I know Fable is infamous for Peter Molyneux's wildly ambitious, and ultimately insufficient, claims. But, as a teenager, Fable put me squarely into ancient Albion and let me become the Hero I imagined myself to be and I loved nearly all of it.
From training at the guild and feeling genuine affection for Whisper, Maze, and the Guildmaster, to receiving my first hero title,("Chicken Chaser, I believe?") I feel like I remember every second. It could also be the innumerable times that I've played through it. The voice acting is so memorable. Maybe even more so to me than Resident Evil 4. It's so infused with humor and charm of it's own unique design. It's an incredibly unique franchise in this regard.
Combat is a little clunky today, but I had so much fun mastering it as a teenager. I think in my last couple of runs, I understood the fighting mechanics, magic systems, and the combat multiplier so well, that I managed a no-hit run. Or what felt like it. I love the endless assignment options for spells SO much more than what they did with the sequels. You can piece together spells that naturally complement eachother and run ramshod over foes. On more evil runs, I had spells so thoroughly crafted that I could break a window in a town and massacre the whole place with defensive casting and not throw a single punch.
The clothing options, expressions, mini-games and bartering systems are all really fun to play around with too. You couldn't customize your face or body, but it didn't matter much when you could wear so many different types of armor and discover all the tattoos there were to find. I used to love to start a file, go into Bowerstone South and just play the Memory mini-game in the tavern for an hour or two and accumulate enough wealth to buy equipment way beyond my current level. Bringing books to the schoolhouse and getting a unique cutscene of your Hero and the teacher reading and interacting with kids was always hilarious. There were so many noteworthy side quests and I could even relegate all of this to the first town. Oakvale, Darkwood, Barrow Fields, Greatwood, Knothole Glade, Hook Coast. This is all from memory. It is so thoroughly entwined with what my idea of a great game is.
There are a few faults. As I said, age may have made it a little clunky and some of the babysitter quests are groanworthy. Taking the traders through Darkwood was always a slog. There was one hostage rescue mission with Bandits that was always janky and the Chapel of Skorm and Temple of Avo sidequests were impossible without a guide. The jail section is really terrible too. For some reason they did it again in Fable 2 and it may have even been worse. The base version ended without a post-game, but Lost Chapters was SUCH a welcome improvement. I played the remastered version for 360 and I was incredibly disappointed. I encountered lots of bugs, slowdowns, and freezes. Enough so that it eventually became unplayable for me. I couldnt get achievements to pop either. Really annoying.
There aren't many games that are this individualistic and charming at the same time. I for one can't wait for the next installment and I'm praying they can manage what Lionhead did back in the day.
From training at the guild and feeling genuine affection for Whisper, Maze, and the Guildmaster, to receiving my first hero title,("Chicken Chaser, I believe?") I feel like I remember every second. It could also be the innumerable times that I've played through it. The voice acting is so memorable. Maybe even more so to me than Resident Evil 4. It's so infused with humor and charm of it's own unique design. It's an incredibly unique franchise in this regard.
Combat is a little clunky today, but I had so much fun mastering it as a teenager. I think in my last couple of runs, I understood the fighting mechanics, magic systems, and the combat multiplier so well, that I managed a no-hit run. Or what felt like it. I love the endless assignment options for spells SO much more than what they did with the sequels. You can piece together spells that naturally complement eachother and run ramshod over foes. On more evil runs, I had spells so thoroughly crafted that I could break a window in a town and massacre the whole place with defensive casting and not throw a single punch.
The clothing options, expressions, mini-games and bartering systems are all really fun to play around with too. You couldn't customize your face or body, but it didn't matter much when you could wear so many different types of armor and discover all the tattoos there were to find. I used to love to start a file, go into Bowerstone South and just play the Memory mini-game in the tavern for an hour or two and accumulate enough wealth to buy equipment way beyond my current level. Bringing books to the schoolhouse and getting a unique cutscene of your Hero and the teacher reading and interacting with kids was always hilarious. There were so many noteworthy side quests and I could even relegate all of this to the first town. Oakvale, Darkwood, Barrow Fields, Greatwood, Knothole Glade, Hook Coast. This is all from memory. It is so thoroughly entwined with what my idea of a great game is.
There are a few faults. As I said, age may have made it a little clunky and some of the babysitter quests are groanworthy. Taking the traders through Darkwood was always a slog. There was one hostage rescue mission with Bandits that was always janky and the Chapel of Skorm and Temple of Avo sidequests were impossible without a guide. The jail section is really terrible too. For some reason they did it again in Fable 2 and it may have even been worse. The base version ended without a post-game, but Lost Chapters was SUCH a welcome improvement. I played the remastered version for 360 and I was incredibly disappointed. I encountered lots of bugs, slowdowns, and freezes. Enough so that it eventually became unplayable for me. I couldnt get achievements to pop either. Really annoying.
There aren't many games that are this individualistic and charming at the same time. I for one can't wait for the next installment and I'm praying they can manage what Lionhead did back in the day.