Fable 2

[Spectre]

Re: Fable 2

Pretty frickin excited for this game

[Flawless]

Re: Fable 2

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[Flawless]

Re: Fable 2

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[Flawless]

Re: Fable 2

Gamersyde

Back from Microsoft's private showroom, we bring you some nifty Fable 2 gameplay, presented and played by Peter "snake charmer" Molyneux himself. The video is cut in two parts, and here is the first one. Some combat sequences, a bit of exploration within gorgeous settings, a little tour of Brownstone city, and a few funny mini games.

E3: Gameplay #1

E3: Gameplay #2



...

IGN E3 2008: Fable II Hands-on

"Fable II is finished," according to Peter Molyneux. And by that the famed developer means Fable II is content complete. Lionhead is no longer creating or adding elements to Fable II; the next few months leading to the October release are dedicated to bug testing and tuning. To celebrate the content completeness, Microsoft opened up three different sections of Fable II for demoing purposes. The first offers a playthrough of your hero's entire childhood period (which is very short). Then comes a combat section to get a taste for Fable II's violent side. And lastly there is the sandbox area where you can run around a town and interact (aka terrorize) the locals.

Your childhood section begins with you being crapped on by a bird. And it doesn't get any better. You and your precocious older sister are vagrants. She dreams of one day living in Bowerstone Castle. That dream isn't coming true.

You won't have much time to explore the town of Bowerstone before you come across a man trying to sell ancient trinkets. You attempt to push through the crowd, but can't get by. One item the man offers is a magical box said to grant the wish of the person who opens it. A strange woman (who acts as narrator and guide throughout your quest), suggests you find five gold coin so you can purchase that box. And so you have your first quest.

There are a number of mini-quests you can undertake to earn your gold. One has you posing for a fancy new "picture box" that captures your image with a flash of light. Before you finish doing odd jobs at a gold coin a piece, you come across a bully beating a poor, defenseless dog. Well, who would stand for that? Take out your wooden practice sword, beat the bully and befriend the dog. This will be your permanent companion through your adulthood.

Once you have the box, your sister wishes to live in the castle. The next morning that wish is granted. You are taken to see the head of the castle, who turns out to be a bit nefarious. He shoots your sister before you can react, then knocks you out a stained glass window, dropping you several stories onto the cobblestone. And so begins your journey to avenge your sister.

The combat section is a bit more interesting, since it's our first chance at extended hands-on with the system. With a co-op player dropping in, it was the two of us versus the world. The section we played was set fairly late in the campaign in Wraith Marsh. This dark and gloomy area has been lost to evil. Hobs, zombies and werewolves abound.

But what makes this area special is the tie it has with the original Fable. Wraith Marsh runs through the old town of Oakdale. Now 500 years after Fable 1, Oakdale has sunk into the marsh and is nothing but ruins.

Melee and ranged combat works as expected. Your rhythm with button presses plays a large role in the moves you unleash. Switching between melee and ranged is actually slower than expected. At least for the demo, it was not something where you can do two melee moves then quickly fire off a shotgun into someone's face.

Magic was the real surprise. Each magical power has five levels of potency. The longer you hold down the B button, the higher the level. A meter appears showing the progress and how the spell is being altered with each level. If you choose not to aim at an enemy, you'll use a radial attack, helpful for when you're surrounded. One magic spell creates a half-dozen ethereal swords, which target an enemy and fly at him.

The sandbox section of the demo showcases what helps make Fable II a unique RPG. This is a game meant to allow you to create a unique character and a unique world. And running through a village you can see just how much more advanced the AI reactions have become. Towns are more densely populated and everyone has a different view of your hero. Throw a fireball at someone and they may run in fear. Come back a few days later and they may look at you with considerable hatred. Terrorize too many people and the town guard will come at you. Refuse to pay a fine (or accept jail time) and you will become an outlaw in that town forever. Keep this up and you will find the law of chasing you down across all of Albion.

If you aren't too busy being a jerk, there's a lot you can do in and around towns. You can find a sculptor, for example, and pose for a statue. This statue will be placed in town for all to view and admire (or revile if you become hated). And when your friend visits, they can see such tributes to your hero around the world, which is pretty cool.

Fable II is indeed coming in October. Lionhead is not missing that date. And, from what we've played at E3, it's going to be worth the wait.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Fable 2

I love the art style of this series.

[Flawless]

Re: Fable 2

Gamespot E3 2008: Fable II Impressions - Meet The Bard
Peter Molyneux shows off a handful of previously unseen Fable II features during our E3 meeting.

Yesterday, you might recall, we played through the E3 showfloor demo of Fable II. That was a lot of fun, but today we went one better and met with Peter Molyneux, who talked us through a handful of gameplay features that we hadn't seen previously.

The most memorable of these features was undoubtedly our first encounter with the bard character who, after you meet him in the game, will come and find you anytime you enter a major city. He'll follow you around, he'll talk at you incessantly, and he'll sing songs about your recent exploits--regardless of whether or not they're things that you're proud of. In short, he's annoying enough after a short time to test the patience of a saint. That's probably why Molyneux, who's known to favor playing as evil characters in his games, seized the first available opportunity to lure this guy under a bridge and kill him. Problem solved. If you choose to do something similar you'll never encounter the bard again.

On this occasion, though, Molyneux hadn't been quite as sneaky with his assassination as he thought, and a few minutes later the city of Bowerstone's alarm bell's started ringing and he was apprehended. At this point he was presented with three options: Pay a fine of 500 gold, resist the arrest and get into a fight, or agree to community service. The latter won't involve repainting a school or repairing a broken-down playground, but it'll open up otherwise unavailable side quests that involve, for example, clearing a campsite of troublesome goblins.

With bard no longer a subject up for discussion, Molyneux moved on to talk about money in Fable II. Specifically, he talked about some of the ways that you will (and won't) be able to earn it, and at least one way that you can choose to spend it. As you may have already heard, you won't earn gold for completing quests in Fable II; you're a hero, so presumably you have motivations other than wealth. So, if you decide to rush through the story as quickly as possible you'll not only be ignoring much of the game's content, but you'll wind up penniless to boot.

Money can be earned in plenty of different ways, including playing the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade game Keystone, which should be available to download around six weeks before Fable II arrives in stores. Helping friends to complete quests in their world as a henchman is sure to prove a popular source of income, while jobs such as blacksmithing, bar tending and assassination will offer an enjoyable alternative for those of you with no Xbox Live, no friends, or no inclination to let either of them into your Fable II experience.

There will no doubt be plenty of opportunities to spend your hard-earned gold in Fable II, and we can confirm that one of those is a book store that specializes in training manuals. All of the books available here either grant you new abilities or enhance existing skills and while we didn't get a good look at the list of titles for sale, we did notice that there was one about marriage and at least two that will let you teach your dog new tricks.

When asked about the nature of Fable II's achievements, Molyneux also alluded to another possible source of income; buying a property and renting it out. One of the achievements in the game will purportedly reward you for being an "evil landlord" and dramatically increasing the rent on property that you own while tenants are residing there. Another, completely unrelated achievement will increase your gamerscore if you have a penchant for kicking chickens.

Bothering poultry is unlikely to test your combat prowess, of course, but after taking the controls of a character that hadn't been leveled up at all during today's meeting we can report that the skills at your disposal when you start playing are limited to say the least. To paraphrase what we were told by Molyneux, you basically just have to "mash buttons" early on. By leveling up and spending points on improving certain aspects of your combat, though, you can really customize your character's fighting style and, as a result, you'll have to work some control subtleties into your repertoire. Even if you choose to specialize in just one fighting style you'll have plenty of freedom to customize your moves. For example, for a melee-oriented character you can spend points on upgrading several different areas, including flourishes, environmental kills, and combos.

Before our meeting came to a close we were invited to partake in a quick QA session along with other attendees. Very little of the information to come out of it was new, partly because the group got carried away talking about the concept in in-game protected sex and reusable condoms (apparently they're a rare item). We did learn that you can activate a "breadcrumb trail" at any time that will lead you back to your next story mission, though, and that in addition to quest givers there are lots of non-player characters who have icons indicating specific requirements over their heads. For example, a woman in Bowerstone with a heart over her head needs to be romanced before she'll hand over whatever reward she has to offer.

Fable II is currently scheduled for release in October and, in case you haven't guessed, we're just a little excited for it. We look forward to bringing you more information on the game in future.

[Flawless]

Re: Fable 2

Interesting piece of news I heard. The person that invites someone into their world has the safety control, and as long as you leave safety on, the other person can't kill any of your important characters.

[mgoblue]

Re: Fable 2

Have they announced online co-op yet?....It always seemed like Molyneux was saying "we can't say everything" and yet we're almost done with E3...just wondering if that was the secret thing or if it's something else

[Flawless]

Re: Fable 2

Have they announced online co-op yet?....It always seemed like Molyneux was saying "we can't say everything" and yet we're almost done with E3...just wondering if that was the secret thing or if it's something else

Yes, Molyneux announced it during the Microsoft conference.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168706

Also confirmed was the exciting news that Fable 2 will feature online cooperative gameplay directly accessible at "any point during the story" for those playing over Xbox Live.

Players engaged in the game will be able to identify whether or not their friends are online through the presence of an in-game orb. This orb can then be activated within the game to invite other players to hop in and lend a hand at any point during Fable 2's campaign.

Molyneux stressed that this feature would be particularly interesting for players who wish to compare different styles of play across the same campaign. Since Fable's world dynamically shapes itself around the actions of the protagonist, the world that one ends up hopping into could (theoretically) end up being an extremely different place from the one you left behind.

[mgoblue]

Re: Fable 2

Yes, Molyneux announced it during the Microsoft conference.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168706

Awesome! Thanks, I missed it in all the E3 craziness. I knew it was gonna be there but great to confirm, it'll be fun going through with a friend, almost MMORPG-esque.

[allBthere]

Re: Fable 2

anyone know if there's still 'boasting platforms'?

I thought that was so funny and hope it returns

[Flawless]

Re: Fable 2

Fable II's Condoms Made From "Only The Very Best Animal Intestines"

Nothing matches the sexual intimacy of sheep guts. Lionhead Studios knows this, so for Fable II's casual sex seekers, they're offering a handy prophylactic made from only the finest internal animal organs. In-game condoms are essential, should you want to take a wife and remain free of rugrats. We're stocking up for the game's longer, colder, lonelier nights.

[Flawless]

Re: Fable 2

E3 2008: Fable 2 Down and Dirty
We investigate the seedy side of Albion.

If you like, you can be as innocent and polite as a choir boy in Fable 2. Or you can be a little devil. And isn't it always more fun to be evil? Once you step down the path to the dark side, you'll find so many pleasures that were previously off limits. You can kill just about anybody you want, steal from unguarded cash registers and fart in anybody's general direction all you like. That's just child's play though. When we sat down with Peter Molyneux at this year's E3, we learned a few of the truly shady things you can do in Fable 2.

In the past, Molyneux has spoken about the need to have unprotected sex in order to get a girl pregnant in Fable 2. Of course, that implies that you can have protected sex. When asked about condoms in Fable 2, Molyneux confirmed that not only are they in the game, but they also protect against sexually transmitted diseases. There are unchaste women and men in the world that could potentially pass on something nasty to your character (Molyneux promised this wouldn't affect the gameplay too much).

Those pesky STD's make fooling around behind your husband or wife's back something to be done with care. But you can do it. If the action at home isn't enough, Molyneux promised us that, "we fully support adultery," in Fable 2. Cheat on your spouse all you like, just don't let them catch you or anything catch you and you're in the clear.

The thing about adultery, though, is that it can also happen to you. Ignore your spouse too much, or beat him or her or decide you don't want to provide for them, and you might be faced with a rocky home life. You might also see a shady character hanging about your place a bit much. If they're not feeling loved, they'll look for it elsewhere. If things get real bad, your spouse will ask for a divorce. But the whole divorce proceedings are just so messy. The ex will take half of what you've got in the game. Why not look for a way to avoid the whole ordeal? I asked Molyneux if it was cheaper to just kill them if you see the divorce coming. He jokingly replied that he thought that was true in real life as well.

These are all just virtual characters, so being mean to them isn't that big of a deal, is it? There are no moral quandaries with starving a virtual wife or killing a digital villager…right? Perhaps even the worst of us will find treating the Fable 2 inhabitants poorly once you take advantage one particular feature in Fable 2. You can rename any random character you meet in the game. If you want to recreate your real family in digital form, you can. Does cheating on a virtual wife that has the same name as your own make it worse? Maybe. Just don't let your real wife catch you virtually cheating on her.

Sex and murder is pretty dark, but it pales in comparison to the meanest thing you can do in the game. Grab a ball and take your dog for a walk through the forest. When you find a fence that sections off an area the dog can't get to, hold the ball out and make sure he gets a good look at it. Then throw it over the fence and laugh at the poor dog. He'll run back and forth along the fence, desperate to get his favorite toy that sits just out of reach. Xbox editor Ryan Geddes took particular pleasure in this dirty deed. What a jerk.

[Flawless]

Re: Fable 2

1UP: E3 Hands-On

What's our take? Of course, playing Fable 2 at E3, it was hard to get a real sense of whether all of the ideas and innovations that Molyneux and the rest of Lionhead included in the game have resulted in the epic experience they've promised, but I'm now so much closer to believing. The combat system appears to be a big success -- it's very much like promised, with simple-to-execute attacks, lots of combos (including combos between melee and magic attacks), and easy parries. The best part is how varied and rewarding the combat feels; the sword fighting or shooting feels more like your average action game than and RPG. It's also neat to see how the experience you gain varies based on your performance in battle, not just the number of enemies you fight. Also cool is how, when you die, you don't have to replay anything -- you simply reawaken in the battle sans any of the experience you would have earned.

I also got a chance to experience some of the relationships in the game while interacting with some of the townsfolk. I flirted with a girl, and had I done so for a while longer she likely would have been willing to get married (getting hitched is one of the main aspects of Fable 2 -- and yes, if you were wondering, the game supports same-sex marriage -- though you need to make sure it's for the right reasons, as divorce results in you losing half of your loot). At one point a bard came to join my quest -- he sings songs based on how you play the game (for example, whether you win or lose battles or whether you succeed or fail in relationships). I also got to play around with the relationship between my dog and me. Of course, there were the simple things like playing fetch with him or seeing him scout, but what was most interesting was seeing him get hurt in battle. I had the ability to heal him -- but if I didn't, he would limp behind me, ultimately losing pace and falling far behind (what's interesting is that, like any good dog, he'll always make his way to you -- even if it's hours, or days, later).

But the best part of playing Fable 2 was just seeing how polished it felt. The voice acting, the story, the visuals -- they're all extremely well done. In an event with so many games all vying for attention, Fable 2 stood out in my mind as something really special. Exactly how special remains to be seen -- the proof will be in the long-term play once it's released -- but what I played these past few days has me quite excited.

Chatting with Peter Molyneux during the show, he tells of how, working late one night at Lionhead, he came across game composer Russell Shaw with tears in his eyes. Worried, he went over and asked Shaw what was wrong. Shaw, who has worked with Peter for the past 15 years, had just finished playing through Fable 2 and told Peter that it was the most incredible game he'd ever played.

Peter's a great storyteller. He's often criticized for all of the hype he speaks and his inability to deliver on it. This is one of those cases, though, where it really may be justified.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Fable 2

Fable II's Condoms Made From "Only The Very Best Animal Intestines"

Awesome