Fable: The Lost Chapters is golden.

[Shockeye]

Fable: The Lost Chapters Found... Dipped in Gold!

Your destiny draws nearer.... Microsoft Game Studios announced today that Fable: The Lost Chapters for Windows has gone gold and will materialise in stores on 23rd September. Role-playing fans yearning for a rich adventure will find much to engage them in Fable: The Lost Chapters. In the mystical land of Albion, the game will immerse players in a world where every action has a consequence, and players shape their destiny to rise to fame... or descend into infamy. Fable: The Lost Chapters builds upon Fable's legendary and award-winning gameplay with spectacular new spells, devastating new weapons and stout new armour, all of which will be needed to contend with new monsters and other threats in the treacherous Snowy Wastes.

In this groundbreaking role-playing adventure game from Lionhead Studios, optimised for Windows XP, one can grow from an inexperienced child into the most powerful being in the world, spoken of by all and immortalised in legend. Your actions will shape your character's skills, appearance and morality as your character's life story is created from childhood through adulthood and on to old age. Will you choose the path of righteousness or a life of evil? Your character will transform to reflect every decision and action, scarring in battle and wisening with age in the world of Fable: The Lost Chapters. For more information, please visit the Fable: The Lost Chapters site at http://www.microsoft.com/games/fable/.

Microsoft Game Studios is a leading worldwide publisher and developer of games for the Xbox® video game system and Windows® and online platforms. Comprising a network of top developers, Microsoft Game Studios is committed to creating innovative and diverse games for Windows (http://www.microsoft.com/games/), including such franchises as Age of Empires®, Flight Simulator and Zoo TycoonTM; Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/), including such franchises as Halo®, Project Gotham Racing and MechAssault; and Zone.com (http://www.zone.com/), the official games channel for the MSN® network and home to such hits as Bejeweled and OutSmartTM.

[Morfiend]

Is it an expansion?

[Shockeye]

Is it an expansion?

No. It is the same game as the original Xbox version except with added content. In other words, pay up beyotch.

[stray]

/boo

/hiss

[Sky]

Now with more featureless short hallway levels!

 

I'm sure it won't suffer from console-itis at all, just like Thief:DS and GTA:SA didn't.

[Strazos]

Don't forget Deus Ex 2.

[stray]

Now with more featureless short hallway levels!

 

I'm sure it won't suffer from console-itis at all, just like Thief:DS and GTA:SA didn't.

But at least both of those were actually good games.

That's my complaint about Fable. It was offered nothing new, and didn't even live up to 10% of it's hype.

[Kail]

That's my complaint about Fable. It was offered nothing new, and didn't even live up to 10% of it's hype.

I dunno.  For what it's worth, I still play Fable a lot.  As in, more than any other game I have.  As a linear story based RPG, yeah, it blows.  But as a sandbox kind of game, it's incomparably more polished than it's nearest competitor (Morrowind), while also being about one tenth of a percent as large.  The engine and gameplay for Fable are really strong, but what they ought to do (and I don't see on the list for this version) is add a bunch more things to do with them.  Nobody cares about new areas or collecting newer, shinier shoes if it's just an extension of the half-assed story from the original.  If I ever thought they could write a compelling story, the first game cured me of that delusion.  They should focus on the things that make Fable unique, rather than the things that every other RPG already kicks their asses at.

And selling a second, better version of the game for full price and on a different platform?  Boo.

[Morfiend]

That whole affect the game world thing was total shit. The real problem was, it didnt really affect anything. I played both good and evil, and the game was basically the exact same game. Kotor and kotor2 had way more affect from alignment.

Ohhhh look horns, scary.

[ClydeJr]

In the mystical land of Albion

Damn Albs</daoc flashback>

[HaemishM]

The biggest problem I had with it as a sandbox game was that if you got involved with the main story past a certain point, there was no sandboxing. And once you finished the main story, there really was no more content, other than going back through the same areas killing random mobs. There weren't new missions spawned, and the guild was destroyed so you couldn't really use that either. It was fun, and I thought the story was decent. But it didn't live up to the hype as a sandbox game to me.

And putting out the same game with new material on a new platform? Yeah, thanks Jacktards.

P.S. Give me The Movies instead, bitches.

[stray]

I said this a while back, but GTA:SA lives up to Fable's promises more than Fable does itself.

[Hanzii]

It's installed on my pc and I never played the X-box version.
So far it seems like a pretty standard rpg with slightly uglier graphics - I'm hoping it will grap me soon, since I'm not expecting much. but yeah, where's The Movies...?

[Jain Zar]

Is Fable at least halfway decent though?  The X Box version is down to 20 bucks.

[HaemishM]

I thought it was a decent 15 hours of gameplay on the X-Box.

[Rasix]

Is Fable at least halfway decent though?  The X Box version is down to 20 bucks.

Worth 20 bucks, IMO. 10-15 hours depending on how much you decide to do.   

I had lots of fun playing it, others had less.  There's issues with load times and some ridiculously small areas.  The game isn't overly challenging either, especially when you use certain skill combinations.  Still, the combat was fun, the story was hackneyed yet decent, and there's some quirky shit you can do with your character. 

(If anyone tries to turn this into a console v. pc thread, you'll be entering a world of pain.)

[stray]

Is Fable at least halfway decent though?  The X Box version is down to 20 bucks.

Sure, it's halfway decent, and might be worth $20 bucks (I'd say rental since it's pretty short).

My problem (and I guess it may be the same with others) is not that I hate it -- It's just that it didn't deserve all of the attention it got (and gets..). LIKE HALO. There are dozens of games out there that are essentially the same thing (and better at that).

Seriously, we should just stop talking about it. It doesn't even deserve it's own thread (that is, unless we can talk about other hack & slashers as well).

[Rasix]

Errr, I'd say it's more like Jade Empires than a Diablo.  That's to say, I don't really consider the game to just be a hack'n'slash.

[stray]

Yeah, I guess. But that brings me to another thing....Jade Empire kicks it's ass in all kinds of ways. And can be had for just $10 more. Hell, BG: DA I/II are still better as well. Both are as cheap as dirt.

[Shockeye]

According to Xbox.com, it is coming out for Xbox as well at the $20 price-point.

The Xbox version is expected to have all the extras included in the PC version, which amounts to nine new regions, 16 new quests, and several new weapons, spells, items, and expressions.

[HaemishM]

Well shit. I may have to see if I have my save games for the X-Box still.

[Rasix]

Well, as an attempted jack-of-all-trades game, a lot of similar games are going to have it beat in different areas.   Jade Empires has a better plot, better quests, an arguably better combat system, and a better overall artistic flair to it.  I'm sure the DA games have a better combat system by far.  I've never tried either due to that type of game usually being better when played with others. 

I doubt either game is going to allow you to purchase housing, get a fu-manchu, and customize your toon in a sleek looking assassin outfit to go along with the standard questing, plot progression, and hack-fu.  While we can argue that Molyneux's attempt at an interactive and dynamic world fell woefully short of what he would like and what others expected, it's still there and contributes heavily to the overall presentation of the game (where as San Andreas pulled this sort of thing off better).

[Kail]

Well, as an attempted jack-of-all-trades game, a lot of similar games are going to have it beat in different areas. Jade Empires has a better plot, better quests, an arguably better combat system, and a better overall artistic flair to it. I'm sure the DA games have a better combat system by far. I've never tried either due to that type of game usually being better when played with others.

I doubt either game is going to allow you to purchase housing, get a fu-manchu, and customize your toon in a sleek looking assassin outfit to go along with the standard questing, plot progression, and hack-fu. While we can argue that Molyneux's attempt at an interactive and dynamic world fell woefully short of what he would like and what others expected, it's still there and contributes heavily to the overall presentation of the game (where as San Andreas pulled this sort of thing off better).

Yeah, that's how I see it (except for the part about Jade Empire not sucking).  If you're coming at Fable looking for the next Diablo, yeah, you're probably going to come away disappointed.  But the way I see it, if Diablo (or Jade Empire, or BG: DA, or almost any RPG I can think of) tried to include some of the features Fable has, it would seriously improve the game.  Fable's strongest where other RPGs are really weak, and weak where other RPGs are really strong.  So, while it's not the awesome title I was hoping for, at least it's a step in the right direction, wheras most of the competition is just treading water.

[Sky]

Don't forget Deus Ex 2.

I love subtle jokes.

[Yegolev]

I doubt either game is going to allow you to purchase housing, get a fu-manchu, and customize your toon in a sleek looking assassin outfit to go along with the standard questing, plot progression, and hack-fu.

Let's not forget marriage and sex, hetero- and homosexual.  I don't rate Fable too high.  It would have been better if developed for the PC, assuming Molyneux was actually restricted by the small system and not just retarded (see Black & White).  I played the Xbox version of Morrowind for like five minutes, most of which was a load screen, and it was much better on PC.

It didn't help that the voice of the Guildmaster was also the Guardian in Azurik, and that most of the cast appears in Sudeki.  I can still hear that bastard telling me to launch myself across the ocean.