Fable Gripes *SPOILERS*

[Morfiend]

Ok, So I finished Fable. My total time was something like 11:08, and this was NOT just rushing through it, I did almost every quest and side story I could find. I am just going to list my complaints with the game, and let others refute them. First, I am going to say that the game was fun, but I found a bunch of things that pissed me off.

Overall I think after playing through once, and getting a second character halfway through my rating of the gam has dropped a bit. I would give it between a 6.5 and a 7. The reasons for such a low score are many.

The much vaunted NPC interaction is not as good as I thought it would be. Its a poorly done sim-midevial village. There is really no need to ever interact with any of the NPCs. None. From what I can tell, the allignment has bearly more than 0% impact on how the game goes. I started as an evil character, and ended up as a goody.  But it really made no difference. To get a NPC to fall in love with me went, flirt flirt flirt flirt flirt, gift, flirt. I never found a use for about 80% of my emotes. I was really evil to start with, but, bandits still attacked me, and towns folk still asked me for help. I only found 3 quests that let me do evil, and help the bandits. and only two of those gave me a choice on which side to pick.

Why cant my character speak? Its not like they had to add a bunch of dialog, but they gave him a voice for emotes, it just seemed like a cop-out. "Hey, Hey, Hey, Raaaarrgh"

The RP quest aspect was generic to the point of comedy. I mean, I think a 10 year old could have thought up a more compelling story. Sheesh. Hugh plot twists, Family is killed. Oh wait, SUPPRISE your sister is still alive. Next plot twist, SUPPRISE, your mother is still alive.

The game basically takes your hand, and says THIS WAY FOR QUEST STORY! I mean, I guess some people like this, but I felt it was WAY to easy. I didnt die one time. Never failed a quest, never use a reserection phile. I only even almost died like one time, and that was on the final boss. Potions are WAY to easy to get once you pass about halfway point. Maybe my class was overpowered, I was a Spellwarrior. My main spells where Lightning, Assassing Rush, Berserk, Multi-Hit, Slow-Time, Drain-Life. Combining these with a heavy melee character made me neigh unstoppable. Berserk/Multi-Hit/Melee is WAY overpowered. I stopped using this because it was just sucking the challange out of the game. My second character is trying to be a pure mage. But due to mana costs near the begining of the game, I still end up using melee about 75% of the time. Its silly. But I know how powerfull will gets in the later game. A maxed out lightning is so badass. Almost overpowered in its own right but being able to basically make 4 targets immobile while killing them.

There is really 0 use for most of the towns. I think there are two towns that after the innitial time I went there, I never had a reason to go back. Some you cant even go back to like the arena.

Right after the tutorial I bought a suit of chainmail armor. I used thios same armor for the rest of the game. I only upgraded my weapon 3 times. I was saving up money for the badass sword the NPC vendor sells, and I finished the game.

I got married to Lady Grey in the one main city. Later on I found her old house, and found anote saying she murdered her sister, and had the note as proof. I was never able to do anything with this. I tried to give it to her, or the town guard, or any one. Nothing. Odd.

I got pretty damn high of the good side of the allignment chart, but never saw any real effect on my character from it. Except my eyes got really blue. Not that it mattered, cause I had a helmet on 99% of the time. They really needed more variation in armor. I found some plate in the arean store, but by the time I had enough money for it, I had finished the arean, and it wouldnt let me go back to that store. I found a sword in a stone, but even having 7 in physical, it wouldnt let me pull it out.

The last town, Hook Coast, I maybe spent a total of 5 minutes in, before the story went on, and I never got a chance to go back.

The game map, ugh, this thing is fucking horrible. Its so hard to navigate the map, the way it autozooms and locks to each node. Its a good thing you dont really ever have a use for this thing. It gets my vote for worst in game world map.

Now, the last battle did give me a good/evil choce at the very end, but then the game ended, and it was just over. No sandbox mode. I was REALLY pissed about this. With all the vaunted npc stuff, they REALLY should give a sandbox mode after beating the main quest line.


Overall the game totally underwhelmed me. Maybe the hype got to me and I was expecting some thing more. Hell, I personally feel that KOTOR was a MUCH MUCH better RPG game. And before any one freaks out, I did say I liked the game, its just It feels liked they cut a bunch of corners, and it could have been so much better. Im sure I will think of even more gripes later.

*Edit* Yes, spelling.

[MrHat]

And before any one freaks out, I did say I liked the game, its just It feels liked they cut a bunch of corners, and it could have been so much better. Im sure I will think of even more gripes later.

I'm still going with the: "If this was designed for the PC, it would have been a triumph."  As it is, it's on par w/ Dark Alliance for the amount of fun I'm having w/ it.

I haven't finished it yet, I'm currently milking it for as much fun as I can, buying/selling between towns, trying my hardest not to become a widow.

[Signe]

I'm still going with the: "If this was designed for the PC, it would have been a triumph."  As it is, it's on par w/ Dark Alliance for the amount of fun I'm having w/ it.

I haven't finished it yet, I'm currently milking it for as much fun as I can, buying/selling between towns, trying my hardest not to become a widow.

That's a gripe?

[ajax34i]

What's funny is that I heard about Fable from the Elder Scrolls boards, where Bethesda announced TES IV Oblivion, and made a comment somewhere that they're "shortening the game (compared to Morrowind) so it appeals more to the mainstream," and they got a lot of people up in arms and quoting the shortness of Fable, heh.

[Resvrgam]

Damn. The game hasn't even been out a week and people are already shelving it...that not good game design when considering longevity usually increases sales.

Thanks for the warnings guys.

[schild]

They're just bitter. People blow through stuff when they are in games like WoW because the draw of multiplayer shiny is much stronger than the draw of single player shiny.

[NiX]

Gabes post on Penny-Arcade about Fable is a prime example of what Schild is talking about.

[schild]

Well it goes further than that. There are 3 types of moods I find myself in when I'm looking for a game.

1. The need for Very Short skirmishes. A game of NBA Jam or a few rounds in a fighting game. Or a saveable web game like Mozaki Blocks.

2. The traditional 10-30 hour game. May it be an adventure game, typical RPG, career mode in a sports game, or whatever.

3. MMOGs. The same game for hundreds upon hundreds of hours. Essentially ruining my taste for all but the crème de la crème of single player games.

Many of us put away our keyboards and mice for some Windwaker, Riddick, new sports games, and AAA platformers (Metroid Prime, etc). But when a game comes along that doesn't blow our hair clean off our scalp, we tend to bitch. Louder than everyone else.

Fable may be that game for a couple people. Like Morphiend said, he bought into the ridiculous amount of hype surrounding the game and it didn't deliver. That's your fault. Don't trust hype. Ever.

Me? There's a better combat system in Fable than just about any MMORPG ever (and considering they take up the bulk of my time, I feel it's a fair comparison. I enjoy the real-timeness of it all. I like the water-like flow of the game. The few characters that are truly unique are very well done. I like the way towns respond. I like many, many things this game has to offer. It's length may very well be due to the fact it was quite the experiment in terms of what Molyneux was trying to do. He did a great job, but unfortunately the end result is too short.

It was money well spent, and I'll buy the sequel. I'll stand by my opinion of Fable being one of the most well structured and mechanically proficient RPGs I've played since FFVII.

As for a comparison to KOTOR? Meh, most of both games were combat and the combat system in Fable was better. The story is my story and I like what Fable was trying to do with that. The Star Wars Universe is crap to me. You can see which I enjoy more.

[Alkiera]

As for a comparison to KOTOR? Meh, most of both games were combat and the combat system in Fable was better. The story is my story and I like what Fable was trying to do with that. The Star Wars Universe is crap to me. You can see which I enjoy more.

KotOR was d20 modified, therefore it'd be hard to find a worse combat system as far as 'interesting' goes, especially realtime.  It's fine for PnP, but as a CRPG system, d20 is far less than ideal.

<rant type="anti-console">

Unfortunately, I own no XBox, in fact, the only consoles I own are an SNES, an original Gameboy, a Virtual Boy I paid $25 for, and a GBA(non-SP).  To me, consoles tied to a TV aren't worth it for most purposes, tho I've almost bought a PS2 a couple times for the DVD playing functionality.

Perhaps I'll play Fable when an emulator gets written, and I can get an ISO of it, like I've played some other console games.  I have a hard time paying a couple hundred bucks for what amounts to a lame single-purpose computer.  I find 'in front of the TV' to be the least comfortable place I can be, even in the houses of people who actually watch TV.  The games most people consider to be console 'killer apps', namely sports titles and party-games are things I don't really appreciate...  I primarily play RPGs, with the occasional action/platformer (loving Metroid:Fusion on my GBA atm)...  None of the Final Fantasy series after 7 really interested me at all.  Xenogears has big robot suits, which I've already made my feelings about known.  Console RPGs are mostly 'meh', compared to NWN, KotOR(which admittedly came out on a console as well), and other PC titles.

</rant>

Anyway, it sounds neat, let me know when it or something like it comes out on a real computer.

--
Alkiera

[murdoc]

 I find 'in front of the TV' to be the least comfortable place I can be, even in the houses of people who actually watch TV.  

/boggle

One of the biggest reasons I love my consoles is the fact I can sit on the couch or lazychair and play games.

[stray]

/boggle

One of the biggest reasons I love my consoles is the fact I can sit on the couch or lazychair and play games.

Same here. I dread having to sit down at my computer to play games. I bought Sims 2 and Fable on the same day, and haven't even bothered with the Sims yet, even though it's probably the better game.

[Hanzii]

I'm with Schild.

I'm finally breaking down and buying a Xbox, because my job has me in front of a pc all day (they even pay me for playing games) and allthough i prefer the 100+ hour games like Planescape and Baldur's Gate I simply don't have the time.
I long for games, I can just play out of the box. Sitting in my couch sorrounded by my 7.1 Gigaworks.
And I want to play Fable and Kotor2, when they're out. Not 6 months later.

Right now I'm playing through Kotor and as much as I love the story and the setting I find the combat mindnumbingly boring - I'm going back to Temple of Elemental Evil knowing that it's probably the last time I'll see so fine turnbased combat on my pc... or anywhere.

[Soukyan]

 I find 'in front of the TV' to be the least comfortable place I can be, even in the houses of people who actually watch TV.  

/boggle

One of the biggest reasons I love my consoles is the fact I can sit on the couch or lazychair and play games.

Couch or lazychair are so uncomfortable compared to my $400+ ergonomic office chair. Rawr. ;)

[Shockeye]

I'm strongly in the "it could've been so much more" camp, but I do like the game overall. It's enjoyable and worth the $35 I spent on it. I do agree that combat is too easy with slow time and multi-hit and assasin rush. I was disappointed to learn that as I got more evil, the skanky tattooed pierced chicks did not suddenly show up and start hitting on me. Maybe in the sequel.

[Sky]

One of the biggest reasons I love my consoles is the fact I can sit on the couch or lazychair and play games.

That's why I love my pc, lying on the couch and playing games! You're just behind the times, is all ;)

Anyway, about 8 hours into my goody-goody playthrough. 7 or 8 days passed ingame, and I've aged to 35. How this little bug got through, or how they just decided to write off such a major gaffe is indicative of the lack of focus I feel the developer had. Overall, I think it's a decent game that could have been a hell of a lot better (on a pc).

The 'zones'. Super tiny, scarce interaction with the environment (granted, I recently played Gothic II which is pretty interactive). I wouldn't call the load times long, but definitely too frequent. Not much reason to revisit areas once you've been there, except for the one or two top-tier vendors (master weapons and plate armor or whatever).

Graphics. I'm sure there's good graphics in there, but at 480p they are a low-resolution-textured, aliased mess. Again, I'm biased by just having finished Gothic II in 720p with 16x AF/AA enabled.

Paucity of quests. Not only are you constantly goaded by the guildmaster (who's never said anything to me besides a one-liner about how I should be on the main quest, after I became a hero, anyway), but there's not a whole lot of quests outside of it. In 8 gameplay hours, I have maybe 2 optional quests completed, and I'm looking for them. Maybe in the wrong places?

The controller. The game suffers from a lack of control options. They certainly maximized what they had to use, but it still falls to short, imo. When I try to sprint to an enemy (I didn't take the spell that does that), my character initiates his 'build-up' special attack (whatever it's called). No way to run while you have your special powered 'built-up'. Paucity of spell options on the controller, though as a spellwarrior, I'm only using a few, I still have to r-click, click y to switch menu, click x to heal myself, and click y to change back to my combat spells (lightning for a ranged attack, force push, and multi-attack). Can't remap controls or (especially) invert the bow view. The bow view being inverted (in my usage) is stopping me from using 1/3rd of my potential arsenal. I'll never be a bowman in Fable.

I'm enjoying the game, but it's pretty sparse and non-interactive from what I've seen (a couple missions after the Arena). I think the biggest overall problem is the lack of system and video ram. I can excuse the lack of FSAA/AF in the xbox, but not the lack of avatar customization in a game ostensibly about avatar customization, or the tiny zones and repetetive npcs. I'm also not a fan of big boots, whassupwiddat?

I'm giving it a tentative 7 at this point.

[Morfiend]

They're just bitter. People blow through stuff when they are in games like WoW because the draw of multiplayer shiny is much stronger than the draw of single player shiny.

Well, its kind of hard NOT to blow through it, cause the last few major quests are LONG, and they dont let you save while on a quest. So you are forced to play through the last 3rd of the game in 2 sittings due to not being able to save mid way through the game.

Also, as to blowing through it. It took me 5 days to beat. Thats 5, 2 hour sessions. Wow, thats pure cattassing there.

Again, it think it is bordering on criminal that they didnt include a sandbox mode after beating the end boss. Also, where was the reported "Evil" town? I guess it was the bandit camp, but that was a pretty week attempt. The game didnt deliver IMO. It was still fun, hell I finished it, but it is NOT the holygrail of RPGs.

The combat system was ok. But like I said, I was in the same suit of armor the entire game, and I changed weapons maybe 3 times.

Basically they did a nice job with all the stuff, but the story was so short that you didnt have the need or opertunity to use a lot of it.

In the arena, I let Whisper live, but she never made another appeariance. So whats the point? Thats the kind of thing I mean by no real difference to being good or evil. I smacked the hell out oThunder, and he still showed up in the end to help me. Not that I needed it.

Ok, as to gameplay stuff. Anyone found any thing to do with Lady Grey after you marry her, and then find out she is a murderer?

How about the sword in the stone? I got to 7 physical, and couldnt pull it out.

Did any one find a use for all the insult emotes? Or let me put it this way, did anyone really use any emotes except Follow, Wait, and Flirt?

[schild]

It sounds like you're upset it ended. Which is to say, you got your moneys worth. Not every game is hojillion hours long. Be thankful it was enjoyable compared to the rest of the tripe that's on store shelves.

Edit: And I'll tell you about the sword once I pull it. I'm GOING to get that fucker out of there. Though right now I'm using a Lightning/Silver Augmented Master Katana...and I like it.

[Sky]

But like I said, I was in the same suit of armor the entire game, and I changed weapons maybe 3 times.

Apprentice robe to leather to chain and now in plate. You were in one suit the whole game? Why didn't you upgrade? I'm on my fourth weapon, an obsidian greathammer, because my obsidian katana was fully augmented when I got the silver aug to fight the white balverine. Maybe I just shop more?

did anyone really use any emotes except Follow, Wait, and Flirt?

Oh yeah, I'm all about the manly arm pump and the hero pose. I used to use laugh a lot but people made fun of me too much, and I'm too nice to use evil laugh after vanquishing a foe.

[HaemishM]

Try doing one of the quests with a boast. I boasted of doing the trader escort quest through Darkwood completely in the buff. Somehow I failed that (think I used a protection spell) but it was still cool. The villagers all laughed at me and told me I was the perfect example of someone who looked like a complete idiot.

[Sky]

Screw the boasts imo. Well, maybe I'm just upset with them because I took one saying the boy from the cave wouldn't be injured, then when we walked into the corridor zone (A WHOLE ZONE FOR ONE HALLWAY), before I could turn and tell him to 'wait', a bunch of mobs jumped on him, despite the fact I began laying lightning bolts into the midst of them.

Because when I am attacked by a guy in full armor tossing spells around and killing my friends, I'm much more likely to attack the small boy hiding in the corner. Makes more tactical sense.

Can we get a petition to forever after remove escort quests from all games everywhere? Don't make me babysit your crappy ai against your crappy ai, kthx. This message brought to you by the dumbass british agent who killed me while shooting nazis through the doorway I happened to be using for cover.

[Morfiend]

It sounds like you're upset it ended. Which is to say, you got your moneys worth. Not every game is hojillion hours long. Be thankful it was enjoyable compared to the rest of the tripe that's on store shelves.

Yeah, I knew it would be short, but I thought my time would be more meaningful. Its hard for me to put my finger on why this game ticked me off so much.

Apprentice robe to leather to chain and now in plate. You were in one suit the whole game? Why didn't you upgrade? I'm on my fourth weapon, an obsidian greathammer, because my obsidian katana was fully augmented when I got the silver aug to fight the white balverine. Maybe I just shop more?

I went from apprentice clothes to chain, and stayed in chain the rest of the game. Only found one plate vendor, but I didnt have enough money and was saving for the sword. Then, it wouldnt let me go back to the vendor in the arena.

I went from the starting sword, so some big ass axe, to the obsidian sword, to some axe I got out of a chest. I was saving up for the Sularis (Not sure on name) sword, and the game ended. Never managed to pull the sword from the stone.

Try doing one of the quests with a boast. I boasted of doing the trader escort quest through Darkwood completely in the buff.

I did a bunch in the buff. Didnt seem to make any difference. Guess the Spellwarrior is just a badass. I didnt do any with the "Without a scratch" cause I found that to be nearly impossible with using melee.

I think this game could have been a LOT better if they spent less time on the NPC interaction and more time on story and quests. I thought there might be some sort of point to the NPC interaction. Again, I think its fucking criminal there is no sandbox mode, so I could spend time playing with the npcs and my good/evil alignment. Basicall it feels to me they spent 80% dev time (A guess) on NPC interaction and alignment which consists of about 10% of the actual game.

[stray]

I first thought pulling the sword out with maxed out strength was all that was needed. No dice.

The NPC's there will give you clues though.

To make a long story short, after several attempts I found out you not only need 7 strength, but at least 3 or 4 toughness. You have to be in good physical shape as well. Make sure your character is Slim.

The sword isn't uber though, but better than everything else (except the Sword of Aeons). I think it was 180 dmg or something.

[murdoc]

Again, it think it is bordering on criminal that they didnt include a sandbox mode after beating the end boss.

If you let the loooong credits finish, you can still play the game. Granted, there's nothing really to do, but you can still play.

[Shockeye]

Good little weapon FAQ for Fable is here.

[Shockeye]

Actually a whole wealth of spoiler stuff is here.

[stray]

X-Men Legends

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/549/549684p1.html

Hmm, can't find any other reviews yet. I need a RPG fix, and Fable, ultimately, just didn't cut it (or maybe it did, but for too brief a time). Sounds like X-Men is in the same vein as Fable --  Action-RPG/Dark Alliance-ish. Some elements borrowed from KoToR as well. Combat looks just as good, but here you have a choice of 15 characters, the story is longer (20-30 hours), and there's options to play co-op and competitive multiplayer battles. Probably a better waste of 50 bucks.

[Tebonas]

It sounds like you're upset it ended. Which is to say, you got your moneys worth.

And thats the problem with all those short attention span fucks polluting the gamer pool nowadays. You didn't get your moneys worth after 10 hours playtime. After ten hours I just start identifying with my character and enjoying the game.

[ahoythematey]

I have no intention of buying Fable unless it comes out on PC, but that is absolute fucking nonsense, saying a game cannot be good and only be ten hours in general length.  Look at Ico, Pikmin, MGS, Parasite Eve, and a plethora of older titles like Super Mario Bros 1 through 4, Link to the Past, Super Metroid, etc.

If the game is both unfun and short, sure, $50 too much.  If I can get a fantastic experience out of it, though, then sign me up.  Particularly when I have significant trouble finding the time to even get halfway through "long" games.  It's nothing short of a miracle that I managed to beat Star Ocean:Second Story, and now the third one comes out, calling me with it's siren lures while I know perfectly well I don't have the fucking time to play an 80+ hour game, particularly when I have Dragon Warrior 7 and Xenosaga hanging out on the shelf here with Gladius and Divine Divinity, all of which I've barely touched(not for a lack of trying either).  To make matters worse, in one short month I will have to buy GTA:San Andreas, a game I've already decided is far too big for it's own good, simply because the series continues to have fantastic gameplay, and two months down the road it's time for Metroid Prime 2, which thankfully will likely be around the 20 hour mark.   None of this is taking into account the multitude of other potentially awesome titles like Dawn of War and Evil Genius, or World of Warcraft(if you believe the christmas rumors).

[Sky]

You didn't get your moneys worth after 10 hours playtime.

I agree with this. I've worked a few jobs for less than $5/hr. It's simply not worth that much for that short a completion time.

I've been quite content with games like KotOR that run about 40-60 hours, Gothic II felt a bit short at just over 40 hours. I don't know how many hours I dropped into Divine Divinity, but I feel it was a better game than Fable. Unfortunately, Fable seems to be settling to the bottom of the rpg pool, I haven't played many I've liked less...it is better than Descent to Undermountain, but I wouldn't say it was better than Stonekeep.

Not everyone wants to spend their life playing a mmog or play 400 games that are all a couple hours long. Some want a nice rich roleplaying experience, long and involved and filled with cool stuff to explore and experience.

[ahoythematey]

Don't misunderstand me; I am not one to deride games for being "Epic!", and am only too happy to have them around since it's just the sort of thing I appreciate when I have the time.  When I have the time.  I am, however, vehemently against the idea that a game cannot be worth your hard-earned dollars while being sweet-but-short.

[Rasix]

Well, I'm enjoying this game. Must be something fundamentally miswired in my brain.  I figure I'll get 25-30 hours out of this with replays (evil wizard/thief beckons).  That to me will be worth the sticker price.  Maybe my expectations were so lowered going into playing this, that anything other that a disappointing suckfest would be gaming gold.

IMO, 10 hour games are not a rip off.  Both Max Payne games I beat in around 10 hours and both I'd consider well worth the money.  BG&E, while bargain priced, would have easily been worth full price even though it was a quick game to beat.  Splinter Cell 2, Mechwarrior 4: Mercs, etc etc are all games that had short, easy to blow through plots that in the end were worth every iota of time I spent on them and in the end I didn't feel cheated.

Unless a game is sufficiently moving and has a certain kinetic engery to it like a KOTOR, Baldur's Gate 2, PS:T, some Final Fantasy games, etc a 40+ hour experience is an exercise in tedium.  A great deal of Squeenix's offerings have been hour after hour of "GET ON WITH IT!!!!!".  Anyone here play Grandia 2 and at some time not yell at your TV, "END ALREADY, GODDAMNIT"? Anyhow, I'm getting past the point where a game like Xenosaga or Star Ocean 3 even appeals to me anymore.  A 40 hour game already takes me a month to beat.  (heh, this would make a decent article if expanded upon)

I have a feeling this game is going to end before I want it to.  That's a good thing, that's better than me getting to the point of wanting it to end.  Would I want more? Hell yes, but I just find it hard to get mad at a game that's entertaining me thuroughly.

For the record, I'm just after finding the archaeologist and have maybe put 6+ hours in.  And this isn't even with trying to open most of the demon doors, getting a wife, etc.

[Rasix]

I've been quite content with games like KotOR that run about 40-60 hours

I hope that's with multiple replays :)

[HaemishM]

Well, I'm enjoying this game. Must be something fundamentally miswired in my brain.  

Same here. Both me and the wife are enjoying the shit out of this game.

[Morfiend]

Again, it think it is bordering on criminal that they didnt include a sandbox mode after beating the end boss.

If you let the loooong credits finish, you can still play the game. Granted, there's nothing really to do, but you can still play.

Ahhh, I hit the skip button, and it put me back at the opening menu. Thats kind of stupid that I have to watch the credits to be able to keep playing.

[Bunk]

I've been quite content with games like KotOR that run about 40-60 hours

I hope that's with multiple replays :)

If you do all of the side quests, a single run through of KotoR can take over 40 hours.  I think my first run through was 44.