Review Dumbing down RULEZ! (A Fable review)

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Fable: The Lost Chapters; Lionhead Studios

Another <a href=http://www.microsoft.com/games/fable>Fable</a> <a href=http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=1944>review</a> hits the net. This one comes from <a href=http://www.trustedreviews.com>TrustedReviews</a>, although <b>IdioticOpinions</b> would have described it better. Anyways, the reviewer praises the game, calling it "a shining jewel of a game" and rewarding it with <b>9/10</b> ("My head says 8, my heart says 10")
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<blockquote>All the same, only a few games – the aforementioned Bioware games plus Jade Empire, the GTA trilogy, Ultima Underworld, The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind – have succeeded in created a world this stunning and vibrant, then really making you feel part of it. It’s not a huge world, but it is a truly beautiful one; more reminiscent of European folk-tale than the standard sub-Tolkien mush. There’s plenty of green woodlands, dark forests and pungent marshes in the early portions, with a scattering of mountain, ice and snow – including an all-new Northern region – to come later on.
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Plus, of all the games mentioned above, Fable is easily the most accessible to a mainstream audience. Not enough has been said about how cleverly the team at Lionhead were in taking the RPG from its hardcore, stat-driven roots and changing it to something that everyone would like to play.
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You don’t need to learn complex combat or magic systems, spend hours managing your inventory or work through screens assigning experience points. You can see your character get stronger, blast a fireball or use a health potion at a touch of a button, and aim your bow for a head shot in the easiest and most logical way possible. You don’t even need to spend hours wandering huge distances once you get used to the game’s effective teleport network. Yes, it’s dumbing down, but it’s dumbing down in a clever way. And with a mouse for precision aiming and the keyboard shortcuts of the PC, Fable actually works even better than it did in the original Xbox version.</blockquote>
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Power to the people!
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[Pr()ZaC]

Just :shock:

 

[Balor]

Mwahahaha!
Well, happy for 'em.
And really happy that I'm not one of 'em.

 

[Goliath]

taking the RPG from its hardcore, stat-driven roots and changing it to something that everyone would like to play.

He seems to think that "everyone" likes "dumbed-down" games. Misguided little hobbit he is.
I love my hardcore, stat-driven, turn-based gameplay!

 

[jiujitsu]

Dumbing down sucks.

It makes me feel even more stupid and inadequate than I already am.

 

[Avin]

comparing the great Ultima Underworld to any other game??????????????????? who the fucking hell wants a game where you can't spend hours managing your inventory with all that shaiby items????????????????????

frankly... there is nothing in the horizon for years now...

i just don't get it. this is shit news. why is this posted here? why people are more interested in fucking fable and fucking dungeon siege 2 and fucking no inventory new brian fargo's (which is dead as game developer) than obsidian's NWN2?

i'd rather close down these nwws section until fo3 (god saves us) gets the media.

 

[Hazelnut]

taking the RPG from its hardcore, stat-driven roots and changing it to something that everyone would like to play

So, then, it's not much of an RPG any more is it.. dumbasses.

 

[Screaming_life]

trustedreviews.com ..... the irony is killing me! :D

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Yes, it’s dumbing down, but it’s dumbing down in a clever way.

What a gem

 

[Lancaster]

frankly... there is nothing in the horizon for years now...

Gothic3 should be good. Dragon Age could be fun too. I've been reading a lot of developers comments at Bioware forums, and it sounds kinda interesting. Then we have Avernum4 and Age of Decadence that looks much better in 3D, and the dialogues and mechanics are very promising.

 

[Greatatlantic]

Please, Bioware is the master at making their games sound interesting, but then deliver a product that while competent completely lacks in the imagination department, and overwhelming relies on combat and munckinism to fill the void. But I do have good news,

I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.

 

[jiujitsu]

Seriously, I don't see how Fable is so well reviewed. I just cannot play it. It's too annoying.

It's overly dramatic, horribly voice acted, retardedly written, cliche, hack and slash, boring, monkey poo.

 

[Pr()ZaC]

...and the fact that you cannot save wherever you please?

 

[obediah]

My feelings on Fable are more mixed than any other recent games.

Good:

- The "port" aspect is excellent, good controls, good UI, good performance. The reality is more and more PC games will be ports, and seeing it done well is a very nice change.

- Other than that the game is scrap for parts, there are dozens of little neat AI, alignment, grooming, choice, etc things that are neat and should be in more games.

- Replayability - not of the game/plot, but just to explore the potential character space and reactions.

- Freedom - it was fun to bury an axe in the first chick to rebuff me

Bad:

- Like an ID game, there should be a game wrapped around all the neat thingies and whizzbangs. Like Black&White, 3 hours of "this game is brilliant" is followed by a lifetime, of god this is simple and boring.

- exp balls and other crap meant to appease the tweakers

- Evil vs Chaotic : Oh I can steal and fart, my evil knows no bounds

- The game and all of it's parts seemed to be designed to impress at first then simple annoy. The first time a particular reaction happened it was neat, then having every person say it every 2-3 seconds got old fast.

Neutral

- I tried to be an archer, but even after pumping exp into it - and bought a fancy crossbow, meless with the started sword was still a bazillion times easier. A bummer, but I figure fighting ten guys with swords at close range with a crossbow should be hard, so I'm not sure how I feal about it.

My codex review - it had crossbows and I didn't notice any soil erosion or Star Trek actors - so A+++++!

 

[Balor]

*Rofl*
Well, I've bought it for my sister, and gave it a shot myself.
Indeed, 3 hours of gameplay - fun, then it gets old and boring.
It does have some nice ideas, but clishe level is bordering on mockery, and I'm not 't really into it.
Combat is repeative, and, in the end, too easy.
"My 2km-radius enflame - everyone dies!"
Oh, and fireball too, while I'm at it.
Add slow time and shield, and after stocking on mana potions, you can complete the arena quest w/o slightest rick of being hit, for instance.
This simply spoils the game...
And so on, and so forth.
I'm not sure I'll ever complete it.

 

[Balor]

Oh, yea, despite being me a satanist and all, the game indeed does not allow proper roleplay of evil character, so I turend out to be santly, heh.
I do wear an evil will user outfit, though - I really liked it.
And with shield spell, I need no freaking armor... it's sound effect is really annoing, though.

 

[Spazmo]

i just don't get it. this is shit news. why is this posted here? why people are more interested in fucking fable and fucking dungeon siege 2 and fucking no inventory new brian fargo's (which is dead as game developer) than obsidian's NWN2?

You want us to post NWN2 news? WHAT NWN2 NEWS? Perhaps we could write up a 5,000 word editorial about the two blurry screenshots from the Dragonshard manual? Would that please you? The news we post is the news there is in RPGs. If you think you're only reading news that sucks, well, that means that RPGs suck at the moment.

But just because I sympathize with you as a fellow whiner, let me give you a preview of NWN2 news posts:

[site] reviews NWN2

[Idiot site] has reviewed NWN2 and given it 46/27 for "giving [the reviewer] a huge boner that smashed through the wall and killed the old lady next door."

• Oh god this game was so good the single player campaign was TOTALLY deep and the combat was like awesomely strategic while still being fast paced because the GENIAUSES at Obsidian used a brilliant turn based system that runs in real time to make combat totally jizzworthy.

FEARGUS SEZ: "SLAM DUNK!"

Happy?

 

[roguefrog]

Yes

 

[kris]

Please, Bioware is the master at making their games sound interesting, but then deliver a product that while competent completely lacks in the imagination department, and overwhelming relies on combat and munckinism to fill the void.

Well in Jade empire I probably conversed more or as much as I fighted. I would not in any way say that they overly rely on fighting, especially compared to most other RPGs I played.

the Ubermensh in a small gameworld is another thing.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Well, it's not like this review is the first review to say that Fable is good because it's dumbed down. Pretty much all of them have said about as much. I remember, and it wasn't too long ago, when reviewers would bitch about dumbing a game down. Now it's a great thing?

 

[obediah]

Well, it's not like this review is the first review to say that Fable is good because it's dumbed down. Pretty much all of them have said about as much. I remember, and it wasn't too long ago, when reviewers would bitch about dumbing a game down. Now it's a great thing?

Pull the mothballs out of your dried up, elitest vagina, grandma. Just because 40 years ago the only people with computers were lifeless, fat, nerds with nothing better to do than spend months reading a book on their computer and mapping out the path to the girdle +1, doesn't mean it has to be that way anymore. Now games can be like movies instead of books, so when I'm not banging hot chicks or beating you up, I can get some quick RPG Akshun in. Limp Bisquick 4-eva!!!!!!!!!!! fag!

 

[Chefe]

Pull the mothballs out of your dried up, elitest vagina, grandma. Just because 40 years ago the only people with computers were lifeless, fat, nerds with nothing better to do than spend months reading a book on their computer and mapping out the path to the girdle +1, doesn't mean it has to be that way anymore. Now games can be like movies instead of books, so when I'm not banging hot chicks or beating you up, I can get some quick RPG Akshun in. Limp Bisquick 4-eva!!!!!!!!!!! fag!

I love the future. It's so bright and pretty.

I liked Fable, and plan to get TLC, but that's just stupid. There's reasons that the game was "dumbed down". Technical and... psychological... reasons why Fable didn't turn out flip-freakin-fantastic. Do I want another game to do what it does? No.

 

[Grantus]

I, for one, think Fable is a fairly fun fighting/roleplaying game. It doesn't have the scope of a Morrowind or a Gothic 2, and it certainly isn't a return-to-1997, isometric, turn-based RPG that seems to be worshipped here.

Fable has its faults, and it doesn't doesn't deserve some of the 90-plus percentage reviews its gotten, but it does several things right.

I like that your choices between the good and evil options seem to have some consequences. Call me vain, but I like you can go to a barber and get new hairstyles or tattoos.

While I'd agree with the poster earlier who didn't like ranged combat, Fable's handling of melee and magic combat are quite good. I wish games like Morrowind had Fable-like combat controls.

Is it dumbed-down? Certainly it's accessible to new RPG players. I'm not sure if that's an entirely bad thing. If more people start playing RPGs, perhaps more gaming companies will decide to make RPGs.

With more RPG choices, there's bound to be an occasional release that at least one person here thinks doesn't suck.

Grant

 

[Vault Dweller]

Is it dumbed-down? Certainly it's accessible to new RPG players. I'm not sure if that's an entirely bad thing. If more people start playing RPGs, perhaps more gaming companies will decide to make RPGs.

They would start cloning Fable, just like years ago the market was flooded with Diablo clones.

 

[Drakron]

...
I like that your choices between the good and evil options seem to have some consequences.
...

Except they dont, if you take the "good option" you get good points and some dialogue as if you take the "evil" option you get evil points and some diferent dialogue, sometimes you get a diferent reward.

There is no impact in the game world, if you take the sword ... nobody cares, if you dont kill Wisper she vanish from the game the same if you had kill her, yes there are NPC dialogue about the option but that is simply cosmetic change in the game world.

The good/evil points are in the end irrelevent because they are so easy to gain, just eat some food or donate to a temple.

The problem is there is no consequence to your actions in the game because there are no diferent paths, any decision you make is irrelevent since its never factored in the game beyond the good/evil points that are easy to modify (temple/food).