FABLE 3

[Benza]

... FUCK! I was going to play Undead Nightmare tonight but now I'm thinking of going and picking this up....

Also cheers.
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[Hyper the Metroid]

[Bronze]

I loved Fable. I loved Fable II.

I feel completely and utterly cheated by Fable III.

In most games where you pass a 'point of no return' threshold, you're given the option of backing out or at least warned that you're approaching the ending.

Here thar be minor spoilers.

Without giving much away, I decided to be a good King. I approved everything good at huge expense. I paid for it with questing and I wanted to save up 6.5m gold as per the mid-game objective. I had 3m sitting in my personal treasury. I was questing away, enjoying myself, and then all of a sudden I found myself thrust into the final mission with no way of backing out. My kingdom was basically wiped out, the towns completely emptied, and I'm universally reviled because I had no opportunity to transfer my funds across before the final mission popped up.

So goddamn angry. Cheated. Frustrated. I don't see how something like this could have been overlooked. Everything was fun and interesting up until that point, and now I have zero motivation to ever turn the goddamn game on again.
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[Hyper the Metroid]

Yeah, I made the same goddamn mistake, except I exceeded the "point of no return" without having any clue as to what was about to happen. Then when I became King, I was under the intention that from 121 days to go (or something like that) I would still have a couple more opportunities to raise some money. Boy, I was wrong. It went from 121 days to go to 0 days to go, and I had -200000 or something in my treasury. Albion was a complete ghost town. =P

So yeah, now that I wrecked my first character, I ended up starting a second playthrough. Thankfully the only thing that I lost was a nice chunk of playtime, as I didn't really get around to side-quests and such during my first playthrough. Now that i'm doing my second playthrough, the plan is to literally buy Albion, leave the game on for a few hours and then come back to a nice amount of money to piss away on my treasury at the end of the game. I really don't want to sacrifice all of the awesome landscaped for money. Sure, i'll happily turn the orphanage into a brothel, but drain Bower Lake? Piss awf...
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[Vervain]

Has anybody else been getting slow down playing this? I've been getting slowdown since the Sable mission and am getting it during Lute Hero and the like.

I'm kinda paranoid because last time my console died this is how it started.
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http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-6u9h.html

[Neonyx]

I've been getting the slowdown too, especially during the higher level lute playing. So don't panic.

[Peveus]

There is occasionally immense slowdown, sometimes the game almost stops. Anyway, beat the game, perfect ending and achievement for never dying! yay!
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Currently Playing: Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

[Karai Pantsu]

Wicked, first gamebreaking bug - Was in the middle of a citizen quest dialog, with a choose X or Y prompt, when another citizen must have walked up their quest prompt stomped over the original one.

I hit A to accept, and was then stuck in the scene with the original two people yammering and me not having any way to finish the quest.

Being a cutscene, I couldn't exit to sanctuary and leave the town or anything, just load a saved game... oh which I had none.

Wicked.

Haven't had the balls to load back in and see what progress has been lost.
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[Peveus]

That sucks. Apart from the dog having severe AI issues (its almost impossible to catch it to teach it a book, and it likes to run in circles instead of finding dig spots) and the golden trail often not appearing, I had no bugs whatsoever.

EPIC WARNING though. 121 = LAST.

Cryptic. But heed my words.
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Currently Playing: Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

[Phreakuency]

Two questions:

1. For a game that is supposed to be a hyped, A quality exclusive, how come it's not getting slammed for the bugs, slowdown and apparent simplicity?

2. That being said, now that I have a 360 and am still interested in playing this game, do I need to/should I play Fable 2 first?

I played through the original on Xbox 1 but never touched Fable 2.
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My YouTube game videos!

[Peveus]

There is no reason to play Fable 2 first. They are connected only by the fact that you are the son/daughter of the Fable 2 hero, who is dead before Fable 3 starts. Only a couple of vague references are made to the previous game.

Play 3 first, it's much more refined (despite the slowdown).
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Currently Playing: Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

[Neonyx]

Depending on how long ago, and how much you remember from the original Fable, I'd still recommend playing II first. I remember seeing Oakvale in the second game for the first time and just thinking "Wow.. Look how it's changed.." It's a fantastic game, and it seems a lot longer than the third.

Also, is it just me, or did the dog in Fable III seem to just be there for the sake of it? I didn't feel anything for it this time.

[Peveus]

What? Fable III was way longer than 2 in my opinion, and I enjoyed it a heck of a lot more.

More important about the dog is that it was plain stupid, but yeah, it was just there. So? In II it's only purpose was to get killed...
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Currently Playing: Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

[Neonyx]

Nice work on the spoilers there.. It was meant to make you feel something, and it worked for me. It was a gut wrenching choice at the end deciding what to do. They did ruin it by allowing it to be brought back in the extra content though. It made the choice pointless.

The choices in III didn't have me worried about what I was doing. They thrust you into a choice which 'should' have been a difficult one far too soon.

Spoilers follow..

If they allowed you to build a relationship with the character first, made Elliot/Elise your companion for 1/4 or so of the game or had them pop up at regular intervals helping you, you'd feel more for them. Your choice would have been harder. If they had Logan kill Elliot/Elise/villagers closer to the time when you fight for the throne (or even during that sequence), I'm damn sure a lot more people would have killed Logan instead of going, "Meh.. It was ages ago.. I don't care anymore, didn't affect anything major." Sure, you may not have felt anything for the villagers, but having a major consequence follow the death of them would make it harder. Or even having another major character in their place would make it even worse. Especially if it changed something so drastically in the world and either made it possible or impossible to do certain things depending on what option you chose.

Anyway, each to their own. I still loved Fable III, regardless. Both of them had their good and bad points.

[Peveus]

When Fable II was in development Peter Molyneux ran around saying you're going to spend the game growing to love your dog - AND THEN ITS GOING TO DIE. AND ITS GOING TO TEAR YOUR HEART OUT.

He used that event to advertise the game, so I don't consider it spoilers
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Currently Playing: Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

[Neonyx]

Really?! Well, I went into the game not knowing that.. And as such, got very attached to the canine.

[Benza]

[Cerebral]

Is it me or did the developers really rush this game? There are so many bits (like, fairly important to the story) that just throw you into the middle of a scene where shit's already happening (the intro section included). I also got wrecked by the ending out of nowhere. It seems like half a game.

[Sinthesys]

I let my mate pick up the game towards the end and have a bit of play around with some balverines. He died, fucking up the achievement, and then went on to complete the autosave. What an ass. The game is nearly impossible to die in.

I might pick up the game at a later date and play through it again, solely as a magic user, but in my current playthrough (good king - I bought every property and used to to fill the kingdom's coffers.) I'm pretty close to opening every crate and finishing off every available quest, so I'm torn on whether or not I should start again. Overall, it's probably the best Fable game of the lot, but only slightly so. Fable II had a lot more comradery of characters and a harder, more varied list of enemies - Fable I even moreso. I felt like in this game, I was standing as a hero alone - And although that was true, it took out some of the really emotional character interactions, as you never really learn about and care about anyone other than your own character.

I felt the game was shorter too, or perhaps the missions just felt shorter, I'm not sure. Every quest seemed like they wanted me to solve some trivial social problem, or just hike through a cave. The sort of missions like in 2, Like Reaver's shadow demon mission were awesome, and the escape from his estate felt like I was charging through something, fighting for something, not just trying to slay countless enemies to get to the chest at the bottom. I yearned for more combat in this game, more interesting combat, more varied situations, scripted events that surprised me and more tough, ambiguous decisions. I felt that instead of trying to just make it intuitive (and intuitive only) so that anyone can pick up and play, they just made it so easy that it didn't matter whether you knew how to play or not. Enemies should be a test of skill, not a small wooden fence that you need to vault to get to the next fence. I felt like a badass for most of this game, but it all felt quite...useless. What's the point of getting a better weapon, or better ability when you can destroy everything with the most rudimentary of gear and without any skill? What's the point of levelling up if you don't need to be stronger? I used 1 weapon in that game: the bonecrusher pistol. I came across countless others, but it didn't seem to matter - one pistol was doing fine, even without it's upgrades. Basically, it felt hollow and useless to upgrade, as you could kill everything effortlessly regardless. It seemed like the rewards in that game were all aesthetic - there's no substance behind it.

Still, those are by far the most scathing criticisms I could muster about the game, and for the most part it was a very pleasant journey, filled with colourful, well voiced characters (often with quite expressive faces. Especially the sly smirks etc) wrapped up in a mythos and world that feels lively and real; I have come to love Albion and it's quaint inhabitants. If you are looking for a game equivalent of a popcorn flick, Fable's your man.
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GT: Da Herbalist - Keep on Choppin'

[Neonyx]

I played as a magic user and it was basically just a walk in the park. I've always used melee in the past, but I've never really been one to use the block button, so magic was just easier for me this time around.

Also.. Don't know if this is spoiler worth but.. Just in case.

When you had to make or change laws, did anyone else choose to remove the drinking limit? I did it purely for the supposed goodness in it, and the fact that people should be smart enough to know when to stop.. But now everyone is puking in the streets. Everything else is fine in the world, apart from that. It's feral walking around and seeing people swaying while they walk and stopping to vomit. -_-

[Karai Pantsu]

People play as different 'classes'?? Really? Wow. I found that, just over the course of normal play, (at least in 1 and 2) I'd end up leveling all systems pretty equally. In three I've been doing so by default, as there's no reason not to - in fact you're pretty much guided to doing so.

How odd.
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[Sinthesys]

You can save a lot of faffing about with fetch-quests and the like if you just go down one path, but you're right, you're pretty much given enough experience to unlock everything anyway. Although, as I said in my earlier post, you could be running around naked sneezing and enemies would die of the common cold before they could kill you.
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GT: Da Herbalist - Keep on Choppin'

[Karai Pantsu]

Yeah, I do wish that the game was harder - or at the very least had a difficulty select implemented. The combat system allows for some great looking action, but it all feels a bit hollow when there's no real threat of death.
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[Benza]

Dear Peter Moleneux...

What's with the hand holding stuff? I mean with the little girl ok it makes sense, when I have to escort a grown man though? It's kinda weird...
When I have to take an escaped prisoner back to the town guard... It's just stupid.

[Cian]

I never played the original but absolutely loved Fable II. I'm struggling to figure out what's wrong with Fable III. I haven't encountered too many bugs although it definitely lacks a bit of polish. Boring is the only way to describe the experience, there's just so much unnecessary crap that takes away from the 'magic feeling'. If anything, the biggest problem is the main character. I can't relate to him and he doesn't interest me in the slightest...

I'll finish it at some stage, but it hasn't hooked me like Fable II. Another disappointing 2010 title.
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