Fable 2

[Shifty Geezer]

Seems like it was decently received by the press and 3 million purchasers.

That doesn't mean the story was good though. In fact, chances are the story aspect was pretty much an unknown until after the purchase, unless everyone swatted up on spoilers before making the purchase.

Note : I have not played Fable and have no idea what the story is like.

 

[obonicus]

Seems like it was decently received by the press and 3 million purchasers.

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/516688.asp?q=fable
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbx/fable?q=fable

Your response to my claims of 'poor story' is 'it was popular/good reviews'. How does that work exactly? GTA 4 sold 6 million first week and has a metacritic score of 98. I suppose that means that it objectively has Oscar-caliber story, as claimed by IGN?

Did you play Fable 1? There's very little character development (you get uglier as you get good/evil, mostly, but mute protagonists aren't known for growth, and that seems to be true even when literally growing), but that's mostly okay because it's meant to be a sandboxy game (it's not terribly good at that either, and even Molyneux will admit to it). But most of the plot hinges on the good/evil choices, but unfortunately, and understandably, perhaps, the plot is also forced into the exact same confrontations from either the good or bad side. It's sort of a Bioware final-minutes-in-a-game thing, but applied over and over throughout the game. It was short, uninvolving and like much of Fable 1 a waste of potential. I don't know, I felt that it was about as good as B&W1's story.

On the other hand, this is Fable 2. From what Molyneux has been promising it doesn't seem like story would even be central to the game, it's more of a fantasy sandbox.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

On the other hand, this is Fable 2. From what Molyneux has been promising it doesn't seem like story would even be central to the game, it's more of a fantasy sandbox.

On the contrary, he's stated in a recent interview that they put more effort into the story of Fable 2 than any other aspect of the game, and envision it to be a story that you remember 'for the rest of your life'.

 

[PARANOiA]

I don't know if it's possible to have a great story in a non-linear game that doesn't meet back to a central path (ie, the parallel path to the end rather than the branching journey version of being non-linear). I can't think of any great examples that didn't largely ignore your choices.

Eurogamer's review had me the most interested, and seemed to articulate exactly what the problems were on top of what made it a good game.

 

[obonicus]

I don't know if it's possible to have a great story in a non-linear game that doesn't meet back to a central path (ie, the parallel path to the end rather than the branching journey version of being non-linear). I can't think of any great examples that didn't largely ignore your choices.

Yeah, I've been thinking about that, but I sorta hope that Molyneux's figured out how to do it.

I'm definitely curious about Fable 2, but because of 1 it's more on a 'when I have time' list, or unless the reviews turn out to be incredibly positive. What's interested me wasn't really the story, though, it was the whole 'the world will grow with you' part (which of course was what was promised for F1 too, but seems closer to being achieved this time around).

 

[RobertR1]

So we call know about the Orbs in Fable 2. When I read the following from a person on gaf, it amazed me. This is very cool:

Originally Posted by Cocopjojo:
There is something seriously awesome about traveling by yourself for hours; fighting and questing in the middle of nowhere - and then seeing three orbs on the path up ahead. And stopping to chat with them for a bit. : )

 

[Malibu]

Edge gave Fable II a 9. Saying, "Fable II is Lionhead's greatest achievement to date, being both a coherent, onward-rushing adventure story that ranks with the best videogames can offer, and a beguiling patchwork of characters and side quests that continually waylay your progress."

"It's a game that builds gradually and then becomes irresistible, a beautiful lump of an RPG that continues beyond the close of its main campaign, and will have you thinking about it when you're not at your 360. With Fable II, there's only really one key choice: whether to play it or not. And that should be the easiest decision in Albion to make."

 

[Scott_Arm]

Edge gave Fable II a 9. Saying, "Fable II is Lionhead's greatest achievement to date, being both a coherent, onward-rushing adventure story that ranks with the best videogames can offer, and a beguiling patchwork of characters and side quests that continually waylay your progress."

"It's a game that builds gradually and then becomes irresistible, a beautiful lump of an RPG that continues beyond the close of its main campaign, and will have you thinking about it when you're not at your 360. With Fable II, there's only really one key choice: whether to play it or not. And that should be the easiest decision in Albion to make."

Wow, high praise. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be playing, day 1.

 

[RobertR1]

Woohoo! A 9 from Edge and they didn't get to play the co-op right!?

 

[DrJay24]

Woohoo! A 9 from Edge and they didn't get to play the co-op right!?

Since when is playing a game a requisite for reviewing it?

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

So we call know about the Orbs in Fable 2. When I read the following from a person on gaf, it amazed me. This is very cool:

Originally Posted by Cocopjojo:
There is something seriously awesome about traveling by yourself for hours; fighting and questing in the middle of nowhere - and then seeing three orbs on the path up ahead. And stopping to chat with them for a bit. : )

Was any of that English? What the hell is an orb and why would I want to talk to them in the middle of quest?

I can only imagine that to understand your post, one must have knowledge that I don't.

 

[Gerry]

Was any of that English? What the hell is an orb and why would I want to talk to them in the middle of quest?

I can only imagine that to understand your post, one must have knowledge that I don't.

AFAIK Orbs are representations of other players playing online.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Was any of that English? What the hell is an orb and why would I want to talk to them in the middle of quest?

I can only imagine that to understand your post, one must have knowledge that I don't.

Any of your friends that are playing show up in your game as an "orb" that you can talk to and whatnot. You can also invite them into your game somehow. So, they've integrated some of the friend chat and invites into the game. Not a big deal to me, but kind of neat.

 

[RobertR1]

Any of your friends that are playing show up in your game as an "orb" that you can talk to and whatnot. You can also invite them into your game somehow. So, they've integrated some of the friend chat and invites into the game. Not a big deal to me, but kind of neat.

It's proximity chat. You don't have initiate a chat session. They can just be muttering something and once close enough to their orbs, you can hear them and they can hear you. Gives it a bigger world appeal. I might be wrong on this but you can set orbs to more than just friends.

 

[Scott_Arm]

It's proximity chat. You don't have initiate a chat session. They can just be muttering something and once close enough to their orbs, you can hear them and they can hear you. Gives it a bigger world appeal. I might be wrong on this but you can set orbs to more than just friends.

Neat. Those are details I didn't know.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Ahhh.. well, that does sound interesting.

 

[Malibu]

[gt]41726[/gt]

 

[Arwin]

Yeah, I noticed the Edge rating too. This is the one 360 game that I've got in my list of potential purchases, and it's looking incrasingly likely that I'll get it. It's been a while that I bought a 360 game, so it's about time too! If you think about it, that Lionhead has some serious talent in there, what with the Lionhead off-shoots MM scoring a 10 for LBP in that same issue!

Some of the animation in that trailer is pretty sucky though, but hey, this be an RPG

 

[DrJay24]

I pretty good user review. 9/10 is his verdict.

The only thing that is a bummer is the length, from Gaf:

Just finished the game. Took just over 12 hours and I did quite a few of the sidequests.

Fable was short too.

 

[Pugger]

That was just some guy that rushed through the game without completing any side missions or anything not to do with the story lines. Others have played for over 15 hours and not completed half of it as yet.