16th July 2007, 2:15 PM
I've seen that art style in a lot of places, and it doesn't really remind me that much of the specific nuances that make Fable's art unique. Wallace and Gromit does, but that's an aside (toe headed little guy). Nothing about it says "Fable" to me any more than any other fantasy game does. Fable's not a very good game anyway. I'm certainly not that interested in Fable 2, as the first "scale back" has already been announced (those promised pirate ships are gone, GONE, NO, not the tiny boats!). Anyway, the gameplay does nothing to remind me of Fable. The levels are, well, typical for this sort of thing. Fable was hardly original there either, and in all honesty that was a disappointment in Fable rather than an accomplishment (they were originally promising something far more vast). At any rate, I'm impressed with the game, but for my part, Fable doesn't really fit anywhere in what I've seen.
ABF, I'd play the demo of the game before passing judgement. Simpler? I won't deny that. The gameplay is intentionally simplistic because it's a Pikmin-style strategy game. That's not a bad thing though, and it doesn't make it a worse game for it. I'd give it a try. Then again, we differ on these matters anyway. I also argue that Smash Bros.' elimination of convoluted control mechanisms is an improvement over other fighting games, as, in theory at least, such a reduction in control complexity if the same degree of moves are available and the same style of combat is used (parrying, combo cancelling, and so forth) makes for a better game. You however argue that the skill involved in remembering and actually pulling off those convoluted moves in and of itself makes the game more complex and is therefor better. I don't really follow that logic, but that's why we disagree.
ABF, I'd play the demo of the game before passing judgement. Simpler? I won't deny that. The gameplay is intentionally simplistic because it's a Pikmin-style strategy game. That's not a bad thing though, and it doesn't make it a worse game for it. I'd give it a try. Then again, we differ on these matters anyway. I also argue that Smash Bros.' elimination of convoluted control mechanisms is an improvement over other fighting games, as, in theory at least, such a reduction in control complexity if the same degree of moves are available and the same style of combat is used (parrying, combo cancelling, and so forth) makes for a better game. You however argue that the skill involved in remembering and actually pulling off those convoluted moves in and of itself makes the game more complex and is therefor better. I don't really follow that logic, but that's why we disagree.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)