Fable

[dave heats]

Was working in GAME today and another member of staff mentioned that Fable is now due out on the 1st of October rather than the 8th. If this is true, then the 1st is going to be a damn expensive day.

[MonkeyWrench]

Mine arrived yesterday and I've put in a fair few hours. It's a slow starter, but things really start to pick up once you've left the heroes guild, only then does it's open ended nature start to shine through. Although I must admit I was expecting a more seamless experience along the lines of Morrowind, but that being said I don't think the loading is all that bad, especially when what it's loading is so damn gorgeous. Like most other people here I really like the fairy tale haze to the graphics. Right...time to get back ti ridding the land of evil...

[skaffen]

Got to respond to the guy saying the graphics are poor: Fable is an unquestionably beautiful game.

It certainly doesn't look unfinished, it looks like a huge amount of care and attention has gone in to the way it looks. The constantly changing colour of the landscape is very effective (shadows from clouds are constantly moving over the terrain), the layout of buildings and objects is very natural and everything has been aged well. For an image constructed of polygons there's barely a straight line to be seen, or at least noticed, it feels organic and everything feels solid, no cardboard cutouts in sight. Oh, and the vegetation is, IMO, pretty astonishing, every leaf, branch and flower has a physical presence which, as someone else has said, really adds to the feeling of being there.

Also, and this might be a little controversial, it is also utterly non-linear in nature. There is a single (linear) storyline around which everything else is loosly structured. Thus: if you have no imagination whatsoever and just do the bare minimum to 'complete' the game you will get a reasonably short linear experience, but to do that is to fail to understand the game in any meaningful way and renders criticism of these elements useless. From the word go you have loads of choices, and that means non-linearity. The basic choice you get is wether you choose to avoid making any choices and do the minimum the game asks you to get to the end or take advantage of the very complex world you've been given and explore the huge amount of things to do that aren't directly related to the central, linear, story. That's kind of the point of the game... maybe we're just so trained to try and 'beat' the game that's all we can do, so when one comes along that gives other stuff to do, genuine decisions to make and enjoy, we're left floundering without a clear instruction as to what to do next... bit of shame really.

And a quick disclaimer: the choices that don't relate directly to the main story, do affect your character, and your character inevitably effects how you play the main story, so its not like there is even a distinct line between the elements of the game that are linear and those that aren't.

I just don't get a lot of the criticism of this game. Its a really well produced, original, complex game but either people have got their knickers in a twist because it doesn't fit their fantasy of what it might have been, or they don't have a very good idea about how they should play it. Its a real shame. Stuff like this should be celebrated for being exceptional.

[Concept]

I just don't get a lot of the criticism of this game. Its a really well produced, original, complex game but either people have got their knickers in a twist because it doesn't fit their fantasy of what it might have been, or they don't have a very good idea about how they should play it. Its a real shame. Stuff like this should be celebrated for being exceptional.

I think the reason people are criticial as of this moment is due to the pre-release publicity by Molyneux early on during the game's conceptual days. You know... If Fable had hit us like ICO - Coming from out of nowhere without much pre-release hype, then I think people would be overjoyed with the final product.

It's this hypothesising of all these wonderous elements during the game's creation which didn't quite make it into the final product that's risen cynicism. At least from my view.

Personally, I'm going to try and take Fable for what it is - Not what it could have been.

That's the kind of criticism which ruined the overall perception of Shenmue (and unjustly so) in my opinion too.

[skaffen]

And one more thing: to anyone anticipating getting some enjoyment from this title, don't, whatever you do, go to the message board on Gamefaqs. The stench of sheer stupidity wafts from that place before you've event loaded the first of the 170 or so pages of threads that just repeat the same dumb questions over and over and over and there is so much unjustified bile and vitriol shouted its truely depressing.

[Concept]

I think it's taken as a given that 90% of the boards on FAQ spout irritating incomprehensible forum members a lot of the time. I try not to visit the site's BBS system unless I have to , because the risk for spoiler-ridden thread titles is often very high.

[EvilBoris]

I want mine too

DAMN YOU VG+ / POSTAL SERVICE!

[Prine]

some peopleover rllmuk forums have confirmed NTSC fable is region free. He's playing it on his PAL XBox!

[mezzanine]

Well, an hour into the game I thought I was playing a mundane action RPG... but it really grows on you.

[Leon Retro]

I think the reason people are criticial as of this moment is due to the pre-release publicity by Molyneux early on during the game's conceptual days. You know... If Fable had hit us like ICO - Coming from out of nowhere without much pre-release hype, then I think people would be overjoyed with the final product.

It's this hypothesising of all these wonderous elements during the game's creation which didn't quite make it into the final product that's risen cynicism. At least from my view.

Personally, I'm going to try and take Fable for what it is - Not what it could have been.

That's the kind of criticism which ruined the overall perception of Shenmue (and unjustly so) in my opinion too.

Imo, if Fable had come out of nowhere, it would probably sell a tiny amount.

Games like this need a lot of hype and I reckon the developers have done a good job of this, I suppose it helps having an intriguing design concept aswell.

I do agree to an certain extent with your view but hype is always a double-edged sword, it seems as if Fable has more positives than negatives and therefore the developers deserve a reward for a game thats hype for once wasn't shallow.

[Concept]

I'm not dismissing Fable at all - I'm just explaining what I think some of the reasons are for parts of the critical reception the game appears to have received in some quarters.

I wasn't talking about sales figures when I mentioned hype, more the fact that people wouldn't have had promises which haven't been delivered to judge it against. The game could be then taken on its own merits more easily.

Personally, I can't say if the hype is shallow or not at this point having not played the game. I do believe however if Molyenux hadn't promised as much as he did in the beginning, a healthy amount of hype could have still been maintained, without the inevitable backlash by people who are wary of things which can't be delivered yet.

[Leon Retro]

People that have analysed the previews and all the hype regarding fable will probably have some negative issues with the game.

The average gamer that has heard about the concept of choosing a path of good or evil and all the other nuisances of the gameplay will probably be more easy going on the title and that?s why we need a degree of hype, because some of it is true and this filters down to consumer and gets them interested.

At the end of the day though it?s still a title that people won't buy unless they have read some good reviews. Games like TombRaider and Driver sell on name alone but for a new RPG it?s hard to inspire the average gamer.

It sounds as if Fable is such a a nice game and though it doesn't live up to the hype 100%, it is still a game that deliver a lot of its promise.

Maybe if ICO had been given more coverage and Sony had found away to promote it, then it may have sold more healthily.

[JRMacumber]

The further I play it, the more it's charms woo me. The pros outweight the cons, the positives the negatives, and thus far I've really fallen in love with it. It is an RPG unlike any I've played before, in that it is purely inspired by the Brothers Grimm and other European fairy tales. The environments and characters are so incredibly detailed, and the weather effects are a very nice touch. It all feels so surreal, and yet immediate. I wish the combat were a bit more of a snap (creating a toggle to completely disable the targeting of non-enemies would have really been nice), and the menus a tad less cumbersome, but all that is overcome by the big and little things that the game brings to the table. The tattoos, the hairstyles, the customizable outfits and weapons, the experience system, etc. It all just adds up to a rich and detailed experience. It is really so so charming...

[Kevvy Metal]

Would anyone be able to def confirm that this runs in a unmodded PAL xbox?
It would be much appreciated I would love to get this game early, even if it is only a few weeks (^_^)

[Zapp$ter]

I haven't been following the Xbox scene or this game for a long time. Wasn't this the game that was hyped as being the greatest RPG ever or something to that degree?