The Asylum Game: An Open-Ended Adventure
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Subject Vee, subject Max and me have more GamerScore then you! XD
Subject M2, that would be called a mace. XD
Subject Max, what did you do?
Subject M2, that would be called a mace. XD
Subject Max, what did you do?
Fable III is the third game from the ?Fable? series created and published by Lionshead Studios. Fable III is set 50 years after the end of Fable II and you take the role of a prince or princess, who must go on a quest to become a revolutionary leader and over-throw the current King, your brother Logan, and lead Albion through an upcoming crisis of evil.
[Img_Inline width="375" Caption="Albion. Where parents use kids as missiles." Align="right"]http://www.co-optimus.com/images/upload/image/2010/fable3-kid-toss.jpg[/Img_Inline]
Fable III begins with one of the most amusing opening videos from any game this year. Sure, there is a message about never giving up but find me a screen that makes me giggle as much as this does. [http://www.shacknews.com/images/generated/4c595742d9888_featured_without_text_fable3chicken.jpg] I will give you a million pounds. Anyway, Fable III keeps up its humorous start by propelling you into the game with Jasper, your butler, rousing your lazy character and their sleeping companion, a dog named Dog, from a comfy sleep. After some brief tutorials introducing the moral choice system again, the new hand holding system and a reminder of the combat system, the story begins properly and this is when things begin to go wrong. Your brother Logan, who is also the King of Albion, is going slightly mad with power and orders the death of a group of protesters that have started protesting outside his castle. Upon hearing this news literally through a keyhole, you are thrust into a choice by Logan, which has a small impact on the story but is still a tough choice to make. After you?ve made your choice, you are escorted out of the castle that night by Sir Walter, an old guardsman and your trainer of sorts, and Jasper, your butler, through a rather handily built cave system your father, the Hero from Fable II, built. It is here, where you find out you have what it takes to follow in your fathers footsteps and become a Hero.
After a brief introduction to magic, you are taken to the Sanctuary which will soon be holding your weapons, trophies from quests and various outfits. It is also here where your objective, which runs for the first half of the game, becomes apparent. Gain followers to help fight back against your brothers tyrannical rule. This basically involves doing a lot of quests and acquiring guild seals, which you use to level up, details of which I?ll go more in-depth about later on. The quests in question range from simple fetch quests in various guises, quests where you kill people and the slightly silly ones, like being shrunk down to play a hero in a tabletop game world or lure some chickens back to their coop. However, on the way, you will soon find out that Logan is not the main threat. Something scarier, meaner and three times as ugly is lurking in the shadows, ready to appear and is known as The Creeper. This sets up the second half of Fable III which focuses on this new threat. Although the story is seemingly split into two, it is actually a story, which links together well. It?s not going to win any rewards but it has a couple of interesting plot-twists and the way that one half of the story links to the other is done very well to keep it from being a story that is dismissed as drivel. I would really love to go into more detail then that but spoilers stop me from doing so. I will say, however, the introduction of The Creeper is a good twist to the story and stops it becoming another crap ending similar to Fable II?s ?Press Y to win? ending. It does gives the game a whole new ending, stops it petering out into a rubbish ending. The climax of the game actually has some ?Umph? behind it, closing the story off in an emotional way.
[Img_Inline width="375" Caption="Being a hero isn?t all doom and gloom, you get to pose for photos too." Align="left"]http://www.gossipgamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/fable3gdc10-590x333.jpg[/Img_Inline]
The combat in Fable III has had a few tweaks made to it, to make it easier and more of a challenge this time around. While some things are carried over from Fable II, including the KO?s instead of deaths and ranged and melee weaponry handling and controls, Fable III now includes certain enemies can used more varied ranged attacks. Instead of a rifle or pistol, they could throw grenades at you, cast a few spells or just swamp you at any point. Each enemy also mixes up attacks if possible, switching between the two while dodging your attacks. It makes a difference from just relying on Flourishes in big fights, which can now be stopped mid-charge, making you use the roll and block abilities, keeping you alert to what enemy is doing what. There has been a big change to how magic works too, allowing you to combine two spells together to make a super-spell. To do this, you must buy two separate magic gauntlets on the ?Road to Rule? and equip a different gauntlet to each hand. Upon doing so, the two gauntlets will combine spells and apply both the effects when you cast them. A good idea on paper as it adds a tactical and interesting twist to the game, but it can cause a couple of frame-rate issues, especially if you combine the Ice spell with pretty much any other spell, slowing the game down to a fraction of its normal speed.
The levelling up has been tweaked slightly too, being made into an easier, quicker system without any fuss to upgrading. You earn experience, or ?Guild Seals?, from doing quests, fighting and despatching enemies or finding chests with the Seals inside. When you have enough Seals to purchase an upgrade, a small Guild Seal symbol appears, prompting you to press ?Up? on the directional pad, which will teleport you to the ?Road to Rule.? Now, here is where you upgrade your melee, ranged and magic abilities. You can also buy new expressions, dyes and other stuff as well, using your Guild Seals to unlock chests along the way. You are also teleported here each time you get to a major point in the story, so you can upgrade in preparation for the next challenge. It is a faster, more streamlined version of upgrading your character that allows you to upgrade any skill you want at any time. However, while I am happy with the new, faster upgrading system, the much talked about ?Touch? system is pretty rubbish. As far as I can tell, the ?Touch? system is used for three purposes, leading people to workhouses, evil temples and beds when you want to have sexy fun times with them. It really has no other use and becomes annoying when you have to take a character by the hand, just so the golden path, which returns form Fable II, will update and guide you to your next objective. It feels at times that they?ve crowbarred this feature in at the last minute as, apart from the quests that require you to use it, you?ll never bother with it outside of the sex part.
[Img_Inline width="375" Caption="Even the Royal Army have time for the odd photo. No wonder Albion is in trouble." Align="right"]http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/fable-3-achievements.jpg[/Img_Inline]
The gameplay overall has not really changed too much from Fable II which, depending on how look at it, isn?t a good or bad thing. The combat still feels the same with few tweaks, the exploring still feels exactly the same and the moral choice system is still black and white with only a couple of options for those among you who like taking the middle ground. While nothing has dramatically changed, apart from the NPC interaction being restricted to one on one chats, it is not exactly a basic copy paste job either. It will be familiar to those who played Fable II to death, but challenging enough that those used to the system will not stroll back into it without a little practice and fine-tuning of their old tried and tested tactics. Sadly, though, there is the odd bug now and again, mainly with the golden trail, which is used to guide you to objectives. At times, this golden trail will sometimes either vanish completely; point you back the way you just came or just generally switch between telling you to go backwards and forwards. It?s annoying and irritating to suddenly be told to go back the way you came after following the path for a short while. Speaking of things that have very little change, Fable III will also look familiar to those of those who played Fable II. The graphics have not really changed a lot between now and then and that is a good thing. They have been given a new coat of paint but it really is nothing at all noticeable, unless you like to intently stare at a game for any graphical discrepancies.
As for the sound, it is still the same music from Fable II, with some newer music added in at times. There is nothing memorable but the music sets the mood nicely and always matches the situation, be it an upbeat, amusing scene or a dark, moody scene. However, the music plays a secondary role to the voice acting. Big names like Simon Pegg, John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Bernard Hill, Sir Ben Kingsley and the not so big name but kind of token British guy who is a bit of a dick, like Jonathon Ross all lend their names to characters in Fable III and they are perfect. Simon Pegg is perfect as Ben Finn, John Cleese is perfect as Jasper and Stephen Fry is without any doubt playing a role he is very convincing in, returning to play the person many love to hate, Reaver. John Cleese in particular is on top form as Jasper, delivering one liners with perfection and really just being himself and Simon Pegg is just amazing as Ben Finn, getting into the role and making it his own. The usual Fable humour is still there, mocking everything from the ending in Fable II, to poking fun at Jonathon Ross and his past discrepancies involving rude phone calls. It?s all very tongue in cheek and amusing for a while, although sadly in the second half of the game, humour takes a back seat to drama and action, which is disappointing.
[Img_Inline width="375" Caption="Admit it, you all love this guy really. It?s Stephen Fry, how could you not?" Align="left"]http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101210011735/fable/images/8/86/Reaver_fable_iii_by_phoenix88049-d2zorz3-1.jpg[/Img_Inline]
Overall, Fable III is a hard game to judge, really. If you are a fan of the series, you will either love it for being a brilliant game that is worthy of the Fable name. Alternatively, you?ll hate it as it comes up short on the promises made by the studio. In addition, if you are a newcomer to the series, it is a good place to start as it does not reference the old games too much and is enjoyable, accessible and fun. However, for this reviewer, not enough has changed to make it seem different from Fable II and that is disappointing for me. Sure, they have tweaked the gameplay to be more challenging and fun, as well as a small graphical tweak as well to make it match up to the standards of today but nothing else feels like progress. The new ?touch? system was over-rated and I personally felt it to an excuse to crowbar in a couple of escort quests, so it wasn?t a feature that was totally neglected and the new property ownership makes it feel like ?The Sims: Albion?. If you buy Fable III, you?ll enjoy it for the first play-through at least, as the twist and turns will keep you playing through the story. After the ending though, you will probably put it on the shelf and forget all about. Which is a disappointment as overall, it is a fun game and you will enjoy your time with it. Sadly, once you have played it once or twice and got all the collectables, it will lose the replay value.
[small]Albion is a rather beautiful place, filled with colour, amazing architecture and English people. Though the colour mainly comes from the language the gnomes shout at you, but who cares when you get such classic lines as ?If it were up to me, nobody would get sick. They'd just die, starting with you!? Wonderful wit there.[/small]
[Img_Inline width="375" Caption="Albion. Where parents use kids as missiles." Align="right"]http://www.co-optimus.com/images/upload/image/2010/fable3-kid-toss.jpg[/Img_Inline]
Fable III begins with one of the most amusing opening videos from any game this year. Sure, there is a message about never giving up but find me a screen that makes me giggle as much as this does. [http://www.shacknews.com/images/generated/4c595742d9888_featured_without_text_fable3chicken.jpg] I will give you a million pounds. Anyway, Fable III keeps up its humorous start by propelling you into the game with Jasper, your butler, rousing your lazy character and their sleeping companion, a dog named Dog, from a comfy sleep. After some brief tutorials introducing the moral choice system again, the new hand holding system and a reminder of the combat system, the story begins properly and this is when things begin to go wrong. Your brother Logan, who is also the King of Albion, is going slightly mad with power and orders the death of a group of protesters that have started protesting outside his castle. Upon hearing this news literally through a keyhole, you are thrust into a choice by Logan, which has a small impact on the story but is still a tough choice to make. After you?ve made your choice, you are escorted out of the castle that night by Sir Walter, an old guardsman and your trainer of sorts, and Jasper, your butler, through a rather handily built cave system your father, the Hero from Fable II, built. It is here, where you find out you have what it takes to follow in your fathers footsteps and become a Hero.
After a brief introduction to magic, you are taken to the Sanctuary which will soon be holding your weapons, trophies from quests and various outfits. It is also here where your objective, which runs for the first half of the game, becomes apparent. Gain followers to help fight back against your brothers tyrannical rule. This basically involves doing a lot of quests and acquiring guild seals, which you use to level up, details of which I?ll go more in-depth about later on. The quests in question range from simple fetch quests in various guises, quests where you kill people and the slightly silly ones, like being shrunk down to play a hero in a tabletop game world or lure some chickens back to their coop. However, on the way, you will soon find out that Logan is not the main threat. Something scarier, meaner and three times as ugly is lurking in the shadows, ready to appear and is known as The Creeper. This sets up the second half of Fable III which focuses on this new threat. Although the story is seemingly split into two, it is actually a story, which links together well. It?s not going to win any rewards but it has a couple of interesting plot-twists and the way that one half of the story links to the other is done very well to keep it from being a story that is dismissed as drivel. I would really love to go into more detail then that but spoilers stop me from doing so. I will say, however, the introduction of The Creeper is a good twist to the story and stops it becoming another crap ending similar to Fable II?s ?Press Y to win? ending. It does gives the game a whole new ending, stops it petering out into a rubbish ending. The climax of the game actually has some ?Umph? behind it, closing the story off in an emotional way.
[Img_Inline width="375" Caption="Being a hero isn?t all doom and gloom, you get to pose for photos too." Align="left"]http://www.gossipgamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/fable3gdc10-590x333.jpg[/Img_Inline]
The combat in Fable III has had a few tweaks made to it, to make it easier and more of a challenge this time around. While some things are carried over from Fable II, including the KO?s instead of deaths and ranged and melee weaponry handling and controls, Fable III now includes certain enemies can used more varied ranged attacks. Instead of a rifle or pistol, they could throw grenades at you, cast a few spells or just swamp you at any point. Each enemy also mixes up attacks if possible, switching between the two while dodging your attacks. It makes a difference from just relying on Flourishes in big fights, which can now be stopped mid-charge, making you use the roll and block abilities, keeping you alert to what enemy is doing what. There has been a big change to how magic works too, allowing you to combine two spells together to make a super-spell. To do this, you must buy two separate magic gauntlets on the ?Road to Rule? and equip a different gauntlet to each hand. Upon doing so, the two gauntlets will combine spells and apply both the effects when you cast them. A good idea on paper as it adds a tactical and interesting twist to the game, but it can cause a couple of frame-rate issues, especially if you combine the Ice spell with pretty much any other spell, slowing the game down to a fraction of its normal speed.
The levelling up has been tweaked slightly too, being made into an easier, quicker system without any fuss to upgrading. You earn experience, or ?Guild Seals?, from doing quests, fighting and despatching enemies or finding chests with the Seals inside. When you have enough Seals to purchase an upgrade, a small Guild Seal symbol appears, prompting you to press ?Up? on the directional pad, which will teleport you to the ?Road to Rule.? Now, here is where you upgrade your melee, ranged and magic abilities. You can also buy new expressions, dyes and other stuff as well, using your Guild Seals to unlock chests along the way. You are also teleported here each time you get to a major point in the story, so you can upgrade in preparation for the next challenge. It is a faster, more streamlined version of upgrading your character that allows you to upgrade any skill you want at any time. However, while I am happy with the new, faster upgrading system, the much talked about ?Touch? system is pretty rubbish. As far as I can tell, the ?Touch? system is used for three purposes, leading people to workhouses, evil temples and beds when you want to have sexy fun times with them. It really has no other use and becomes annoying when you have to take a character by the hand, just so the golden path, which returns form Fable II, will update and guide you to your next objective. It feels at times that they?ve crowbarred this feature in at the last minute as, apart from the quests that require you to use it, you?ll never bother with it outside of the sex part.
[Img_Inline width="375" Caption="Even the Royal Army have time for the odd photo. No wonder Albion is in trouble." Align="right"]http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/fable-3-achievements.jpg[/Img_Inline]
The gameplay overall has not really changed too much from Fable II which, depending on how look at it, isn?t a good or bad thing. The combat still feels the same with few tweaks, the exploring still feels exactly the same and the moral choice system is still black and white with only a couple of options for those among you who like taking the middle ground. While nothing has dramatically changed, apart from the NPC interaction being restricted to one on one chats, it is not exactly a basic copy paste job either. It will be familiar to those who played Fable II to death, but challenging enough that those used to the system will not stroll back into it without a little practice and fine-tuning of their old tried and tested tactics. Sadly, though, there is the odd bug now and again, mainly with the golden trail, which is used to guide you to objectives. At times, this golden trail will sometimes either vanish completely; point you back the way you just came or just generally switch between telling you to go backwards and forwards. It?s annoying and irritating to suddenly be told to go back the way you came after following the path for a short while. Speaking of things that have very little change, Fable III will also look familiar to those of those who played Fable II. The graphics have not really changed a lot between now and then and that is a good thing. They have been given a new coat of paint but it really is nothing at all noticeable, unless you like to intently stare at a game for any graphical discrepancies.
As for the sound, it is still the same music from Fable II, with some newer music added in at times. There is nothing memorable but the music sets the mood nicely and always matches the situation, be it an upbeat, amusing scene or a dark, moody scene. However, the music plays a secondary role to the voice acting. Big names like Simon Pegg, John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Bernard Hill, Sir Ben Kingsley and the not so big name but kind of token British guy who is a bit of a dick, like Jonathon Ross all lend their names to characters in Fable III and they are perfect. Simon Pegg is perfect as Ben Finn, John Cleese is perfect as Jasper and Stephen Fry is without any doubt playing a role he is very convincing in, returning to play the person many love to hate, Reaver. John Cleese in particular is on top form as Jasper, delivering one liners with perfection and really just being himself and Simon Pegg is just amazing as Ben Finn, getting into the role and making it his own. The usual Fable humour is still there, mocking everything from the ending in Fable II, to poking fun at Jonathon Ross and his past discrepancies involving rude phone calls. It?s all very tongue in cheek and amusing for a while, although sadly in the second half of the game, humour takes a back seat to drama and action, which is disappointing.
[Img_Inline width="375" Caption="Admit it, you all love this guy really. It?s Stephen Fry, how could you not?" Align="left"]http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101210011735/fable/images/8/86/Reaver_fable_iii_by_phoenix88049-d2zorz3-1.jpg[/Img_Inline]
Overall, Fable III is a hard game to judge, really. If you are a fan of the series, you will either love it for being a brilliant game that is worthy of the Fable name. Alternatively, you?ll hate it as it comes up short on the promises made by the studio. In addition, if you are a newcomer to the series, it is a good place to start as it does not reference the old games too much and is enjoyable, accessible and fun. However, for this reviewer, not enough has changed to make it seem different from Fable II and that is disappointing for me. Sure, they have tweaked the gameplay to be more challenging and fun, as well as a small graphical tweak as well to make it match up to the standards of today but nothing else feels like progress. The new ?touch? system was over-rated and I personally felt it to an excuse to crowbar in a couple of escort quests, so it wasn?t a feature that was totally neglected and the new property ownership makes it feel like ?The Sims: Albion?. If you buy Fable III, you?ll enjoy it for the first play-through at least, as the twist and turns will keep you playing through the story. After the ending though, you will probably put it on the shelf and forget all about. Which is a disappointment as overall, it is a fun game and you will enjoy your time with it. Sadly, once you have played it once or twice and got all the collectables, it will lose the replay value.
[small]Albion is a rather beautiful place, filled with colour, amazing architecture and English people. Though the colour mainly comes from the language the gnomes shout at you, but who cares when you get such classic lines as ?If it were up to me, nobody would get sick. They'd just die, starting with you!? Wonderful wit there.[/small]
*Sobbing and turns to drinking bleach* Both of you subjects suck! DX I've only had my own account since August! XD
Pah, evil, subject Max? That's Diet Evil! XD
...o.o Subject Vee, well...I've had my account for 1 and a bit years and you're nearly halfway to my score... XD
...o.o Subject Vee, well...I've had my account for 1 and a bit years and you're nearly halfway to my score... XD
Life is good again, subject Max!
Mwahahahahaha~~~ *Evil eye at subject Sas* XD
...Fuckin' A, subject PR!
Mwahahahahaha~~~ *Evil eye at subject Sas* XD
...Fuckin' A, subject PR!
I have two massive boxes of games to finish, subject Max. Just counting the ones I wanna play. Christ I love having a brother that pays for everything.
Subject PR, dear God no. 
Subject Max, you've gone eviller? XD
...*Cowers from subject Vee* XD
Subject Max, you've gone eviller? XD
...*Cowers from subject Vee* XD