Fable 2 & 3 - Finally something better than Zelda to play

[ChipTune]

yes yes I admit it, the thread title is intentionally argumentative.. thought it would get all the Zelda fans frothing at the mouth.. but I mean no harm.. I too love Zelda, from NES, SNES and N64.. and Wind Waker..

BUT.. I always hated the nonsense story and lame characters you have to suffer through to enjoy the excellent adventuring and exploration.

Now Ive found the perfect games, and yes I am aware I am late to the party - I only got them recently.

Fable 3 was first, bought in a 2 for £20 deal.. and I loved it.. a fantastic game with a huge landscape to explore, satisfying old skool hack n slash gameplay.. and the icing on the cake was the excellent voice acting by loads of well known British faces, and also the very british sense of humour.. reminding me of Red Dwarf and Black Adder.

I completed it and did the extra DLC quests and got as much of the achievements I could be bothered to get (800/1350) .. and immediately bought Fable 2 (Game of the year edition) which I am playing through now.. and I love this one too.. the voice acting isnt as good, but the gameplay is great and there is so much exploration across the huge beautiful landscapes, including caves, lakes (where you can dive to find stuff), towers, and villages.

So yeah basically I love these games, they are great fun, very British in style and I recommend them wholeheartedly.

The British thing is very important to me as its great to hear Steven Fry, Simon Pegg, Johnathan Ross, and many other recognisable voices. Especially as the comedy is pretty funny to listen to, including the evil gnomes who insult you from their hiding spots across the landscape.. Its so refreshing and much needed relief from the mountains of japanese bullsh1t you usually have to skip through to play a decent adventure game.. Zelda is the worst for this.. I mean the story is always atrocious and the characters (tingle the gay fairy thing anyone?) are sickening to interact with..

So YAY Fable..

Go get it if you havent already!

[pratty]

Bit harsh on the Zelda characters in my opinion, though admittedly compared to some modern games now the interaction in Zelda does seem more narrow focussed and repetitive.

There's 47 hours of speech in Fable 3 apparently.
http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6269018.htm ... Btitle%3B7

It'll be interesting to see how Fable 4 plays with Kinnect, seems like a very different experience which could go either way.

[killbot]

Haven't played Fable 2 or 3 but I did play the first one a lot. I can't say I found it to be a Zelda-beater, although it was good fun. It was too easy (six hours to complete an RPG?) and the much vaunted freedom of choice seemed sloppily implemented.

Also, I can never understand the bile directed at Tingle. Outside of the core trio he's the best character to appear in the series, IMO.

[Sel Feena]

Not sure I'd rate the series above Ninty's elf, but deffo enjoy the Fable games. Always thought that if someone made an RPG based on Sir Terry's Discworld, you'd end up with something not too far away from them. Love the sense of humour and accents used in the games, a nice change in pace from brilliant but po-faced fare like TES.

Maybe these games should be called BRPGs?

[ChipTune]

Ive been really excited about Skyrim's release tomorrow, but now after watching the video review on IGN, Im thinking I wont enjoy it as it is a po-faced as COD MW3.. deadly serious orks and elves bullsh1t.. Whereas I like Zelda due to its charm and playability, and Fable for the same plus it's fantastic humour and Britishness.. for the last week Ive been hankering for Skyrim, now I don't think I will bother.. certainly not until Ive finished Fable 2, and the back catalogue of games I want to finish on XBLA. Plus I may... may.. get the new Zelda on wii if it's not too faggy (like Wind Waker) ho ho

[Sel Feena]

Yeah, TES games are Serious Business, and I have to be in the right mood to have a session. But the sessions usually last hours, there's just so bloody much to see and do! The devs do have some fun in the games though. Talking mudcrabs, M'aiq the Liar (who comments directly on fan comments and complaints, and even takes a pop at Fable!), necrophiliac merchants... But really I love the series because they are masterclasses in world building*, with a wealth of backstory and lore to dig into.




*Characterisation, not so much. Found it really hard to give a sh!t about most people in Oblivion

[Budly Moore]

Best thing about Fallout and Elder Scrolls games is playing as a baddie! 'Whats that? Fetch you a antidote for you beloved wifes crippling disease? NEVER! DIE HERETIC!!!!!!!' EXP + 2

[speedlolita]

I think 2 and 3 are rubbish.

The first is much better and certainly still not a Zelda beater.

[speedlolita]

Also if you think Wind Waker is faggy then you're an idiot. But we knew that didn't we?

[IronMaidenRule]

Absolutely loved Fable 2, spent so many hours on that game, found the story line really engrossing, one of my favorite 360 games by far. Fable 3 on the other hand was a bit....of a let down for me, some really good ideas and the ending was quiet engrossing with have to make the decisions to alter the outcome of the story, but it was just too short for me, they could have made the effort to span it onto a second disk and offer a bit more for the player.

Personally, I have never been a fan of Zelda, so I would choose to play Fable instead of Zelda....and I appreciate the opinion of others who would prefer it the other way

[snowkatt]

beyond good and evil also decided to drop by and say hello

[thevulture]

Bought and played to completiton 1st 2 Fable games-Fine games in their own right, but nowhere near the games Peter M.promised they would be, so never bothered with the 3rd.

By the time no.3 hit review, even the likes of Edge had stopped allowing for void between game promised and game delivered.

[kiwimike]

woah, controversal!

Both series are excellent...if gamers enjoy this type of action RPG, they're depriving themselves to boycott one of the series on principle. They are both IMO very absorbing and enjoyable. If I was pressed...I'd probably give it to the Fable series, I feel those games are getting better and better. But I certainly don't want to knock the Zeldas.

[Fightersmegamix]

I enjoyed fable 2 and 3, there's a good 20 hours gameplay to be had out of each. The humour is great and its a fun world to explore. The diffuculty and battle system let it down. With a better battle system it would definitely give zelda a good run.

[ChipTune]

The day I take any stock in what those f()cking pretentious tw@ts at EDGE magazine have to say is the day I give up playing video games and turn to needlework.

Every game is deliberately scored to cause controversy.. Its so clearly done on purpose it's embarrassing.. massively hyped games that are actually amazing get the lowest score in EDGE than anywhere else.. Games are given low scores based on expectations rather than the quality of game.. or just nitpicked to death (see Dead Island's 3/10 score).. and the tech reports and features just read back as such smug ego-wank thats its too much to bare.

When the gaming press give things like Bayonetta a 10 / 10 score, a game which I played and thought was the biggest pile of absolute dogsh1t Ive ever played, I just sigh and ignore them and stick to playing demos / watching youtube videos and using common sense to pick good games.