Was anyone else really upset by Fable 2?

[ranger19]

So I've been trying to catch up this summer on games I wanted to play but never got the time for, and among those was Fable 2. I had never played the first, but stuff I had heard about this one interested me and I thought I'd give it a shot.

From the very beginning, the story bothered me but I let it slide, figuring I had the whole game in front of me to have my questions answered. Why didn't my character die when shot at point blank range, blasted out a window, and dropped several stories? Who was the random woman who saved me and cared for me? What the heck was the mystic toy trinket that started it off?

As time went on, there were only more questions. How did this lady know who the "heroes" were that we had to find? How did she know I was, actually?

Fast forward to the end..

Spoiler

it's the climax of the story, you're starting the ritual to get the ultimate weapon to kill the main bad guy.. and then out of nowhere the bad guy shows up, the blind lady who's been helping disappears, and you get shot at point blank range.

Then what? You wake up as a kid and run around with your sister? Probably the most anticlimactic thing ever. I just was looking my sister's killer in the face, expecting some sort of confrontation.. and then i have to kick chickens and shoot bottles? busy work? I could hardly believe what I was seeing.

Then you randomly wake up, and pick the toy from the beginning up from who knows where and magically it depowers the bad guy. Why? How? Who knows.. then there's the cliched morality choice, followed by the blind woman coming back and claiming the tower for herself. Still no explanation of who she is, what's going on, anything.

I seriously thought at that point the game had gone through a twist and there was a new main villain, but no. It was over. Really? It made no sense, and honestly the story felt like a big middle finger to the player.

Ugh.. is there someone out there who actually enjoyed the story who would care to defend it for me? I honestly can't see how this was even released. I don't think I'm ever going to play another game by this dev team.

 

[I Stomp on Kittens]

I didn't play through the whole game but I never really care about story since most games lack it now adays.

 

[Cuniculus]

I guess I can agree that the end was rather... lame. The game itself was fun, and full of things to do. I didn't have a problem with it, really.

 

[Inco]

Errr. Yes i have the same massive disappointment in the game and just look for my other posts to find out why.
But

Spoiler: The Women

I assume she is Theresa from the first game, you know, the sister. Who was also blind, magically gifted and spoke like she was the narrator of a book. Like yes, i think she should be dead only slightly.... but they can just say she is immortal and thats why its includes the ending where you kill her.

 

[ranger19]

I guess I can agree that the end was rather... lame. The game itself was fun, and full of things to do. I didn't have a problem with it, really.

I see your point, but story is so important in the game because it's what compels me to do everything else. The battle mechanics were fun, sure, but not fun enough to keep me that entertained. Marrying/sleeping with people was entertaining for a few minutes, until I realized how painfully easy it is.

I also happen to be the type of person that is very goal oriented in games, and so maybe that's why I care. That said, there were certainly a lot of fun things to keep me entertained and pull me off the beaten path, but there were also other (more design related) things that bothered me too.

Errr. Yes i have the same massive disappointment in the game and just look for my other posts to find out why.
But

Spoiler: The Women

I assume she is Theresa from the first game, you know, the sister. Who was also blind, magically gifted and spoke like she was the narrator of a book. Like yes, i think she should be dead only slightly.... but they can just say she is immortal and thats why its includes the ending where you kill her.

After doing a little bit of reading online, I think I got the idea that this lady was also in the first game, but I have no idea what she did there besides maybe narrate that game too. (By the way, the token thing that let her talk to you was such a cheap plot device imo.. especially since for all its magic, it doesnt work in fog. Sounds like a cheap cell phone with crummy carriage.)

And sorry, but

Spoiler

the ending where you kill her? What's that?

 

[MassiveSnuggles]

They didn't really develop the blind lady very much, but if you played the first game there are hints throughout fable 2 that she is the hero from the first games sister. She never outright says it but it's fairly obvious, I'm pretty sure her adult form in the first game and this voice actors are the same.

Apparently there's some sort of immortality secret. As to why she claims the tower for herself, who knows.

But the most redeeming thing about this game I would say is the character development... ok I wouldnt say development, but the mannerisms and style that the other heroes take up, the scarring system was kinda neat but the balance was pretty horrendous power wise, If you maxed out lightning and had lvl 2 time stop you were pretty much set for the game.

I chose the chick character and couldnt stand taking the toughness power since it makes the girl model look like a female bodybuilder on steriods so she had terrible melee dmg.

 

[Ham Blitz]

Yeah, the ending was really just plain. It wasn't too much, though I guess you do get some big choices. The thing I found recently was an interview (An old one) with Peter how-ever-you-spell-his-last-name about Fable 2. The thing that gave me a good chuckle was how he said the ending was a very emotional experience. Though, one thing that bothered me about the ending is this:

Spoiler

If you choose the "Many" choice where you ressurect everyone that wasn't your family, Hammer says how she would have choosen to save her family if she was in your position, and then goes on to thank you. Then, when I go through it and decide to save my family, she says I am an aweful person, and should of just went for the gold since I didn't care for other people in her opinion.

Though, back to the topic, the game explains so little, and the next one will probably do another time skip where you will only learn about the stuff by hearing about it or reading about it.
I also kind of find this one small thing kind of humorous for a choice near the end:

Spoiler

At the end, when the main bad guy (Lucien, I think) is giving his speech, if you let it go for too long, Reaver will shoot him, and then say "Ah, I never thought he would shut up... Oh, did you want to kill him?"

 

[BolognaBaloney]

Most people were very dissapointed, not really breaking any new ground here.

 

[Ham Blitz]

And sorry, but

Spoiler

the ending where you kill her? What's that?

I think he is talking about the end of the first game, with the whole sword choice.

 

[darthzew]

Molyneux chose story over gameplay, however he failed. If he had gotten you attached to your character more, you probably would have really felt the "perfect day" thing. The first time I actually liked it and thought it was great for the story, but the second time? Busy work. Frustrating busy work because I couldn't find that last damn bottle.

A boss battle would have been nice too.

 

[Inco]

And sorry, but

Spoiler

the ending where you kill her? What's that?

I think he is talking about the end of the first game, with the whole sword choice.

Yes, i am. You get the choice to kill her to get the sword of Aeons at the end of the first game.

 

[Gigawolf1]

I tried doing a second, evil playthrough. Instead I just sleep with prostitutes in Old Town and assassinate folks for money. And I haven't even done that in months.

 

[megapenguinx]

I hate the aiming in that game with a passion, also it was a real let down after what I had heard from the first game.

 

[ranger19]

They didn't really develop the blind lady very much, but if you played the first game there are hints throughout fable 2 that she is the hero from the first games sister. She never outright says it but it's fairly obvious, I'm pretty sure her adult form in the first game and this voice actors are the same.

Apparently there's some sort of immortality secret. As to why she claims the tower for herself, who knows.

But the most redeeming thing about this game I would say is the character development... ok I wouldnt say development, but the mannerisms and style that the other heroes take up.

Thank you thank you THANK YOU for filling me in on something I guess the developer just assumed I knew. All I got throughout the game was the feeling she was just using me, and I was betting on her actually being the bad guy (the way she wanted to break Hammer's vow of nonviolence seemed pretty mean to me, right from the start). I guess then the end was a sort of cheap cliffhanger, but not as annoying as it was for me.

I do like how well developed all the other characters were, and how you ended up really as a team with them at the end. I found myself comparing this game to Oblivion a lot, and that was one way in which this game really stood out for me. They were all great characters.

Several things

Sorry, for the sake of making my post a little cleaner, I won't quote yours, but I did agree with everything you said. Reaver killed him for me too, which was funny though I really did want to kill him myself. That bother was dwarfed by everything else though I guess. And I chose many, it sounds like Hammer would have been a jerk otherwise.

Molyneux chose story over gameplay, however he failed. If he had gotten you attached to your character more, you probably would have really felt the "perfect day" thing. The first time I actually liked it and thought it was great for the story, but the second time? Busy work. Frustrating busy work because I couldn't find that last damn bottle.

A boss battle would have been nice too.

Again, agreed. As I was playing it I thought it would have been better as a cutscene - still get the point across. Or maybe have the music the whole time so you could leave whenever you wanted to. But all the bloom made it almost impossible for me to find the dumb bottles.. oh and earning the title of "chicken kicker" or whatever it was in the dream world kind of killed any engagement in the "dream" world.

And I would have liked a boss battle too, or another fight with all the heroes, but I wasn't gonna knock the game simply for defying my expectations and not having a final boss, I can imagine a game being able to pull that off really well.

 

[Scrambles the Death-Dealer]

I was upset because I thought it kinda sucked
I was contempt with the first one but the second one just let me down.

 

[Carnagath]

Loved the game myself, much better than the first part, but the ending was balls indeed. I would so love to see Peter M. working on a new Dungeon Keeper instead of what he is doing though.

 

[Amnestic]

No, actually, I really enjoyed Fable 2, picked the 'close friends' ending to get my doggy back and had a blast. I thought what Reaper did at the end was awesome and I loved the Perfect Day sequence.

But maybe that's cos I have a habit of appreciating sacrifices in gameplay for the sake of story.