20th September 2004, 10:20 AM
Ok I've put over 13 hours into the game and like GR, I like the game a lot despite some problems. The battle system--while being simpler than WW's--is a hundred times better than any other RPG's. I'd take this battle system any day of the week over some crappy console turn-based battle system or even a Baldur's Gate-style system. Having direct control over your actions makes all the difference in the world, and makes gaining experience and new weapons all the more rewarding. I'd have so much more fun with Final Fantasy if I didn't have to play through hundreds of tedious turn-based battles. Fable's combat could have used some more depth, but if it gets old you can just run past your opponents. Oh and I've barely used any magic since I didn't want to age too quickly. I'll use tons of magic the next time I play through the game.
Fable is like the child of Morrowind and Zelda that is very confused about its own identity. It's a blend that doesn't quite work in most respects because they are separated and isolated from certain key aspects of each game that make them work. For example, the small, linear environments in Zelda work well in that game because of the way that series is designed. Zelda is supposed to be linear, so open-ended environments would not work. Fable, however, desperately needed those long-ago-promised open-ended environments because the gameplay itself is very open-ended. Big Blue Box tried too hard to make the game accessible to anyone, underestimating the general public's intelligence and really forcing the player to hold their hand. The whole point of Fable is to give the player the choice to do good or bad and live with the consequences of their actions, and while a lot of that is still there, too much was taken out. The environments were down-sized, some gameplay aspects were removed (the ability to kill anyone in the game, to steal peoples' clothes, to run every town, etc.), and because of that the game suffers. What could have been the best RPG ever turned out to be a solid RPG that's flawed but has enough good to keep it from being bad. Apparently a lot of people (like Gabe) were so disappointed by how much was removed that they completely resented the game. If they had never heard of Fable before and it came out of nowhere, it would be praised by just about everyone in the gaming community.
But you know, I think I'd still be incredibly disappointed with the environments even if I had never heard of the game before I played it. And that's because of how insanely beautiful they are. Especially the Orchard, which is by far the prettiest environment in any X-Box game I've seen thus far. You're restricted to a pretty narrow path wherever you go, and just beyond those fences and invisible walls are lush forests, streams, and all kinds of beautiful sites. It really is mean that they closed off everything. If Fable had a world as open-ended as Morrowind's with art and graphics around as nice as it is, it would be my favorite X-Box game. No doubt about it. Even with all of the other stuff they took out, this would more than make up for it. I just wanted to frolic, dammit! Frolic! Just enjoy the virtual scenery. *sigh*
I think I know why they made it this way. Firstly, they found out that their engine couldn't handle huge environments at the level of polys that they wanted every object to have. And judging by the frequent 7-12 second load times (which do get pretty annoying), the programmers didn't want to try hard enough or simply couldn't use the X-Box efficiently enough to cut down on load times which would happen even more frequently in an open-ended environment. Secondly, they didn't think the casual player could handle that much freedom. Go figure. Guess they never heard of a little thing called GTA, huh? And finally, because personally hate me. ... well I might be off with that last one, but that's what I think.
Overall, Fable is a very good game. It's flawed, it's confused, but it's still very good. I'll be back with more impressions on other aspects of the game tomorrow or something.
Fable is like the child of Morrowind and Zelda that is very confused about its own identity. It's a blend that doesn't quite work in most respects because they are separated and isolated from certain key aspects of each game that make them work. For example, the small, linear environments in Zelda work well in that game because of the way that series is designed. Zelda is supposed to be linear, so open-ended environments would not work. Fable, however, desperately needed those long-ago-promised open-ended environments because the gameplay itself is very open-ended. Big Blue Box tried too hard to make the game accessible to anyone, underestimating the general public's intelligence and really forcing the player to hold their hand. The whole point of Fable is to give the player the choice to do good or bad and live with the consequences of their actions, and while a lot of that is still there, too much was taken out. The environments were down-sized, some gameplay aspects were removed (the ability to kill anyone in the game, to steal peoples' clothes, to run every town, etc.), and because of that the game suffers. What could have been the best RPG ever turned out to be a solid RPG that's flawed but has enough good to keep it from being bad. Apparently a lot of people (like Gabe) were so disappointed by how much was removed that they completely resented the game. If they had never heard of Fable before and it came out of nowhere, it would be praised by just about everyone in the gaming community.
But you know, I think I'd still be incredibly disappointed with the environments even if I had never heard of the game before I played it. And that's because of how insanely beautiful they are. Especially the Orchard, which is by far the prettiest environment in any X-Box game I've seen thus far. You're restricted to a pretty narrow path wherever you go, and just beyond those fences and invisible walls are lush forests, streams, and all kinds of beautiful sites. It really is mean that they closed off everything. If Fable had a world as open-ended as Morrowind's with art and graphics around as nice as it is, it would be my favorite X-Box game. No doubt about it. Even with all of the other stuff they took out, this would more than make up for it. I just wanted to frolic, dammit! Frolic! Just enjoy the virtual scenery. *sigh*
I think I know why they made it this way. Firstly, they found out that their engine couldn't handle huge environments at the level of polys that they wanted every object to have. And judging by the frequent 7-12 second load times (which do get pretty annoying), the programmers didn't want to try hard enough or simply couldn't use the X-Box efficiently enough to cut down on load times which would happen even more frequently in an open-ended environment. Secondly, they didn't think the casual player could handle that much freedom. Go figure. Guess they never heard of a little thing called GTA, huh? And finally, because personally hate me. ... well I might be off with that last one, but that's what I think.
Overall, Fable is a very good game. It's flawed, it's confused, but it's still very good. I'll be back with more impressions on other aspects of the game tomorrow or something.