[360] Fable III

[kagemaru]

There are only 3 things I didn't like about Fable 3.
1. The expression wheel and system from Fable 2 is better. This is a step backwards
2. Technical issues. In the beginning the game has severe slowdowns and yet somehow as I played more, the gameplay got smoother. The slowdown became less and less even though I was in the same area and generally asking more from the system (super spell and such)
3. Glitches. While I'm lucky to have only experienced the mute butler glitch, others have not been as lucky.

If anyone is playing through as a pure good character, money is you best friend.

I agree with this man.

Honestly, I don't remember any previous Fable game with this amount of technical issues. Everything from the moments of severe slowdowns for no good reason to game stopping glitches.

My first glitched experience happened during the tutorial of how to select villagers who have quests for you in the world map. Once I zoomed in on Brightwall, all of my button prompts disappeared. I couldn't back out, I couldn't hit "A" to select a villager (even though I could hover the magnifying glass on them), and I couldn't fast travel anywhere. I was stuck.

The second game stopping glitch I ran into was the game completely locking up right as I was trying to have sex for the first time in the game.

Another thing, and I'm not sure if I'm plowing through the game faster than I did in Fable 2, but the game seems shorter than Fable 2. Could be in my head, or maybe I didn't do as many side quests in Fable 3 as I did in Fable 2 before proceeding through the main quests, I don't remember.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I've lucked out and no glitches so far, but I probably just jinxed myself.

 

[kagemaru]

I've lucked out and no glitches so far, but I probably just jinxed myself.

It's really baffling how bad the performance is in this game. Again last night the game crashed on me while trying to load Bowerstone Market, right after the loading screen I was stuck with a black screen and all I could hear were birds chirping.

On top of that, the amount of slowdown is inexcusable IMO. I was running around Bowerstone Industrial earlier today and while running down an ally way, for no reason, the game will slow to a crawl. That's just one example, that whole town seems to be a slowdown-fest, looking in warehouses, running through the streets, half the time it was slow. There is no rhyme or reason from what I can see, and it's not like this game is a graphical powerhouse to bring the 360 to it's knees. I understand that MS rarely makes bleeding edge tech a high priority in their games, but this is pretty sad for a 1st party game. I would imagine at this point in the generation, most developers should be pretty familiar with the system (and their engine) so things could be running on all cylinders with a level of optimization that exceeds prior games.

 

[RobertR1]

As I said, the slow was there for me the first 1/4 of the game but as the game progressed it became smooth. By the later half, there was a lot more stuff going on screen and the performance was fine, thus really baffling.

 

[AlNom]

Maybe it's related to the population number as you continue fighting.

 

[kagemaru]

As I said, the slow was there for me the first 1/4 of the game but as the game progressed it became smooth. By the later half, there was a lot more stuff going on screen and the performance was fine, thus really baffling.

Not the case for me, I'm the queen and it still runs pretty poor in some areas.

I don't want to make it look like the game is constantly running bad, I just don't see anything on the screen to make it run as bad as it does when it happens. The vast majority of the time I'm in combat, it runs fine, but it's clear this game could have used a few more months in the oven IMO. Here's hoping they release a patch to improve the performance, assuming that's possible.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Great game. I like pretty much all of the changes they made, except for not being able to select the exact interactions with villagers. They give you one good, one bad and one rude at random. Would be nice to be able to pick, since it seems to love giving me Dance all the time. My only real complaint to the game was the ruling portion of the game seemed to be cut short by an abrupt ending to the game. And even the final scene, I didn't think would be the final scene. I'm guessing they intended for a longer "ruling" portion, but time constraints got in the way. Overall, I thought it still worked out and I'm looking forward to the next one.

I'd put this with Fable 2 in my top games this gen, besides the Mass Effect titles.

Edit: My internet has been horrible the last few days, and I found Fable 3 was affected quite badly when my internet would lag. It seemed to slow my frame rate to a crawl whenever my internet would drop or lag severely. And not while I was playing co-op. I'm just talking single player. So, there may be some issues with the way the game is synced between players for the orbs etc.

 

[kagemaru]

I was out of town all weekend, but a buddy told me there was a title update for Fable 3. Any clues to what this may have fixed (if anything)??

Edit: My internet has been horrible the last few days, and I found Fable 3 was affected quite badly when my internet would lag. It seemed to slow my frame rate to a crawl whenever my internet would drop or lag severely. And not while I was playing co-op. I'm just talking single player. So, there may be some issues with the way the game is synced between players for the orbs etc.

Is there a way to prove this? I can see how internet issues would cause orbs to skip around, which they do at times, but to make the whole game slowdown?? Sounds like horrible engine design.

 

[RobertR1]

DLC time! Only $5.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/xbox360pres...-game-add-ons-and-a-new-gameplay-trailer.aspx

With the “Fable III” Understone Quest Pack, your hero will discover a mysterious town built beneath the streets of Bowerstone, crafted by eccentric inventor Montague Hummes. This full scale town is bustling with new houses and stalls to own, novel creatures to battle and a major mystery to solve. As added bonuses, you’re invited to explore the Mercenary Shooting Range and the Wheel of Misfortune, for chances to win in-game prizes. The “Fable III” Understone Quest Pack comes filled to the brim with the following:

“The Voice”: In the main quest, explore the mysterious underground land built by Montague Hummes in fear of the Spire in “Fable II”

· Discover the origin of the voice that controls the people of Understone

· Features a moral decision that will lead to two drastically different outcomes in Understone

“Shooting Range”: After defeating Saker during your quest to become King or Queen, the remaining Mercenaries have turned their camp into a tourist attraction. The main attraction being the replayable shooting range mode

· Beat the high scores to win three prizes that can be used while playing the minigame: the Marksman 500 (gifted to players for downloading the the pack), Money Shot (prize) and Black Dragon (prize)

“The Wheel of Misfortune”: After Reaver vacated his home, he set up a venture for budding heroes to replay the thrilling arena-based challenges within his new dwellings

· Beat the high scores to win three new weapons that can be used while playing in the minigame: The Full Monty (gifted to player upon downloading pack), Dirty Harriet (prize) and Dead Ned’s Revolver (prize)

I hope there's a lot more DLC this time around.

 

[BadTB25]

Super late to the party.

I just picked it up along with Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, but won't be able to play it until mid-December. Also, going to hold off on my Fitness game selection until then hoping that EA Active 2 gets patched or that a clear choice will be made between Biggest Loser and Your Shape.

 

[RobertR1]

Patch is up:

Patch Notes Fable III

Deployed 1st December 2010 10am GMT (5MB)

Disclaimer: While we make every effort to include as many upcoming changes in our patch notes as possible, please be aware that some changes are unintentionally omitted. Where possible the title update will be retroactive, meaning if you’ve already experienced the issue in your game it will now be resolved. This is not applicable to all solutions.

Major Fixes

Sanctuary: Fixed numerous issues whereby Jasper would stop talking or whereby the world map would become unusable

Quests: Tabletop: The Hobbes may not spawn in the last area causing the player to be unable to progress
Quest: Tabletop: Online multiplayer: Player host is unable to vault off platform to Hobbe area
Quest: Tabletop: Player can become stuck behind some rocks
Quest: Tabletop: After defeating the hollowmen in the room with the lever the player is unable to progress
Quest: The Masquerade: Player can become trapped in Reaver’s mansion.
Quest: The Masquerade: Player can fall out of the world
Quest: GNOMES PART 1: Player can break script
Live: The players fall out of the world (FOOTW) when transitioning from Shifting Sands to The Veiled Path
Crash: Mourningwood guards audio
Crash: During the quest “Peace, Love and Homicide”


Minor Fixes
General improvements to performance and frame rate

World: Online multiplayer: Fast Travel area does not extend from end of level the "The Hole" to go to Mistpeak Valley
World: Player can fall out of environment in Mistpeak Valley while in combat
World: After proposing marriage, Bowerstone Castle cannot be selected as family home.
World: If client repairs a house, the house goes from renting out to living in
World: Player can become stuck during Castle Battle after vaulting over sandbags near burning cart
World: Bowerstone Industrial: Player can fall off the world
World: a fix for existing or future FOOTW situations
World: Online multiplayer: No Particle Effects on Host Screen after Marrying another Player
Live: Orbs do not always show up
Live: Online multiplayer: Fixed an issue with sliding host in the sanctuary
Live: Fixed several issues relating to gifting and receiving gifts in local and online coop
Quest: Tabletop: Breadcrumb not leading to Demonic Chickens
Saves: Fixed a few issues that could cause a corrupt save game slot
World: Driftwood: Hero can become stuck inside of tree
World: Shooting a crate creates a duplicate crate
World: Black chicken in castle gardens flies straight up into the air for several seconds when kicked
Speech: Japanese: Reaver is missing VO in one quest

 

[Scott_Arm]

Fixes to framerate? How often do you see that on a console game?