I had been avoiding this, despite my high praise for this game, because I wasn't sure if a review for a two-year-old game would be worth it. I'm sure by now, whether or not the game is/isn't good has already been decided by the public at large. It's the equivalent of me telling everyone not to go watch the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie (just in case, that movie's a pass). But, you know, fuck it. Life's too short, and I love this game. Plus, the purpose of this entire blog is just for us to talk about whatever fascinates/angers us on myself and Mister Buch's respective coastlines. So here we go: my Fable II review.To reiterate what I had said in my last entry, I had been very much against playing this game. The original Fable from all those years back had been an interesting experience, but not one that I could remember as significant. It was GTA in a fantasy realm, serving only to give people the opportunity to destroy the social structure of an entire town before running out of the city limits, waiting for everyone to forget. That was about it. Plus, I got to look like a badass assassin (lotta ass). The ending also sealed the deal for me, since it was so uncreative and lame that I didn't pick up the game again.
It seems that Lionhead Studios had picked up on this along the way, developed a sense of humility, and got to work on Fable II. Again, this game was released just before I got my hands on my first Xbox 360 at the end of 2008, but the first game I went out and bought was Mass Effect. Eventually, my cousin lent me her copy, but I was immediately put off by how very The Force Unleashed it was. Loading spots between zones? How archaic; I had just been playing Fallout 3 forever, and I could walk to the other end of the map without worry of loading screens.
I actually passed Fable II off to a friend of mine, who played through it awhile and gave it back. I then passed it back to my cousin, and didn't think about it again until a couple weeks ago. I had just beaten Dragon Age: Origins and its expansion, Mass Effect 2, Modern Warfare 2 a bunch of times, and Assassin's Creed 2 over the period of a few months, and I had nothing else on the horizon. I was practically going through withdrawals looking for something to kill some time on. I was actually about to go about and buy Poke'mon HeartGold, catch me some Poke'mans. I resisted buying several different games before I remembered Fable II, which I resignedly asked to borrow again from my cousin.
I installed the game on my Xbox, played for a couple minutes, getting just to Bowerstone, before quitting again. Then, I didn't touch it for another week until I got bored again. So, I kept playing, hoping something would pique my interest - and something did. I don't quite know when it happened, but it happened no later than Oakfield, where the scenery absolutely spirited me away to an absolutely calmed state of mind. I was hooked. I wanted to see more places like this one. I wanted to make more decisions and buy more houses. I wanted to pick the best spot in all of Albion and buy the nearest house to it.
It was a great time. It was a thing I used to do back in my WoW days: to just explore the world and find a place that I loved and call it my own. Anyone who knows what I'm talking about will know that the bench where you start out in Shadowglen, the boat in the pond at Tarren Mill, and the bridge near the Sepulcher...those are all off-limits! Mine! Anyway, yeah, I love doing that. I love a bit of role-playing with my role-playing games; it makes the experience more genuine. But it's been a long time since I got the urge to do that. WoW was one. Fallout 3 was another, and sorta/kinda Dragon Age: Origins was another (it was hard for that game to accommodate my requirements in that case; there were enemies everywhere...except for the camp, my favorite part...stay away from that, too).
So Fable II hooked me with its ability to make me feel like I was a part of that world, always affecting it. Time passes and you still make money even when the Xbox is turned off. With the exception of WoW, for obvious reasons, all of my most favorite RPGs feel like they end when the power's turned off. That's why I almost feel the need to play them until ungodly hours, because I don't want that magic to stop. With Fable II, it's always waiting for me to return. That's what keeps me playing a game, and how I racked up four months worth of playtime on WoW.
That's the sin that BioWare keeps committing, but shouldn't. Sure, they rectified this in Mass Effect 2, FINALLY giving you the ability to keep playing after the main storyline is done, but there's nothing to that galaxy. There's nothing to do outside of the quests. I can't get a job, because I'm already the effing savior of the universe. I can't own a house, because I got captain's quarters and, you know, your life is your job. That's the one thing that I'd take to BioWare on a flag or something: if we're gonna save the galaxy, give us a reason to save it besides blue women.
It's in that sense, as a life-of-a-fantasy-hero simulator, that Fable II takes the cake. Until the day that a BioWare game takes a page out of Lionhead's book in that regard, I would say that Fable II is one of the preeminent role playing experiences out in consoles today. BUT! Before someone pulls a drive-by argument on me, I'm not saying that it's the best RPG out there, per se, only that it provides the best experience.
You can abuse your power, or use it to the people's advantage. You can buy out a pub and then jack up the prices they charge, or provide drinks at a discount to the locals' delight. You can play a lute in the town square, or you can flip passersby the bird. You can become King of Albion, or the land's most dangerous assassin. It's up to you. It's all your choice.
I had to dig deep to find faults with the game, but there are a few that stick out that I hope are addressed in Fable III, due out at the end of this year. Firstly, I can deal with the combat. Although you're smashing the X, Y or B-buttons, depending on your preference, the system is sufficient for this game. It's not complicated, allowing you to get from place to place at a very nice pace, but they could've done better. Made it deeper for those who want to really feel like a warrior out on the frontline. If you're a magic user, sure, you'll have plenty of spells to choose from, but anyone who prefers their guns and swords might find their options lacking.
There are a lot of items in the game, and some powerful ones, but they are few and easy to obtain. I spent a few minutes listening to conversations in Bowerstone Square between players on XBL, and they were practically giving away their legendary weapons. I got one of the best guns in the game by doing a target shooting mini-game, and I got one of the best swords in the game by jumping down a hole and solving a couple puzzles. I would've liked the game to reward its players better, and make getting some of the high end items in the game a bit more difficult to obtain. I just bought Fairfax Castle yesterday for one million gold, and I've only been trying for it casually over the past few days. Getting that rare reward so that you can rub it in people's faces is one of the few great triumphs in gaming today. Just look at WoW; people go bonkers, spending months trying for items just for bragging rights!
Fairfax Castle should've been the hardest thing in the game to get, but I got it in a couple afternoons. The feeling of achievement was not there.
The experience system was pretty clunky. Nothing's worse than trying to pick up your experience points off the ground as they disappear, in the middle of a big ass battle. I hear that this has been remedied in the sequel, so that's okay.
Co-op: this was an AMAZING addition to an RPG of this kind. Amazing. This feature has so much potential that I clap my hands thinking about it, but Lionhead kinda dropped the ball in this regard. I'm perfectly find with not being able to see anything but orbs during the game proper, but when my friend and I actually joined each other's game, it was like the old days when we couldn't leave the same screen. What's up with that? I can understand this on one Xbox, but my friend was in Germany. Why should we have to stick together so closely and rely on the same camera, which doesn't function worth shit. Plus I had to pick a stock character to join his game, and not my own, which sucked royal.
Co-op could evolve to be the single greatest feature in console RPGs. Give two or three (or four!) friends the ability to roam around the same zone together, completing quests or just wandering around, and you will have a happy fanbase. That's what the soul of RPGs have always been about: traveling with good friends on an adventure into the fantastical. Don't bring us back to the Gauntlet-days where we were bound by the same screen. Make it happen, Lionhead!
Finally: the glitches. Oh my giddy aunt, there were so many glitches. None of them game-breaking, thank the Maker, but there were enough that it was a battle to deal with them at times. This does happen with these big games nowadays, but Lionhead should really step up their post-release support with Fable III to make sure that these glitches are taken care of. One of my favorite houses in the game was Giles Farm, where I had Lady Grey as my wife. But thanks to Lucien's shenanigans, the house still thinks I'm married, and does not allow me to rent it out. Eh.
Other than that, all the other criticisms are moot. IGN pointed out the lack of variety in enemies, but as someone who's been fighting three kinds of geth and two kinds of darkspawn for years, I think I'm okay in that regard. Fable II has enough of a variety to keep me satisfied, though it couldn't hurt to add more in the third game.
Fable II is a great game. Maybe not to everyone. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm still having a great time. The story wasn't magnificent by any means, but some parts of it just stuck with me so much. I've already explained the whole dog incident, but there was one other. In the beginning, you have a sister named Rose, who is killed brutally in the beginning of the game. As a street urchin, all she talked about was how she wanted to live in a nice castle, living the good life. In fact, the first quest you go on is to collect enough gold coins to buy a music box, which supposedly grants one wish. You can guess which wish she made.
Yesterday, I bought Castle Fairfax for one million gold, from the money I had made buying up every building in Albion. I walked around, looking over every room that I now owned: dining area, my library - my throne. I then took a walk to the far end of the castle, to the very study where Rose had been killed believing that her wish had come true. There was something oddly tragic about it all. The castle that Rose had wanted so badly for us to live in: I now owned outright. Just me.
I left the castle right then, and I haven't been back since.
Pros:
+ The dynamic world is amazing
+ The graphics for the game are some of the best on the console
+ Environments are beautiful and depressing, depending on where you go
+ Though you have limited say on the design of your character (white characters only) how your decisions affect your appearance is very well implemented
+ One of the best role playing experiences ever (not game, experience)
+ The dog
+ The Scottish gargoyles
+ Great sense of humor (not humour)
Cons:
- You are bound to run into a few glitches
- Weapons and clothing are in short supply, and typically easy to obtain
- Co-op is a welcomed addition, but needs an overhaul
- Picking up experience points like loot sucks at times
- Even for the casual gamer, even the game's high-end achievements are easy to obtain
- [EDIT]: I almost forgot to mention this. Something my friend pointed out to me: the notoriety that you get from all your renown is somewhat annoying. People will crowd you, everyone and their mother will fall in love with you, and despite the fact that you get in trouble trespassing in other people's homes, expect crowds of people filtering into your house, watching you have sex even. =/
I'm almost glad I got into this game late, because now I don't have to wait very long for a sequel! Fable III should be coming out at the end of the year. But if you're like me, and you haven't picked up the game yet, for the love of god buy the PLATINUM EDITION of the game. It has a few more patches and all the DLC that's been released for the game (Knothole Island and See The Future) on the same disc - and it's only $20 new! Go buy this!
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