Interview Q&A with Fable III's Louise Murray

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Fable 2; Lionhead Studios

<p>Peter Molyneux didn't have time, that's why this time it's Lionhead's Louise Murray <a href="http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/361596/q_fable_iii_louise_murray/?" target="_blank">answering a few questions</a> concerning Fable 3, a game that will redefine a lot of things.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="storybody">But best of all, the outrageous humour that Fable is known for remains wholly intact; farts 'n' all.</p>
<p class="storybody">I sat down to have a chat with Fable 3 producer, Louise Murray, to find out more about the new features in the game, and why touching other people is a great form of interaction.</p>
<p class="storybody">...</p>
<p class="storybody"><strong>Fable 3&rsquo;s world looks a lot bigger than Fable 2's.</strong></p>
<p class="storybody">It is actually.</p>
<p class="storybody"><strong>It must have been a challenge developing the game that is so much bigger than the previous one.</strong></p>
<p class="storybody">The team that developed Fable 3 was the same team that did Fable 2, so they are all veterans at making this game. They all love it and everyone went absolutely mad with all their ideas and what we do and how big it got.</p>
<p class="storybody">We had to cut the game down a couple of months ago because it got so big it was unmanageable to finish it.</p>
<p class="storybody">There was so much enthusiasm for it and so much talent and knowledge about how to make this particular game.</p>
</blockquote>
<p class="storybody">As long as farts are in I'm sold.</p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/99832-fable-iii-interview.html">GB</a></p>

 

[Jaesun]

farts.

 

[Andhaira]

Why is this game being reported by the codex? Its not even an action rpg. Its a zelda type game.

 

[adure]

does this "thing" even deserve to be mentioned here?

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Why is this game being reported by the codex? Its not even an action rpg. Its a zelda type game.

Because I love farting and kicking chicken.

does this "thing" even deserve to be mentioned here?

As long as I think so, yes. And I will think so as long as farting or chicken kicking is in.

 

[Ogg]

We had to cut the game down a couple of months ago because it got so big it was unmanageable to finish it.

At least she's somehow more honest than Molineux.

 

[commie]

Funny that I thought Venetica was a far better attempt at a RPG in the kiddie mold than Fable. It actually was an action RPG of sorts.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

If the team on it are veterans from 2, wouldn't they know that 2 also got too big and had to be cut down? You'd expect them to be more realistic.

 

[Achilles]

We had to cut the game down a couple of months ago because it got so big it was unmanageable to finish it.

Huh, one has to wonder what they are planning to do with the cut content...

 

[Topher]

I liked Fable 2, it was fun, but after the fiasco with the Limited Edition for 360... fuck buying Fable 3.

For those who don't know. The Fable 2 LE came with a bonus code for some extra content. For whatever reason some copies didn't contain this code so to fix the problem it was decided to just e-mail anybody who wanted one a code. It didn't matter if you had the regular game or the more expensive limited edition everybody got the bonus content. That's what I get for buying LE games... I don't know what I was thinking.

BTW the content was blatantly cut from the game. They're was a legendary version of every type of weapon in the game except for the cutlass which surprise surprise was in the bonus content. Anyway the whole thing pissed me off.

 

[jiujitsu]

I always felt lonely running around in Fable's world. Also, the character development is bad. The choices you are able to make suck too. Good or Bad? Not a favorite. I think I spent most of my time playing it for the deranged version of the Sims it provides. I think I had five wives at one point.

 

[phanboy_iv]

we’re really trying to move from the RPG to the action adventure game, but without losing our RPG fans.

Ah, I sense a refreshing breeze. Is that...honesty?

So now I'm curious as to how they plan to accomplish this.

one of the cool things about playing an RPG is levelling up your hero and feeling more powerful and collecting things and we love that.

Why?

What we don’t love is all the 2D menus and filling your stat bars out and so on.

Why? No, seriously.

We have this theory that a lot people who played Fable 2 kind of tore through the middle of it, got the story, thought “Oh that was a bit short” and put it away again.

In fact, it’s not short at all. There is a whole simulation side to it that has all the house buying, all the marriage stuff, all the managing relationships, the expressions, jobs and all those things.

So....nobody gave a rat's fanny for all the superfluous nonsense? How do you plan to do better this time? Remove the content? Rework the content?

They’re all there, so what we have done is put them in chests along the left of the screen.

Well, it beats the Bioware methodology for iterative improvement.

We want it to be engaging; we never want you to leave the world. We don’t want you to break that fiction.

And storing your relationships in...chests...reinforces that, does it?

Moving on.

The team that developed Fable 3 was the same team that did Fable 2, so they are all veterans at making this game. They all love it and everyone went absolutely mad with all their ideas and what we do and how big it got.

We had to cut the game down a couple of months ago because it got so big it was unmanageable to finish it.

Too many chests, I take it.

Is it too silly? Oh, all the time! Every time I see the game character farting on somebody’s’ head I go “Really?”

But of course that is optional; you don’t have to do a fart on somebody’s head. It’s there for whoever wants to fart on somebody’s head.

It was an idea we started playing with earlier on. In video games, you don’t touch anybody, so we wanted to go and touch somebody. So now you can hold the hand of anybody else in the world.

:tear:

 

[phanboy_iv]

we’re really trying to move from the RPG to the action adventure game, but without losing our RPG fans.

Ah, I sense a refreshing breeze. Is that...honesty?

So now I'm curious as to how they plan to accomplish this.

one of the cool things about playing an RPG is levelling up your hero and feeling more powerful and collecting things and we love that.

Why?

What we don’t love is all the 2D menus and filling your stat bars out and so on.

Why? No, seriously.

We have this theory that a lot people who played Fable 2 kind of tore through the middle of it, got the story, thought “Oh that was a bit short” and put it away again.

In fact, it’s not short at all. There is a whole simulation side to it that has all the house buying, all the marriage stuff, all the managing relationships, the expressions, jobs and all those things.

So....nobody gave a rat's fanny about all the superfluous nonsense? How do you plan to do better this time? Remove the content? Rework the content?

They’re all there, so what we have done is put them in chests along the left of the screen.

Well, it beats the Bioware methodology for iterative improvement.

We want it to be engaging; we never want you to leave the world. We don’t want you to break that fiction.

And storing your relationships in...chests...reinforces that, does it?

Moving on.

The team that developed Fable 3 was the same team that did Fable 2, so they are all veterans at making this game. They all love it and everyone went absolutely mad with all their ideas and what we do and how big it got.

We had to cut the game down a couple of months ago because it got so big it was unmanageable to finish it.

Too many chests, I take it.

Is it too silly? Oh, all the time! Every time I see the game character farting on somebody’s’ head I go “Really?”

But of course that is optional; you don’t have to do a fart on somebody’s head. It’s there for whoever wants to fart on somebody’s head.

It was an idea we started playing with earlier on. In video games, you don’t touch anybody, so we wanted to go and touch somebody. So now you can hold the hand of anybody else in the world.

:tear:

 

[waywardOne]

it was too easy to get fat in fable 2. that's all i care about. i'm good looking and expect my avatar's to reflect that.

 

[phanboy_iv]

it was too easy to get fat in fable 2. that's all i care about. i'm good looking and expect my avatar's to reflect that.

There's a chest for that.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

whats ur chicken kickin' record bros

 

[Achilles]

We want it to be engaging; we never want you to leave the world. We don’t want you to break that fiction.

And storing your relationships in...chests...reinforces that, does it?

That's the main problem really. They want to abolish stuff like menus and stats because they "ruin the immershion" and at the same time the fill the game up with completely unrealistic game mechanics. Hypocrits.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

Why is this game being reported by the codex? Its not even an action rpg. Its a zelda type game.

Well actually, 'zelda type games' are pretty much the definition of an RPG these days. In fact you'll find Zelda (particularly Ocarina) in plenty of 'Best RPG evar' lists...