Fable Legends Aims for 5-10 Year Lifespan

[Cognimancer]

Fable Legends Aims for 5-10 Year Lifespan


Fable Legends is going to be the only Fable game for a while, so Lionhead Studios wants it to stay relevant until the next one - potentially for a whole decade.

The Fable series has always been ambitious - partially due to the big promises of its creator, Peter Molyneux. It seems that Lionhead Studios is continuing that legacy of ambition (even after Molyneux's departure) with Fable Legends, the next installment of the ongoing saga. The studio doesn't have any plans for another Fable game after this one for at least five years, so Legends is just going to have to keep fans entertained for that long.

"We're playing the long game with this," says studio head John Needham. "This is the next big Fable game that is going to be out for five to ten years so it needs to be big, it needs to be interesting. There needs to be a lot of stuff to do, it needs to integrate all the cloud and Xbox One features so we keep our community alive and growing. So yeah, it's big and ambitious, but it needs to be because it's going to be around a long time."

Fable Legends takes the previously single-player series into an unusual direction: four-against-one asymmetric multiplayer. Since one person can't pick up the game and get the full experience if the community dies out, it makes sense to strive for longevity. Still, ten years of relevance is a tall order for any studio.

Fable Legends is an Xbox One exclusive with no release date announced.

Source: Games Industry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-09-13-into-the-lions-den-the-team-behind-fable-legends]

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[Compatriot Block]

Well, they're learning right? I haven't read any unrealistic promises about the actual gameplay yet. That's an improvement.

 

[Lunar Templar]

unless its an MMO(or MOBA), and a great one at that, good luck, i doubt a single player game is gonna do that.

 

[1337mokro]

I don't even get the point of this.

It's four people cooping against one guy. So it's basically VS mode over and over and over. How the hell is there any kind of fable to tell here? They basically made Dungeons and Dragons with nothing but a dungeon and a dragon. This will be extremely limited cause you need both tons and tons of assets to craft out a good story and lots and lots of variation in mission design. Go here kill X amount of things and get the doodly wee comprised 99% of fable quests. They were kept "engaging" because of new locations to see and new stuff to do.

If this was an open persistent world with stories and quests crafted by players that you could share and I do mean actually crafted. As in you get a small town to start with but can grow that town out. You can create level upon level and just sort of puzzle piece plop it in there. You could even import levels, giving you a persistent, ever-growing, wholly unique Albion of your own. I could see longevity in something like that especially given the online requirements of the Xbone.

However 10 years of VS mode D&D? Not even MMO's are that arrogant in their claims.

 

[CD-R]

Was that Jack of Blades at the end?

 

[Something Amyss]

So in my game maker to English dictionary, "longevity" translates to "DLC." How much DLC does it take to last 10 years?

 

[CriticalMiss]

Was that Jack of Blades at the end?

I don't think so, since the villain role is played by another player they are probably just 'Evil pleb #183734' rather than a baddie from a previous game.

5-10 is pretty damn optimistic thse days especially since this doesn't seem to be all that new. Unless they are going to add in some major expansions and somehow keep a decent player base I'd be suprised if they are still going strong in 3-4 years time. And I'm still waiting for that tree that grows in real-time, don't think I've forgotten just because Molyneux has buggered off!

 

[lucky_sharm]

I don't even get the point of this.

It's four people cooping against one guy. So it's basically VS mode over and over and over. How the hell is there any kind of fable to tell here? They basically made Dungeons and Dragons with nothing but a dungeon and a dragon. This will be extremely limited cause you need both tons and tons of assets to craft out a good story and lots and lots of variation in mission design. Go here kill X amount of things and get the doodly wee comprised 99% of fable quests. They were kept "engaging" because of new locations to see and new stuff to do.

If this was an open persistent world with stories and quests crafted by players that you could share and I do mean actually crafted. As in you get a small town to start with but can grow that town out. You can create level upon level and just sort of puzzle piece plop it in there. You could even import levels, giving you a persistent, ever-growing, wholly unique Albion of your own. I could see longevity in something like that especially given the online requirements of the Xbone.

However 10 years of VS mode D&D? Not even MMO's are that arrogant in their claims.

I don't think they've released any details as to what the actual gameplay will entail besides a flashy CG trailer. I'd withhold judgment until then.

Boobplate. Miniskirt.

I'll pass, Lionhead. Thanks for trying.

So...all it takes is a sexualized female character for your appetite to be spoiled? That kind of covers most fantasy Western/Japanese RPGs, TV shows, summer blockbusters, and video games in general.

 

[Icehearted]

Boobplate. Miniskirt.

I'll pass, Lionhead. Thanks for trying.

Yeah, never mind that it's the next in a long series of underwhelming, highly linear, utterly mediocre, broken, mishandled, poorly developed, shabbily executed games that even it's creator hates; sexy outfits are definitely the best reason to pass on this. How DARE they!

 

[Yuuki]

Boobplate. Miniskirt.

I'll pass, Lionhead. Thanks for trying.

Thanks for trying what? Why don't you pick on the other heroes for not equipping the highly specific type of armor you had in mind for them?

Boobplate. Miniskirt.

I'll pass, Lionhead. Thanks for trying.

So...all it takes is a sexualized female character for your appetite to be spoiled? That kind of covers most fantasy Western/Japanese RPGs, TV shows, summer blockbusters, and video games in general.

He wasn't talking about her being sexualized. What I saw in that trailer and the word "sexualized" aren't even in the same star system, I've seen a thousand kinds of sexy armor and that wasn't one of them.

It's safe to assume that he simply didn't like that specific armor style and wanted the warrior to be wearing some other style of armor, and the producers were supposed to read his mind. Somehow.

 

[chaos order]

ill withhold my judgement on the game until more information is out. but guys you gotta admit it was a pretty cool trailer.

ALSO: who is the narrator i like his voice

 

[Yuuki]

The best part is how that thief/rogue cares more about his dashing poses and looks than staying alive

Maiev Shadowsong.

Avatar of the Phantom Assassin (Maiev in Dota 2).

"He."

-_-

OT: I wouldn't call a warrior wearing clothes that actually cover their flesh and protect them from weapons to be "highly specific type of armor." In fact, I'd say wanting a warrior to not be wearing a mini-skirt is pretty mundane. Boobplate is also a great way to get yourself impaled and stabbed in the heart.

You can try to imagine a warrior wearing actual armour and not a mini-skirt to be "highly specific" if you want. You'd just be wrong.

Umm I have no clue about what your name relates to and nor do I care. Judging people's IRL gender from their online name has ended up with me being more often wrong than correct, so I assume everyone is male unless they correct me otherwise...only 10% of the Escapist crowd is female [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.405809-Poll-Escapist-Gender-Identity-Survey-2013] so it's a fairly safe assumption.

OT: Thanks for clarifying. So you are indeed implying that you personally feel that the female warrior's armor style is over-sexualized, and her presence in the trailer has turned you off the entire game. I'm fine with that personal opinion, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. Cheers.

 

[Yuuki]

"Everyone on the internet is male unless they correct me otherwise."

Nice edit. Your link is dead too. And I didn't imply that; you inferred it. I said wearing clothes that don't actually protect you is pretty fucking stupid. Is "fucking stupid" a sexual thing now?

What defines "fucking stupid" in fiction/fantasy is completely up to you, not me. Your personal opinion on female armor in fantasy/fiction doesn't bother me.
The only possible gripe a person can have with female armor in fantasy is revealing too much skin, and revealing too much skin = over-sexualization. It has little to do with wearing clothes that protect you, it's fiction/fantasy and anyone can be wearing anything. People like you will only take offense if the armor is "too sexy", and what classifies as "too sexy" is up to their opinion. Which in your case, again, doesn't bother me. I'm fine with it. Link fixed.

 

[Elijin]

Remember when Lionhead made Black & White, & The movies? Good and rather ambitious games?

Pepperidge farm remembers.

I wonder if I am a bad person for wanting the xbox division of Microsoft to collapse into itself and Lionhead can go back to their old selves. Because from what i remember those games were unique and impressive for their time.

I know Lionhead can make good games, I just wonder when they can get out from under the Fable brand to make them.

One of my favourite current mentalities of online communities currently.

"They have made good games in the past, thus they must be capable of making good games whenever they like. But mean old EA/MS/Activision are holding them back, and as soon as they break free, good games will rain from the sky like snowflakes! Unique and amazing snowflakes!"


Take the good with the bad. Accept maybe the good was a fluke, maybe the bad is a dry spell. But stop spouting crap about how its all the big bag x's fault.

 

[viranimus]

Fable Legends takes the previously single-player series into an unusual direction: four-against-one asymmetric multiplayer. Since one person can't pick up the game and get the full experience if the community dies out, it makes sense to strive for longevity.

So its a game banking on multiplayer to generate content?

The way I see it if you are only making one fable game for the next 5-10 years and the one you are making is multiplayer centric to the point that it may possibly be virtually unplayable solo, then don't even bother making one.

Want to work on other properties, go right ahead, but its pretty low to basically abandon a franchise and sending it off by way of a string of out of place spin off titles. The poor franchise has endured more malevolence and disrespect for it by not only gamers but its creators than arguably any other franchise. Honestly while not a gaming revelation, the IP certainly deserves a better fate than having its true creator abandon it, and those who it was left in their care are determined to either destroy it or make it so miserable it destroys itself. Just not right.