Customer Reviews

Fable 2 Limited Edition

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I picked up this game because I enjoyed the first Fable and found it to be an easy to play game. The gameplay mechanics work for me and the easy controls make playing an RPG a good experience. But my review is not about the game. It's about the Limited Edition.

You get a card with a Code you can enter and get some Halo clothes and a weapon. You also get a bonus disc that comes with a 30 minute making of documentary that really doesn't go into the experience of making the game. Some video of a troll looking character in different places the artwork gallery.

I have picked up other Limited Editions. Halo 3 for example had a great making of that was fun to watch. Seemed like they had great production value.

I recommend buying the game but the limited edition extra's are not really worth the extra $10 to me. I was reading in a few reviews you can get them for free. So pick up the regular Fable.

Before I begin this review, I would like to say that I have made my first run through the game (completed, from beginning to end), own and have played both the first Fable and Fable: TLC from beginning to end, and that my review may or may not contain some minor spoilers. I won't give away particular happenings, but I may hint at some events. This review will focus on some aspects of Fable II, but will mostly be a comparison between both Fables I and II and made for those who have played both.

I am a dedicated fan of Fable, and have been avidly awaiting this title ever since I finished with The Lost Chapters. And perhaps I hyped myself up far too much for this game because I loved the last so much, but I somehow felt very unsettled and disappointed after completing the game. I have done quite a bit of exploring, though perhaps not as much as I should have (I'm not certain yet, though I have done a fair few quests). And in regards to the storyline itself, I didn't like it that much. I found that while they repeated some aspects of the original Fable, which can only be expected, it really did fall short. I wasn't as interested in the events, and after a while going about the storyline just wasn't really that enlightening. The characters seemed hollow to me, and while interesting and eccentric in their own ways I just didn't connect to them, though the voice-acting was once again brilliant. The villain was the biggest disappointment of all to me. The previous villain was a mystery, and while his motives remained uncertain that was what gave him his charm and made him memorable. With the Fable II villain I kept expecting something interesting. I understood his motives, yes, but instead of that giving him depth (which had so much potential) he ended up seeming bland and cliche in the wrong sort of way. And the ending felt very anti-climatic to me. For anyone who plans on playing Fable II due to the grandness of the original Fable, don't expect too much here.

As far as the options for clothing and weaponry goes, I found that while there was plenty, none of it really appealed to me that much, and the items that did appeal to me were much too expensive for me to afford when I was focusing on gathering up a stock of potions when I found that perhaps I'd need them more than I expected. It's great that you can have jobs in this game and such, becuse earning gold in the original Fable was a bit too easy and therefore a bit boring, but I found that earning gold in Fable II was just as boring and more a hassle than an 'enlightening' experience. I enjoyed the simple repetitive activity of working when I found I'd rather wait around for shops to open, but when I'm playing a video game I don't want to sit there for seemingly endless amounts of time. The lack of making gold on quests also seemed to make it less exciting when I finished running around to do whatever task had to be done, and this leaves me feeling that an aspect of the good/evil thing was lost. What about a hero who doesn't necessarily care about renown, but would rather do quests for the gold? While that was never an actual moral issue when it came to the game, it was also a reason to do more quests and that thought just makes it more realistic. Quests weren't as fun anymore, and I didn't feel the need to go about fulfilling them just for renown. And rather than seem fun, they were just another chore. They had a repetitive feel that I didn't always experience when playing the original (and yes, I am well aware that Fables I and II are different games and a grown up world, but I am also dicussing improvement). It's wonderful that you can own so many buildings and buy so many new things, but where, pray tell, is this gold coming from? I found that I had an abundance in the original Fable with nothing to spend it on, and quite a lack in Fable II with much more available to purchase. I also don't have Xbox Live as I don't enjoy online play, so while I preordered I did not have the option to play any pub games, and felt no desire to play them when I actually owned the game. There's an augment you can get for your weapons that allows you to earn gold for every kill, but I didn't encounter that until much further into the game. And to be honest, I didn't find a point in doing quests unless I wanted to get through the storyline. Just about everything in Fable II requires gold, which you cannot earn by completeing quests... a bad decision there, I think.

As far as family goes, I found the courtship process to be very similar to the previous Fable, as well as the marriage process. Having a child was no large feat and not all exciting, and I found that the family became a bit of an annoyance. They repeated the same dialogue while I roamed around the house, and both the husband and son nagged at me about having an even nicer house (their's was mediocre; not poor not rich) everytime I came around. I can only imagine the headache I'd have if I'd decided to have more children or have another family (well, there's the realism for you, but I do mean this negatively and not in a cliche manner). Also keep in mind that now when you marry and have children, you are expected to give gold to them daily (it will be automatically drained once you set the amount to give them), and I'm pretty sure that for each member of your household the amount of gold you are expected to give goes up. I found this to be irritating when I had to make a large drain on my funds in order to upgrade my equipment.

The good or evil aspects that Fable is so well known have seemed to remain the same, so I'll spend no time focusing on that. What I do want to mention is the dog. I found this to be a unique and enjoyable aspect of the game, though it did sometimes get in the way (not so as to slow you down too much or prevent you from doing something, but he did get in the way when you are in a tight space and wish to get out). This dog will show you where to dig and where to find treasure chests, and while that is also a good thing it also is a bad thing. I found that because of the dog telling me where to find items I didn't feel as much of a need to go out and explore things. However, I did enjoy the dog. And when he wasn't around because he got stuck somewhere (another slight glitch) or was off for whatever reason, I discovered that I (being a little nerd) missed having the dog running alongside my hero. That is an accomplishment in itself. But I also must mention that while you can train your dog, teach him to fight, and get him to find better items for you (oh yes, see, those nice items aren't going to be that easy to find) it will likely cost you money. You need books to train your dog to do these things, and unless you can find them you'll need to buy them.

What I do wish to say here is that I believe that the developers spent far too much time focussing on expanding the amount of items available to you and enlarging the world rather than focussing on the storyline, which really needed improvement in my opinion. I also found it to be very depressing, and again, anti-climatic. I was stunned when the storyline ended, and sat there through the credits wondering "is it over? is that really it?" I can't get over my disappointment there. It seemed even shorter than the original Fable, and to be honest I never had a problem with what was available there and felt that they delivered exactly what was promised. I expected a more enhanced storyline, and I was also irked that I didn't get to know more about the characters. And while there is much more available to purchase and to explore, you really need to work at it, and now it seems to me that Fable is becoming more of a Sims game (sorry Sims fans, but I like action RPGs and I find the Sims to be horrendously annoying) than an action RPG which is the genre it is supposed to be part of. For people who don't enjoy repetitive tasks, I suggest you think carefully about purchasing this title.

In the category of the creatures you face, I found that there wasn't a large improvement here, and that they brought back most of the old creatures with little variations (not a negative thing). But I also found that it seemed like they had less creatures to fight than in the previous title, and while I don't care either way I did expect something new and more creatures to face. The change in the troll creatures was annoying (a good idea, but annoying) as you have to attack certain tendril-like parts of the troll, and I did this with a gun and found that I'd be there for ages trying to get rid of the troll while I was being smacked around with rocks and the like. I enjoyed the combat much more in the previous title.

I hope this assisted any readers in some ways, and that my thoughts weren't too all over the place. I personally find that this title falls short of the original Fable, and wasn't exactly an improvement. The graphics are beautiful and the world is quite intruiging, but I found that the action aspect of this RPG title was lost somewhere and became just another aspect of the game. Because of this, I give Fable II a 3.5/5 rating.

I admit it; I am a non-gamer in a sense; I have a DS but tend to play solitaire and word games. RPG's are usually d--- boring to me, but when my spouse bought this game, I decided to try it. I'm now hooked on it, with two saved characters and probably more to come because of the different choices you can make. I enjoy the fighting and especially being able to control the pace. If I feel like fighting, I go to the Bandit Coast, if I feel like zoning, I go buy some clothes or interact with townspeople. Anyway, it hooked me with lots of gameplay and fun.

I bought this as a Christmas gift for my daughter. It's very apparent she likes the game and is happy with it, because she plays it at least an hour everyday--and she's a busy girl!
She hasn't voiced anything negative about it. And trust me, if she didn't like something about it, she would let me know.

I'm a huge fan of the original Fable. So, when fable II came out, I actually bought a 360 just to play this game. Fable II definitely takes everything that's great about Fable and improves it. The dog, the combat, the new story line are all great improvement to the already great fable. The only issue I have with Fable II is the map is not easily accessible or easily read. This makes navigation much more difficult the original.

"Fable 2" continues the traditions of Lionhead Studios (the game studio also behind the "Black and White" games) by creating a world where the character and the surrounding environments are affected by the player and his or her decisions. Fable 2 expands on the interactivity of Fable 1 in many key ways, but sacrifices some things from the original as well.

The game takes place a few hundred years after Fable 1 - long enough, essentially, for the world to have changed, but with some elements still remaining either as modified forms of their original selves (like towns) or as ancient myths and legends (such as the exploits of the the hero and the other characters in the original Fable). Your character is an oddity - a hero (male or female, as opposed to Fable 1's male hero) who has arisen after they were thought to have died out. While the world is still a dangerous place, there's a shift from the epic struggles of the world of Fable 1 - which quickly resurge as events unfold. The fashions and styles have changed as well; rather than a traditional medieval fantasy setting, the world of Fable 2 is more of a 17th or 18th century world. Armor is essentially non-existent, and bows have been replaced entire by crossbows and guns. Melee weapons are roughly the same, though their style has changed slightly.

As a whole, the game is a lot more content to let you explore the world. Fable 1 had a lot of interactivity, but there were always nagging demands from the omnipresent Heroes' Guild to do quests and so on. In Fable 2, after a relatively short introduction, you're free to do what you want, for the most part. Doing the main story unlocks new areas and towns, but essentially most of the game is available from the start. Certain changes have been made to emphasize the shift from a sponsored guild to a lone hero. For example, doing quests and killing monsters no longer gains you money; you either have to get a job (represented by a minigame or a short mission) or go digging for treasure. However, because of this, it's easier to accumulate money from the beginning of the game. Most of the items used for customization (haircuts, clothes, and dyes) are fairly inexpensive (in comparison to combat items like potions or weapons) so it's reasonably simple to find a look that suits you. The only downside of this is that there are remarkably few clothing items in the game; since they only serve a cosmetic purpose for the most part, you'd think it'd be easier to have more.

The other aspect of customization is your character's alignment; the concept of this has been drastically expanded from Fable 1. In addition to good and evil (which has essentially been changed to helping innocents or killing innocents, respectively) there's also "purity" and "corruption" which involve lesser sins like gluttony, sloth, and lust (consorting with prostitutes, specifically). Abstaining from such sins will make you more attractive, while partaking of them will reduce your attractiveness. People can also be afraid of you or think you're funny, depending on what emotions you use near them; growling or threatening them will make them afraid, while telling jokes will make them laugh and treat you less seriously. Each character has their own unique preferences for what actions will make them more friendly, as well. Your interactions with people aren't limited to mere interaction - shopkeepers who like you will offer discounts, and if a person really likes you (and their sexual preference allows for it) you can propose to them and make a family. Fathering/mothering children has been added to the game - though pregnancy is essentially instantaneous, presumably to prevent female adventurers from trying to wander around while heavy with child.

Combat in the game handles roughly the same as the previous game, though it handles slightly worse. Certain abilities (blocking, dodging, combo attacks) need to be unlocked by advancing in the "strength" or "skill" path. Magic handles the most differently from Fable 1: there's no more Will Points, but every spell needs to be charged up before it is fired off. Essentially, there's a line with a set of checkpoints lying along it; every checkpoint represents a spell level, and whatever spell (fireball, lightning bolt, etc) you have put in that spell level will be used if you release at that time. It's an overly complicated system that doesn't really help the game at all, and in a lot of cases it simply became easier not to use spells. Finally, due to the lack of armor and the reduced number of potions, you will take a lot more damage unless you've got a lot of skill. The game wants you to rely on food for health, so that you'll have to make the decision between your health and your waistline - a decision that doesn't make sense considering the fact that you are swinging a sword or axe around for most of the game, which should more than cover the amount of calories you're taking in.

As a whole the game is promising, but in truth - and in terms of content - the game is barely equal to Fable 1. The size of the world is about the same - if not smaller - and the few towns are nearly identical (whereas in Fable 1 each town had its own theme and population). For this reason, while the game starts off promising, once you've gotten into it everything seems the same, and you've run out of new things to discover - new clothes to wear, new vistas to explore, new haircuts to get, etcetera. Much of the content is based on unnecessary sidequests, and the main quest fizzles out too soon with an entirely anti-climactic finish. Fable 2 provides only about ten to fifteen hours of actual gameplay; the rest of it is essentially wandering around doing tasks for people, buying houses, or raising a family. These things are exciting, but they should be side tasks for the main adventure, not the primary focus of the game. As a whole, though, the game is reasonably fun for the time that it has.

6/10.

Fable II Limited Edition was at the top of my grandson's Christmas list. It's unavailable at local stores so Amazon was the first place I thought of. The price was good and it came in time for Christmas. My grandson loves the game and played for hours at our house before taking it home for more hours of fun.

Fable 2 Limited Edition was definitely worth the extra ten dollars that it cost to pick it up. The Limited Edition content helped to expand the beginning of the game, as opposed to just being a few trinkets. It was also worth a laugh that the Fable 2 creators included many pop culture references in the game, including Halo, Evil Dead, and others. This game had many good points. The graphics were astounding, especially when connected to a High Definition Screen. The game play was great, incredibly interactive, and the open world concept worked out very well, instead of just getting lip service.

Some moderate things that could have been a little better, was a longer central story line, more quests to do while in the Spire, and more quests to do overall. The game is about 60 hours total play time, for all side quests and the main quests. I was hoping for more around 100 hours of game play.

Some things that needed significant improvement were the camera controls, the zoom for rifles, something to spend your experience on after you have obtained all the abilities, and fixing the glitch with targeting people to obeserve how they feel about you.

This game deserves 4*'s overall, because what needs to be fixed isn't significantly bad enough to take away more than a little from the game play. It can just get annoying every so often.

This Game Is Amazing. I Ordered It A Couple Of Days Before The Release Date And I Received It The Same Day It Came Out. The Graphics And Audio I Give A 9 Out Of 10 And The Story I Give A 10 Out Of 10. The Bonus Material Was Pretty Cool As Well. The Only Thing I Can Say I Didn't Like About This Game Is That There Was No Armor, Just Clothes. But All And All I Give This Game A 10 Out Of 10.

I had purched Fable 1 on the computer and thought it was an awesome game for the period in which it had come out. With Fable 2 coming out years later I figured it would totally rock. Boy was i mistaken. The scenary and visuals were nice, nothing mind blowing, and some of the new game features were intriguing. But it was all the little things that really dissapointed me. For starters, theres no actual HUD or minimap to help you navigate the world around. If you're lost you have to pause the game and open up the Menu just to see where you're at. An inconvenience yes, but I got used to it after a while. Then when it came to actual combat they tweaked just about every aspect, and not for better. Spellcasting was dramatically nerfed which dissapointed me the most because thats what i enjoy the most. Theyve cut the spell availability and the way the casting is worked out, its not even worth the time to charge up for lvl 5's when you're getting nailed by 6 different enemies. That and there's really only a couple spells that have any critical value the farther you progress. The menu is absolutely rediculous as well. Navigation is utterly a mess because it has no memory and you can only engage a single item at a time. So say if you want to learn all the books you just bought at the library, you have to open up the menu and scroll through three different catagories just for a single item. Then repeat it all over. You can imagine how frustrating this can be if youve just mass purchased skill potions or celery (The game makes it extremely easy to gain weight and i refuse to have a fat character. It seemed the only way to lose the weight was to eat Celery. Loads and loads of celery.)