Fable 3: Story Completed Review

Alignment was Good, with only 1 murder

 

Let me begin by saying I am still a fan of the Fable series. Lionshead put a lot of effort into fine tuning this game toward what they felt people would like. It's familiar from Fable 2, with regard to the changes in the magic system, subtle upgrades to the ranged weapon system, and slight modifications to the mêlée system. It’s easier to fight in Fable 3 than it was in Fable 2.

 

 

As promised, Lionshead delivered the story as a continuation from Fable 2. Roughly 60 years after the events of Fable 2. Your character is the second child of the Hero King (referring to your hero from F2). Your elder brother, Logan, is a tyrant. Your first priority is to overthrow the king. This is where the quests begin. You have to speak to the leader of certain sects/communities, and convince these people to join your rebellion. From here, you make a promise to do something for that leader in the future. This plays out in a linear fashion. Once you collect these leaders, you will have your revolt and overthrow the king.

 

From here, you really have to pay attention to the kingdom’s gold funds. No worries, because your new butler will constantly remind you of this. If you choose a completely Good path, you will put the kingdom in severe debt. If you choose an Evil path, you will retain some, if not all, gold needed for the upcoming battle.

 

You are informed that the shadow enemy you encountered on your way to Aurora will arrive at Albion’s shores in one year. Time passes via rulings you make from the throne. You can choose to venture away from the castle. In doing so, you will earn more Guild Seals and complete quests. Plus, listening to people argue at the throne is boring and drab. (I’s love to kill Reaver.)

 

 

Once your year is up, you will encounter the new threat. You’ll have a fairly easy fight through Albion’s streets, meet your enemy, and vanquish it. I won’t spoil it anymore than I already have.

 

You then go into Endgame. There are some quests you couldn’t access during your first year on the throne. These tie into some achievements, so don’t give up your adventuring just because you killed your main antagonist.

 

The Sanctuary is your awesome new pause menu. It’s accessible almost anytime (the only exceptions I’ve experienced is during a cut scene and when someone is telling you info about a quest you’ve just accepted.) This place has a Main Room, a Weapon Room, a Clothing Room, a Treasury Room, and an Xbox Live Room.

 

You have the Main Room that contains an interactive map. You can fast travel, buy businesses and houses, and even pinpoint quests using this map. It’s a fantastic new tool, but it does slightly hinder the adventuring aspect of being a Hero. Don’t be afraid to stretch your legs and go wandering through Mourningwood.

 

Your Weapon Room has three sections: Mêlée weapons, spell gauntlets, and ranged weapons. These are displayed very elegantly, with an easy LT and RT interaction to select exactly what you want. You can check the status of a weapon through this room, and certain actions cause the weapon to upgrade.

 

Your Clothing Room has mannequins that display each suit (whole and parts) that you acquire. You also can interact with hair styles, tattoo sets, and makeup.

 

Your Treasury Room has a visual representation of how much money you have in your personal account. A list of your Achievements occupies the right hand wall. A bookshelf style setup has all your quest trophies on the left hand wall.

 

Your Xbox Live Room give you several options regarding player orbs, joining games, viewing stats, and even direct access to Fable 3 XBL Marketplace content.

 

In boastful honesty, this is what sells me to Fable first and foremost. Action RPGs outweigh turn-based every time. In Fable 3, your combat seems have been simplified over that of Fable 2. You have the basic "X" to mêlée, "B" for magic, and "Y" for ranged weapons. With mêlée and ranged, you can hold your button for a moment while using the left thumb stick to aim at an enemy. This will cause a Flurry Attack to charge up (indicted by the screen losing color.) This can initiate a wide variety of strong attacks, some of which have very awesome mini-scenes.

Ranged weaponry gets a massive upgrade in auto targeting. HOORAY!

Your magic can be charged like in Fable 2, with 5 total levels of strength. You don’t use a real time selector for your magic. Instead, you wear gauntlets. Not long into the game, you gain the ability to weave spells, allowing for two gauntlets at a time and some very nice combinations. As it was with Fable 2, you have unlimited Mana to cast spells.

Your enemies are much stronger and smarter in this game. You also meet some new foes who, honestly, are a pain in the ass to kill. You will find yourself sucking down potions and eating food a lot.

Another not so great detail is the replacement of a health bar with the “sunburn” effect. As was all too familiar with games like Gears of War and Halo 3: ODST, you have to spend too much time watching for the right amount of redness on the screen to know when you’re about to die. This should have stayed as a health bar, considering the sheer combat mechanics. You don’t really want to run and hide during Fable.

 

You are given a new interaction system in Fable 3. You have the ability to touch NPCs. Every NPC you interact with for the first time will give you 1 additional Guild Seal. You can evolve your relationship with any character by interacting with them until they give you a quest. This quest will tyically be a delivery quest. They are rarely difficult, especially if you use Fast Travel. Completing an NPC's quest will grant you an additional Guild Seal and you are more likely to get gifts. You are now able to lead people around by holding their hand. This interaction is nearly identical to the "Follow" expression from F1 & 2. The advantage to it is the person will follow you even if they have neutral feelings. If contact with your NPC is broken, they will usually rush back to your side quickly. I haven't taken my charcter down an evil path yet, so I can't honestly say the NPCs will still follow you if you're evil.

 

Guild Seals are you currency for leveling up and gainging new abilities. Guild Seals are fairly easy to attain. You get them for quests, NPC interactions and even in treasure chests. You use these on The Road to Rule. Once you have all those chests open, it appears your remaining seals are useless.

 

In closing, I would recommend this game to friends. It has a stand-alone story so it can be picked up by newcomers without issue. Of course, in my opinion, it can't be fully appreciated without at least knowing the events of Fable and Fable 2. The game does experiance lag issues. And it's even more apparent in co-op sessions. Depending on what path you choose, Good or Evil, will greatly affect the amount of gametime spent from story beginning to story end. As is with previous Fable games, you have full free roaming after you complete the main plot. The achievements are well balanced, with less than half associated with the story itself. The Avatar Awards are very fitting to the theme of Fable 3.