Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the greatest game of them all?
Right now my answer to that question would be Fable III. Started playing on Saturday night and continued playing the whole day on Sunday. Numerous hours into the game and I am totally hooked.
Some ranting about the great story, characters and the changes in the inventory & map after the jump
I was actually expecting a lot of Fable III, but it surprised me with so much more I still cannot believe it. Most of the little things that annoyed in the previous game (such as the ages you needed to raise the spell to its highest level or the controls of the job mini games) have been fixed. And one big thing, which stopped from including Fable II in my list of all-time favourites — the story, has been improved in Fable III. I am very impressed with the characters and the main story of the game. I am also very happy about the fact that my hero is now in the centre of it all. Although in Fable II the hero is the one to gather everybody and defeat Lucien at the end, I got fed up of hearing how great the other three heroes were and at the same time having to do their job, because (very conveniently) they got tied up at the last moment. I was especially annoyed by the “great” mage who always was drained out of power at the exact moment a whole bunch of enemies was approaching. I know this things were made, in order to let the player fight the bad guys, but still it was a weak point in the story. Did not believe it, could not really feel it and did not care enough for my companions in the great battle. Whom I cared about in Fable II were my wives, the dog and the people in Bowerstone Market.
In Fable III, however, my two companions are among the best and most lovable characters I’ve had in a game. Also the main story got me so caught up that I cannot wait until the end, in order to punish the bad and let the good prevail.
Being exceptionally beautiful, Fable II left me with very high expectations about the presentation of Fable III and the latter does not disappoint. When I am out in the fields I feel like in a rustic French romance story, when I visit Bowerstone Industrial I suddenly appear to have been transported into a Charles Dickens’ novel.
There is one significant change in the character management area and that is the inventory. In Fable III you do not have an inventory per se: Part of the items you acquire in the game, such as clothing, make-up, dyes, tattoos or weapons, you can find in a separate space, where a faithful companion awaits you and guides you through the different rooms there. In that space you also have a trophy & achievement room and a room for interaction with friends online, purchasing items from Xbox Live ect. What was puzzling for me at the start was that I could not see some of the items I was finding in the world (such as gems or books) in that separate space. I had to go online to find out how to see the other items in my inventory. Regarding books for training your dog, you just need to whistle at him and the book with the upgrade will appear on the Dpad in the bottom left corner of the screen. The other items like your gems for instance, you can see when you are trading them in a pawn shop. I read in a forum somewhere that your inventory pops up when you press RT & LT at the same time and then double tap B, but this does not work for me.
That little hurdle though is not important and in my opinion does not affect the gameplay in any way. Moreover, the change I think is for the best, because you have an interactive map, which is fun to explore and very easy to use, especially when it comes to quests.
All in all Fable III was everything I hoped it to be and more…
More images from the game here
