Review Molyfaux has a bit of a cry over Fable 2 reviews

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Fable 2

Fable 2 - which is totally coming out for the PC eventually and we all know it - <a href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=199958">has made Peter Peter Bullshit Speaker become "incredibly emotional" over the high review results</a>:
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<blockquote>"Fable II must have been one of the hardest games to review. The world is so big and the story and gameplay are enormous. How reviewers manage to distil such an experience into a few pages is incredible," Peter Molyneux told CVG this morning.
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"I found myself becoming incredibly emotional as I read peoples reviews and saw how differently the reviewers were reacting to Fable 2. Some reviewers played good, others evil some enjoyed the combat more than the story. Some ended up rich and others poor and it's the sheer variety in how reviewers have played the game which has struck us most.
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"I'd like to say a personal thank you to every reviewer out there for their patience and belief."</blockquote>
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You can <a href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=199747">read one of those reviews here</a>:
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<blockquote>After a sluggish opening the game grows into an incredibly fleshed out, absorbing adventure world where wasting your time blowing kisses at bar maids, teaching your dog to play dead and building your career as a woodcutter doesn't feel like wasted time at all.</blockquote>
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I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay.
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RGPWcath</a>

 

[Jason]

According to Gamasutra, it's all about the humping & houses but the dog is the real payoff.

It helps that the dog actually is a genuinely enjoyable component of the game -- Molyneux's pre-release hype of canine companionship panned out. The dog helps you find useful things, joins into your fights, sticks by your side, endears himself adorably to townsfolk, and generally acts like a dog.

That's one big advantage the dog has over human interaction: while the game's human interaction is perhaps necessarily abstracted, the dog's role is a lot closer to depicting reality.

One of my favorite moments is Fable II is when I start running and my dog follows suit, overtaking me and anticipating where I might be going, as if we're having an impromptu race. It feels real in a way the game's systems-driven human interaction doesn't.

 

[dagorkan]

Are either of you guys actually hoping to play this game? I was once recommended the original Fable (on the ESF boards), I took one look and even then it didn't look like an improvement on Morrowind.

 

[dagorkan]

THIS IS THE DEFINITION OF AN AAR-PEE-GEE:

So as it turns out, it was the real estate mechanic that became a major drive for me to acquire wealth and fame in the world of Albion, possibly superceding the critical quest path in that regard.

"BUY THE CASTLE AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS," (caps original) a giddy Molyneux screamed at game journalists in a note included with the review code. Intrigued by his exhortation, I made it an unofficial goal to do so. One of the first things I did after reaching the game's first major town was to spend more time than I want to admit working as a blacksmith (a golf swing-like mini-game) until I had enough money to buy the blacksmith's shop.

Businesses will generate income, while homes can be inhabited or rented out, so the more property you own, the more money you can make to acquire more property.

You earn even when you're not playing Fable II, but as far as I can tell you make 12 times as much when the game is on (paid out every five minutes, as opposed to every hour when it's off, based on my calculations -- yes, I calculated it), so I admit to pulling the NES-era shenanigans of leaving my console running overnight.

It became almost an obsession of mine to buy every building possible. I think I must have done so, or at least gotten pretty close, because at one point, totally separate from any quest-based objectives, I received an Xbox 360 achievement that declared me Queen of Albion, apparently by default because I owned so much of the kingdom.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Oh this is hilarious.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

What a fucking creep.

 

[Jason]

Are either of you guys actually hoping to play this game?

Perhaps someday in the distant future when robots rule the earth and man is doomed to live in squalid bunkers while feasting on baby meat. The first one has actually been on my "maybe" list for sometime, but there are usually more interesting options available at the $19.99 price point. When it drops to $10 it'll probably be a much more appealing impulse buy.

 

[kris]

Some ended up rich and others poor and it's the sheer variety in how reviewers have played the game which has struck us most.

I call bullshit. I can't imagine it is possible to really become poor in a game like this were money grow on trees and the economy is broken.

 

[Herbert West]

Tamagotchi with RPG elements?

 

[Severian Silk]

rpgotchi?

 

[Globbi]

What I read about Fable 2 lately makes me think the game is going to be pretty enjoyable. I was really sceptical but I changed my mind a bit.
Sure it's suited for intelectual level of averange consol kiddie but I don't treat this game as RPG, rather as an easy adventure platfomer. Nice pretty audio and visuals, some slashing and a fairy-tale-like world. If everything there is better than in previous Fable, it should be ok for an evening after tiring day.

Rpgotchi is kinda good term.

 

[Rosh]

Rpgotchi is kinda good term.

It sounds like an STD. With that in mind, I'll wait for the price to drop to $20.

 

[Herbert West]

It sounds like an STD. With that in mind, I'll wait for the price to drop to $20.

It's a HTD- Hype Transmitted Disease.

 

[MountainWest]

The combat is a blast once you learn how to take advantage of your various moves. You have three basic attacks to mess around with: melee, magic, and ranged. Though it is certainly possible to finish the game focusing on just one or two of these techniques, choosing that method will make the combat repetitive and far too simple.

This is just so wrong.

Learn how to take advantage of your various moves = your effectiveness in combat gets worse = harder game = BRILLIANT!

 

[Deleted member 7219]

My copy arrived this morning. Been playing it for a few hours, now I'm in the cave in the middle of the lake. It's really, really fun.

 

[Dingus]

My question is: are the fences still the most powerful opponent? I could never beat those things in Fable I! I began to think I was playing a rail shooter, but with a sword. I guess it is the sword that makes it a fantasy rpg?

 

[Ion Flux]

Quoting Crazy Pete,
"I'd like to say a personal thank you to every reviewer out there for their patience and belief."

Is it just me, or is this a shamelessly weird admission of collusion between major developers and gaming "journalism"? Doesn't anyone appreciate honesty or objectivity? I guess there's no money in telling the truth.

Pretty eff'd up man.

 

[shihonage]

I have a soft spot for the man, and likely always will.

Molyneux never made games that are considered a true RPG. It's not his thing. But he does appear to be developing a consistent vision in his games. A vision that becomes more and more refined and true to what is inside his head.

Even though Black & White was full of false promises, it was still worth every dollar I spent on it. It was not made by someone who makes shit and intentionally hypes it up, but someone who simply failed to reach their dream goals at the time (while, yes, hyping it up).

I appreciated its earnest promises, though. Most games fail to provoke any feeling in me at all.

 

[Claw]

The combat is a blast once you learn how to take advantage of your various moves. You have three basic attacks to mess around with: melee, magic, and ranged. Though it is certainly possible to finish the game focusing on just one or two of these techniques, choosing that method will make the combat repetitive and far too simple.

Fuck, the evolution of RPGs has brought us back to the eighties or something. I remember RPGs that were that primitive.

 

[Azrael the cat]

As much as I want to, I simply can't put Molyneux in the same category as Todd and Bethesda. Molyneux has never said that he's making the ultra-hard-core RPG, or that turn-based-gaming is old-tech - from the very start he's been forthright in saying that he is making a casual game, even a game for 'non-gamers'. And frankly he seems to have done a good job of it - I could see someone who would never touch a true RPG picking up Fable II and having a blast. It's less about the degeneration of hardcore PC rpgs and more about the stuff that consoles have always been tolerable at: simple casual and brainless short-term fun that doesn't pretend to be anything different.

I guess my main reason for tolerance here is that I don't see Fable II as putting RPG-gaming backwards like Oblivion did. It's a different fanbase, and a different potential fanbase - again, Molyneux has been upfront from the start that this wasn't giong to be a hardcore game. If anything I can see that kind of casual work serving the same purpose that some of the 80s pseudo-rpgs did, introducing young kids and non-gamers to the genre, who will eventually seek meatier fare.

 

[psycojester]

The combat is a blast once you learn how to take advantage of your various moves. You have three basic attacks to mess around with: melee, magic, and ranged. Though it is certainly possible to finish the game focusing on just one or two of these techniques, choosing that method will make the combat repetitive and far too simple.

Fuck, the evolution of RPGs has brought us back to the eighties or something. I remember RPGs that were that primitive.

Well the upshot to that logic is that by 2020 they should be ready to make something on par with fallout.

 

[Barrow_Bug]

I don't respect him because he makes casual games. It's just such a fucking cop out it's not even funny.

Welcome to the market. When you get down to it, EVERYONE is making casual games. Combat in Fable 2 is pretty simple, but I'm warming to it. I keep wanting to speak with NPC's, which is the wrong way to go about it. I can actually say though I've never made a personal attack on someone due to their making a video game. It's wasted karma if you ask me.

 

[shihonage]

Fuck, the evolution of RPGs has brought us back to the eighties or something. I remember RPGs that were that primitive.

Well the upshot to that logic is that by 2020 they should be ready to make something on par with fallout.

That depends on whether they're moving forward or backward in time.

 

[franc kaos]

I don't respect him because he makes casual games. It's just such a fucking cop out it's not even funny.

You don't respect a man for doing what he wants in this world? I could understand not respecting him if he tried to please everybody (Bethesda), or was murdering babies to make a political point (Al Quaeda), or arse licking EA and their £40 enforced DRM rentals (Spore & Boshock) - but don't diss a man for following the beat of his own drum.

Oh, and you spelt Heaven wrong, unless you meant the gay night club in Charing Cross, london - which also isn't spelt that way.

:arrow:

 

[MetalCraze]

Fable II must have been one of the hardest games to review. The world is so big and the story and gameplay are enormous.

Fueling the "You haven't played it enough!" fanboy defence of the retarded readers

 

[St. Toxic]

murdering babies to make a political point (Al Quaeda)

What?

Oh, and you spelt Heaven wrong, unless you meant the gay night club in Charing Cross, london - which also isn't spelt that way.

Why bring it up, in that case? Gosh.

Also, you "spelt" Chaos "wrong".