that 98% of people ended up with a stupid glitch where John Cleese never speaks to you ever again. which perhaps is a blessing since after a while the only thing he had to say to you was "Buy our DLC"

So yeah, even improved things had pretty big flaws. I was also seriously disappointed by the Understone DLC. The Fable 2 DLC packs were big and great and Understone was just a crappy 30-minute mission with rubbish rewards, for full price.

Yeah this is the first game I've felt really ripped off by in a while, actually.