Well, I decided the other day to pull out 'Fable: The Lost Chapters' out of its box, in preparation for Fable III. I have to say, I certainly had a feeling of nostalgia when I gazed upon Oakvale for the first time in several years. But enough of that, on to the review!
Fable: The Lost Chapters is one of the premier games developed by Lionhead, a game developer also known for creating the game 'Black and White.' During Fable: The Lost Chapters your character starts in a small village to the south, one the narrarator describes as 'untouched by the sword.' Of course, I'm sure you can already guess what happens. The village gets burned, the occupants are slaughtered, and you miraculously survive. The tutorial follows, which is basically you running aroundhogwarts the Hero's Guild in an attempt to graduate, therefore becoming a 'hero.' That's the problem I had with this game, the fact that you're called a hero. Nobody around you cares if you're good or evil, still expecting you to go and beat down the big bad boss at the end of the game. You'd think a HERO would be inheretly good, but according to Fable, apparently not.
The main gimmick of Fable is the fact that every choice the character makes has an effect on the world around him. You can do good or bad deeds, both of which effect how you look as well as how civillian NPC's react to you. If you walk around lopping off the heads of villagers, you'll grow horns and flies will buzz about your head. If you walk around handing out goody bags you'll gain a halo, and butterflies will follow you around. Eventually you are given the option to marry a random NPC, which really has no effect on the game whatsoever. He or she will parade areound the village, secretly having sex with other random NPC's while keeping you oblivious by giving you free items from time to time. (Everytime I came home, I always found her walking around the local inn with two or three male NPC's)
Another issue I found with the game was that about halfway through the game you had so much gold that you could acquire any item you so wished, including an infinite amount of health potions to satiate your needs. I did, however, quite enjoy combat in Fable. Combat is made up of three different categories, Strength, Skill and Will. These translate to Melee, Ranged and Magic. The problem I had with magic was that the majority of the spells were extremely weak, so I ended up buying all of AoE spells and ones that helped my Melee and Ranged attacks. Skill was well done, however made picking off enemies almost too easy for my liking. One of the quirks Fable added was scarring. Your character would accumulate scars from battle, which I often found appeared in the most peculiar of places. I'm not sure how I get a large scar along my back, because I got jabbed in the face with some brutes sword. But whatever, it still tries to add a sense of realism to the game, even if it doesnt work very well. By the end of the game you usually look like you were a test subject for sand-paper armour, which didn't work out too well.
I never had to grind once in the game, something that I often found troubling with RPG's. I'd be at the final boss, then find I had to spent half an hour batting random creatures over the head with my sword. Nobody really wants to waste time killing re-spawning creatures, when you could instead be following along with the story, or going to your next Quest. Ah yes, Fable uses a Quest system. Aside from the main quests, there are silver and bronze quests. Silver quests are ones that the civillians of Albion
In conclusion, Fable is a pretty well done game that just has some quirks that need to be worked on. Morality was pulled off well, however the fact that clothing changed your morality didn't make much sense to me. Combat is well-done for the genre, providing a nice change from taking turns whacking eachother other the head with swords. The story is well-written, and contained a margin of plot twists that I never expected. The ending was satisfying, quite opposite to the terrible beginning. It's a game that I won't forget, if just for the story. Provided that Peter Molyneux is locked in a closet and tied to a chair during development, Fable may continue to be a strong franchise, depending on whether or not Pete' gobs before releases.
Useful Links
Fable: The Lost Chapters Official Website
http://www.microsoft.com/games/fable/
Fable: The Lost Chapters Fan Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6FHRPQt3Jw&feature=related
Lionhead Official Website
http://lionhead.com/
Cazer Reviews is a weekly review written by Cazer. A new one will be posted every weekend.
[[ I had been itching to write a Minecraft review, hence why two were posted this weekend. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. ]]
Fable: The Lost Chapters is one of the premier games developed by Lionhead, a game developer also known for creating the game 'Black and White.' During Fable: The Lost Chapters your character starts in a small village to the south, one the narrarator describes as 'untouched by the sword.' Of course, I'm sure you can already guess what happens. The village gets burned, the occupants are slaughtered, and you miraculously survive. The tutorial follows, which is basically you running around
The main gimmick of Fable is the fact that every choice the character makes has an effect on the world around him. You can do good or bad deeds, both of which effect how you look as well as how civillian NPC's react to you. If you walk around lopping off the heads of villagers, you'll grow horns and flies will buzz about your head. If you walk around handing out goody bags you'll gain a halo, and butterflies will follow you around. Eventually you are given the option to marry a random NPC, which really has no effect on the game whatsoever. He or she will parade areound the village, secretly having sex with other random NPC's while keeping you oblivious by giving you free items from time to time. (Everytime I came home, I always found her walking around the local inn with two or three male NPC's)
Another issue I found with the game was that about halfway through the game you had so much gold that you could acquire any item you so wished, including an infinite amount of health potions to satiate your needs. I did, however, quite enjoy combat in Fable. Combat is made up of three different categories, Strength, Skill and Will. These translate to Melee, Ranged and Magic. The problem I had with magic was that the majority of the spells were extremely weak, so I ended up buying all of AoE spells and ones that helped my Melee and Ranged attacks. Skill was well done, however made picking off enemies almost too easy for my liking. One of the quirks Fable added was scarring. Your character would accumulate scars from battle, which I often found appeared in the most peculiar of places. I'm not sure how I get a large scar along my back, because I got jabbed in the face with some brutes sword. But whatever, it still tries to add a sense of realism to the game, even if it doesnt work very well. By the end of the game you usually look like you were a test subject for sand-paper armour, which didn't work out too well.
I never had to grind once in the game, something that I often found troubling with RPG's. I'd be at the final boss, then find I had to spent half an hour batting random creatures over the head with my sword. Nobody really wants to waste time killing re-spawning creatures, when you could instead be following along with the story, or going to your next Quest. Ah yes, Fable uses a Quest system. Aside from the main quests, there are silver and bronze quests. Silver quests are ones that the civillians of Albion
In conclusion, Fable is a pretty well done game that just has some quirks that need to be worked on. Morality was pulled off well, however the fact that clothing changed your morality didn't make much sense to me. Combat is well-done for the genre, providing a nice change from taking turns whacking eachother other the head with swords. The story is well-written, and contained a margin of plot twists that I never expected. The ending was satisfying, quite opposite to the terrible beginning. It's a game that I won't forget, if just for the story. Provided that Peter Molyneux is locked in a closet and tied to a chair during development, Fable may continue to be a strong franchise, depending on whether or not Pete' gobs before releases.
Useful Links
Fable: The Lost Chapters Official Website
http://www.microsoft.com/games/fable/
Fable: The Lost Chapters Fan Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6FHRPQt3Jw&feature=related
Lionhead Official Website
http://lionhead.com/
Cazer Reviews is a weekly review written by Cazer. A new one will be posted every weekend.
[[ I had been itching to write a Minecraft review, hence why two were posted this weekend. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. ]]