Fable II 10/10 from Eurogamer

johnny_ultimate

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Forgot I have Fable 1 on my hard disk at home

Careful now :pac:

Main criticism of the game seems to be it takes a few hours to hit its stride, but it is meant to pick up once you get past the restrictions at the beginning.

As for the most important question: is that chicken kicking (?) minigame back?

quarryman

Interesting to see the metacritic review average dipping into the 80s for this now as the less hype-driven reviews come through.

BlitzKrieg

picked it up there tonight.

only about 2 hours in, but going from the beginning it is not a 10/10 game.

Could be 9/10 if it picks up like it is hinting.

but at the moment I find the controls a bit sluggish and the pop up is surprisingly high in some areas (esp the dog)

I had a sort of love/hate relationship with Fable 1. I enjoyed playing it, was fun easy and pretty.

But its story was awful and the levels always felt very tight and linear.

Fable 2 is making the same mistakes as Fable 1 it seems, the plot has been atrocious so far and the levels do still feel a bit tight.

But the good bits of fable 1 are back and are clearly better, I like the combat alot, juggling the 3 attacks is great (esp using force push as your magic) the dog and expanded expressions are all stuff adding on the awesome of the first game and it really has gone to town offering alot more choice in social interaction (alot more houses can be bought)

The towns are nice and big (if there is more then just the initial ones) if some of the later dungeons and wilderness parts follow suit I will be very happy.

I dont think though it will be a 10/10 game, the presentation is not anything amazing (the water effects are actually quite poor in some areas, look like water effects from the original AVP) and the voice acting goes from funny to cringeworthy to painfull. The music is fantastic though. Even if the later aspect of the game opens up to offer alot more there are too many minor technical elements for me to consider.

tman

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

But the good bits of fable 1 are back and are clearly better, I like the combat alot, juggling the 3 attacks is great (esp using force push as your magic) the dog and expanded expressions are all stuff adding on the awesome of the first game and it really has gone to town offering alot more choice in social interaction (alot more houses can be bought)

This is a little sad, but I'm dying to know what kind of dog you get to choose, or if you even have any choice in the matter at all?
I'm more excited about having a pet dog than any other feature in this game

BlitzKrieg

you dont get a choice initially.

But like I said it hinted that later on you might make that choice.


though speaking of the dog

it must be bloody old dog, its fully grown when you meet it first as a 10 year old KID and its still around when your an adult.

But yeah its depressing that I have to give credit to Lionhead studio for the dog, it actually works, the dog works as a great early warning system (it growls when there are nearby enemies) in a bizarre zelda esque tribute it tells you where there are buried goodies and if you walk past treasure it goes nuts trying to lead you back to it.

you can play fetch with it and those awesome stone face doors are back and the one I met requires that I teach my dog a trick for it before it opens.

monkeyfudge

Can you name the dog?

BlitzKrieg

yes

and no I didnt name mine after a zelda character...

tman

Are there any possibilities for amusing references to the dog's name ala Twilight Princess? ("I washed my ass for you" still cracks me up:p)

monkeyfudge

Mother is best for that sort of thing.

As you get to name your favourite food as well.

Great to watch an entire family sitting around eating pussy.

BlitzKrieg

tman wrote: »

Are there any possibilities for amusing references to the dog's name ala Twilight Princess? ("I washed my ass for you" still cracks me up:p)

no cause every npc is voice acted. Mayble later in the game and I am famous and getting wanted posters or something but at the moment everyone calls me by the default nickname within the game and they call the dog...dog

Sephiroth_dude

Is this a sandbox rpg?

BlitzKrieg

more like zelda then a sandbox rpg

Lone Stone

Is this game out yet ?
i was in gamestop the other day and they didnt have it in

LookingFor

It's released today Lone Stone.

Still umming and awing over whether I should get this today, tempted, but I rarely ever finish games like this.

steviec

Actually enjoying this quite a lot. Low expectations FTW!

I can take or leave the combat and questing, but the art work is fantastic and they've really created an impressive living breathing world with the way every character has a home, a family, a job and a daily routine, and your character can have the same. I must have spent two hours going from house to house trying to decide where I wanted to live, before getting married and having a child there, and now the local shopkeepers congratulate me on the new arrival when I go to market.

BlitzKrieg

yeah wait til you get back to the questing and the little brat starts bugging you like mad!


I'm just starting off the 2nd proper act, i've pretty much confirmed myself as a goody two shoes (though I did go around done up like Sean Connery for most of the game , white beard and highwayman coat FTW) I really really really like the combat

The quests and level design (though very beautiful) suffers greatly from the same plague as fable 1, they're all very linear very tight like long straight corridors. There are a few areas that are more open, but overall if its a dungeon it will be a straight line from a to b with baddies every 30 paces.

Aside from that I like the story, the characters, the world is great and the social element is fun (bought all the stalls in the market )

One thing I dont like though is it is far too easy to get a load of women to like you, I have hordes of them following me around bowerstown which is a pain cause I go to see my kid and I have a train of horny young things asking for a ring or my balls following me.

I cant spend any quality time with my kid. I'm forced to scaring them away with rifle shots over their heads.

humanji

Now, it's unusual to have a personal issue in the games forum, but how do you have sex? I've got a wife who's apparently gagging for it, but have no idea how to go about it.

Also, with the quest at Hobbe Cave near the beginning

when 3 bandits tell you to jump off a bridge, you come upon a beach where there's a guy saying his son is in the Hobbe Cave. So I run in, but in the end, I think I took a wrong turn and I could hear the guy wailing because his son was turned into a hobbe or something. Is is possible to save the son at all?

steviec

humanji wrote: »

Also, with the quest at Hobbe Cave near the beginning

when 3 bandits tell you to jump off a bridge, you come upon a beach where there's a guy saying his son is in the Hobbe Cave. So I run in, but in the end, I think I took a wrong turn and I could hear the guy wailing because his son was turned into a hobbe or something. Is is possible to save the son at all?

No idea. Exact same thing happened to me, I completely missed how it happened and just ended up carrying on. I'm not sure if that quest is a little bit broken.

BlitzKrieg

Now, it's unusual to have a personal issue in the games forum, but how do you have sex? I've got a wife who's apparently gagging for it, but have no idea how to go about it

Get her to follow you to the bedroom, use the come back to my place expression and then select the bed, you should be given the choice to habe protected or unprotected sex (if you bought condoms that is)

johnny_ultimate

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

Get her to follow you to the bedroom, use the come back to my place expression and then select the bed, you should be given the choice to habe protected or unprotected sex (if you bought condoms that is)

I don't think that quote could exist in relation to any other game! Except the game of life, which tends to be a bit trickier than using a 'come back to my place' expression.

But yeah, really enjoying the game. Got really distracted in Bowerstone yesterday trying to earn some money and enter the property market. The blacksmith job is annoying but oh so addictive. I'm not quite sure yet what makes this so much more engrossing than the first game, but it truly is a compelling experience with a well realised world (the combat is fantastic, the art design astonishing despite the technical glitches).

monkeyfudge

The storyline is probably overly similar to the first game though.

I've found working in the bar to be the best job though... you can easily rack up large amounts of gold for each pint served. I was earning over 700 per pint at one stage.

BlitzKrieg

it looks to be going away from fable 1 after

you spend 10 years working for the baddie

though I have to admit the crucible is far too similar to fable 1's colloseum.



Anyone tried co-op yet?

I rearranged my sitting room and accidently put my router on the wrong side of the room for the 360 so i am trying to solve my lack of connection atm but will hopefully figure it out soon (on the bright side I have focused all my electronic media on to one big hd tv rather then spread over 3 different monirtos )

monkeyfudge

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

it looks to be going away from fable 1 after

you spend 10 years working for the baddie

though I have to admit the crucible is far too similar to fable 1's colloseum.

Not to mention

the 10 year prison bit itself too

Anyone tried co-op yet?

I rearranged my sitting room and accidently put my router on the wrong side of the room for the 360 so i am trying to solve my lack of connection atm but will hopefully figure it out soon (on the bright side I have focused all my electronic media on to one big hd tv rather then spread over 3 different monirtos )

I tried it on a single console and it was pretty much an exercise in frustration.

MooseJam

whats the rating on this

BlitzKrieg

monkeyfudge wrote: »

Not to mention

the 10 year prison bit itself too

I tried it on a single console and it was pretty much an exercise in frustration.

hmm was that in Fable 1 or in the lost chapters edition? Cause I dont remember a bit like that in fable 1. IF lost chapters adds that much I might have to pick it up to see.

Ahh well, I'll give co-op a go once I got the main quest done.

monkeyfudge

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

hmm was that in Fable 1 or in the lost chapters edition? Cause I dont remember a bit like that in fable 1. IF lost chapters adds that much I might have to pick it up to see.

Ahh well, I'll give co-op a go once I got the main quest done.

In the original version. You get locked up in a prison at one point and you can be there for years.

BlitzKrieg

I must go back and play through it again, cause I cant for the life of me remember that section.

Ivan

Yeah, me neither...

but then, I put Fable 1 down after I gained the super ultimate power with optional sword and started laying waste. Think I was just before the end.

Fable 2, I played for about 45 minutes and wasnt too impressed, seemed too much like the first game with the sims tacked on. It was the multiplayer that I was mainly interested in and it doesnt seem like they have delivered on what they promised, with respect to that.

Still, with the glowing reviews from here, I will certainly go back and give it a more thorough going over

BlitzKrieg

I Just completed it there

DOGGY DIES! awww, didnt see that coming a mile off

Compared to the original fables ending (not the extended ending lost chapters added) its better as a story. but they might have focused too much on the story and forgot to put a game at the end.

Anywho I finished as a pure saint with my good and purity maxed (though I couldnt loose those last few % of fat )

so of course I spent 20 minutes after the ending breaking all the laws and it is very easy to screw the law when your levelled up marksman who can shoot their swords out of their hands and then decapitate them with a katana

but yeah ending had a really cool thematic moment which I enjoyed

the whole being on the farm with your sister etc was very well done I thought and the ending as a story worked quite nicely, ( added to it that while lucian was droning on I was charging up my rifle with a close range headshot ready, but I let him talk too much and reaver killed him for me ) I obviously going for pure good picked the sacrifice choice at the end which resulted sadly in my dog staying dead

Overall its pretty much more of the same of fable 1 just a bit bigger (not alot) and more to the sim elements.

But my god the combat mechanics are good fun, I didnt even try the mage stuff much and thats meant to be the deepest, I just like doing kill bill bits surronded by enemies with X held down to bring my sword up..then a couple of slashes and they all go down.

My final gripe, post ending game can be drasticly different depending which ending you get but it doesnt give the option to have multiple saves so I cant have 3 different characters with 3 different endings not fair.

esp seeing as i lack a dog now

Oh and I keep getting fable 2 and far cry 2 mixed up and trying to burn peoples homes down

0ubliette

This game is just far too similar to fable 1. Im having trouble enjoying it as it feels like ive seen and done all this before. Its not a bad game, and im sure if id never played fable 1 i would be loving it, but as it is, im just finding it all too overly familiar. Another ridiculous EG review score too.