First Impressions: Fable III

The Fable series has had a rough go of things over the years. Thanks to numerous instances of over-hyping the games, the insanely high expectations people have going into it, and the fact that although Lionhead Studios deliver a good product every time, they're not game-changing, and I think for that anything carrying the Fable brand will have undue stigma upon it.

Now, I absolutely LOVED Fable II. I cannot begin to describe how much I loved that game (though, a while ago, I tried), it was just the perfect blend of the fantastical, British humor (humour), and a level of customization that really let you feel like you were a part of the world. Fable III had A LOT to live up to in my mind. Still does. I think I'm roughly about six hours into this newest story. So far, I'm getting those same warm feelings I got while playing F-II. But Lionhead have also made a few changes to the formula: some of them welcome, some of them rather frustrating.

One of the major changes is the story. It's so totally simple, you don't even have to think about it. Which, I think, is a good thing. A reviewer on Joystiq asked, "How many of you can actually remember the story of Fable II?" and at first, I was like, "Shit, I can remember that in like three seconds ago. Let's see, you had the sister getting shot by that one dude, then you, ah..."

Damn. Doesn't matter, I played more for the real estate, exploration, and sidequests, anyhow.

In Fable III, you play as "The Prince" or "The Princess," one of two children of the Old Hero King (or Queen, depending on who you played in F-II). The other child is your brother, Logan, who is now the King of Albion. He is King amidst Albion's industrial revolution, and he is perfectly a-okay with allowing child labor, political assassinations, and standing by while the lower class crumbles into absolute poverty.

Yeah, I guess you could say he's...*sunglasses*...a royal dick.

So, after King Logan handles a certain situation with just the right amount of plot-catalyzing evil, which is actually really messed up, the Prince(ss) must embark on a journey to start a revolution against the throne. This is where I'm still roaming around as I type this.

Thus far into the game, I'm really pleased with what I've seen. The environments are just as beautiful and absorbing as they were in Fable II, if not BETTER in some cases (Brightwall Village, for instance, is amazing), and Lionhead has taken things a step further by designing little cultural differences between each town. Mountain dwellers will mostly wear heavy fur clothing, and people down in Bowerstone will mostly wear fancy garments, depending on which part of the city you're in. I liked that.

The writing is better, the humor is more prevalent, and the voice actors are very top-notch. Bernard Hill (King Theodin from Lord of the Rings and Captain Smith from Titanic) is fantastic as your teacher/companion, Sir Walter. You'll also run into Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Sir Ben Kingsley, who also gives a great and very, very funny performance as a ruler of a village of mountain dwellers.

And let's not forget John Cleese, who plays the part of the royal butler, Jasper. He is a part of a new feature of the game which I adore: when you press the start button, you are instantly transported to a sanctuary where you can save the game, look at your various outfits, weapons, trophies, and gold stockpile. It is amazing to me how seamless this feature is. You'd think you'd have to fight some sort of loading screen, but there is almost no transition at all when you press that button.

Now, onto the things I'm taking issue with: the bugs, there are a lot of them. Surprisingly, they're a lot more noticeable than some of those I discovered in Fallout: New Vegas. Your dog will bark about a dig spot, you follow it, and suddenly it decides to forget where it was going. That golden breadcrumb trail that leads you from quest to quest will sometimes disappear and not return, or will appear as just a few sparkles that you try to keep track of. You will hear vendors talking as if they're standing right next to you, but they'll actually be across the town somewhere.

And there is lag at times (mostly during cutscenes). I'm not sure what causes it. The minigames (jobs) will stutter as you play them, making it very difficult to keep that multiplier going.

All of that is manageable. I could live with those bugs, because they don't, by any means, make the game unplayable. But the one thing that I'm just not liking are the expressions. In Fable II, you had a radial menu where you could choose what you wanted to do, and then do it. You could play a lute out in public and people would gather around to listen to you play, or dance, or fart, whatever you felt like doing at the time. This time around, there is no menu. There are no expressions you can perform for a group at large; you will have to interact with each person individually, which is made all the more worse by the fact that there is a slight transition/loading screen each time you want to interact with someone.

And if that wasn't bad enough, you can't actually select what you want to do with people. You are literally given two or options - good, bad and neutral interactions - and you have to choose between them. Then, after you've performed one, the options will refresh and two or three new options will appear. I'm hating this, mostly because I don't like not being able to actually choose what I want to do. It all makes interacting with people an actual inconvenience, which is a sharp contrast to a feature I adored in F-II.

Anyway, I'm dealing with it, and I can always hope for a patch in the future, can't I.

Meh.

That's the game so far. Gripes aside, this is a marvelous game. At this point, I wouldn't dare hesitate to say that if you liked Fable II, you'll like Fable III. It's got everything that made the last game great, a few new/welcome surprises, and only the slightest of road bumps...so far.