Fable 3: First thoughts from the Fellows

21 Sep, 2010

Tom’s Thoughts:
After queuing for a fair 20 minutes or so Steve and I were offered the opportunity to get hands on and up-close with the one and only Fable 3. I really saw this as more of an opportunity to see if Peter Molyneux was inside the booth so I could stare at him more, from a distance of course, like I had done the night before. Alas, being the slippery creature that he is, he was not there and instead I was welcomed by the lead level designer on Fable 3. It wasn’t his fancy title that got me excited about meeting him, more his British accent. It was like striking wonderful English gold in a mine full of German coal (this in no way reflects how I feel about the German people; I do in fact think they are very nice). After a nice chat to him about Lionhead, Fable and GGS he gave me a selection of three separate scenarios to check out, one was a combat tutorial, one was the beginning of the game and the other was a level revolved around taking the piss out of classic RPGs. As I am somewhat of a gaming God I felt no need in order to waste my very important time re-familiarising myself with the game. I also felt that playing the introduction sequence to the game would be some sort of spoiler when I got round to playing the game on release, so I chose the piss-take.

It started me off in a house surrounded by three hooded characters that required my assistance with some strange ordeal. I was then shrunk to about action man size and placed in a sort of cardboard miniature table-top environment. NPCs in this world popped up very comically, like pictures in a child’s pop-up book, and were all voiced by the three hooded characters (who you could see peering down on you from around the table). One thing was apparent straight from the start, this game was hilarious. Everything about the characters and situations, within the mission I was playing, had some sort of comedic value about them and the humour from the NPCs was just brilliant. I ventured on through the level, my main goal now being to rescue the damsel in distress form an evil baron. The combat was very similar, with magic, guns and sword-play being formatted to individual buttons. Attacks were carried out in an incredibly fluid manner and combos were executed with wonderful fluidity.

I wanted to change my clothes at one point, and so I decided to bring up the character customisation screen. Expecting not more than just a simple menu to pop up, like the previous game, I was incredibly surprised to be bought to an open room. In the room mannequins were donned with several of my selectable outfits. The player had the option to pick any part of an outfit and equip it to their character. The weapons were laid out in a similar fashion, with swords and guns placed on racks for easy access. This whole ‘no menus’ system was incredibly refreshing and actually made the whole customisation process a lot more interesting and interactive. On top of all this you were accompanied by you witty butler, voiced by the one and only John Cleese. A fan of British comedy couldn’t really ask for any more out if this game.

Eventually, after a number of fights with various foes, I reached the end point. I slashed the bastard Baron down with one fell swoop, and was greeted with the overly joyous damsel. This is when I was presented with an interesting moral choice. Do I accept the woman into my open arms to live with her happily ever after? Or do I put her in her place and tell her to eff off? Naturally, I slapped her one round the face and told her to go do one. I suppose the phrase ‘treat ‘em mean and keep ‘em keen’ comes into play here, because she ended up loving me none the less. This was my first taste of the sort of options that Fable 3 is likely to have the player face throughout the game, obviously with some choices having far greater repercussions throughout the experience.

Fable 3 was a joy to experience at Gamescom. It was one of the finest examples of humour used in a game that I have ever seen. The whole thing was just brilliant! It’s a type of RPG that is far more accessible to new players or players unfamiliar with Role Playing games in general. This game is a must buy for any Xbox 360 owner, no doubt whatsoever.

Steve’s Thoughts:
Once again I kind of got the crap covered end of the stick with this one. The console I was given was already half way through the scenario *ugh*. Oh well who cares eh? The scenario I was given was… well I don’t know because I was in the middle of it but I was dressed as a pirate looking chap and plunged into fighting a hellacious amount of people. I love the combat in this game, even though I was probably fighting the easiest enemies in the entire world I felt like I was epic with thumbs of fire. You can just jump from person to person, cutting through them like butter, it’s so fluid even with the devastating heavy attacks that take down enemies with huge force, it’s perfect and I loved it.

Although, the first thing I noticed about the game was the darkly set graphics. Everything looks way more deep and suspenseful, purely because the graphics provide you with this excellent shadow depth from which one of the enemies can appear and “AHA” you in the ear. They did this to me at least 4 times, it made me jump… I was embarrassed so I took it out on those 4 guys… *Muahhaahaa!*. I noticed that the motion blur has either been removed or toned down in this game. Thank goodness for that, no offence to the last game but wow that motion blur made me almost chuck the bucket a few times… to put it politely.

So yeah, to be honest I didn’t get a hugely magnificent look at Fable 3 like Tom did, unfortunately. I didn’t get to see the humour in full and I didn’t fully experience the features. However, even though I kind of ended up with the lame side of the exhibit again, I am still seriously excited about this game and I’m going to try to scrape together some form of currency so that I may buy it. This is coming from a guy who isn’t a diehard Fable fan and dislikes olden times fantasy-ish RPGs 9 out of 10 times. So pay attention when I say, this game look like it’s going to be something special and I can almost guarantee its success.