Fable 3
Step Forward in Storytelling, Status Quo in Combat, Step Backward as an RPG
Posted November 9, 2010
In Fable II, the fate of Albion rest in the hands of a predestined hero, sparking a quest to defeat the rule of a powerful, tyrannical villain. This hero weaves through the lovingly-crafted forests and cities of game designer Peter Molyneux's world, as he or she -- player's prerogative -- interacts with the citizens in pleasant or repugnant manners, ventures on dangerous missions, and develops their attributes towards becoming either a radiant or abhorred ruler of Albion. Though the Fable franchise has become synonymous with unfulfilled potential by delivering role-playing elements and moral complexity with a lack of dimension, Fable II still satisfies as an all-around charming experience filled with swords, sorcery and peril. Molyneux's Lionhead Studios follow the franchise's structure with Fable III, offering another engaging fray of combat and leveling-up within a gorgeous environment; however, it also sees further simplification that waters down its role-playing essence, a downgrade the series certainly didn't need.
Story and Atmosphere:
This time, the hero has a name. Not an actual name from our perspective, but a defined place in Albion instead of as an anonymous beggar from the streets. The hero is the sibling to Albion's oppressive ruler King Logan (Michael Fassbender), who lords over the land with an iron fist and a fondness for taxation. He's reviled by the community to a point where talk of revolution can be heard among the cities, yet his power ultimately seems too sturdy to be overthrown. From a young age, our soon-to-be-hero has been taught by a military captain, Walter (Bernard Hill), to wield a sword, growing with purpose as Logan's reign has festered. Eventually, after Logan crosses a personal boundary and demands an unreasonable decision out of his sibling, it becomes clear that the young hero must take the reins to lead a revolution and stand against their brother, but first must develop a network of allies to stand behind the cause.
As the hero sets on a course along Albion's roads, with their trusty battle-hungry dog along for the ride, the similar-yet-striking visual construction of Fable III really takes one aback -- even for those with experience in the world. Molyneux and Lionhead Studio have tempered the whimsy of its predecessor and constructed a more reality-bound look. The same loving craftsmanship can be seen in the bricks lining a road through Brightwall Village, the downtrodden path through a destitute icy village, and through the musty bowels of Bowerstone's industrial section, capturing an earthiness that didn't make itself as readily visible in the previous game. But once you reach Bowerstone Market, attached to the dock of its industrial counterpart, familiar elements like the clocktower and the bridge ease the culture shock within this new, grandly impressive scale. The Fable series has always boasted a rich artistic style, and that tradition carries over here with a more down-to-earth edge.
Along with discovering the importance of the hero's bloodline, the formation of bonds between leaders at the far corners of Albion becomes the crux to Fable III's storytelling. The hero travels from place to place and embarks on quests to prove their worth, while honing combat skill and interpersonal relations along the way. The fact that the hero comes from royal wealth has no bearing on their income, since the sibling essentially flew from the castle with only the clothes on their back and a few gold pieces. From there, talking with both common and important people becomes a vital factor in boosting the hero's stature, either by earning their favor through flattery and humor or reviling them with farts and belches. This becomes, in essence, a bit of a political campaign across the lands, instead of simply making friends and influencing people for kicks and giggles.
Our hero's growth into a leader takes on the form of an existential / metaphysical visage with The Road to Rule, an ethereal mist-covered path built by the Fable universe's familiar blind prophet. Gates block the path towards a shadow of Bowerstone Castle, each of which opens upon completing key moments in the hero's quest. This also becomes the point where the hero's skills can be tailored, done by spending experience "seals" earned through assorted activitiwa in Albion. Within each chest, the hero unlocks enhancements for combat, magical "gauntlets", relationship abilities, and boosts in job proficiency. Similarly to this, the hero also has a place to teleport in order to trade out weapons, clothing, and to fast-travel across the world, known as The Sanctuary. With the guidance of once-royal butler Jasper, voiced by John Cleese, the hero can change (and dye) clothing and other features in The Dressing Room, toggle weaponry in The Armory, see a visualization of their gold and trophies in The Treasury, and purchase items (with MS Points via XBOX Marketplace) in the Sanctuary Shop.
Gameplay Nuts and Bolts:
Because of The Road to Rule and The Sanctuary, which replace the static menu system for upgrading abilities and changing equipment, Fable III skews even further towards simplified action-adventure and away from complexity -- as hard as that may be to believe. It's here that the game also gets stripped of its role-playing aptitude, pretty much down to the bone. The Road to Rule becomes the prime culprit; all the experience earned across Albion feeds into a generic pool of experience points, which can be used to pop open the chests along the way without any specific bearing on color, type, or any other parameter. In effect, running into random encounters and slinging a sword or firing the gun can enhance the hero's ability to make pies and play the lute, while dancing with the villagers and squawking like a chicken can improve the hero's spellcasting abilities. Also, it doesn't cost money to change one's hair or remove tattoos, just a quick change in the dressing room via purchases already made. There's a limited realism in Fable II that's involving, achieved through increasing your wage at a job by hitting benchmarks through "hard work" and honing your skill with a particular weapon by using said weapon, not to mention the necessary troubles in paying for haircuts and other things. Dissembling those elements isn't removing the fat from the Fable infrastructure, but cutting into the flesh that makes it a distinct experience.
Combat remains engaging and a lot of fun, though, even if this new iteration's idea of enhanced difficulty is simply more enemies at a time. Sword-slingin' and spellcasting has always tip-toed along the line between straightforwardness and oversimplification in Molyneux's universe, and Fable III once again goes down that path. Different styles of attack are still mapped to individual buttons -- melee attack to X, gunfire attack to Y, and magic to B -- while just facing the opponent locks onto them for attack purposes, eliminating the need for a lock button. Each attack has a few added options, such as precise pistol-wielding with an over-the-shoulder aiming mechanism and the ability to concentrate a magical spell directly at an enemy instead of the stock circular area attack. The controls feel intuitive and familiar as a result, retaining the impressive fluidity from Fable II. To spice things up, there are several different weapons to choose from -- a two-handed hammer, a one-handed sword, a short-range pistol, and a long-range rifle -- that actually morph and improve with time depending on how the hero uses them. Other "legendary" weapons with added benefits can be located across Albion and within other friends' games, if the hero chooses not to use the gradually-upgrading weapons provided.
Magic usage has also been modified, introducing the idea of gauntlets. All the familiar elemental forces from the Fable universe -- starting with Fire, Ice, Wind, and Lightning, and eventually leading to Vortex, Push, and Blades -- are found within wrist guards that the hero wears along with their other equipment. Eventually, with an experience-bound upgrade, the powers can be combined into grand meta-spells. Fireballs can be accompanied by shards of ice that storm from the sky, while several ghostly blades can fall atop foes after a powerful force has propelled them away from the hero. A personal favorite comes in the basic yet effective combination of Ice and Lightning; the lightning shocks enemies in their place, while a persistent stream of ice shards dig into them. While it seems like the effects of elemental magic usage are pretty much limited to their basic properties (ice doesn't freeze an enemy and allow for extra fire damage), the various combinations do net some amusing and helpful effects. Be sure to play around with all the different combos once the option for mixing has been made available on The Road to Rule.
Upon the first face-to-faces you encounter, it's obvious that conversation and interaction have been whittled down and reconstructed from the already-limited assortment from Fable II. The opportunity to regale a crowd of townsfolk with on-the-fly dancing or heroic poses has been replaced strictly with one-on-one interaction. In theory, that's a decision towards realism, but it comes at a price; now our hero lifts both men and women up following a saucy dance and plays Pat-a-Cake to a grinning climax, but carries no way to woo a flock of people in a group. Escorting people across locations requires literal hand-holding with a person, whether they're a child or an adult. And, on top of all that, the only way that these people will become tried-and-true friends -- or even lovers, spouses, or bearers of children -- is after you've done a quest for them, usually a "fetch" mission (game's words, not mine). Sure, it opens up a plethora of opportunities to travel between points and locate items, since nearly every villager in the game has a task that requires your service, but there's little satisfaction in it since these quests mostly consist of either dropping off a package or digging up artifacts scattered across the land. Also, the fact that the hero's popularity can't generate automatic friendship or adoration without locating some random item is fundamentally bizarre.
To be frank, the bulk of Fable III's simulation simply doesn't grab enough attention to flow along with the invigorated storytelling, and that's coming from someone who got blackmailed for engaging in polygamy and mastered the art of wood-chopping in Fable II. Building romantic relationships consist of taking the "object of your affection" by the hand and dragging them along on a date, then tickling (yes, tickling) them through the interaction menu until they fall in love with the hero -- and remember, this is after the required, initial friend-making fetch quest. Weddings and divorces naturally make a return, adding the elements of paying for a ceremony and divvying up wealth after the morality-lowering act of divorcing one's spouse. And, of course, your four-legged canine companion still develops his skills through experience and can be taught new tricks by reading books, while having the ability to be named, yet there's next to no connection with him due to a lack of introduction.
Then, there's the business of making and spending money. The job framework at all the money-making spots -- no matter if it's as a lute player, a blacksmith, or a pie maker -- now operates like a Guitar Hero timed button-mash sequence, allowing each hit to coordinate with a anvil strike or the thrust of a rolling pin. It's worth noting that the jobs net a much healthier sum of money this time around, spiking considerably with each chest opened on The Road to Rule. Also, the places where the hero can sell his goods have been limited to that of one pawn broker in each town, instead of being able to buy and sell with most of the store owners. Real-estate dealings have seen an uptick via the Sanctuary's map, in that the hero can simply purchase, sell, or pay "restoration" upkeep fees for the homes from an easy-to-navigate visualization of each house. None of these bones, bits and pieces have the same carriage from Fable II, instead feeling even more like amusing, obligatory distractions. But maybe those are just the words of someone burned out on the same type of Fable shenanigans.
Fable III's superb voice acting comes exceptionally close to covering up its wishy-washy mannerisms, giving the storytelling an added cinematic thrust that makes an admirable attempt at delivering an evocative punch. Not just the big players, either; each of the villagers amusingly deliver their quirky banter, while also exerting a twinge of heartache as they beg for gold and mumble about the harsh times. Yet it's natural to be drawn to the big-hitter names in the game, which range from Stephen Fry's return to the series as industrial tycoon Reaver, Michael Fassbender as slithery tyrant Logan, 28 Days Later star Naomie Harris as revolution leader Page, and a small part from Ben Kingsley as the gruff little frost-covered ruler Sabine. But the biggest surprise comes in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz star Simon Pegg's delivery as Ben Finn. It's a second-tier part as one of the last remaining soldiers of a regiment that the hero saves, but Pegg's vocals are so balanced that I kept forgetting that the star was playing the character.
But a series of odd glitches scuff up the experience from Fable III, and though they're not of the same caliber of Fallout: New Vegas in regards to corrupt data and inability to complete missions, they can still frustrate. When hitting the anvil or playing the lute at a job, the ticker that goes over specific colors for a button-mash lags to a point that makes precision difficult at higher speeds. The dog randomly picks up the trail of treasure and dig spots and barks at the hero, yet there's frequently nothing to be found in the area. Your loyal companion also randomly gets stuck in odd locations, such as on top of railing and such, that leaves them behind at quite a distance. Perhaps the most infuriating is the erratic flow of the sparkling "gold stream" that leads the hero from place to place, something incredible stable in Fable II; oftentimes, the trail will just disappear, when in other cases it actually leads the hero in the wrong direction -- several times off a cliff or into the unavailable landscape. Most of these things can be hopefully be eradicated with a patch, but they're still present as of this writing.
Ultimately, Fable III still retains enough of the aesthetic pleasure, the engaging sword-'n-sorcery combat, the humor, and the flare for storytelling to make this tale of revolution an engaging experience in the same vein as its predecessor, yet the dulled edge and lack of polish cannot be ignored. There are great moments in this trip through Albion; traveling to the sandy outskirts of Aurora offers a surprising onslaught of both thrills and genuine scares that come close to matching the gut-swelling twist in the previous game, while the grand-scale battles that occur at several key moments -- including the revolution itself -- grasp a cinematic quality that truly propels the experience forward. Several side missions also deliver both thrills and a few laughs, especially two memorable outings that revolve around a pair of wayward ghosts and a pack of magicians cooking up a Dungeons & Dragons knock-off game. And though there are some overall structural issues with simplicity and the time flow once you're navigating through the game in the wake of Logan's defeat, Molyneux and crew do provoke some interesting, if heavy-handed, thought about running a kingdom/government.
About the Second Half (Mild Spoilers):
Molyneux made it very clear that he intended for there to be two focal parts to Fable III: the road towards revolution, and what the hero (read: you) would actually do once given the chance to be ruler of Albion. Without saying too much about the situation surrounding it, the gist is that the hero has a year to prove their worth, make dramatic changes to the world, and balance the budget of Albion in preparation for hard times. Making decisions about allocations and reform sounds like a clever, timely concept, and it is, yet the severe black-and-white nature of it -- as well as the unpredictable time progression through the year -- dilutes the experience. Yes, some hard moral choices are posed that tap into current situations, and the choices made will shape the face of Albion, but the blunt nature of the situations again makes the decision-making in the game feel rigid and confined. You'll likely find yourself thinking, "Oh, well here's how I'd really allocate our resources", when that option's clearly not available.
For instance, when provoked to restore an orphanage, there are only two options: either restore the building, or erect a brothel in its place that'll fill the kingdom's treasury. The rest of the situations aren't quite that drastic, and a few of the secondary choices around tax percentage and alcohol consumption are a little more versatile, yet all the big throne-room decisions are lacking in middle ground or "status quo". The one solidly-realized idea comes in the ability to transfer funds from the hero's personal account to and from the treasury, offering the option for income earned through rental properties, quests, and jobs to feed directly into the kingdom's needs via your own pocket -- or the option to steal from it. And before you know it, once you've completed a day in the life of a king, the time might jump forward a month, two months, or even four, so play judiciously. It can be avoided by playing carefully and venturing out in the middle of the hero's royal "itinerary", but the jerkiness of its progression (especially with the massive leap at the end) can be infuriating.
Graphics and Sound:
In short, Fable III is a gorgeous game. The textures rendered are intricate and impressive, showing great depth and expansiveness when peering through the streets of Brightwall Village or glancing into the high-points of Bowerstone Industrial. Little elements are more interesting and semi-realistic this time around, like the griminess of traveling through sewers and tree density in the wilderness. It's not without issues; from a visual standpoint, the only real blemish comes in some healthy jaggedness seen on contours at many points. However, some distinct lag in motion intermittently crops up when walking around. Oddly, it doesn't seem to affect any points in battle, only when moving through cities. The blasts of motion during battles, however, are smooth and jitter-free, exerting aggressive motion with no pixels out of place. While the in-game cutscenes show off a pretty stark gap in quality in comparison to the full-on cinematics, they still appear apt enough when rendering the hero's assorted differences in clothing and what not.
Fable III sounds great, too. All the robust sounds of Albion carry through with a wide range of sound effects; clanking swords ring through the speakers in crisp fashion, while punchy bass pounds amid potent spells and other boisterous explosions. Lionhead Studios also incorporate an accurate, dynamic sound stage that involves elements pouring in from several directions, which can be fully appreciated by standing in the center of a town (try either Brightwall or Bowerstone Industrial) and doing a 360-degree spin. Small sound elements and voices alike will engulf the area. But, naturally, the big draw comes in the vocal quality, which all sounds perfectly audible and velvety. Simon Pegg and Michael Fassbenter's voices brush against the bass channel intermittently, exceptionally riding along that mid-range tenor level. A few instances do pop up here and there with temporary audio drop-off, occurring when the game's running off of the disc and when installed. Frustratingly, about halfway through the game, Jasper (aka John Cleese, one of the game's sources of star power) ceases to speak, except in game-forced situations. Hopefully a patch will come along to iron that point out. Aside from a handful of intermittent hiccups, though, it's a great-sounding game.
Longevity and Co-Op:
Fable III's overall length will largely depend on how much enjoyment one gets in the actual grinding experience, and whether the abundance of fetch missions will wear on the nerves or not -- and, frankly, it did grow tiresome, much quicker than with the second Fable iteration. Reasonably plowing through the game from start to finish should net between 15-20 hours of game time, all depending on how much time falls on working at jobs, indulging in a relationship, organizing a real-estate enterprise, and questing for money once the second half of the game arrives. Of course, there are a ton of secondary elements that'll eat up even more time; locating legendary weapons, shooting downgargoyles gnomes scattered across Albion, accessing all of the demon gates, collecting and dyeing clothing, and gathering together gold and silver keys for chests will occupy plenty of hours for the willing. Just like with Fable II, there are essentially three different types of achievements: story-based, collection-based, and random. It's impossible to reach 100% on the achievements, however, without venturing into another player's game via co-op. Collecting all of the legendary weapons will not be possible unless you access a buddy's area, nor (obviously) will the achievements involving marrying and having a child with another player over Xbox Live.
Speaking of co-op, Fable III comes with a fully-integrated two-player setup that allows easy in-and-out participation with another player, either online or off the hard drive. This option was available in Fable II, but the second player was forced to choose between a roster of stock heroes. This time around, full characters can be created and used, allowing cross-integration with other saved games. Money and items can be gifted at this point, while relationships can be established. The game's navigation depends on the first-person's controls, with the "guest" not having the ability to change camera angles and whatnot. Both sets of dogs walk around, both players have access to their inventories, and all the other trappings of a full character come along for the ride. Online friend management is done in the Sanctuary Giftshop, where you can also monitor stats and check out activity. Again, the storytelling's going to be limited to just the "host" hero, but the implementation of on-the-fly two-player gaming ain't too shabby this time around.
Conclusion:
Where Fable II's mix of streamlined role-playing and fluid combat came together into a highly satisfying, fantastical experience that's to be taken with a grain of salt, Fable III's higher-brow storytelling concept delivers a shakier experience due to a simplified upgrade structure and slippery realism-geared alterations. It's safe to say that those who didn't dig the second will not find enough different in the third to alter their opinion, since they're roughly the same experience. Fans of the series, however, will still enjoy a similarly involving trek across Albion, but it's not without drawbacks that detract from its charm. Still, there's a strong concept at its core, a plentiful amount of aggressive combat, and a sublime fantasy-bound environment to trail through in the process, all building to a clunky but compelling second-half of the game that adds an extra wallop of justification behind the vibrant leveling-up. It still comes Recommended, but not with the same level of energy as its predecessor.
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Story and Atmosphere:
This time, the hero has a name. Not an actual name from our perspective, but a defined place in Albion instead of as an anonymous beggar from the streets. The hero is the sibling to Albion's oppressive ruler King Logan (Michael Fassbender), who lords over the land with an iron fist and a fondness for taxation. He's reviled by the community to a point where talk of revolution can be heard among the cities, yet his power ultimately seems too sturdy to be overthrown. From a young age, our soon-to-be-hero has been taught by a military captain, Walter (Bernard Hill), to wield a sword, growing with purpose as Logan's reign has festered. Eventually, after Logan crosses a personal boundary and demands an unreasonable decision out of his sibling, it becomes clear that the young hero must take the reins to lead a revolution and stand against their brother, but first must develop a network of allies to stand behind the cause.
As the hero sets on a course along Albion's roads, with their trusty battle-hungry dog along for the ride, the similar-yet-striking visual construction of Fable III really takes one aback -- even for those with experience in the world. Molyneux and Lionhead Studio have tempered the whimsy of its predecessor and constructed a more reality-bound look. The same loving craftsmanship can be seen in the bricks lining a road through Brightwall Village, the downtrodden path through a destitute icy village, and through the musty bowels of Bowerstone's industrial section, capturing an earthiness that didn't make itself as readily visible in the previous game. But once you reach Bowerstone Market, attached to the dock of its industrial counterpart, familiar elements like the clocktower and the bridge ease the culture shock within this new, grandly impressive scale. The Fable series has always boasted a rich artistic style, and that tradition carries over here with a more down-to-earth edge.
Along with discovering the importance of the hero's bloodline, the formation of bonds between leaders at the far corners of Albion becomes the crux to Fable III's storytelling. The hero travels from place to place and embarks on quests to prove their worth, while honing combat skill and interpersonal relations along the way. The fact that the hero comes from royal wealth has no bearing on their income, since the sibling essentially flew from the castle with only the clothes on their back and a few gold pieces. From there, talking with both common and important people becomes a vital factor in boosting the hero's stature, either by earning their favor through flattery and humor or reviling them with farts and belches. This becomes, in essence, a bit of a political campaign across the lands, instead of simply making friends and influencing people for kicks and giggles.
Our hero's growth into a leader takes on the form of an existential / metaphysical visage with The Road to Rule, an ethereal mist-covered path built by the Fable universe's familiar blind prophet. Gates block the path towards a shadow of Bowerstone Castle, each of which opens upon completing key moments in the hero's quest. This also becomes the point where the hero's skills can be tailored, done by spending experience "seals" earned through assorted activitiwa in Albion. Within each chest, the hero unlocks enhancements for combat, magical "gauntlets", relationship abilities, and boosts in job proficiency. Similarly to this, the hero also has a place to teleport in order to trade out weapons, clothing, and to fast-travel across the world, known as The Sanctuary. With the guidance of once-royal butler Jasper, voiced by John Cleese, the hero can change (and dye) clothing and other features in The Dressing Room, toggle weaponry in The Armory, see a visualization of their gold and trophies in The Treasury, and purchase items (with MS Points via XBOX Marketplace) in the Sanctuary Shop.
Gameplay Nuts and Bolts:
Because of The Road to Rule and The Sanctuary, which replace the static menu system for upgrading abilities and changing equipment, Fable III skews even further towards simplified action-adventure and away from complexity -- as hard as that may be to believe. It's here that the game also gets stripped of its role-playing aptitude, pretty much down to the bone. The Road to Rule becomes the prime culprit; all the experience earned across Albion feeds into a generic pool of experience points, which can be used to pop open the chests along the way without any specific bearing on color, type, or any other parameter. In effect, running into random encounters and slinging a sword or firing the gun can enhance the hero's ability to make pies and play the lute, while dancing with the villagers and squawking like a chicken can improve the hero's spellcasting abilities. Also, it doesn't cost money to change one's hair or remove tattoos, just a quick change in the dressing room via purchases already made. There's a limited realism in Fable II that's involving, achieved through increasing your wage at a job by hitting benchmarks through "hard work" and honing your skill with a particular weapon by using said weapon, not to mention the necessary troubles in paying for haircuts and other things. Dissembling those elements isn't removing the fat from the Fable infrastructure, but cutting into the flesh that makes it a distinct experience.
Combat remains engaging and a lot of fun, though, even if this new iteration's idea of enhanced difficulty is simply more enemies at a time. Sword-slingin' and spellcasting has always tip-toed along the line between straightforwardness and oversimplification in Molyneux's universe, and Fable III once again goes down that path. Different styles of attack are still mapped to individual buttons -- melee attack to X, gunfire attack to Y, and magic to B -- while just facing the opponent locks onto them for attack purposes, eliminating the need for a lock button. Each attack has a few added options, such as precise pistol-wielding with an over-the-shoulder aiming mechanism and the ability to concentrate a magical spell directly at an enemy instead of the stock circular area attack. The controls feel intuitive and familiar as a result, retaining the impressive fluidity from Fable II. To spice things up, there are several different weapons to choose from -- a two-handed hammer, a one-handed sword, a short-range pistol, and a long-range rifle -- that actually morph and improve with time depending on how the hero uses them. Other "legendary" weapons with added benefits can be located across Albion and within other friends' games, if the hero chooses not to use the gradually-upgrading weapons provided.
Magic usage has also been modified, introducing the idea of gauntlets. All the familiar elemental forces from the Fable universe -- starting with Fire, Ice, Wind, and Lightning, and eventually leading to Vortex, Push, and Blades -- are found within wrist guards that the hero wears along with their other equipment. Eventually, with an experience-bound upgrade, the powers can be combined into grand meta-spells. Fireballs can be accompanied by shards of ice that storm from the sky, while several ghostly blades can fall atop foes after a powerful force has propelled them away from the hero. A personal favorite comes in the basic yet effective combination of Ice and Lightning; the lightning shocks enemies in their place, while a persistent stream of ice shards dig into them. While it seems like the effects of elemental magic usage are pretty much limited to their basic properties (ice doesn't freeze an enemy and allow for extra fire damage), the various combinations do net some amusing and helpful effects. Be sure to play around with all the different combos once the option for mixing has been made available on The Road to Rule.
Upon the first face-to-faces you encounter, it's obvious that conversation and interaction have been whittled down and reconstructed from the already-limited assortment from Fable II. The opportunity to regale a crowd of townsfolk with on-the-fly dancing or heroic poses has been replaced strictly with one-on-one interaction. In theory, that's a decision towards realism, but it comes at a price; now our hero lifts both men and women up following a saucy dance and plays Pat-a-Cake to a grinning climax, but carries no way to woo a flock of people in a group. Escorting people across locations requires literal hand-holding with a person, whether they're a child or an adult. And, on top of all that, the only way that these people will become tried-and-true friends -- or even lovers, spouses, or bearers of children -- is after you've done a quest for them, usually a "fetch" mission (game's words, not mine). Sure, it opens up a plethora of opportunities to travel between points and locate items, since nearly every villager in the game has a task that requires your service, but there's little satisfaction in it since these quests mostly consist of either dropping off a package or digging up artifacts scattered across the land. Also, the fact that the hero's popularity can't generate automatic friendship or adoration without locating some random item is fundamentally bizarre.
To be frank, the bulk of Fable III's simulation simply doesn't grab enough attention to flow along with the invigorated storytelling, and that's coming from someone who got blackmailed for engaging in polygamy and mastered the art of wood-chopping in Fable II. Building romantic relationships consist of taking the "object of your affection" by the hand and dragging them along on a date, then tickling (yes, tickling) them through the interaction menu until they fall in love with the hero -- and remember, this is after the required, initial friend-making fetch quest. Weddings and divorces naturally make a return, adding the elements of paying for a ceremony and divvying up wealth after the morality-lowering act of divorcing one's spouse. And, of course, your four-legged canine companion still develops his skills through experience and can be taught new tricks by reading books, while having the ability to be named, yet there's next to no connection with him due to a lack of introduction.
Then, there's the business of making and spending money. The job framework at all the money-making spots -- no matter if it's as a lute player, a blacksmith, or a pie maker -- now operates like a Guitar Hero timed button-mash sequence, allowing each hit to coordinate with a anvil strike or the thrust of a rolling pin. It's worth noting that the jobs net a much healthier sum of money this time around, spiking considerably with each chest opened on The Road to Rule. Also, the places where the hero can sell his goods have been limited to that of one pawn broker in each town, instead of being able to buy and sell with most of the store owners. Real-estate dealings have seen an uptick via the Sanctuary's map, in that the hero can simply purchase, sell, or pay "restoration" upkeep fees for the homes from an easy-to-navigate visualization of each house. None of these bones, bits and pieces have the same carriage from Fable II, instead feeling even more like amusing, obligatory distractions. But maybe those are just the words of someone burned out on the same type of Fable shenanigans.
Fable III's superb voice acting comes exceptionally close to covering up its wishy-washy mannerisms, giving the storytelling an added cinematic thrust that makes an admirable attempt at delivering an evocative punch. Not just the big players, either; each of the villagers amusingly deliver their quirky banter, while also exerting a twinge of heartache as they beg for gold and mumble about the harsh times. Yet it's natural to be drawn to the big-hitter names in the game, which range from Stephen Fry's return to the series as industrial tycoon Reaver, Michael Fassbender as slithery tyrant Logan, 28 Days Later star Naomie Harris as revolution leader Page, and a small part from Ben Kingsley as the gruff little frost-covered ruler Sabine. But the biggest surprise comes in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz star Simon Pegg's delivery as Ben Finn. It's a second-tier part as one of the last remaining soldiers of a regiment that the hero saves, but Pegg's vocals are so balanced that I kept forgetting that the star was playing the character.
But a series of odd glitches scuff up the experience from Fable III, and though they're not of the same caliber of Fallout: New Vegas in regards to corrupt data and inability to complete missions, they can still frustrate. When hitting the anvil or playing the lute at a job, the ticker that goes over specific colors for a button-mash lags to a point that makes precision difficult at higher speeds. The dog randomly picks up the trail of treasure and dig spots and barks at the hero, yet there's frequently nothing to be found in the area. Your loyal companion also randomly gets stuck in odd locations, such as on top of railing and such, that leaves them behind at quite a distance. Perhaps the most infuriating is the erratic flow of the sparkling "gold stream" that leads the hero from place to place, something incredible stable in Fable II; oftentimes, the trail will just disappear, when in other cases it actually leads the hero in the wrong direction -- several times off a cliff or into the unavailable landscape. Most of these things can be hopefully be eradicated with a patch, but they're still present as of this writing.
Ultimately, Fable III still retains enough of the aesthetic pleasure, the engaging sword-'n-sorcery combat, the humor, and the flare for storytelling to make this tale of revolution an engaging experience in the same vein as its predecessor, yet the dulled edge and lack of polish cannot be ignored. There are great moments in this trip through Albion; traveling to the sandy outskirts of Aurora offers a surprising onslaught of both thrills and genuine scares that come close to matching the gut-swelling twist in the previous game, while the grand-scale battles that occur at several key moments -- including the revolution itself -- grasp a cinematic quality that truly propels the experience forward. Several side missions also deliver both thrills and a few laughs, especially two memorable outings that revolve around a pair of wayward ghosts and a pack of magicians cooking up a Dungeons & Dragons knock-off game. And though there are some overall structural issues with simplicity and the time flow once you're navigating through the game in the wake of Logan's defeat, Molyneux and crew do provoke some interesting, if heavy-handed, thought about running a kingdom/government.
About the Second Half (Mild Spoilers):
Molyneux made it very clear that he intended for there to be two focal parts to Fable III: the road towards revolution, and what the hero (read: you) would actually do once given the chance to be ruler of Albion. Without saying too much about the situation surrounding it, the gist is that the hero has a year to prove their worth, make dramatic changes to the world, and balance the budget of Albion in preparation for hard times. Making decisions about allocations and reform sounds like a clever, timely concept, and it is, yet the severe black-and-white nature of it -- as well as the unpredictable time progression through the year -- dilutes the experience. Yes, some hard moral choices are posed that tap into current situations, and the choices made will shape the face of Albion, but the blunt nature of the situations again makes the decision-making in the game feel rigid and confined. You'll likely find yourself thinking, "Oh, well here's how I'd really allocate our resources", when that option's clearly not available.
For instance, when provoked to restore an orphanage, there are only two options: either restore the building, or erect a brothel in its place that'll fill the kingdom's treasury. The rest of the situations aren't quite that drastic, and a few of the secondary choices around tax percentage and alcohol consumption are a little more versatile, yet all the big throne-room decisions are lacking in middle ground or "status quo". The one solidly-realized idea comes in the ability to transfer funds from the hero's personal account to and from the treasury, offering the option for income earned through rental properties, quests, and jobs to feed directly into the kingdom's needs via your own pocket -- or the option to steal from it. And before you know it, once you've completed a day in the life of a king, the time might jump forward a month, two months, or even four, so play judiciously. It can be avoided by playing carefully and venturing out in the middle of the hero's royal "itinerary", but the jerkiness of its progression (especially with the massive leap at the end) can be infuriating.
Graphics and Sound:
In short, Fable III is a gorgeous game. The textures rendered are intricate and impressive, showing great depth and expansiveness when peering through the streets of Brightwall Village or glancing into the high-points of Bowerstone Industrial. Little elements are more interesting and semi-realistic this time around, like the griminess of traveling through sewers and tree density in the wilderness. It's not without issues; from a visual standpoint, the only real blemish comes in some healthy jaggedness seen on contours at many points. However, some distinct lag in motion intermittently crops up when walking around. Oddly, it doesn't seem to affect any points in battle, only when moving through cities. The blasts of motion during battles, however, are smooth and jitter-free, exerting aggressive motion with no pixels out of place. While the in-game cutscenes show off a pretty stark gap in quality in comparison to the full-on cinematics, they still appear apt enough when rendering the hero's assorted differences in clothing and what not.
Fable III sounds great, too. All the robust sounds of Albion carry through with a wide range of sound effects; clanking swords ring through the speakers in crisp fashion, while punchy bass pounds amid potent spells and other boisterous explosions. Lionhead Studios also incorporate an accurate, dynamic sound stage that involves elements pouring in from several directions, which can be fully appreciated by standing in the center of a town (try either Brightwall or Bowerstone Industrial) and doing a 360-degree spin. Small sound elements and voices alike will engulf the area. But, naturally, the big draw comes in the vocal quality, which all sounds perfectly audible and velvety. Simon Pegg and Michael Fassbenter's voices brush against the bass channel intermittently, exceptionally riding along that mid-range tenor level. A few instances do pop up here and there with temporary audio drop-off, occurring when the game's running off of the disc and when installed. Frustratingly, about halfway through the game, Jasper (aka John Cleese, one of the game's sources of star power) ceases to speak, except in game-forced situations. Hopefully a patch will come along to iron that point out. Aside from a handful of intermittent hiccups, though, it's a great-sounding game.
Longevity and Co-Op:
Fable III's overall length will largely depend on how much enjoyment one gets in the actual grinding experience, and whether the abundance of fetch missions will wear on the nerves or not -- and, frankly, it did grow tiresome, much quicker than with the second Fable iteration. Reasonably plowing through the game from start to finish should net between 15-20 hours of game time, all depending on how much time falls on working at jobs, indulging in a relationship, organizing a real-estate enterprise, and questing for money once the second half of the game arrives. Of course, there are a ton of secondary elements that'll eat up even more time; locating legendary weapons, shooting down
Speaking of co-op, Fable III comes with a fully-integrated two-player setup that allows easy in-and-out participation with another player, either online or off the hard drive. This option was available in Fable II, but the second player was forced to choose between a roster of stock heroes. This time around, full characters can be created and used, allowing cross-integration with other saved games. Money and items can be gifted at this point, while relationships can be established. The game's navigation depends on the first-person's controls, with the "guest" not having the ability to change camera angles and whatnot. Both sets of dogs walk around, both players have access to their inventories, and all the other trappings of a full character come along for the ride. Online friend management is done in the Sanctuary Giftshop, where you can also monitor stats and check out activity. Again, the storytelling's going to be limited to just the "host" hero, but the implementation of on-the-fly two-player gaming ain't too shabby this time around.
Conclusion:
Where Fable II's mix of streamlined role-playing and fluid combat came together into a highly satisfying, fantastical experience that's to be taken with a grain of salt, Fable III's higher-brow storytelling concept delivers a shakier experience due to a simplified upgrade structure and slippery realism-geared alterations. It's safe to say that those who didn't dig the second will not find enough different in the third to alter their opinion, since they're roughly the same experience. Fans of the series, however, will still enjoy a similarly involving trek across Albion, but it's not without drawbacks that detract from its charm. Still, there's a strong concept at its core, a plentiful amount of aggressive combat, and a sublime fantasy-bound environment to trail through in the process, all building to a clunky but compelling second-half of the game that adds an extra wallop of justification behind the vibrant leveling-up. It still comes Recommended, but not with the same level of energy as its predecessor.
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