Preview Fable III Redefines the Interface

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Fable 2; Lionhead Studios

<p>RPGLand offer some <a href="http://rpgland.com/fallout-3/fable-iii-hands-on-impression/" target="_blank">hands-on impressions</a> of Fable III. Look how Lionhead innovates the shit out of the industry again:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When the menu came up, I didn&rsquo;t even realize it was the menu. Fable III&lsquo;s menus strip out all those bothersome words and lists (apparently because they are clunkier) in favor of warping the Hero into some sort of alternate-dimension mansion called the &ldquo;Sanctuary.&rdquo; Sanctuary contains a grand hall to run around in, with many adjoining rooms corresponding to different sorts of things the player can manage (weapons, wardrobe, magic), and a butler named Jasper, who offers tips and advice in-character. The whole thing felt like Pandora&rsquo;s Box from Terranigma, except not awful. Some rooms were boarded up and covered with cobwebs until Jasper cleaned them up and offered up a tutorial on their contents.<br /><br />After taking Fable III&lsquo;s menus for a spin, it&rsquo;s tough for me to say whether the tremendous leap in interface design is a good thing or not. The menus seem like they&rsquo;re designed to get lost in. Not the bad kind of lost, like getting frustrated or unable to do what you want. It&rsquo;s he arguably good kind of lost, where you wander through each lavishly-decorated room and sift through your possessions and talk to your awesome butler and admire that giant Scrooge McDuck pile of gold in the treasury and tinker with your outfits and then say to yourself &ldquo;Has it really been nearly half an hour since I opened the damn menu?&rdquo; For quick adjustments and changes, on the other hand, having to physically run between separate rooms to tweak things is THE VERY DEFINITION of clunky. If Fable III is built in a way that snap menu changes aren&rsquo;t often needed in dungeons, the Sanctuary will be a fun diversion and menu system rolled into one.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Hmmm, I'd like to know if you can fart at your buttler while being inside the menu. Probably yes.</p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/99940-fable-iii-preview.html">GB</a></p>

 

[Avonaeon]

Sounds like a pain in the ass to deal with, not to mention something that would get boring real fast, when it takes 2 minutes to do the same thing over and over again.

 

[zeitgeist]

Reminds me of an expanded version of the tower from Overlord games, which was extremely annoying to navigate through, even though you didn't have to do it that often.

 

[markec]

Whats next, a minigame for saving and loading?

 

[kris]

I like how he tries to make it every bit of tedious meny work sound good. He even calls a normal menu "clunky and bothersome" when their so called solution is almost the definition of clunky.

This is like if someone at your office thinks the printer looks awful and have the solution to put it in the basement so everyone have to run there to get what they printed out.

 

[Andhaira]

Classic example of an idea that looks good on paper but has crap execution.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Fable III‘s menus strip out all those bothersome words and lists (apparently because they are clunkier) in favor of warping the Hero into some sort of alternate-dimension mansion called the “Sanctuary.”

This is probably easier to program on consoles. I can't see any other sense this makes.

 

[Topher]

Sounds like a pain in the ass to deal with, not to mention something that would get boring real fast, when it takes 2 minutes to do the same thing over and over again.

This is what worries me. I enjoyed Fable and Fable 2 but I won't pretend like they're weren't a lot of questionable decisions made.

 

[JarlFrank]

For quick adjustments and changes, on the other hand, having to physically run between separate rooms to tweak things is THE VERY DEFINITION of clunky.

Indeed.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

This is what worries me. I enjoyed Fable and Fable 2 but I won't pretend like they're weren't a lot of questionable decisions made.

 

[Mangoose]

I like how he tries to make it every bit of tedious meny work sound good. He even calls a normal menu "clunky and bothersome" when their so called solution is almost the definition of clunky.

No, he does not. In fact he says, "For quick adjustments and changes, on the other hand, having to physically run between separate rooms to tweak things is THE VERY DEFINITION of clunky. If Fable III is built in a way that snap menu changes aren’t often needed in dungeons, the Sanctuary will be a fun diversion and menu system rolled into one."

When he talks about normal menus he says "apparently because they are clunkier."

Key words bolded.

 

[dumuh]

Menus in Fable games are clunky, in Fable 2 it would often take like 10 seconds for the menu to come up and another 10 seconds to get to your inventory, not only that but the inventory system was terrible.

 

[FeelTheRads]

When the fuck did games become about dressing up?

 

[Drakron]

Because he have NOTHING else.

Look at Fable 2, it seem to be exactly the same as before except instead of having the useful mini-map we got ... the dog.

IMMERSHIUM! not because it makes the player aware how freaking small the areas are.

Now its Fable 3 with "no menus" ... IMMERSHIUM! or that the damn things is likely so dumbed down and the selection is so little that it hides the small weapon and armor selection and how damage is pretty much equal across the board.

Fable is a example of hype and concealing, what moves forward is the way they attempt to hide the fact the game is no more of a RPG that Legend of Zelda with bullshit ... hell at least Zelda gives us a mini map, inventory,Epona, sexy elves and Midna.

 

[lightbane]

[...]The whole thing felt like Pandora’s Box from Terranigma, except not awful...

Hey, Terranigma has more content than the entire trilogy of Fable, and that menu wasn't awful at all, it was more of a gimmick than anything else (plus the game had HUD too).

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

Menus in Fable games are clunky, in Fable 2 it would often take like 10 seconds for the menu to come up and another 10 seconds to get to your inventory, not only that but the inventory system was terrible.

You couldn't even map potions to the D-pad, you had to rely on the computer trying to figure out context sensitive situations and display something useful, or dig around the inventory every couple seconds.

 

[Topher]

Menus in Fable games are clunky, in Fable 2 it would often take like 10 seconds for the menu to come up and another 10 seconds to get to your inventory, not only that but the inventory system was terrible.

You couldn't even map potions to the D-pad, you had to rely on the computer trying to figure out context sensitive situations and display something useful, or dig around the inventory every couple seconds.

Who the fucked used health potions?

 

[hoochimama]

Didn't we already have this in Black&White?

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

Menus in Fable games are clunky, in Fable 2 it would often take like 10 seconds for the menu to come up and another 10 seconds to get to your inventory, not only that but the inventory system was terrible.

You couldn't even map potions to the D-pad, you had to rely on the computer trying to figure out context sensitive situations and display something useful, or dig around the inventory every couple seconds.

Who the fucked used health potions?

Not health potions, those XP/Skill/Might/Magic modifier potions that you took in the middle of battle to multiply the orbs you received. It was easy to slot them in Fable, yet got clunky in Fable II. Explain that, Peter.

 

[kris]

When he talks about normal menus he says "apparently because they are clunkier."

Key words bolded.

Other key word bolded. He can't get away with that cop out. Apparently doesn't mean "probably not".

 

[Topher]

Menus in Fable games are clunky, in Fable 2 it would often take like 10 seconds for the menu to come up and another 10 seconds to get to your inventory, not only that but the inventory system was terrible.

You couldn't even map potions to the D-pad, you had to rely on the computer trying to figure out context sensitive situations and display something useful, or dig around the inventory every couple seconds.

Who the fucked used health potions?

Not health potions, those XP/Skill/Might/Magic modifier potions that you took in the middle of battle to multiply the orbs you received. It was easy to slot them in Fable, yet got clunky in Fable II. Explain that, Peter.

Those were such a pain in the ass. What I really want to know is why the fuck stores stopped getting new inventory after I beat the MQ???

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Sounds like a pain in the ass to deal with, not to mention something that would get boring real fast, when it takes 2 minutes to do the same thing over and over again.

This is what worries me. I enjoyed Fable and Fable 2 but I won't pretend like they're weren't a lot of questionable decisions made.

Same here. It's a shame that Molly feels like keeping the design problems but throwing new stuff on top of it, instead of fixing the problems in first place.

 

[denizsi]

Whats next, a minigame for saving and loading?

You never know. About half the retarded nextgen bullshit features prevalent in mainstream games today have been suggested as "what's next: this and that?" jokes in the past of the Codex. It's like developers all around the world are reading Codex day and night to find the next big shit to retardo their game designs.

 

[waywardOne]

do people mod fable? i can't see how UI problems wouldn't be solved on the PC version, unless it's locked down bullshit like ME2.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

The original Fable was apparently pretty well hardcoded, the only things most people could do were changing appearances and making swords extra glowy. Since the Prequels were still popular then, a Darth Maul look for the main character was the first thing I remember seeing.

Of course Fable II never made it to the PC.