Fable Impressions

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 8:50 am

I don't have it yet, but I'd like to hear some. Badgun, Granatofan, I know you were playing this game last night! Is it just too good to tear yourself away from?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:05 am

Yeah, I'm curious, too, just because of the incredible hype this game has generated.

Is this game truly innovative, or is this the RPG version of Brute Force, an overhyped game with a few new ideas but really not groundbreaking overall?

How much of this game is substance, and how much of it is blind Peter Molyneux worship?

Eager to read impressions.

Thanks,
PK

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:13 am

I can tell I'll have some fun with it. It's not as open-ended as Morrowind, but it's still pretty fun. As a kid in the tutorial stages, I ended up being a juvenile delinquent with a pretty long rap sheet. Guards would list off my transgressions for me every time I talked to them. It was kind of funny seeing how many things I could get listed.

The control is pretty good, but I'm not sure I like the targeting system...you pull L to lock a target, then slightly let go of L and hit it again to switch targets. I love archery, so running around and aiming at the wrong target isn't good...it'll take adjusting to. The cutscenes come in two flavors; storyboards that are narrated, and in-game models with dialogue. The combat in the early going is pretty fun, but they weren't kidding when they said it was easy...I don't think I got hit at all through my first two quests.

I've only played it a grand total of two hours I think (thanks to my local store not getting a copy until 8PM last night, then a 1 hour drive back home), so it's still pretty early. Do I think it's the greatest two hours I've ever played? Nah, that's still reserved for KOTOR. But I wasn't as lost as Morrowind at first, and the combat is more exciting. It's closer to your first two hours with Zelda or a typical action-adventure game than it is Morrowind/KOTOR.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:15 am

Eager here too...

My biggest reason for not getting this game yet is that it seems like it is the type of game that I know will have some really cool aspects to it, and might even be amazing overall, but will be something I will enjoy for about 2 weeks and then not play for months as is sits on the shelf waiting to be traded in. Nothing against the game at all, I just know myself too well. The only games I seem to ever play all the way through are ones that are TOTALLY different and refreshingly new, like Resident Evil, ICO or Conker and the occasional fun platform game like Jak & Daxter.

A lot of the videos I have watched of this game made it seem like a lot of just running around towns and woods, hacking and slashing everything in sight. The combat looked a bit repetative too.

Airdog · Post by **Airdog** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:50 am

With all this talk of Morrowind I'm kinda getting the itch to re-install it on the PC and play it again.

Is there another PC game similar to Morrowind (offline)?

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:17 am

It appears the other Fable players were up WAY too late playing this last night and have not gotten their sorry asses out of bed yet to post impressions!

Thanks for the initial impressions Terry! Why haven't we seen you online in BO3 yet!?!?! I think I recal you saying you were playing it. I want a chance to actually compete with you in at least one video racing game and I think I might have a shot in this one!!! And if I don't, I can just kncok your ass into a wall!

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:21 am

Don't expect to compete TOO much...I've discovered that I'm pretty good at avoiding people and then slamming them instead. I've been looking for games constantly, but in one of my last friends-list-purges, I think I wiped out almost everybody. I've played with the guys from OS once in a while, but haven't found many games. I've ended up playing random games 99% of the time.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:30 am

TCrouch wrote:Don't expect to compete TOO much...I've discovered that I'm pretty good at avoiding people and then slamming them instead. I've been looking for games constantly, but in one of my last friends-list-purges, I think I wiped out almost everybody. I've played with the guys from OS once in a while, but haven't found many games. I've ended up playing random games 99% of the time.

Am I still on your Friends lsit? If not I will re-add you.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:32 am

Terry,

There were like 5 to 10 of us playin' it last night...shoulda skipped out on the Fable 'quest' to the game store and joined us. PK was in full effect.

As for Fable...I'm glad I waited. I saw a few people get it on message boards and I called around to a few game stores in my area. One of them was getting it in in 10 min. and I thought about driving over there. I popped in ESPN football and continued on with my franchise and resisted the urge to go get it. I'm like Spooky...I'll play it for about a week to two weeks and then it will sit. I'm always curious about RPG's but after I've gotten the jist of how one plays, I don't have the motivation to complete it.

Plus I know the Mall of America Tycoon comes out next week so I'll wait for it. LOL...just playing, that's for my girl. I'm gonna get NHL 2005 (PC) tonight so that will keep me occupied. Plus I have to format my computer anyway...starting to bog down a bit and we can't install a new game on a cluttered computer.

Granatofan · Post by **Granatofan** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:34 am

Well I'm not wowed, but I am having some fun with this one.

2 things.........

1. I'm not a platformer/action adventure guy and this feels alot like one of those.

2. I read a grand total of zero articles on this game the whole time it was being developed.

The voices and dialogue are good so far. The story is recycled (I won't spoil it). The combat is not unique, but is fun and when you are taking on multiples and they have some skill you can get beat up. The world isn't wide open like Morrowind, instead you enter an area at one door (archway) and then there are exits at another one, two or three archways that lead to other areas. Even though it is set up this way the world still seems big so far.

The quest system is not like a morrowind game where you will speak to people who will ask you to do things. Instead you constantly teleport back to the guild and on a central map you pick out quests that you want to do. Sometimes there are two sides to the same quest (ie protect farmer or attack farmer and when it is like that you may see another hero on the other side of the quest). Much of the combat on quests involve defeating many minions and then defeating a boss monster.

I had seen posts about aging in the game. I'm not sure what happens after you reach adulthood, but I didn't progressively age from the beginning of the game until I earned my guild seal. First I was about 7 year old, cutscene, then I'm about 13 years old, cutscene, then I was about 17 years old and ready to venture forth. As you level up and decide what to put your points toward I'm guessing that it affects your body at that point. If you buy strength you start to bulge, etc... You get points in four areas (general, strength, skill and will). General has been the biggest pot with the other three filling up as you use different combat styles (sword, arrow, magic). You can apply general points to buy your level up in any of the three styles, but only points from a specific style to buy that style. When you level up you buy things like strength, speed, accuracy, stealth, speed. As you progree higher it looks like you will eventually become a sort of class based upon what you buy (ie thief).

There is some system of emotion/gesture in the game and as you level higher or find "cards" you learn new ones. I can sneer at people to make them cower. I can flirt with girls. Once I had to chase a bully off of a beggar with a fart.

The "cards" I mentioned are used for things like new hairstyles and tatoos as well. You can take a hairstyle card to a barber and your hair will look like the card. Same with tatoos and finding a tatooist.

I've seen posts about scarring too. I have a slight 5 branched scar running across the right side of my face. I have no idea how or when I received it and I guess it looks kind of cool, but it doesn't I was never informed or had any idea I was wounded like that.

The towns seem pretty active from the little exploring I've done, but like all of these games they never really seem vibrant and I can really feel the scripting. The towns and people look good, but it is too easy to rob houses and get away with it. The environments also look very good (I'm playing in 480p), but again I wasn't blown away. Probably the best graphcis and animation in the game is the character faces when they talk. They seem expressive and the lip syncing is pretty good.

That's about all I have for now (played about 2 hours), but to answer Slumberland....yes I can pull myself away.

Unfortunately this is one of those games that the hype is gonna hurt (and maybe hurt bad). It is not a bad game in any way. In fact I think it is a good game, but I haven't seen one thing yet that I felt was truly groundbreaking.

I'm probably in the same boat as Spooky and his last sentence is kinda how I feel so far.

Ted

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:41 am

I picked it up yesterday as well. I was only able to play for about an hour but what I played I liked. The music is top notch and the voice acting is decent, not great. I don't like the save system much as it won't save your quest information if you're in the middle of a quest. It feels a lot like the game that the first Gamecube Zelda should have been. I can't wait to rip into it more as I really did get into the game and liked how you could verbally hear what other people think of your character. I also liked being able to fart on people. The game keeps tracks of stats too. I was looking through the stats it keeps and saw some pretty neat stuff like: Times Married, Sexual Preference, # of times had sex, # of times married, # of times divorced. I'm not disappointed in it at all and can see this being a very good game. KOTOR still is the best RPG of all time IMO but we'll see how I feel after completing Fable.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:26 pm

Thanks for the impressions guys.

See, that is the thing for me; I am one of those gamers who never really care about a story line. That is why I gravitate more towards platform games rather than RPG's. Most of the time, I am the guy that looks frantically for the button that makes the cut scene go away. I want to play not watch. If I wanted to watch a story unfold, I'll watch a real movie. I have never become attached to a video game story or character enough to want to sit through a huge story and cut scenes. I like quick objective type games more too, like Jak & Daxter or the Mario games. Where there is creative environments, small puzzles to get the objective completed and new looking, different levels constantly.

I guess the only games that I can consider ‘story’ driven that I really enjoy are the survival horror type games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Even with those I become a bit impatient. I tried KOTOR and really liked it for about 3 weeks. Spent about an hour or two a day on it and barely scratched the surface. Then it just sat there on my shelf.

That is why, in a way, Fable looks a bit intriguing to me. It looks a bit more like a platform type game than an RPG. And most of the reviews I read only criticized the game because of its lackluster story and shorter length. Those two things are more than fine in my book.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:30 pm

Thread-jacking a little, but Spook, are you picking up Sly 2? It looks fantastic!

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:44 pm

webdanzer wrote:Thread-jacking a little, but Spook, are you picking up Sly 2? It looks fantastic!

I am definitely intrigued by it. I'll probably wait and get it for my girlfriends son for X-Mas and just watch him play it. If I can hold off that long...

GROGtheNailer · Post by **GROGtheNailer** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:56 pm

Just bought it, now need time to play it tonight.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 10:42 am

Great game. Not the be all, end all game that was promised, but still a fine game. A lot of things set this game apart from other rpgs such as the notoriety you get either as a villain or a hero. I've gotten about 9 hours in and now when I go into a town, men stand in awe and women swoon. I've pretty much played the game as a good guy because I generally play rpgs as I would do things in real life. I have done a few a bad things, but nothing really bad.

As in Morrowind, you can go anywhere and kill anyone. Every cool item in the game can be stolen or earned honestly. I've stolen a few, but earned most everything I've got the old fashioned way. There is literally a ton of secret areas with secret things that you can get.

The character progression is unlike anything you've ever seen in an rpg as you get experience in strength, skill, and will areas. If you kick more ass with your sword, then you will get more strength skill points and if you use spells to do your damage, then you will get more will points. You then go back to the guild and spend these points adding strength, health, toughness, accuracy, and other attributes to your character. My guy has developed nicely so far as a kickass warrior, but I've started putting more points into spells lately.

The armor that you wear can even affect what people think of you as some of it might have +50 to scariness. So far all the good stuff I've been able to find should be worn by a evil guy, so I guess I'll just sell off the stuff I have and hope that I eventually find some "good guy" stuff.

No it's not as open ended as Morrowind, but that's not alltogether a bad thing. I spent a lot of time in Morrowind doing nothing because there was nothing to do. In Fable, you go to the quest table and get quests, but you can also just roam the countryside if you wish. You're never forced to do a quest, but the game does require you to finish some before others are available. I've just finished a pretty long and tough quest so now I think I'm going to mess around in some towns and see if I can finally hook up with some ho that's ready to do the nasty. So far I haven't really tried to mess with any chicks, but my guy is 33 now and he ain't getting any younger.

It really is a great game with a lot of stuff to do and unlike Knights of the Old Republic, I might actually play this game a second time as a bad guy just to see how people react. There seems to be more of a reason to do that in this game as opposed to KOTOR since you will actually hear and see people react when you approach them.

I'd say the 9+ review scores that most sites have given it are definitely warranted.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 10:50 am

The only thing I've become disenchanted with is the combat itself. I choose the archery types as my first character all the time. In this one, if you're using the Y+Roll, you are unhittable. I will continue to hold down my X button and charge a massive arrow shot, and then roll. When I come to my feet I can release a fully charged X shot and then immediately roll again. Granted, it still takes a bit of button pressing and skill to do, but when you can go through an entire 7 or whatever round Arena quest without taking a hit, something is weird. I've gotten him up to physique +5, health +4, speed +8, and accuracy/guile both at +6...but he's this stalking, lethal bowmaster. It's kind of funny to be able to drop almost anything without taking a scratch, but I guess that's just how the game is.

One thing I have to adjust to is wearing "good guy" armor. A full suit of plate armor tends to make people run and cower at the sight of me, despite the fact that I've never intentionally done anything bad...one time a dumbass I was escorting walked into my line of fire and I shot an arrow through his head (aiming at the monster behind him, mind you), but other than that I've been a good guy the entire time.

I'm saving all the evil deeds for the second run-through as a hulking evil sword-swinger.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:13 am

Badgun wrote:Great game. Not the be all, end all game that was promised, but still a fine game. A lot of things set this game apart from other rpgs such as the notoriety you get either as a villain or a hero. I've gotten about 9 hours in and now when I go into a town, men stand in awe and women swoon. I've pretty much played the game as a good guy because I generally play rpgs as I would do things in real life. I have done a few a bad things, but nothing really bad.

As in Morrowind, you can go anywhere and kill anyone. Every cool item in the game can be stolen or earned honestly. I've stolen a few, but earned most everything I've got the old fashioned way. There is literally a ton of secret areas with secret things that you can get.

The character progression is unlike anything you've ever seen in an rpg as you get experience in strength, skill, and will areas. If you kick more ass with your sword, then you will get more strength skill points and if you use spells to do your damage, then you will get more will points. You then go back to the guild and spend these points adding strength, health, toughness, accuracy, and other attributes to your character. My guy has developed nicely so far as a kickass warrior, but I've started putting more points into spells lately.

The armor that you wear can even affect what people think of you as some of it might have +50 to scariness. So far all the good stuff I've been able to find should be worn by a evil guy, so I guess I'll just sell off the stuff I have and hope that I eventually find some "good guy" stuff.

No it's not as open ended as Morrowind, but that's not alltogether a bad thing. I spent a lot of time in Morrowind doing nothing because there was nothing to do. In Fable, you go to the quest table and get quests, but you can also just roam the countryside if you wish. You're never forced to do a quest, but the game does require you to finish some before others are available. I've just finished a pretty long and tough quest so now I think I'm going to mess around in some towns and see if I can finally hook up with some ho that's ready to do the nasty. So far I haven't really tried to mess with any chicks, but my guy is 33 now and he ain't getting any younger.

It really is a great game with a lot of stuff to do and unlike Knights of the Old Republic, I might actually play this game a second time as a bad guy just to see how people react. There seems to be more of a reason to do that in this game as opposed to KOTOR since you will actually hear and see people react when you approach them.

I'd say the 9+ review scores that most sites have given it are definitely warranted.

I'm not quite as far into it as you are but I agree with all you said. Good game.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:17 am

Can you guys give me some examples of the different quests?

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:26 am

Escort a couple people to a camp.
Kill a White Balverine.
Fight through several rounds of enemies (each in waves) without rest in the Arena.
Find a missing child.
Kill bandits.
Protect a farm.

Etc. etc. etc.

****************SPOILER ALERT*************************

One of the cooler ones had you infiltrating a bandit camp. It's pretty straightforward, as they tell you how to get in (wear bandit clothes). So you go along a pathway killing people and picking up pieces of a bandit outfit out of chests. Eventually you get into the camp and have to find a way through the main door. You need a seal. The guy with the seal wants to charge you $1000. You can pay it or just kill him and take it. Then you can try to sneak in or you can free the hostages and watch the gates open on their own inside and just waltz in the open entryway. Fighting the big baddie there is pretty fun, as you're in a circle of bandits who all swipe at you with their swords if you get near the edge. At the end you have the choice of letting the leader live, or killing every single bad guy there and walking out.

***********************END SPOILER***************************

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:36 am

Well, my initial sensations were not good. The early parts are pretty plodding, with long exposition scenes, and some cut scenes. Most of the conversational stuff you can get through quickly (with the subtitles on, you don't have to let them finish talking). But the cut-scene style things, you have to sit through the whole 'acting' thing unless you want to skip the entire conversation, which is fine the 2nd time through. The tutorial section is pretty poorly designed IMO, it's rather dry and straightforward.

But, once I finally made it through the 1.5 or 2hrs of that and could go out into the world, well, then the quality has really started to show itself. I'm not very far in, but I am very much looking forward to really sinking my teeth into this game. I haven't had as easy a time with the combat as Terry. I seem to have 'lock-on' problems. And I seem to get stuck with a range weapon, or charging up a fireball, when the enemy decides to bull-rush me. I'm sure over time I'll get more adept at it, and while it's certainly not hard in the combat, in that I've only died one time (not paying attention, really, I forgot to us the health potion), for me anyway the combat isn't so easy that's it's not fun. It's lots of fun.

The one quest I just finished was the first escort quest. I hope there aren't too many of those. I hate escort missions! The first time through, I ended up targeting one of my charges when trying to hack a bandit off him; oops. They all died that time, so I had to do it again anyway.

I think it's a shame the early part of the game is so badly designed. Story-wise it's not terrible. It's what you might imagine for this type of thing, becoming an orphan, etc. Is your sister dead or just missing? And so on. It's sort of odd though. "Hero" is like a profession in this world, and you go to this hero training center. Weird. Being a kid is fun. In fact, it wil surely be more fun the 2nd time around. It's not like there's a ton to do as a kid, but just to see the world again from that perspective will be neat after having lived a long and 'heroic' life. But there are so many cut scenes in the beginning, and the explanations of how to fight are pretty long and boring, and then when they say 'now, you try it' the training session is very short. Long explanation, short training action = not well designed tuorials. I think someone on the fence may have a tough time getting through that stuff. For some one like me, it's not too tough, since I'm determined to see that bit through, but it's a shame it's not superbly integrated the way it is in, say, a Zelda game (aaah, TooT).

And that's a shame, since once you get through that early stuff, it really starts to open up. I went for a haircut, and took a 'normal' one. When I first saw it flapping around all greasy lookin', I was a bit disappointed with my choice. But after a while I got used to it. Isn't that how haircuts work IRL also! LOL.

It's sort of an attempt to put some sims-type elements into an action/adenture RPG game, and as far as I can tell, that stuff works pretty well. The expression system is neat, and can be pretty funny. I too am being a nice guy, but it seems it'll be much easier for me to be a bad guy in this as opposed to, say, KOTOR, since the sense of humor in the game is so good. And some of the NPCs will push you to be bad (that pestering kid when you are a child, with his 'being good is so boring' cracked me up). Some of the stuff you hear people say can be pretty funny. Throw away stuff, you know, but it's pretty funny. The whole mood is nicely tongue in cheek, with a weird mix of the brutally horrible (the horrors of the bandits when you are a kid is sort of striking, the screams and stuff), but then hey it's just a game; you keep facing off with this rival, and you kill her, and then she says "Aww, you beat me again!" Only in games.

Anyway, I think for those on the fence, it's worth giving it a go. Be aware that the early part of the game seems to be the most tedious, with the long cut scenes and the clunky tutorial stuff. But if you can fight through that, then it becomes much more open and fun. And I think there will be a lot to enjoy in here. It's nice to hear badgun say there are lots and lots of secret areas, 'cause I haven't found any yet! Huge variety of weapons. Seems like a ton of spells, too. Lots of superficial stuff too like clothing and such, tatoos, haicuts and facial hair styles, and it's not really superficial since it has an effect on how peeps react to you. It's certainly unique to have your escort charges cheering and applauding when you dispatch Bandits to protect them. Different.

Not all the quests are at the guild, I don't think. I once just ran into a guy who wanted me to escort him to the orchard farm. Just ran into him on the street, and got a little xp bonus and a bit of cash there for my troubles.

One thing is I have a bit of a problem seeing what the heck I am looking at. The framerate when you spin the camera around is atrocious. And it's almost as if the spackeld lighting and highly detailed textures are too busy for my brain to comprehend. Now, in any video game, i have a period where I can't quite see too well, it's like my mind is confused by the graphics. And after a while, it gets more and more familiar and then i can start seeing stuff better. But for me right now, everything thing is a little busy, and for example even as a kid I was running in circles getting lost. I'm easily confused i guess, so I get lost (is that the entrance I just came in, or a different one? Have I been in that house before? That kind of stuff). I'm confident that as I get used to it, I will really start to appreciate the visuals, because they are pretty damn good. The lighting especially is really cool, I love how it changes as the day wears on.

If I could think more clearly, maybe you would have got something out of this post. I think spooky, you ought to give this one a shot. This isn't a japanese RPG where the story is the main character, that is, it does have a central story, and a typical Mario-type 'princess kidnapped' sort of motivational thing with the sister, but it's not the story that is the star here, it's the world and the NPCs and how they react to you. I can't tell you how sick I got of being called 'chicken chaser!!'

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:45 am

Thanks Terry and Zepp!

I am intrigued once again.

What to do...what to do...???

I think I'll just pop in my Jak II and let that guide me.

Granatofan · Post by **Granatofan** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:45 am

Well, I'm 33 now and I've used too much magic. My hair is falling out on one side of my head in a patch and it lightening up. My face and back are pretty scarred (I'm not good with the Y button hehe). I bought a house (my old house in Oakvale) and tried to rent it out, but haven't figured out how to collect rents. I think I want to try for a wife so I've been wooing girls, but haven't figured out how to pop the question. Does anyone find it strange that I aged 10 years in 3 game days. That is, the sun came up and went down 3 times and I'm 10 years older in my stats? Is that the way it works?

Ted

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:50 am

Reviews all noted that magic use made you age incredibly fast...one of the major problems they had. You'll hit 65 in a couple of days, and then just stop aging.

I haven't aged much at all...I've gotten taller, but not a lot bulkier. I have a few scars, but I'm tattooed up and down my body so they're tough to see (even if I'm not in my Dark Plate Mail).

Granatofan · Post by **Granatofan** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 1:57 pm

I'm a walking mass of scar tissue. It's horrible looking now. You can't even see my nipples. I don't think I'm gonna get a wife. Maybe I'll turn evil.

Ted