Fable 2

[Aikouka]

I think I may have to go get this... too bad I didn't realize I could just preorder on Amazon and get it today . Although, I still pay tax on Amazon. *Mutters various unrepeatable curse words at Albany*

 

[Dumac]

Well, Oblivion was a fantastic achievement. But for me, that was a true 'blood and guts' RPG.

Hehe...

No, you know the best way to enjoy a Molyneaux game? Don't listen to him at all. Ever. Don't listen to a single word that comes out of his mouth.

 

[dwell]

On the fence with this one and Fallout 3. Fable 2 looks fun albeit short. Fallout 3 looks long but kind of shitty.

Why couldn't LBP ship today?!?

 

[blurredvision]

Has anybody downloaded the co-op patch and tried it out yet? I'm curious to know if the person joining a game comes over without any of their armor or weapons. In one of the IGN reviews, it mentions that in local co-op, the person who joins comes with their experience and gold, but not their weapons or armor, and simply uses a generic looking character.

If that's still the case in online co-op, then I think that's a stupid move.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: blurredvision
Has anybody downloaded the co-op patch and tried it out yet? I'm curious to know if the person joining a game comes over without any of their armor or weapons. In one of the IGN reviews, it mentions that in local co-op, the person who joins comes with their experience and gold, but not their weapons or armor, and simply uses a generic looking character.

If that's still the case in online co-op, then I think that's a stupid move.

I'd like to know as well. I'm hoping it's just a shortcoming of local co-op. Not only did the reviewer say you couldn't bring your stuff, you couldn't even bring your character model.

Mercs 2 online co-op did something similar, which was lame (you couldn't bring your airstrikes or supplies with you into someone else's game).

 

[Queasy]

Current Metacritic score - 89

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Jules
Yeah it does sound weak. 30 hours? Meh i already put that in saints row 2.

Molyneaux sounds like he's more interested in giving interesting experiences than seeing how many ticks he can put on a clock.

Well, Oblivion was a fantastic achievement. But for me, that was a true 'blood and guts' RPG. There was an initial dungeon that you went through that was fantastic ? but then you came out into that open world, and I just thought: "What the hell do you do now? Where do you go? Who am I? What do I stand for? Who am I against?" And there was this huge, vast rolling story. And to finish Oblivion would take sixty or seventy hours.

Now for me, as a designer, if I hear 'sixty or seventy hours', then in my mind that is the equivalent of giving me a book that is twenty thousand pages long. And if I said to you, here's a fantastic book, go and read that... Are you likely to finish a twenty thousand page book? No.

So in Fable 2, the story lasts thirteen to fourteen hours and by the end of that story what you are like, what you look like and how the world treats you is completely up to you. If you want to be evil or good or kind or cruel, then that's totally up to you. With Oblivion it was basically all about me killing things.

...In Oblivion you were just a hero. You couldn't do anything else, other than be a hero. In Fable 2 if you want to be a gigolo and go out and chat up everybody in the world, and have three wives (or 'one in every port') and have sex all over the place, then fine! Of course, you will have consequences to that. You might pick up a social disease.

Good read thanks. My copy Fable 2 just shipped from gamefly yesterday. I hope i get it soon.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Sounds like a game I'd like to pick up eventually but it'll have to wait a while.

 

[imported_protoz]

I'm waiting. I got caught in the hype for the first one and blazed through it too quickly. Plus all the loading killed it for me.

 

[SAWYER]

I was eagerly anticipating this when I heard it would be an open world etc, but these impressions have really changed my mind
"I'm pretty sure you could take one of the major side stories (like one of the guilds) from Oblivion, release that as a standalone game and it would still feel larger than Fable 2. There's no large open landscapes. If you choose not to warp everywhere you end up walking though the same narrow roadways dozens of times, killing the same 40 bad guys over and over again. Which means you warp everywhere or die of a mixture of boredom and carpal tunnel. When comparing to Oblivion nothing is as big, as grandiose, or as complex. There's no armor to speak of. Only a handful of weapons (unless there are lots more nearer the end of the game) None of the cool stuff like creating your own potions, spells, or enchantments. Leveling up is a simplified version of what it should be, the menu system is one of the worst I've seen in gaming (seriously, whoever designed it has no right to be in the video game business) The map system is a joke (no zooming? are you kidding me?) and my biggest complaint is that when you "die" you just fall over, lose some xp, and get back up with a full health meter. It really takes away any sense of challenge and danger that should be there. Also I usually hate people that whine about how you can't jump in games like this, but there are times when it's beyond painful to not be able to hop up onto some 6 inch rock that's standing in your way."

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/sh...3282375&postcount=1259

 

[Queasy]

Went to Blockbuster to exchange my mail-in rentals for the Incredible Hulk and saw Fable II on the shelf. Couldn't resist it despite the fact I know I'm out of town this weekend. We'll see how much play time I get in between now and Thursday night and Sunday and next week after I get back before Fallout 3 comes out.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: Sawyer
I was eagerly anticipating this when I heard it would be an open world etc, but these impressions have really changed my mind

...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/sh...3282375&postcount=1259

I have not played Fable II, but I think it's safe to say that anyone who has not paid any attention to Fable II and goes in expecting it to compare to Oblivion or The Witcher will be in for a rude awakening.

The first comment in that link though is going to be pretty disappointing if true (it claims there are lots of bugs and glitches). And if it is true, I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned in any of the reviews.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: R Nilla

Originally posted by: Sawyer
I was eagerly anticipating this when I heard it would be an open world etc, but these impressions have really changed my mind

...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/sh...3282375&postcount=1259

I have not played Fable II, but I think it's safe to say that anyone who has not paid any attention to Fable II and goes in expecting it to compare to Oblivion or The Witcher will be in for a rude awakening.

The first comment in that link though is going to be pretty disappointing if true (it claims there are lots of bugs and glitches). And if it is true, I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned in any of the reviews.

I'm not sure why anyone would base their game decision on one person's opinion from neogaf, of all places. But, to be fair, I have read about problems with the world map being useless, and that how "death" is handled in this game is far from optimistic.

Have people been trying to compare this to Oblivion for a long time? I've not seen any Oblivion comparisons until these past couple of days, and it was impression that this game wasn't supposed to be a direct competitor, but something different. Besides, any developer can program a terrain generator and make a world as big as Oblivion's, so I don't think the size of the world is something that is that big of a deal.

Oh well, I could not care less what a random neogaf user thinks of the game. Not everyone will like it, and you can take any game and point out 3 or 4 things that make it sound like a big turd. I got the game at lunch, and will be playing it tonight.

 

[Dumac]

Why the hell does everyone keep comparing Fable to Oblivion? Not only is Oblivion a crappy game, but the two are completely different. That's like comparing LoZ to DMC just because they are both 3rd person action/adventure games.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Dumac
Why the hell does everyone keep comparing Fable to Oblivion? Not only is Oblivion a crappy game, but the two are completely different. That's like comparing LoZ to DMC just because they are both 3rd person action/adventure games.

Yep, they are western-style fantasy RPGs and that's about the only similarity they share. The approach and scope for each is completely different.

 

[blurredvision]

OK, from what I'm reading, online Live co-op is the EXACT SAME as the shitty local co-op, with the shared screen and generic player model with no weapons for the person joining someone else's game. I could live with the generic player model, but the fact that online co-op still makes you share the same screen? What the hell ever. There's no reason for that at all. So basically, not only will your camera force you to see your buddy at all times, but you won't be able to move away more than 50 yards from each other the entire time you're playing. So all this cool sounding stuff about making sure your buddy doesn't cause havoc in your world is a moot point now.....when you see him do something you don't like, you can throw him out, since he'll never leave your sight.

I'm glad I'm not buying this game for co-op, otherwise I'd probably take it back.

 

[jdport]

In one of the video trailers I saw they talked a lot about the multiplayer and it didn't seem that sharing the screen was really a problem at all.... I guess it could be somewhat restrictive but... you're supposed to be playing together, so what's the big deal if you're limited in how far apart you can go? I'll wait to try it out before I make a judgement on this one. It's waiting for me at my house.. if the darn work day would just get over with already...

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: jdport
you're supposed to be playing together, so what's the big deal if you're limited in how far apart you can go?

To be restricted to it just sucks. And at the very worst, you don't have control over the camera, and from I've read so far, it's pretty bad at times.

Also, unlike my previous post, it appears that you aren't tethered directly together (see: my 50 yards comment). Apparently one person can run off while the other person is fighting, and the camera pulls so far back that it's hard to see what's going on. I haven't even played the game yet, though, so I'm not sure how accurate this info is.

 

[Sinsear]

Picked up my copy today; cant wait to give it a try.

 

[JPB]

So what does the Anandtech collective rate Fable 2 ?

Before I have to go out and buy it

 

[R Nilla]

I've only put a couple hours in so far, but I like it. The graphics and scenery are great, the music and voices are solid so far. Combat works well, and I especially like how Will (spells) work. You can do a surround attack or use the stick to aim a direct attack at a certain enemy.

 

[blurredvision]

I was only able to put an hour into it tonight, but I like it so far. Some of the reviews say that an attachment isn't really formed with the dog, but I already love the thing. I sat there and played fetch for a couple of minutes because he looked to be enjoying it . Plus, I think the opening did a fantastic job of getting you started, and after advancing to the adult stage, I feel compelled to play on and do what I'm supposed to do (that was vague as hell, but I don't want to spoil the opening 40 minutes).

So far I like it. It was weird though, because after I turned on the orbs to "everyone", I started hearing people's voices talking, and these icons were flying around. I heard some guy talking about trying to bang one of the women in the first village, and I promptly changed the orbs back to "friends only". Haha.

 

[StepUp]

Well I bought the Limited Collector's Edition but I was coerced into buying a 44 oz. Monster Margarita and I don't remember a thing! So, my initial impression of Fable 2 will have to wait until this afternoon.

 

[jdport]

I'm only an hour or so into it... just finished the opening quests and story, etc.. I like the game so far but what happened to "if you can see it you can get to it" ? The movement so far is just like fable 1. Videos I saw pre-release showed characters jumping over fences, running all around. I can't even step over a rock in the path, let alone run off the road. That's my main complaint so far. Other than that, I really liked the intro and how the put the dog in the story, and I love my dog

I'm not far enough into the game to really give the game a fair judgement .. just had that one beef so far and maybe that will improve as well.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

A friend and I tried the online co-op last night, and it was indeed disappointing. The camera limitation is severe which makes discovering non-obvious side passages in the dungeons more difficult, and gold and experience appear to be split (which makes you wonder if you'd be better off running things solo). Also, the "hero" (hosting) character appears to be the only one able to grab treasure, so you have to initiate trades to hand off items. Also, when either (?) player is in the options menu, the game is paused for the other player.

That being said, I went through about a half dozen or so quests last night and am enjoying the game, although I don't think I've gotten far enough in that I really have enough options to say that the gameplay is astoundingly open-ended. I think there's a lot going on below the surface which may not be visible in a single playthrough -- there were definitely at least a couple of NPCs I encountered whose fortunes had changed as a result of the choices I made in the intro part of the game, which is a neat mechanic. And I'm intrigued at the idea that you can play the game as a merchant or slumlord.

So the jury's still out for now, but I'm optimistic.