Fable Anniversary rant

[WeepingAngels]

So I really want to play this game. I didn't play the original for very long but after playing Fable 3 I wanted to play the first two, in order.

What a lazy fucking port. The menu is so ridiculous. You push up on the D Pad to open this scrolling menu but you don't push A to make your selection, no you press right on the D Pad and you keep doing that until you find the item you want. Then once you have the item (lets say Health Potion) you might once again press A to use it because that make sense, that's the way it's been in console RPG's since the NES. No, you press right in the D Pad again and then you press right again to actually use it. To get out of the menu, left on the D Pad as many times as needed to get out of the nested menu's.

To make matters worse, there is a seperate, proper menu for equipment (push the Back Button). I had to look that up online because THERE IS NO MANUAL. I can't find a digital manual either.

This game is only 10 years old, why does it feel so archaic in it's control and menu scheme? I can't even figure out how to apply a tattoo, beard or hairstyle for cards that I already have in my inventory.

The save system is improved over the original game but it is still worse than save systems on SNES games. You can't save during a main quest mission. You can only save the last checkpoint which could cost you some progress if you need to turn it off in a hurry.

Also the smartglass stuff just doesn't work on my Nexus 7 or on Windows 8. It will work on my iPhone (small screen) but not in landscape mode. What kind of clowns work at Lionhead???

So Escapist, maybe you guys can help me out by helping me figure out some things out because as it stands, I will never get far into this game.

Also, if you want to comment on Fable Anniversary, agree or disagree with me...please do.

 

[God'sFist]

OK... so obviously you don't like pressing random buttons on your controller, that helps believe it or don't and hair style cards and tattoo cards only mean that you can get those specific hair styles at a barber. There is a barber in Bowerstone which can give you a beard as well. tattoos won't be available whenever you want until you get to knothole glade. Yes I absolutely love this game, yes it has archaic features, I love them. Really my only complaint are a few bugs with it in general. You sound pretty smart so just play with the game press buttons you do have a control scheme option in the options menu hope this helps.

 

[WeepingAngels]

OK... so obviously you don't like pressing random buttons on your controller, that helps believe it or don't and hair style cards and tattoo cards only mean that you can get those specific hair styles at a barber. There is a barber in Bowerstone which can give you a beard as well. tattoos won't be available whenever you want until you get to knothole glade. Yes I absolutely love this game, yes it has archaic features, I love them. Really my only complaint are a few bugs with it in general. You sound pretty smart so just play with the game press buttons you do have a control scheme option in the options menu hope this helps.

I have talked to the barber in Bowerstone, I only get the option to trade. I was given a hairstyle by a guy in Bowerstone and I want to use that card, not buy a new hairstyle. I want to play this game, it gets alot of praise but the game is really strange in the way it does things and without a manual, it's damn near impossible. If the solution is "push random buttons", that's a problem that should have been addressed in the remake.

Really though, there are three buttons to access menus, it's retarded. Most RPG's since well before Fable learned how to keep menus simple and all on one button.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Well first off let me just say, you would have been better off playing the original Lost Chapters as this is just a terrible version of the game. Whatever you do, do not install it and get into the habit of saving frequently because sooner or later you will be introduced to frequent freezing.
EDIT: oh wait from the sounds of it you downloaded it...um well I hope that works out..

Anyway, the health system in the game is actually really easy, if you have any potions or food on you and you are injured they will just pop up in your little emotions/items cue wheel so you just have to hit right or left on the d-pad when it shows up.

Now some advice so you don't even have to worry about this as you continue your playthrough. Upgrade your magic meter and physical shield and buy all the manna potions you can. You won't ever have to worry about your health again and build that combat multiplier up to infinity.

PS ( I think switching the controls back to classic might help you out)

 

[dystopiaINC]

honestly I never use the D-pad for items unless it's for a quick use and if that's the case I get it pre-set there so anytime I hold the right trigger down I can select that item, Usually a food or potion. and the original fable plays much better with the classic controls than the updated ones.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Wow, just wow. I fucking called this when they made the Anniversary announcement, Lionhead is just incapable of creating non shit games even when they are simple remakes.

 

[putowtin]

Part of me wants to rush out and buy this, I always loved Fable
But I know I'm gonna come away broken hearted, I have been with anything to do with Lionhead since Fable II!

 

[WeepingAngels]

Wow, just wow. I fucking called this when they made the Anniversary announcement, Lionhead is just incapable of creating non shit games even when they are simple remakes.

Because they use different buttons for menus the game is automatically shit? Gotta love the logic of gamers with rage.

When you are in the menu (the proper full screen one), there is this weird combination of LT & RT and LB & RB to scroll. I only get to what I want by trial and error, not really understanding it.

Were the menu's so bad in the Xbox version?

Also, the quick buttons on the D Pad, terrible. 90% of the time when I hit left to use a potion, it thinks I also hit up and brings up the scrolling items list which locks me out of combat and I take a few hits. Sometimes I hit left and the dpad shortcuts change to expression. It's unreal how bad the controls are. BTW, the D Pad worked fine in Fable III.

In fact, speaking of the d pad shortcuts, I don't understand how they work. How do we go from a potion on the left to a butt (fart expression) on the left for seemingly no reason at all?

The game makes my head hurt. I am done with it for now. I intended to play this before Fable II but I think I'll just play Fable II now.

 

[WeepingAngels]

So gonna install Lost Chapters when Steam is back up, you've awoken my yearly TLC hunger.

I already have it, bought it on sale some time ago. Maybe I should play that but I really prefer playing games with a controller and there is no controller support for it.

 

[Mutie]

Dude, That's just Fable
I honestly consider Fable to be one of the greatest games out there, but that doesn't mean it isn't plague with problems. And honestly? If you didn't play the original and are basing your choice on Fable 3, I don't think this series is for you Fable Anniversary, above all else, is just their equivalent of a cult film releasing itself on a slightly better format so the fans can keep their collection fresh. Either way, if you persevere, you will find a game which outstrips so many others of it's time.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Dude, That's just Fable
I honestly consider Fable to be one of the greatest games out there, but that doesn't mean it isn't plague with problems. And honestly? If you didn't play the original and are basing your choice on Fable 3, I don't think this series is for you Fable Anniversary, above all else, is just their equivalent of a cult film releasing itself on a slightly better format so the fans can keep their collection fresh. Either way, if you persevere, you will find a game which outstrips so many others of it's time.

I will go back to it and use the traditional controls but right now I am playing Fable II and enjoying it.

 

[Mutie]

I will go back to it and use the traditional controls but right now I am playing Fable II and enjoying it.

Yes, Fable 2 is my personal favorite 'cause it had the balls to really mess with the standard "Sword and Sorcery video game" format, and I think can be used as an excellent example in the "games as art" argument. Unfortunately, for people looking for super-tight gameplay and AAA standard action / pomp, it simply didn't cut it: hence why Fable 3 seems a bit conflicted, it tried to please everyone at once as opposed to sticking to it's guns.

My advice, try to enjoy all the glitches and problems It's like watching a crappy Dragon movie on Syfy, but with so excellent a set of semantics that it boarders on great. Or reading a Terry Pratchett novel is a good line of comparison: it may be short, ludicrous or plagued with mistakes and inconsistencies; but it's the atmosphere, emotions and symbolism that really carry it. Fable did, after all, begin as a social experiment named "Project Ego". The Fantasy RPG elements were selected to help carry the base mechanic in a more accessible format. This, of course, changed with introduction of the more macabre, romantic elements of Fable 2 which saw the world really start to take shape and colour. It's influenced a lot of my personal work, most of which is deadly serious!

I really do hope you like it, dude. Fable has it's problems, and probably shouldn't be continued as a series without ol'crazy Molyneux trying to build dreams at it's helm, but damn did it do good things for it's genre (whether people know it or not).