[Xbox] Fable coming soon, quotes from preview

[ericb]

These are quotes from a gamespot preview available on ebgames.com.

The bad:

While Fable's gameplay was originally slated to be a very open-ended experience that had your character aging and developing based on your progress and play style, respectively, the game has since headed in a more-structured direction. Fable uses an action-role-playing game approach in which your character will gain experience levels by accruing experience points. The game will have four main kinds of experience: general, strength, skill, and will. Performing specific tasks will earn you various amounts of general experience, as well as a certain amount of specific experience in either strength, skill, or will.

The good:

While character development may not have wound up offering quite as many options as it set out to, the actual gameplay certainly has. One of the major components of the game that was originally announced was that you were going to be able to be as good or as evil as you wanted. Unlike most RPGs, which tend to firmly lock you in the roles of virtuous, milk-drinking heroes who save kittens and damsels in distress, Fable gives you the option to instead be a vice-laden, liquor-chugging cad who kills small animals and terrorizes the locals.

I don't know quite what to make of them.  It seems like they removed most of what was truly interesting and revolutionary and made it another pretty RPG.  Current release date is 9/13/04 so at least it's close

[Fellow]

I won't trust a single review for this title. Black & White left a really bitter taste in my mouth. I will, however, listen very closely to what everyone is saying about the game on these boards. Based on that, I'll decide whether to buy it or not.

As for the release date, I'm guessing this christmas at the earliest.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Well, I'll be reviewing Fable.  I was badly burned by Black and White (stuck with the 'to complete the game, start over at the beginning after patching' bug) so I'm not going in blind.  What I saw at E3 was promising and I liked the way they had changed things.  Granted, the automatic progression that it interpreted from your gaming style was cool, but the way they allowed you to modify that by hand was cool too.  We did see that you could pick up scars and such from fighting so some of that automation that would change your 'scary' factor (I think they are calling it 'scaryness') is still in-game.  I'll see if I can't get a preview copy to get the lowdown for you guys...

[AgtFox]

I am still highly excited by this game and I actually thought Black and White was enjoyable until the "coolness" wore off.  It's just that the "coolness" wore off faster than other Molyneaux games before Black and White.

I would guess the September date is a hard one...I'm sure Microsoft wants this out before Halo 2.

[EddieA]

Making the game more structured is probably a good thing in the long run.  From everything I've seen, it's still going to be an open-ended, do-watch-you-want-game with a reactive world.  Reining in some of the more ambitious elements will probably allow them to make the game itself better, and then they can integrate those elements into the eventual sequel.  

Game Informer has a narrated (by Molyneux) walkthrough of the early part of the game and a quest.

[Larraque]

There was no way that Fable could possibly deliver all it set out to do, in any reasonable amount of time to make it to market. And besides, I like my gameplay to be at least a little bit linear.

A great story is important in a roleplaying game - to me it's more important than being able to do everything however I want to.

[Eco-Logic]

From what I played at E3, I thought the gameplay was extremely fun.  I will be picking it up for sure.

[kathode]

The e3 reports I got from my coworkers all said Fable was very cartoony, very action-oriented, and very linear.   Very much a Zelda-style game.  Which is fine I suppose.  I was expecting something different though.

[phormio]

The e3 reports I got from my coworkers all said Fable was very cartoony, very action-oriented, and very linear.   Very much a Zelda-style game.  Which is fine I suppose.  I was expecting something different though.

You and me both.  :?

I'm not quite sure what to make of all this (either). It seems like I've been waiting on this game forever, and now that it's almost within reach, what they're going to deliver doesn't really sound at all like the cool game/concept it was going to be.

I'll probably get it anyway. At this point I just have to see for myself. I can't escape a feeling of vague disappointment though...

Here's hoping I'm pleasantly surprised.

[Knightshade Dragon]

EB is still showing a September release date..I'll try to get it clarified today.

[whiteboyskim]

I'm waiting for Jade Empire for my RPG fix, however the thought of being a drunken, leacherous war-monger has a certain appeal to it. I remember playing my roommate's copy of B&W and after about an hour asking, "Is this all there is?" A couple of boards later, I'd answered my question with an affirmative. I'll wait for the reviews and the boards too.

[Purge]

Well, I'll be reviewing Fable.  I was badly burned by Black and White (stuck with the 'to complete the game, start over at the beginning after patching' bug)

To be fair, they have a publisher who was pushing hard for release. They had the patch ready a week after release (and tested) and EA delayed it almost 4 weeks for their "testing" which didn't require any changes.

B&W is still a great game, once patched.

As for the release date I think Sept is when it's coming out; they've already cut multiplayer to ensure they make the delivery time. As it stands it doesn't matter to me if it slips a week or two.