FABLE II Posted by Joe Anderson on Oct 23, 2008 21:20 (Oct 23, 2008 21:20) |
||||||||||||||||
Fable 2 has been a long time coming, I remember this time last year when I was sitting listening to Peter Moneluex talking about the game and what he hoped to achieve with it, so did his vision become reality? Let’s find out.
Set in the Land of Albion, Fable II starts off following your character and his sister in their youth, first of all you will wander around trying to earn money to buy a music box that you sister has her eye on, decisions you make here will have an effect on things later in the game, for example a sheriff asks you to collect warrants for him, if you do this successfully he will then remember you later in the game which brings you some benefits. Once you get hold of the magic box things start to turn for the worse, the bad guy who is named Lucien hears of the box and invites you back to his castle, eventually killing your sister and then killing you too, or so he thought.
So we move on quite a few years into the games present, you are about to leave on your task, which is to unite the three heroes (four including yourself), each of whom represent Skill, Strength and Will. Once united you will then be able to see Lucien to his downfall and get your revenge for the killing of your sister at the same time.
 Once you reach adulthood this is where the game really takes off, suddenly you can shop for goods, gamble, get married and have sex and of course children if you decide not to use a condom, you can even buy a property and set the household budget for your wife and children. The possibilities really are endless thanks to the sheer amount of options that are available to you within each of the areas you will explore.
Whatever path you choose in Fable II will affect the world around you and how people treat you, dance, sing and fart and people will grow love for you, giving you countless offers of marriage or getting you generous discounts from the local vendor. However should you show your evil side people will do everything in their power to avoid you as soon as you are anywhere near them, running for cover screaming out loud like you are some sort of monster, so choose your path wisely, oh and if you are planning to be good then don’t draw your sword or cast fire spells in error when in the middle of the town square (I have done this on quite a few occasions) as it doesn’t do you any favours.
One of the best things about the game is that you can select any individual NCP and interact with them, this allows you to entertain them, be rude to them or get them to follow you to wherever you desire, be it bed, a romantic spot or a secluded area where you can slit their throat, it’s up to you really, however whatever you do it is wise to remember that these actions will affect your standing in the game.
To give an example of how your actions can affect the game, I was wandering around the town square in the evening when I decided it would be a good idea to knock on someone’s door, with a rather reluctant owner finally deciding to answer I had made up my mind that I would just stand there doing nothing and see what happened, next thing I know the owner of the house got very shirty as he thought I was trying to break in, all of a sudden the militia were there ordering me to either pay a fine, do community service or go to jail. The thing that amazed me most about this was that later that day I was wandering about the town square and all I could hear was people whispering “there’s the fella who was trying to break into that house last night”, now I don’t know about you but that’s what I call impressive.
It’s the way of the world that to be respected you are more than likely going to need money and lots of it. There are several ways to make money in Fable II, first of all you can get a job, which vary quite a bit, you could be a joiner, blacksmith or work in a bar pouring pints, although the money isn’t very good to begin with the longer you do this and the better your become the more money you will make, in fact jobs can earn you a surprisingly large amount of cash, enabling you to buy houses, rent them out and make even more money, which in turn makes you a very popular person.
Of course while the towns are all very entertaining what you must remember is that you have a day job as an adventurer, so wandering the lands killing monsters and going on quests to build your reputation is part of your day job and it is a tough job. As mentioned earlier throughout the game your main quest involves gathering the three heroes to kill Lucien, this is achieved by following the main storyline however sometimes, such as when you need more renown points (the games way of recognising how well known you are), you will need to do side tasks such as clearing roadways of bandits etc. The further you get into the game, more fearsome and difficult to beat the enemies will be.
The more enemies you face the more powerful you will become, this is because when you defeat enemies, a quick press of the right trigger will gather up all of their experience and knowledge and pass it on to you, this will in turn allow you to level up your skills and weapons, meaning that you can learn new spells, become better at fighting and become more renowned as the heroic figure that you are.
The combat in Fable II is assigned to the face buttons, X for attack, Y for ranged weapons, B for spells and A for dodge, it’s quite a simple layout, however you will learn new moves as you progress which will enable you pull off more powerful attacks and spells just as easily. Spells come in different forms ranging from fire attacks, time manipulation and raising the dead, thankfully it is possible to change what spell you wish to cast during combat, which enables you to choose the best one depending on the situation you find yourself in.
Finding the way to go is fairly straight forward thanks to a golden trail which the developer has kindly implemented into the game, once you select a quest or somewhere you want to go, the path will appear and lead the way, of course you can wander off the path should you wish, however the golden path will remain, meaning that finding the correct path again is not difficult. The inclusion of the golden trail comes at the cost of a scaled down map, which is not ideal because it isn’t the greatest map ever invented thanks to it’s lack of detail, thankfully it does however breakdown what is in each area, which means finding a store or an area of interest isn’t too difficult.
 One of the most important things about the game that I haven’t mentioned yet is that you are accompanied on your travels by a dog, this is one little useful fella, he will bark when he finds treasure, attack enemies and do tricks, as well as being a constant companion when all others are against you. It’s great having this intelligent furry little NCP with you at all times and you will never know how you ever managed without him, just make sure that you give this dog plenty of treats and praise to keep him happy, he is your best friend after all.
Out with the single player mode the game also allows you to interact with friends and other online users thanks to the co-op system, the way this works means that you can jump into a anyone’s game, help them get through a mission, share the booty and experience and then take what you have earned and learned back into your own game. The co-op mode also allows you to give gifts to your friends, so should you have some great weapons that they don’t you can always help them out.
Graphically the game looks amazing, the artwork for both characters and landscapes is simply stunning, each area is beautifully designed and cries out for you to explore it, from the slums to the villages and the caves, wherever you go it will be hard for you not to be impressed. The sound is also excellent, the dialogue is widely varied from the townsfolk to the thugs and all of them seem to have their own personality, you can even enjoy a little sing along thanks to the village bard, who will sing songs of your adventures, which are incredibly accurate.
Fable II is one of the most impressive RPG’s I have ever played, the vast areas to explore and the sheer personality of the game will ensure that I will still be playing this a year from now. If ever there was a must buy game for the Xbox 360 then this is it. Unless you have a hatred of all things RPG then you must own this game, no question about that.
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
Comments |  |
