Lacks focus but Fable II is still very fun

by Jackson Tyler

Fun factor: Average

Worth to: Buy

Combat might be overly simplistic, but there is enough to do in Albion to make you lose track of the countless hours spent repeating the same fun tasks

Fable II is an extremely ambitious game. Its scope is rather enormous, and at a quick glance, Lionhead’s RPG looks like a palace of a video game. However, when you get a little closer, as with any grand construction, the cracks begin to show.

The game begins with you choosing to be either a male or female orphan and you are thrown straight into a brief exposition/tutorial sequence. In this, as in the Childhood sequence from the original Fable, you need to do odd jobs to get some gold. The starting missions introduce you to the moral choices you’ll have to make throughout the game, the combat mechanics, and the interesting cast of unique and wacky characters.

Not your typical fantasy world

The two main characters that you get to know in the intro are Theresa and Lucien, the former being a blind seeress who leads you through your adventures, and the latter a mysterious being who is in mourning of his family. At the end of the childhood phase things don’t go too well, and as one of the four Heroes in the world, you set out to get revenge. Under the guide of Theresa, you embark on a mission to gather the other heroes and stop the evil threatening the world of Albion.



The plot itself is suitably epic, but overall it is not very interesting, and extremely predictable. However, little touches and the way it is strung together give it a unique personality and style, with complex characters (Theresa has a lot of hidden depth that is not explored, leaving the audience to work things out for themselves) and the whole world being a very clever, dark, twist on the normal fantasy genre. Prostitutes walk the streets, evil temples have poker nights, and transvestites are killed for the good of Albion -- the world is full of minute details, which enrich the experience greatly. These quirks separate Fable II from the orc-bearing fantasy worlds populating MMOs and dungeon crawlers of yore.

The other story “innovation” is that of choices and consequences. From your gender to whether you want to have protected sex or not, to even the rent you want to charge on the property you own, all of these seemingly small choices will have consequences. However, Fable II also offers many huge moral decisions. You get to choose how your hometown of Bowerstone develops in childhood. The game does a very good job of showing you the consequences of that choice, and many others, through time.

I’m avoiding the specifics, for knowing the outcome of many decisions will trivialize their impact and consequences. Making choices without preparing can have significant effects on your character, but the moments when decisions bear fruit are extremely rewarding. As you become more Good or more Evil, and more famous for your deeds, the citizens of Albion will react in appropriate ways, with well-known Evil characters sending villagers running for cover and celebrity Good characters having people following them around everywhere, falling in love and asking to get married.

An innovation that breaks game boundaries

As you go through the main quest, and make these big, set piece decisions, the game goes in an extremely strange direction. First off, Fable II uses two Map systems, which feel redundant at first. However, these alternatives work extremely well. The “Trail of Breadcrums” gives a glowing line to whichever sale/family/quest you have selected, and prevents you from getting lost, mostly. Then, to counter balance this system, there is the Dog.



Two things about the dog: the dog is extremely useful and if you do not love your dog the game brands you as a bad person. In pure gameplay terms, your pet serves to alert you to anything of interest which may lay off the beaten path. The dog barks and leads you to both Treasure and Dig spots, which can contain sweet gear and other bonuses that will help you along the way. The dog, however, is more than that. It is the main emotional connection to the game, and is pretty damn effective. The way it whimpers when it gets hit and cries out for help breaks a game boundary that should be broken more often.

Obviously, the time will come when you have to fight. Combat mechanics are extremely fun, if rather shallow. One button attacks are executed in either “Strength”, “Skill” or “Will” moves. Strength swings your sword, Skill shoots, and Will performs magic. With one button there isn’t much room for sword combos, but you can hit an opponent, blast him with lighting and shoot him in the face with ease, though this ease can turn some players off.

Hours lost, but all in the name of fun

While it might be awesome to zoom in with a leveled up skill rating, and pop off weapons out of the hands of opponents, the satisfaction is lost when they die within two hits. There is not much depth to combat beside a few leveled up counters and zoomed in gunshots. Waves of enemies die often with one leveled up spell or a few swings of the sword. Fighting is rather disappointingly easy, yet it still manages to be fun and rewarding. You lose experience if you die, and respawn on the spot, but that will rarely happen. For a game where you do a lot of fighting, it’s a shame combat isn’t more fleshed out.



As you plough through the main quest you will realize how short it is. You’ll spend more time doing side-quests, and more importantly, interacting with villagers. A simple expression system makes communicating a breeze, and soon you’ll be pissing people off or making them fall in love with you with ease. In the meantime you’ll be buying houses which earn you money, which you can spend buying more houses to earn more money. It’s a cycle that does rounds in your mind, and hours potentially will be lost just interacting with characters, buying houses and making money.

The amount of money you make every five minutes depends on the economy of the area, and how much rent you charge. Doing (very boring) jobs, and spending some gold will improve the economy, while murdering characters lowers it. You can charge more than the market average or less, which affects your corruption and purity level. The system has depth, and you will certainly spend a lot of time with it, but ironically it’s also very superficial to the overall experience.

Summary

The main flaw of Fable II is that it’s fun but not focused. It’s extremely accessible, with its Breadcrumbs, Dog and easy combat, and there is a lot of depth to the Sims-style social aspect, but some simplistic features spoil things. The story is predictable but it has its charm, and you can’t help but like it for it. Just playing gives you a feeling of enjoyment, but breaking it down you seem to find that there is something missing. An enigma of a game it may be, but for all it’s worth, a ticket to Albion is still worth the asking price.