Customer Reviews

Fable: The Lost Chapters

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I like many others have been waiting a year for this game to finally make it onto the PC from the Xbox. I don't have an Xbox, but my buddy does so I was able to play the game quite a bit, and I really got into it. I have been waiting ever since to finally be able to play this game myself on the computer. And when I heard they would be releasing it with even more content, I got even more excited. I was not expecting that, but am very glad that they did nonetheless.

Some people may complain it might still be a little on the shorter end (in comparision to other games on the market) but I for one do not care. The game is so intriguing and simply FUN to play, that I can look past this. And also, being able to go through the entire game several times (being good, being bad, and then good again,etc.) and doing different things each time like at the end is awesome and lengthens the game's life anyways.

It is just like the Xbox version in that you can keep playing after the final boss which is nice. That way if you missed any side quests you can still complete them if you would like.

The graphics look real sharp too. You can see battle scars and notice as your character ages which is really cool.

For those who are into using a lot of the Will Powers, there are plenty to choose from but unfortunately you can only have two in your quick-access menu. For the rest you actually have to bring up the Will Powers menu to select them. I'd prefer to just be able to asign hot keys for all them, but its forgivable.

For those who have played the original several times through, there isn't too much different until u get to head to the new area they added, which I found to be really enjoyable.

There is one quirk that I have noticed so far, and it is relatively minor. That is the controls. The default setup just doesnt feel right. Like it has the middle mouse button being the block button, which just doesnt work for me. And the lock-on button seems a little out of place too. But luckily like almost all games, the controls are customizable so its no big deal. After some customization I was back to tearing up bandits :)

In short, it's definitely worth a look, and in my opinion- worth buying. You shouldnt be disappointed with this game.

I hesitated a good while before picking this game up at a bargain price. Based upon various reviews and player feedback, I assumed that this game would be like 10 hours long, a bit buggy, and dumbed down. Fortunately, none of this was the case. I had some good fun with this over a weekend (yes, it can be finished over a weekend) and didn't come across a single bug. Fable is not in the same league as Morrowind, Oblivion, Gothic 2, or some of the other great roleplaying games (RPG) out there, but it does provide an enjoyable diversion.

Gameplay: The controls are the typical WASD keys and mouse commands found in most single-player RPGs. The game is fairly easy to learn and navigate. The story traces the hero from childhood through adulthood, when he'll have to, you know, save the world. There are no character classes per se, but you can roughly play as a warrior, magic-user, or stealth/archer character, or some mixture of these. Much of the story centers around a main quest line, but there are a number of side quests available. Unlike most RPGs, quests are assigned by quest cards that you pick up at the Heroes Guild (lol! That's what it's actually called). It's a rather artificial-feeling system, but it's functional. Progression in the game is quite linear. In most instances, you will not be able to even leave the beaten patch, since fences, rocks, and invisible barriers won't allow it. Compared to more open-ended RPGs like the Elder Scrolls series, Fable seems restrictive and light weight in this regard. Overall, it's a decent story, but it is rather force-fed to you.

The game includes several interesting touches. People react to you based upon whether you've performed good or bad deeds. If you roleplay like a saint, you'll eventually have a halo and butterflies floating around. Ladies (and guys) will worship you, and you do have the option to buy a home and marry (multiple times if you'd like). If you play as an evil character, you'll eventually grow horns and fall out of favor with polite company. The nonplayer characters in the game, at least in the towns, have jobs and schedules. They work during the day and sleep at night, though only quest-related characters have anything to say of interest.

Although you can only play the game as the same guy, you can customize him with tattoos, facial hair, haircuts, and a (small) assortment of armor. You can control how your character's skills develop, but not as deeply as you can in a game like Morrowind or Baldur's Gate. There are other small things that you can do, such as fish, play games of chance, and treasure hunt. Overall, this game takes about 20-25 hours to do everything it has to offer, so it is rather short for an RPG.

The things that I didn't much care for are not major, but simply underscore the light-weight nature of this particular game. The game is certainly designed to appeal to the adolescent crowd, with hotkeys for burping, farting, and so forth. The various tattoo styles and haircuts further highlight this point. There is nothing really offensive in the game; it just feels a bit immature in places. Also, the save system is based mostly on the checkpoint model. You can't save just anywhere (at least your quest progress will not save), but the game will autosave at important junctures.

Graphics: The game looks quite good. Character models are convincing (though a bit cartoonish and often repeated), and the natural environment is screenshot beautiful in some places. Since the pathing is fairly restrictive, much of the scenary is noninteractive. It's not like Oblivion or Gothic 2, where if you can see it then you can probably travel to it.

Sounds: Voice acting is pretty good, with the usual British accents that invariably seem to accompany such games. The music is particularly well done and appropriate for the various atmospheres. Ambiant sounds are also decent.

Replayability/Technical Issues: The game is probably worth playing twice: once as a good guy and once as a bad guy. It will play similarly either way, but there are different ways to perform certain quests depending on your moral disposition. Technically, the game was perfectly stable on my computer--no freezes, crashes, or other problems. The manual is decent and explains much of the game, along with the in-game tutorial.

If you like RPG games and can get this one cheap, go for it. It's a well-polished, though simple, rump through a fairly well rendered world. Don't expect the same character depth, engrossing story, or exploring options that you'll find in some of the games that I mentioned above. However, Fable: The Lost Chapters is good for several hours of entertainment.

When I bought it I was hoping for Morrowind with more features. What I got was a very pretty game, with some new features, but was too short, didnt have enough story, was way more linear than advertised, was too easy and too expensive. When I finished I didnt get that satisfied feeling like I normally get after finishing a good game or a good book. I will probably only play through it once more just to see the other ending.

Graphics were excellent, combat was intuitive, nice spell selection (not too many spells), I loved some of the visual things they added like tatoos, scarring, hair cuts, you can become fat or skinny depending on what you eat, get big muscles or have no muscles. These and other what I consider small but integral things should definitely be in future RPGs. Some pretty big things were missing though.

First you cannot play the game as a female charater. Im a guy, but hey some times I like to play games as a female. Second, the story was very thin, hardly any character development. Interaction with NPCs is way too mechanical. Over the game you age about 25-40 years but hardly anything happens to flesh out who you are in relation to the other characters. Sure you can get married, be come good or evil, big and strong or small and magical but why should I care about you as a character? Why do other characters in the story care about you? Why should I care about any of the other characters in the game. We learn basically nothing about anyone except basic events in their life, nothing about what they like or dislike, what theyve done, what motivates them. I mean, you learn more about the mercenaries you can hire from their side comments and interaction with each other than you do about the character's sister or his school roomate who play major roles. I very much missed the dialog and character depth, both payable sexes, and multiple races of Morrowind and Neverwinter Nights.

The game was just too darn easy and it doesnt have any way to increase the difficulty. I blasted through it in a weekend and did most of the side quests (even though they were mostly for money, which you have too much of anyway) and even the extra area they very obviously tacked on at the end. The only way I found to make it more difficult was to run around naked and use less expensive weapons. The early game was good but by the middle and definitly at the end I was destroying everything. The bosses are all way too predictable and with a little magic, some parrying and a few potions you barely even get injured most of the time by the normal enemies. There was never a time when I was killed or thought I might die.

I really hope there is a Fable II because I think they could do a better job, even if they reused the graphics engine and just hired some better story deveoplers they could make a much more enjoyable game.

Of course maybe my preference for story driven games is what makes me dislike aspects of this predominatley hack and slasher.

I've been a fan of Peter Molyneux's work for a while. I waited for Black & White and found the concept was brilliant, but the game itself was a little lacking. Fable:The Lost Chapters fulfills all the expectations I had for Black & White. It's an amazing game where you can have a completely different experience every time you play it. Every decision you make within the game has an effect on the storyline, your appearance and how you are seen by NPCs within the game. FTLC does this without the boring peasant maintainence which was a major detracting factor of Black & White.
Visually, the game is stunning in parts and average in others. Characters hands seem to be unusually large in proportion to the rest of their body at times. There is nothing in the graphics that detracts from the overall enjoyment or playability of this game however. If you have a decent graphics accelerator, there's really nothing bad to say here. I found the graphics style fun and entertaining. It's a mix of realistic and cartoon art that works well for the genre.
The only suggestions I have for improving upon this game would be to make it longer. Once you start playing, it can be addictive and it seems to fly bye. There were a few avenues that developers could have taken to expand on this game, but the replayability makes up for this since there are so many different possibilities to explore within the limitations of the storyline.
I can't wait for Fable 2.

For KC Oaks, the problem lies not in the game but her/his computer. This game works beautifully with my nVidia 3VGA 7600 GT card.

Okay, true that the game is kinda short, but you can't cheat on a god mode, so it's not like you're gonna finish it in a day or 2. & for only $20 you're getting you're money's worth; the game is both fun & highly amusing, nothing seems cliche & many things are unexpected. The environment is beautiful, the soundtrack is beautiful, just like American McGee's Alice's OST. Cheaters will have to rely on the games exploits; many seem to have been almost added to the game on purpose because of their humorous nature. Down the line, all games become tiresome at some point, but you'll end up wanting to play the game at least once a year. I'm already looking forward to Fable 2.

Right, just so everyone knows, I have never played this game, however, i think you should read this.
I bought Fable, and found that my computers graphics card was not compatible with it. It is good enough but not supported, so to avoid this i suggest checking the support section of the website before you buy to check that your card is compatible.
As they have actually put a list of cards on the site, i assume that this problem is not uncommon so i advise you to check this before buying the game. Just thought you should know.

I remember seeing previews for this game years ago on the Xbox, and I hated myself for not owning one. I was overjoyed to see it finally released for Windows, and with even more material as well.

I really liked this game, and I still do oddly enough. While it may be the same thing every time, it still manages to get me to come back constantly and play again. The story line is great and the plot is deep enough to keep you going.

While the game is a bit on the short side, as you may have already noted from other reviews, it seems to keep calling you back over and over again. I could probably blast though this game in one day if I was so inclined, but I found myself enjoying it for far longer than that. While the game may have fallen short of what it was destined to be (I believe the creators even admitted to this) it is still more than worth the price and time.

I would also like to say that this is quite possibly the best system port I have ever played. Not only was it moved from Xbox to PC nearly trouble free, They even added new content to the game. It may not be much (max 5 hours) not worth picking up if you already own the Xbox version, but it showed some decency on the part of the creators to put some more work into the game other than just canning it and throwing it out there for us to blow our money on.

This is a fun game. I rarely play games (last two I really played was Dungeon keeper and Final Fantasy 7) Very enjoyable, really not at all difficult if you have a pulse and the story was really cool. My gripes are it was too easy, evil mode is rather boring, you age and everyone else does not, too short. Too short is the major gripe. The only difficult part is the prison sequence which was also the best drama of the story in my opinion, I actually got angry and then saddend by the events.
They need to make a sequal which is much longer, actually has a point in evil mode and gives some simbalance of in game time with character age.

Buy it anyway

If you haven't yet played this game, well, you don't know what you are missing...
FABLE-THE LOST CHAPTERS is a game so full of great ideas that later games could not stop imitating (and isn't imitation the best form of compliment?). After being an X-BOX title for too long, it eventually got released for PCs.

The game is a Third-Person cRPG starting with your character as a little boy made witness to his village burning and his family getting murdered. The orphan then gets schooled in a military academy (one of the most subtle and best designed tutorials EVER!) and graduates to face his first quest. From then on, this beautiful non-linear and multileveled game never lets you without a fresh surprise!

Sure, there is hacking and slashing and sharpshooting to our hearts content; however, this cRPG's ambitions do not expire there. Your character will grow, acquire scars and marks, get haircuts and tattoos - whereas his body shape and height will depend on his habits, training and alignment. You can buy a house, impress the ladies and even get married. There are also a number of mini-games within FABLE, from gambling to fishing and prize-duels.

The graphics are beautiful (a bit dated today yet still much better than most systems can handle). Facial expressions and body movements are fluid and natural, whereas, grass, flowers and tree branches move to the wind and in your path. There is a weather system and night-and-day alterations. In FABLE you will see the best sunrise and the most rich sunset sky colors EVER! When a scenery moves you enough you can even take a...in game picture that can be viewed later (they are saved in a special folder in MY DOCUMENTS). I am telling you, Peter Molyneux left nothing to chance! Whatever could be turned on its head, well, it was...

The gameplay is plain brilliant! The controls are intuitive and the lower-edge-of-the-screen shortcuts could not be more user-friendly. Looting is usual and merchants are abundant. Weapons and armor are well designed (nothing like the childish ones in...NWN) and special unique sets (rarely) available.

I have completed this game at least three times (the last one was this summer) - and I have enjoyed all of them immensely! Now that the price has dropped, it's even a bargain!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Okay, I'll have to start by saying that I don't play many Role-Playing computer games. I'm a fan of the genre, but I tend to play strategy/command-and-conquer style games.

So, when I picked this one up, I didn't have a lot to compare my experience to.

I was immediately sucked into the game, and the controls WERE NOT hard to learn, despite what another review said. Character progression is cool, giving a fair bit of control over how you develop both skillwise and alignmentwise (do you want to be good or evil? It's your choice and effects how the game plays out).

The optional quests and main story quests are all cool, but I have to warn you all: the final battle is WAY TOO EASY. I beat the whole game without maxing most of skills, without having most of the really cool legendary weapons, and without doing a lot of side quests. But you can continue in the game world after it ends: just let the credits roll for aprox. 10 minutes. Though, there are no new quests, you can run around and tie up loose ends, like opening Demon Doors and Silver Key Chests.