Customer Reviews

Fable: The Lost Chapters

5 star:		(161)
4 star:		(96)
3 star:		(56)
2 star:		(27)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

Title: Fable

Description: What path will you choose? The highly anticipated and arguably over-hyped fantasy/ adventure game from an extended Microsoft developer. This unique game claims to have extreme character versatility and game possibilities. Your appearance and skills will be altered by things you do in game. If you eat too much you get fat if you fight a lot you will get large and brawny and you also age. Fight the forces of evil or join them. You can adventure with thieves or settle into domesticity with your new wife (male or female.)

Platform: Xbox

Learning Curve: 7- With so much to do in the game expect to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the many skills and spells and also basic social interaction. I don't think you need to have "1337 g4/\/\3R" skills to fight and advance in the game, but the fighting system might take a bit of practice and the game gives you tutorials early in the game.

Replay Value: 9- The standard storyline will have the limitations of what it is, but if you stray from the intended path you can play the game many times altering your persona to be good or evil. Slaughter merchants or be a dastardly polygamous the possibilities can go on and on.

Difficulty: 5- This game has an average level of difficulty from what I can tell. With proper training and skill purchase most enemies shouldn't pose a problem.

Guide: Available through Prima publishers for $14.99. I'm surprisingly satisfied with this guide so far. The guide helps navigate the game easier and might help you get through some puzzles if you are stumped.

Pros: Versatile gameplay, awesome graphics, hilarious dialogue, addictive gameplay, and interesting follow through storyline.

Cons: Main character is as imagined "generic" to permit versatile play, camera angle with bow can get jumbled, D button controls are sloppy, and "noble" heroes will have to be careful for villagers wanting a part in battles with monsters and I often found myself accidentally hacking the occasional merchant.

Time Expected to Invest: As much time as you want, but I imagine most people will find a good month or so of solid play before they are off to another title. I think I will enjoy this title for a bit longer though.

Retail Value: $49.99

Suggested Purchase Price: worth over $40. Try to find it used if possible or wait until the price goes down.

Overall: 9- I admit I really like this game, but I'm trying to keep the casual gamer and expectations in mind when I rated this over all. I think some will be disappointed by the gameplay not being as "versatile" as many thought it would be, but really if there wasn't some kind of guided story involved for more "linear" gamers you'd just have a pet character on a game that would wonder around aimlessly with no direction. I like the option to do either in this game and I think many gamers will feel the same. Was this game too overly hyped? Perhaps, but I am still satisfied with the outcome. Is it a disappointment? No, disappointment is getting ready for the second time for a lunch date only to have the person inform you when they call that they are too "tired" to meet that commitment. I swear I had to get ready, drive into the city, and wait until she got off again and then... sorry off topic. Anyway, no I was satisfied by this game and that is enough for me to consider my purchase worthwhile. I recommend this title and I think while not "revolutionary" the game brings something new and fresh to gaming.

I resisted the temptation of writing a review too soon for this game; I have now played nearly 10 hours of Fable and here are my thoughts.

The graphics are just plain crazy; wonderfully done! I'm still fascinated at every ray of light that comes down through the forests and trees. Truely a marvel in gameplay.

Sound is also another home run with a surround sound setup. The sound will suck you in to the realm of the game and bring you that much closer to the ever blurring fine line of reality and dreamland.

Fighting. Well, lets put it this way. If you are after a hack and slasher hero, then the game is set up pretty good for you. Just hit the X button multiple times to increase your attack multiplier and then hit the B button for a flourish kill. However, if you want to cast a spell somewhere in there, then things get a little interesting. It can be very difficult to keep an eye whats going on the screen while scrolling through your spells to figure out what you want to cast.

Controller config is where the game has it's downfall. The problem is that there is too much customization you can have going on. Unlike many games, EVERY single button, trigger, joystic and pad is used during combat. This becomes an absolute nightmare when you start to get attacked by more than 5 creatures at any given time. What's even worse is trying to prioritize your victim in the melee is virtually impossible. A very typical combat scenario turns into the floundering of the controller as you try to remember to hold in the right trigger and hit Y to scroll to the right spell setup. All the while you are getting slashed. So you want your spell to get the guy in the back of the crowd that is shooting at you? Keep that right trigger in, now hold in the left trigger and continue to click to target different enemies; again, all the while getting slashed. This doesn't even take into consideration trying to keep you health up and Will by using the D-pad somewhere in that battle.

Don't get me wrong, the game is a definite purchase. However, the developers have created so much here that it is overwhelming when it comes to the combat.

But hey, I still can't put it down.

Fable is a wonderfully implemented and impressively beautiful game. The game engine, character interactions, fighting with weapons, magic, everything - works really well, generally just how it should. And the graphics are beautiful leaving little if anything to be desired. I guess it doesn't have the advanced lighting, shadowing, etc. of a game like Splinter Cell but they are certainly nice enough.

I've not finished the game yet but I've already gotten my money's worth. I can see how a 12 year old game maniac who plays continuously might finish Fable quickly and feel like $50 is a lot of money for just a few days of solid play. But for a busy adult, whose game skills are not olympic, and $50 is not noticible, you WILL get your money's worth. I think I'll be playing this game in my spare moments for weeks and then I'll periodically return to it over years to play a bit more.

With regard to the freedom factor - its true that this game is not as free-form as Morrowind or Baldur's Gate. You can wander around, but mostly over a relatively small set of paths and towns. Its not a gigantic unexplored world to get lost within. I think this game's freedom is a different type. The freedom in this game revolves around what type of hero you want to become and I think in this case the game does a great job of allowing you to select what you want to be. And there look to be many acceptable, fun answers. In this way I think this game is a step above Morrowind or Baldur's Gate.

Overall, Fable is amazingly well built. Balanced, smooth, fun, without excess frustration, and a pleasure to play.

Hopefully the creators will use the same technology to build a sequal with even greater flexibility and world size to satisfy all the RPGers.

Here's the deal, this game was not meant for gamers who want to see the final video as soon as humanly possible. This game is about building your character in both a statistical aspect and social aspect. I couldn't begin to tell you everything you can do in this game.

I think a LOT of the bad reviews on here are coming from power gamers who were expecting a game that was SO good that there was no hope for it to live up to the expectations. Granted I think this game could have been a bit longer, and I would have loved a totally open ended play style like Morrowind, but you know what? Morrowind has so many options that most people get lost and never see half the game. It's the difference between going to a playground and going to an amusement park. Both are fun, but at the playground you can go anywhere and do anything... the amusement park has controlled areas you can do stuff. Just different styles.

This game is definitely a rental for people. Personally I don't regret playing this game, the possibilities are amazing. Haircuts that make you more attractive or scarier, gifts you can give to women (or men if you want to swing that way), boasting about how well you are going to do on quests to boost the renown you get for completing them.

They say the devil is in the details. I think that they set the bar at a great level in the details catergory. A little refinement on the length and openness of the game would make this one HELL of a title. I would LOVE for them to bang out a sequel to this. Don't listen to all the nay-sayers here... try it out yourself, but realize that all the hype that people got going here might taint your opinion. Take the game for what it is and enjoy the hell out of it.

I am very happy with this game; like the rest of you, I did think it would be a heck of a lot better. The graphics are pretty good, the story line is cool, the 'idea' behind the game is pretty awesome. The only real problem I saw with the game is the inability to wander around. The world, the surroundings, are quite linear. I was expecting more of a Morrowind feel. I'm slightly disappointed... oh well. I mean, the game is still very revolutionary, it's just not the caliber people were expecting. If you planned on buying it, go ahead and do so. It won't be money wasted.
Just to get a few things straight:
1. It's not like Morrowind or GTA where you can just do what you want.
2. Fable is a good game, with good intentions, great replay value.
3. The fighting system, I think, is a lot of fun; picking up the experience orbs afterwards, is a little annoying.
4. Over a period of time, choices you make chenge how you look. You can also get haircuts and tattoos to change your appearance.
5. Traveling around is not too tedious, you can teleport anywhere you've been before.

Fable is the latest RPG by Peter Molyneux, creator of Populous and Black & White. As in the previous games, your actions determine your look and the look of the world around you.

You start out as a lad in a village, doing random quests for your village. You can choose to do those quests nicely or cruelly, changing your reputation as you go. The townspeople react to your new reputation. The village is soon torched by bandits and you go off to a guild hall to become a Hero, to get revenge.

The game is very open ended, letting you choose which quests you wish, roam around slaying beasts, hang out in the pubs playing pub games, getting drunk. You can get married, get divorced and slay people. As you set your course in life, and choose clothing and armor, people react to you with pleasure, fear, appreciation, laughter, and more.

The graphics are stellar in this game. Trees have leaves of different types. Smoke rises from the glowing forge, the game cycles from day to night as you adventure. Your character can wear hairstyles and tattoos, changing clothes to suit the occasion. The sounds are great as well. You hear hoot-owls at night, sparrows during the day. People sleep and snore at night, while kids arond during the day. Amongst it all, a gentle classical musical score puts you into the medieval frame of mind.

There are the traditional elements of an RPG here - you slay creatures, solve quests, earn money and reputation. You use experience to build up the skills in the area you enjoy - magic, ranged weapons, hand to hand combat. If you choose good things to do, the people love you and your look and atmosphere is one of joy. If you choose evil things, the townspeople run in fear, you sprout horns and even get a bug-swarm near you.

But the true joy of this game is where it lets you pretty much do whatever you want. You can marry a girl - then kill her off for her inheritance. Or kill off her parents. Or divorce her and marry another one. The choices are pretty much endless, and since every person in the game related to each other one and to you, you never know what the various combinations will cause to happen.

This is NOT a quick game to win. It will take you some time to get through the intro / tutorial areas and really learn the basics. Once you do, the gameplay itself can easily take weeks to months to try out everything, if it is even possible to try everything. You'll want to create several characters to be able to try the world as good, evil and everything in between.

Also note this is a MATURE title and lists in its "things you've done" items like "getting drunk" and "having sex" and so on. You run into situations with cheating husbands, cheating wives, etc. This isn't meant for the younger set. Still, for adults it can be great fun.

Highly recommended, 10/10!!

Even though the Amazon picture currently doesn't show it, this is the "Platinum Hits" version of Fable, called Fable The Lost Chapters. It includes expanded content not included in the original game.

I have been a gamer my whole life, starting with the Intellivision in the 80s (Burger Time, anyone?). Never before has a game been so addictive and has had me coming back to it when I swore I'd go out and interact with the real world for a while. It took me about 15 hours to complete (I only did 6 side-quests, there are many many more I'm told).

Fable is designed to allow you to be whoever and whatever you want your character to be. You first start off as a child and you grow into an old man as the game progresses. Every move you make changes the way your character turns out. As a result of everything you do you can be evil and make children run from you and villagers fear you, or you can be good and have people clap for you and cheer at you everywhere you go. Also, the way you prefer to do battle will determine your class. If you use your sword a lot you'll end up a warrior; if you use your spells most of the time you may end up a caster; or you can use your bow and become a ranger. You can combine them as well. I beleive the stats menu said I was an "Arcane-warrior" or something to that nature.

The graphics are very detailed. The story is captivating and deep. And the sounds and music are very well done. Despite my giving it 5 stars it does have its flaws. The villagers get annoying very quickly, the game is rather short for an RPG and another 10 to 20 hours more would have been great (I did ignore a lot of quest cards toward the end which may have made it longer, and I didn't do all the demon doors), and there is a small amount of spells and equipment (which is understandable since the game is so short).

After wasting a well spent 15 hours of my life on this game trying to be on the side of good. I think I'll waste another 15 or so and try to be evil next time around. I highly recommend this game to any gamer, whether you like RPGs or not.

Being an devout 'RPG'er I (like so many other Xbox owners) was completely thrilled at the fact that 'ole Mr. Gates' console is finally getting a bonafide RPG to add to it's repertoire. For all fans of role-playing games this was to be the end all, be all game of games for the RPG genre. And we so patiently waited for the grand "Fable" to arrive and entrance our minds for nearly 4 years now. This game has garnered much discussion and anticipation from the "underground" gamers abroad. All bets were off, this game was to revolutionize the way RPG's were to be programmed and played just as Final Fantasy VII had done to the genre in '97. Did it? Was Microsoft able to pull it off and alter the future of RPG's? Was it as great as anticipated or was it a huge dissapointment and a waste of time and money?

Well, according to the various forums, chat rooms, and reviews of it Fable is all of the above-It is both fabulous and a failure.

I personally can not honestly say that Lionshead Studio managed to reinvent the way RPG's are to be played, but I must say that the freedom in this game is grander than what I have experienced in all other RPG's to date. The premise that you start off as a young child (propably around 6-7 yrs. old) and age along with the story line as you progress in experience (all the way to senior citizenship) definately makes it easier to immerse yourself into the game. I have laughed to myself many a time now at how outright inpropable, and yet impowering, it is for a 65 year old man to manage to have women (and men alike) fall madly in love with his elderly "hero" self. The beauty of this game is that impowering impropability. Yes, I know all RPG's are games of donning someother reality, but still most of them still do not reach the depth of total control over your character as Fable has managed to do. The control over the Hero's appearance from hairstyles to facial hair is rare. Then add into it clothing, weapon of choice to wield, powers/attributes/abilities, moral/ethical choices,even sexuallity-heterosexual, gay, bi? It is all up to the player and however he or she may want to take it and then RUN with it! These types of decisions enable a deeper sense of connection with the character-shallow they may be, but they allow more control over character development than any other RPG that I have yet to play.

Unfortunately however the storyline is still rather linear AND VERY short. I completed the game in under 9 hours. The limitation in the length of the main story does not restrict freedom to "wander around" though. My latest replay of the game I have managed to strecth my 9 hour game to a 19 hour game and I am not even 2/3 done with it yet. So, Fable permits plenty of "filler" time (if you will) to make the game experience that more unique and personal to the gamer and the gamer's intentions during a run through. For example, if I want to be wickedly evil I can do so and still complete the game at my own pace hacking and slashing townsfolk, robbing them in the middle of night, or even killing them in thier sleep. Or another day I feel like being noble, virtous, pure and full of integrity so I defend my fellow man as he is attacked by a raid of bandits or trolls earning holiness. Then again another day I want the best of being both morally good and sinfully, immorally bad. And this where the twisted fun can really happen, because the gamer now has the opportunity to save his/her fellow man once again from the dreaded bandits and immediately following the now rescued person's gracious, flattering remarks YOU can now strike them dead, thus balancing out the games moral meter.
*Rescued Trader-"Thank you, kind sir. Hooray for the mighty (hero's title)!!"
*Hero-In response to the traders compliments and adoration you smash his face in with your (weapon of choice) thus killing him immediately.
Note: As I'm writing this review I realize that it may read quite disturbing that someone would find such a scenario enjoyable . . . well trust me IT IS.

All in all the heart of Fable is not the storyline nor the gameplay, which by the way is superb and quite easy to grasp almost immediately, but in the honest moral choices it asks the player to make. Nobility is honorable and gratifying, but let's all be honest here it's FUN to be bad. And having a game to explore some of these completely uncivilized decisions can be rather well . . . entertaining. I must add though that these moral decisions should be left to more socially/emotionally mature minds with enough reason to understand right and wrong, cause and effect. Fable should not be played by children who do not yet grasp the understanding of appreciation for life. In fact this statement should not even be neccessary, because the game itself is rated mature (17+), therefore these moral/ethical questions should not reach the minds of children nor young teens.

Fable is just that-a complete and total farce made up of whatever you choose it to be. Good, bad, indifferent the choice is yours. So why not have fun with it, because that's what RPG's are really about right? Making your 'own' Fable?

As far as whether or not one should own Fable, I recommend renting it for the average gamer and owning it for every RPG fan.

Now that they hype is over and the game is finally here all these overexaggerated five star reviews will be done with unless they're genuine.

All in all, the game lived up to the hype in my opinion, I know not to get my hopes up too much for a game anymore, too many let downs with movies and games in the past. I don't even care about Halo 2.

This is a fun game people. Sorry you can't do whatever you want to do from raping small children to flogging your Guildmaster. If you want to do that, go out in the real world.

At first, I tested out all the things you could do, before starting the actual quest mode. You can kick chickens, punch your dad, get drunk which is actually very humerous. It's fun to do the quests drunk too, start throwing up when some bandits are coming. Lot of good weapon choices, etc. Every game has to have some linear path to follow, otherwise it would be pointless other than to roam around doing whatever you want. This game is like GTA meets Zelda meeds Morrowind.

Graphics are slightly better than Morrowind, which is what I was expecting. Most character interaction isn't that interesting, but I have a good imagination so it's not that hard to see what the producer had in mind.

I wasn't disappointed by this game, it was worth the wait.