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View Full Version : When Promised the World, This is What we Got: The Fable II Review



darth jacen
14 Feb 2010, 09:28am
Just as a little heads up, if this seems like it is written to fit into more than one set of requirements, that's because it is. Seeing as I wrote it to put up on multiple places. Also I'm well aware this is an old game, but since i had put the effort into doing the review I figured I may as well toss it up here.

February 14, 2010 - For the video version of this review here you go:
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Fable 2 Review

Fable II is an action RPG or role playing game created by Peter Molyneux, and Lion Head Studios. Fable II came out in late October 2008, exclusively for the Xbox 360, and is a sequel to the well selling 2004 game Fable and the expansion Fable: The Lost Chapters.

Fable II takes place in a region known as Albion. The game is set in a time period that somewhat mirrors the enlightenment. With some modernization such as pistols and rifles, yet still more primitive weapons such as swords are more commonly employed. The main hubs for life in Albion are mainly rural, with the exception of Bower Stone, your home town. Also in later points in the story, depending on your choices, West Cliff may also be more urbanized.

Fable II follows the standard RPG story ideal of starting as a young boy or girl, that inevitably leads to a tragedy that sets you off to become more skilled and powerful. It furthers the unoriginal start to the story with your main ambition being revenge against the person who harmed you and your sister. As you progress through the story some events seem to hit like deja vu, such as the old arena now being the crucible, and also said crucible being piss easy; that is as long as you have inferno level 5 with you. Though one major difference between the original and the sequel, story wise is the final boss. In Fable you end with an epic battle with Jack-o-Blades, where as in the sequel the final boss is really just a steroid-ed version of a foe you've seen and beaten before. Thus leading to a very anti-climatic end fight topped only by the final “battle” in which the antagonist literally takes one shot to kill.

But before you can get to the end you must first begin your trip down “chosen one lane” and you'll be needing some money, but unlike in the original Fable just running around slaying bandits and other antagonistic creatures won't pay all that well. This time around its all about jobs and real estate for money.

On the subject of the jobs, though it's realistic, well, more so then a beetle or a imp dropping money. The way the process is accomplished is what ruins it for me. The jobs are executed in such a way that it feels almost like an extended quick time event repeated hundreds of times. Now jobs are not the only way to make money in the world of Albion, you can also slap on a tie and become a real estate monger.

As simple a system as is used to buy and make money on your properties it does become a bit concerning when you spend more time looking for properties to buy rather than better equipment. I can see why giving us money on a set time is used, but it means you never actually have to do anything quest wise. You can make more money than someone who spends all day questing, and beating the game just by buying some shacks around town. The ease to make money, and so quickly can lead to access to weapons that are far too powerful for the stage at which they can be bought breaking the games difficulty curve, which already has it's own problems with combat.

The game has a small issue with difficulty...there isn't any. Which is mainly due to the combat system, as well as no penalty for death save the loss of the XP floating at that moment. The combat itself doesn't handle poorly, X bashes their faces in, Y shoots them, and B summons magic. The big problem in the combat system is the magic element, and how its performed. The main reason for flaw with the magic system is the lack of a way to limit the spam of the spells, i.e. a mana bar. Also the overly effective A.O.E. Spells that cause enemies to fall at a disconcerting pace. Adding also that weak enemies causes these flaws to shine, as the game becomes insipidly easy later on. Also with the potions to add hundreds of thousands of points to the XP meter readily available a level five spell can be purchased extremely early and further break the difficulty curve, along with the upgrade system that I personally found user friendly.

But I'm afraid even if the combat was fixed, or at least more balanced, and if the jobs didn't break game flow and cause an urge to hurl my controller out the window one thing would...The moral choice system, and the games ending in relation to it. Now without spoiling the ending, when you defeat the final boss they're three endings to choose from, the paragon, the sadist, or the middle ground ending. Which as far as most moral choice games go is one more choice than usual, which I give great approval to, but seeing as we choose the ending, it seems rather pointless to have the system in the first place. The ending completely undermines the idea that the moral choice system is there for any reason but for aesthetics. Seeing as I was a evil sonofabitch for the whole game, and then chose to be a saint in the end. Thus allowing for my whole past evils to be overlooked due to one good, which really ruined all that hard work I had spent being cruel and evil.

Just some other small notes on parts of the game, mainly your trusty sidekick dog. As nice as it was to have a companion and a treasure hunter I had some small issues with him. He sometimes would stare at a chest while I run around looking for it, laughing at me and my stupidity. Also he only attacks knocked down enemies, which with many people just using magic doesn't really help much. Finally he would yell TREASURE!!! then walk around for a minute then lose it, leaving me looking for treasure while he just sits there.

Now onto my final opinions and thoughts. One question I always ask myself when I sit down to start a review is “did I have fun?”, because to me a game can have holes and bugs but still be fun and worth owning. When I asked myself this about Fable II I had to say yes, it is by no means perfect but the game is fun, as well as extremely immersible, save the job bits. A second question I ask is “would I play this again?”, now I'm not an awards hound so the idea of playing twice to be good and evil to unlock every thing doesn't appeal to me, but what makes me want to play this game again are some of the side missions. While the game doesn't always tell you that there are some side quests available, if you take the time to do all the good or evil ones they're some funny and interesting missions to do, which does allow for replay-ability through wanting to do all the quests evil and good.

So now for the scores, not that I recommend scores but some people will only look or listen to a review if they're in there so here goes:

I recommend Fable II as a game to Buy, and for a numerical score I refuse to go into decimals so I give it 4 Peter Molyneux promises out of 5 (Which is still better than real life). If you don't get that I replaced stars with Peter Molyneux promises, then let me spell it out for you...oh wait.

*As a side note for anyplace where this review is that uses decimals, it is a 9.0 seeing as it is a very solid 4/5 and an eight would not do it justice.

Hotshot
14 Feb 2010, 09:41am
Awesome game, I love it :)

Delirium
14 Feb 2010, 09:43am
Bad Video qaulity.

Jazzyy
14 Feb 2010, 10:17am
I'll watch it WHEN THE FUCKING GAME PORTS TO THE GODDAMN PC


FUCKING MICROSOFT

Zaraki
14 Feb 2010, 10:52am
Nice review, thanked it of course ^^
I want to download it or just get to buy it

Crimson
14 Feb 2010, 10:57am
Good jobdw00d

DoubleSb
14 Feb 2010, 02:15pm
Ginger.

Bad Dog
14 Feb 2010, 03:50pm
Ginger.

They have no soul, but they write damn good reviews.

darth jacen
14 Feb 2010, 04:11pm
They have no soul, but they write damn good reviews.

Thank you for both of those statements :)

Trogdor
14 Feb 2010, 04:32pm
ohithere.

darth jacen
14 Feb 2010, 04:53pm
ohithere.


I see you saw the video :P

Ace™
14 Feb 2010, 11:58pm
it looks like a awsome game altough friend had the fable 2 suddenly on his xbox360 without buying it hes some lucky guy