Palademon said:
After my review I posted here where I ranted, I have found the best way to think about it.
When you play it, don't think you're playing Fable, but just another game, then let it prove to you that it is fable.
I have to agree with this. The game doesn't initially feel like Fable, but it shines through further on.
Notice: Here be some mild Spoilers and major Ranting.
I got just about 9 hours of gameplay from the main storyline, without doing any additional stuff. I died twice due to a lack of paying attention or leveling up beforehand. But now, being Ruler of Albion, I simply can't get enough of farting around the land, doing nothing of consequence. I love visiting all the areas I had to unfortunately screw over whilst gathering resources and try to improve my moral standing there. I love buying more and more property and renting it out to raise revenue, allow the land to re-populate and keeping a huge supply of money. I love having an outrageous amount of gold for no reason, which is now justified by the rooms that you can fill with huge piles of currency, just to jump around in, apparently. I love watching my weapons change and grow, I love sprouting wings, kicking a hobbe into the air and then sluggin' it out of the park with my hammer. I love being chased around Mourningwood by about a hundred or so Hollowmen, just to toss them into a vortex and bullseye 'em with my rifle from afar. I love the smooth feeling of the albeit very simplistic combat system. I love mixing different spells, even just to see predictable outcomes.
So yeah, I really like Fable 3. A lot more than Fable 2. I think Lionhead really got the whole character thing right. I mean, I was evil in Fable II because I didn't know anything about most of the characters (except for Reaver, who rocks), not even my own. It didn't mean anything when everyone hated me. I had no sense of who I was, save for a guy as fat as the pie I last ate, or wearing the latest outfit I just found.
When I think of character customization, I think it's important that the character is changeable to the player's every whim, but retains a definite character. Look at Mass Effect - We all know who Shepard is, yet we all have our own unique idea of him or her. Our King or Queen in Fable has personality. We know what they are like, how they sound, and at least roughly how they look.
As for the other characters, I actually cared for them. I couldn't bear to betray Ben or Sabine. Though I didn't know much about Khalin, who had a very short role, but I was interested enough to want to know more. Page got on my nerves sometimes, but I understood her motives and the desperation of her struggle. I wanted to uphold my promises to these characters - And I was particularly attached to Walter.
Here is where I think that Fable's greatest success came - In breaking out of the bland greyness of moral choice systems.
I know it doesn't seem like this, with the glorious light of righteous goodliness on one path, and the evil blood-dripping horror of rapeful baby-eating on the other. But to be honest, the actions as a Ruler ended up very good. For example, I half-broke my promise to Page, and left Aurora in the dark. But I also gave Dwellers free reign of the mountains, and restored the Brightwall Academy, and set up the safe sewage plant and the school in bowerstone. I also suffered great losses in the invasion. Okay, sure, so the game labelled me as "Hero", but it still felt like I was in that grey area of what was right and wrong that I wanted. I was loved in places like MourningWood, Bowerstone, Brightwall and Mystpeaks, but hated in Millfields and Aurora. Which is how it would be. Different factions have different views. I like that, and if Fable had represented it more with the characters, so that they didn't just love you when you did something good and hate when you let them down, it could have really flourished.
The game required some commitment, but it paid off. I loved it, anywho.
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