Hello and welcome to ThespianHunter Blog. Where I chat shit about games, films, table top games and a whole bunch of useless crap we call entertainment. Tonight's post is a subject that is very dear to my heart; Fable. Let's not waste any time! Grab your Hobbs and let's pounce in like a Balverine.
Fable was created by the infamous LionHead studio, and at it's head was the notorious Peter Molyneux who in turn is famous for being head of Bull Frog studios, famous for bringing us games like Dungeon Keeper and Theme park. The games take place in the mythical land of Albion, roughly based off a combination of different Angelo Saxonesk Fables (hence the name). The world is dark dangerous and at times lawless in most of its regions with Bandits, the undead and Hobbs (small Goblin like creatures) plaguing the land. The original installment of the series was released in 2004 for the original Xbox and received pretty decent review from critics and raving review from gamer's and quickly became a cult classic ... and eventually the subject of the curse of Lion Head - but that's a story for later.
In the original fable (and Fable the lost chapters, an expansion to the game adding extra story elements as well as a number of improvements to the vanilla game) focused around the Hero of Oakvale; a powerful, selectively mute (as he only talked during social expressions and never during combat or in the story) Hero who as a child witnesses his entire village being raided by Bandits and his family butchered where they stand ... or so it seems. The boy is saved by a Hero from the Hero academy (a place where gifted individuals are trained to do the tasks normal humans are unable to accomplish and we then follow his path to vengeance and, more importantly, his path to unlocking the secrets of his family.
That's the bare bones however as many of you will know... this is my number two game of all time. So if you would forgive me, I'll delve into the finer details... If for some reason you wish to not read spoils, scroll down to the next picture.
It soon becomes clear that the Hero's sister and mother survived the attack. His sister had her eyes cut out and became a blind seer for the Bandit king of Albion and his mother has been locked away in a deep dark Prison by the evil Jack of Blades (my favorite video game villain of all time) It later unravels that Jack is after a sword capable of apocalyptic power known as the Sword of Eons and wishes to bring the end of the world into fruition. To do so however he needs the blood flowing in your family veins and he intends on collecting by force. It even later unravels in The Lost Chapters that Jack is in fact a being a far darker origin and has in fact been in possessing those who wear his fated mask and has existed since the dawn of time. Once defeating him a first time, you must defeat him in his true, dragon form. Along the way you'll be betrayed, ambushed , and even imprisoned for up to 60 years if you fail to escape when a chance arises. You do everything from fighting in a coliseum, defeating the Kraken and even communicating with the divine.
For those who are wondering... why is Jack my favorite villain in video game history? Well firstly, its the original voice. I was perfect. Not one interjection was out of place, every pitch, every breath every single letter seeped with conniving evil. His outfit is also stunningly brilliant, with the masquerade masks on the face as well as the armor itself. Furthermore EVERYTHING he does makes you want to hate him. He does everything an antagonist should do. He's the barrier from you achieving your goals, he's the force you wish to defeat (even if you're evil) and he's frigging evil incarnate. You can't get much better than Jack of Blades.
Secondly is the combat, and oh lord will you be doing a lot of it. The combat stiles are separated into 3 categories. First is strength, you gain experience from killing things will swords and axes n' shit and it governs how much damage you can take in combat, as well as how heavy of a weapon you can wield and how much damage you can do with each swing. The next is skill, you can skill experience from killing this with bows, stealing from shops and villages houses as well as generally being as quick as an elf. Skill not only governs how fast you are in combat but also how sneaky you are and how much damage you do with a bow. Then finally there is will. You gain will experience from going Gandalf/Palpatine/Jesus on people's asses. Will is all about spells and how many spells you can cast on people in succession. Such spells include turning into the incredible hulk, casting lightning bolts from your finger tips, surrounding yourself with magical swords, teleporting behind people ... the list goes on. You can choose to be a jack of all trades kind of guy, focus on one or two or even just focusing on the one and becoming a killing machine in your chosen field. Although in cases the game goes out of its way to try and stop you from doing anything but broadly leveling up. This is due to missions that involve the only way to killing an enemy being via range attacks and even a mission where you have to sneak past bandits. This can sometimes be a kick in the teeth however to be fair, you'll be wanting to have a lot of tricks up your sleeve.
However with every success, there's a complete and utter chain of fuck ups. However the motives were pure. There was an out cry via fans of the series for a new Fable game, this time to feature on the Xbox 360. We longed to return to the land we belonged. To do battle with the creatures we knew and loved. We wanted Fable 2.
What we got was... "Fable" 2
However in all fairness there was Fable 2 had some redeeming points. Firstly money management became much easier than in the previous game and it became possible to rent out houses without having to kill the occupants before hand. Furthermore visually the game looked far better, and at times became quite beautiful for its time. Also The player did get to return to some regions of Albion previously explored, however not enough history of from then to now was carried out.
So... this wraps up part 1. In the next part I will talk about the money making schemes of Microsoft as well as the dreaded F3 ( I can't even bring myself to calling it a fable game ) as well as F heroes and F the Journey
I hope you enjoyed reading my first part to the analysis of the Fable games if you have a positive or negative response let me know in the comments bellow or just say anything... please... anything!
My names been ThespianHunter I thought the Demon Door's name was SHIT and I'll catch you later
In the original fable (and Fable the lost chapters, an expansion to the game adding extra story elements as well as a number of improvements to the vanilla game) focused around the Hero of Oakvale; a powerful, selectively mute (as he only talked during social expressions and never during combat or in the story) Hero who as a child witnesses his entire village being raided by Bandits and his family butchered where they stand ... or so it seems. The boy is saved by a Hero from the Hero academy (a place where gifted individuals are trained to do the tasks normal humans are unable to accomplish and we then follow his path to vengeance and, more importantly, his path to unlocking the secrets of his family.
That's the bare bones however as many of you will know... this is my number two game of all time. So if you would forgive me, I'll delve into the finer details... If for some reason you wish to not read spoils, scroll down to the next picture.
It soon becomes clear that the Hero's sister and mother survived the attack. His sister had her eyes cut out and became a blind seer for the Bandit king of Albion and his mother has been locked away in a deep dark Prison by the evil Jack of Blades (my favorite video game villain of all time) It later unravels that Jack is after a sword capable of apocalyptic power known as the Sword of Eons and wishes to bring the end of the world into fruition. To do so however he needs the blood flowing in your family veins and he intends on collecting by force. It even later unravels in The Lost Chapters that Jack is in fact a being a far darker origin and has in fact been in possessing those who wear his fated mask and has existed since the dawn of time. Once defeating him a first time, you must defeat him in his true, dragon form. Along the way you'll be betrayed, ambushed , and even imprisoned for up to 60 years if you fail to escape when a chance arises. You do everything from fighting in a coliseum, defeating the Kraken and even communicating with the divine.
For those who are wondering... why is Jack my favorite villain in video game history? Well firstly, its the original voice. I was perfect. Not one interjection was out of place, every pitch, every breath every single letter seeped with conniving evil. His outfit is also stunningly brilliant, with the masquerade masks on the face as well as the armor itself. Furthermore EVERYTHING he does makes you want to hate him. He does everything an antagonist should do. He's the barrier from you achieving your goals, he's the force you wish to defeat (even if you're evil) and he's frigging evil incarnate. You can't get much better than Jack of Blades.
As well as having a fantastic story line. There are also so intuitive mechanics to back it up. Firstly is the alignment mechanic. It allows you to play the game ether as a Hero or a Villain. Will you save people from the dark forces that lurk in the wild? Or will you be said dark force in the wild? It's totally up to you and there are tons of opportunities to reflect your chosen alignment in meaningful ways. Fundamentally the choice is yours and that's the major advantage to the game.
Secondly is the combat, and oh lord will you be doing a lot of it. The combat stiles are separated into 3 categories. First is strength, you gain experience from killing things will swords and axes n' shit and it governs how much damage you can take in combat, as well as how heavy of a weapon you can wield and how much damage you can do with each swing. The next is skill, you can skill experience from killing this with bows, stealing from shops and villages houses as well as generally being as quick as an elf. Skill not only governs how fast you are in combat but also how sneaky you are and how much damage you do with a bow. Then finally there is will. You gain will experience from going Gandalf/Palpatine/Jesus on people's asses. Will is all about spells and how many spells you can cast on people in succession. Such spells include turning into the incredible hulk, casting lightning bolts from your finger tips, surrounding yourself with magical swords, teleporting behind people ... the list goes on. You can choose to be a jack of all trades kind of guy, focus on one or two or even just focusing on the one and becoming a killing machine in your chosen field. Although in cases the game goes out of its way to try and stop you from doing anything but broadly leveling up. This is due to missions that involve the only way to killing an enemy being via range attacks and even a mission where you have to sneak past bandits. This can sometimes be a kick in the teeth however to be fair, you'll be wanting to have a lot of tricks up your sleeve.
However with every success, there's a complete and utter chain of fuck ups. However the motives were pure. There was an out cry via fans of the series for a new Fable game, this time to feature on the Xbox 360. We longed to return to the land we belonged. To do battle with the creatures we knew and loved. We wanted Fable 2.
Thirdly, and what works to the games advantage is frankly, just the amount of stuff you can do on the side. You can do side quests for people (of which there's not enough for this to keep you unlimitedly occupied) Join fight clubs, steal from people, gamble, go out into the wild and kill shit at your leisure as well as minor stuff like unlocking demon doors and getting silver keys to unlock chest. You can even be a landlord of a pub... if you kill the original owners first of course. This allows for hours upon hours of entertainment and keeps players coming back for more, and even re-rolling a character to see how things could go differently if they, for example, didn't murder everyone.
What we got was... "Fable" 2
Ah yes! That fated trailer that made gamer's everywhere call to arms in ready to return to their fated home. And oh how it let us down.
Now to be honest Fable 2 wasn't awful game, it just was't as good as we were expecting. The story takes place through the eyes of a decedent of the Hero of Oakvale. In this dark Victorian themed future heroes have been driven out and all but exterminated. Individuals with heroic powers are very rare. However you have the powers in your blood line and through a cruel series of events. You're left almost dying and forced to become a Hero like your ancestor.
Now to be honest Fable 2 wasn't awful game, it just was't as good as we were expecting. The story takes place through the eyes of a decedent of the Hero of Oakvale. In this dark Victorian themed future heroes have been driven out and all but exterminated. Individuals with heroic powers are very rare. However you have the powers in your blood line and through a cruel series of events. You're left almost dying and forced to become a Hero like your ancestor.
There's a return of the Hero of Oakvale's sister as well as star appearance from Stephen Fry and Ron Glass as well as a return of the series classics such as Balverines and Hobbs. There's also a return of the 3 point skill window however it seems very much simplified compared to Fable 1 and basically as a squeal.
The problem is however so gleamingly awful that it spoils the game for me. Almost everything they added to the formula was shite. Here's a list I like to call:
Shit added to Fable 2 that was crap!
- Mans best friend. George Lucas put its right when he says that "you must be able to hear the emotion in your characters voice, by hearing this you can emotionally connect with the character yourself". It's why he flipped a lit when the makers of Force Unleashed originally wanted to make a game about a Wookie. It sounds strange given how we can relate to a Wookie but not the Dog in the Fable games. The reason being, that there's no advantage to looking after your dog. Not only this but the ways in which you do look after your dog are ether non-existent, awfully implemented or plainly too much of a hassle to carry out. The leading story from where we meet the Dog as a pup is quite heart warming and allows for some connection to the "character" however via combination of "You wouldn't go save Navi from a monster!" This, what was advertised as a leading feature, one which would "change how we play games forever" was crap. Cheers Pete.
- Death on two legs! The fact is. It is IMPOSSIBLE to die in Fable 2. You cannot die. It will never happen, You will fall to the ground and then kick the living shit out of everything around you. This means that there's NO suspense of any kind, no point in having to train your character to face what is to come and I'd even go as far as creating little or no point to doing ANYTHING other than progressing through the main story. THIS IS NOT FUN! An analogy if you would permit it. You're chatting up a girl. However it becomes obvious that not only is she not really that nice of a person but she also plays for the other team and isn't sexually attracted to you in any sense of the notion. You wouldn't go and buy her flowers, learn about her likes and dislikes and you wouldn't bother asking her out to lunch or out down town. Reason why? Cause what's the fucking point?! It would be like entering trails for a professional football team when you ain't got no fucking legs! The idea to make the character unable to die was one of the most stupid ideas ever conjured by a games developer. Cheers Pete
- You can take my blunderbuss nuclear cannon from my cold dead hands. This one wasn't necessarily something they did wrong, but something that didn't do right and it links with the previous link. When you become death on two legs the game becomes less about "what am I best with?" but rather "what is going to dispatch these people quickest?" This leads to anything other than power playing idiotic at best. Legendary weapons don't become side-grades of each other but rather there's the one weapon that is the best and the one ranged weapon that's the best and one spell, if you use anything other than these, you're an idiot. What would have made more sense if they had actually balanced each weapon and fighting stile instead of making Will too powerful and making range weapons a better choice than close combat ones. This also meant that if you wanted to play a particular play style you were basically shooting yourself in the foot. Cheers Pete.
Now we move onto the other list... this list goes far beyond what they added... this is the top 5 reasons why Fable 2 sucked
- Number 5: The story. It was bland, inferior to Fable 1, It was far too short, the areas you explored were at times boring and the character saw itself returning to regions more than others and spending only one mission in one area. If this wasn't enough There's also little to no acknowledged to Fable 1's story in the slightest.
- Number 4: Co-Op. It was awful. You couldn't go too far away from each other. There were frequent lag issues, there were no co-op themed parts in the game what so ever and due to the game being too easy, there was no need to bring a friend to the fight. Worse of all, it didn't scale at all, so it become even easier to play.
- Number 3: Jobs. They're pointless little mini games that make you grind cash. They were boring, unimaginative and yet again, there was no reason for it to be there due to the fact you couldn't die
- Number 2: the previous list.
- Number 1: Lucifer the worst bad guy in the history of gaming. His voice actor was okay however didn't feature in the game enough for this to be a redeeming factor. There's no boss battle of any description and... which may I just say... Is a joke to the gaming industry it's even possible that the FINAL boss of the game, is killed FOR YOU... Yeah, couldn't make it any more easier if you tried, could you Pete?! The biggest pity of them all is that they HAD a fantastic antagonist in the form of Jack, and they fans begged and pleaded to see him return. But no, the settled with grieving lunatic obsessed with domination.
However in all fairness there was Fable 2 had some redeeming points. Firstly money management became much easier than in the previous game and it became possible to rent out houses without having to kill the occupants before hand. Furthermore visually the game looked far better, and at times became quite beautiful for its time. Also The player did get to return to some regions of Albion previously explored, however not enough history of from then to now was carried out.
So... this wraps up part 1. In the next part I will talk about the money making schemes of Microsoft as well as the dreaded F3 ( I can't even bring myself to calling it a fable game ) as well as F heroes and F the Journey
I hope you enjoyed reading my first part to the analysis of the Fable games if you have a positive or negative response let me know in the comments bellow or just say anything... please... anything!
My names been ThespianHunter I thought the Demon Door's name was SHIT and I'll catch you later
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