Fable II

Fable II is an RPG from Lionhead. The Fable franchise is quite known for being one of the few RPGs on Xbox, although that has changed on the Xbox 360. Another reason for its fame is its creator, Peter Molyneux. Molyneux promised alot when he was making the first Fable, but many felt he failed to deliver in the end. However, I feel that the new Fable is right on the money.

Molyneux claimed to have made one of the best video game stories of all time, but that is hardly true. The story is

pretty basic. You start out as on urchin, living in the streets of Bowerstone. Childhood doesn't last long, as you'll soon be picked up by some guards from the Castle Fairfax. Lord Lucien, the landlord wishes to see you. A couple of scenes later, your sister ends up dead, and you are picked up by a blind gypsy fortune teller called Theresa. Skip forward 10 years, and you are approaching manhood. Theresa sends you out on a quest for vengeance, and you are on your way. The story isn't anything special, with quite forgettable characters, although there is some pretty good dialogue in there. Then again, it doesn't feel like the main storyline is Fable II's main driving point. Rather, the world of Albion is.

One of the biggest features Fable II has going for it is its big emphasis on moral choices. Many RPGs allow you to be either good or evil, but Fable II takes it quite far. While most of the choices are pretty black-and-white, there are a couple of instances where you do truly have to make a hard decision. I was a good character on my first run through, but at some point, you are ordered to starve prisoners lest you lose experience points. This moment was one of the story's best, and I really was in doubt whether to stick to my ethical code or choose for myself.

The choices you make actually have quite far-reaching consequences. You will undergo alot of physical change depending on the route you take. If you are evil, you'll grow horns and an aura of general evil (and flies) will surround you. However, if you stick to justice unwaveringly, you'll soon aquire a halo. Being evil lets you reap rewards more directly, and I feel it's just more fun as well. However, if you manage to stay on the straight road for the entire game, there are some serious rewards to be found as well. It does seem like being evil is, for all intents and purposes, easier. You can just go into a town, set all the houses that you've bought to double rent and then just slaughter people left and right. You can go evil within a very short time-span. Being good however, at least in the stats, is a task that will take you most of the game. I suppose this does makes sense though, as being evil generally is the easy and tempting route.

There is quite a bit of customization possible for your hero. You can freely buy him clothes and give him new hairstyles. If you develop one of three skills, his appearance will also alter. Skill will make him grow taller, for instance, while upgrading physique will make him more muscular, to the Swarzzenegger point. Carefully choosing what to eat is also important if you want to maintain your physique. Eating meat will give you a big health boost if you are low on health, but eating some of it may make you fat really quickly. Meat is also corrupt foot, supposedly because animals had to be slain for it. Vegetables and fruit on the other hand, will not heal you quite so well, but they'll reduce fat and give you pure points. Fish seem to do nothing except heal you, so having a tuna in your backpocket may just come in handy.

Another big part of the game is your dog. I'm more of a cat person, but you'll grow attached to the critter, especially because it really loves you unconditionally. The dog assists in combat by leaping onto downed foes, and he also tracks down treasure chests and dig spots by barking at you and leading you to them. While he's not a character, you'll be glad he's there to keep you some company. I really panicked when I lost him the first time. I had not

payed attention, and it turned out he was badly hurt in combat. It may just break your hart to see him limp around helplessly. One good dogtreat will solve all his problems though, and he'll soon be sprinting and rolling over again. The dog will actually adapt to your moral style. If you are of the evil kind, the dog will grow fearsome. If you are noble and knightly though, the dog will be a noble animal as well. I found the relation to the dog comparable to the one Wander has with Agro in Shadow of the Colossus, another game that pulled off the man-and-his-animal really well. All in all, I consider the dog a great succes.

You'll need to maintain your bodyshape in order to stay attractive to most villagers. There's quite a big social aspect to the game, that has you playing an expression minigame of sorts to change people's opinion of you. Every villager feels differently about you. If you are good, most of them will like you right off the bat. They'll harras you for an autograph and love your dog. If you are evil however, they'll fear you, kick your dog and be generally wary to listen to your requests. It's quite hard to get people to follow you if you are the evil incarnate.

However, you can really change a villagers opinion of you with gifts or expressions. Your character is a mute, with only the occasional grunt coming off his lips. However, all kinds of weird and silly expressions are available, like a jig and some healthy laughter. Every character has a pretty basic menu displaying his or her likes and dislikes, and if you follow those, you'll soon have the person love you, indicated by a heart over their head. You can get married if you find a good woman or man. At some point, a ring may appear on her disposition bar, and if you reach the ring, you can propose to her. You must then take your spouse to a house you have bought, and that's that. You can pretty much have as many wives as you like, although you must pay a daily budget to them. Occasionally, your

partner (or any other civilian around that likes you alot) may request sex. You must then lead them to a bed, at which point you have the option of protected or unprotected sex. It bears mentioning that this part of the game seems quite qlitchy; I had a very hard time activating the prompt for sex at your bed. If you choose protected sex, the only result you should end up with is a happy spouse. However, failure to use a condom, - which must be purchased from a store - may lead to STDs and children. You'll have a crib next to your bed for a big portion of the game, but since the story takes occasional jumps of ten years, you soon will be faced with a chattering little civilian. They really love you, and giving my 9-year old son a toy sword drove him mad with love and excitement, a touching moments indeed. However, if you don't visit often enough, your wife may request a divorce. It's not too hard to avoid this though, if you just visit regularly.

The social system in Fable II works just fine. Failing an expression can have some really funny results too. However, it does feel weird to see a person that has a passionate, deep hatred towards you change his disposition completely because you happen to be good at the most ridiculous of dances; the jig. Everybody in Albion seems to love a farting hero too, which is quite odd. Teaching your dog the "hide snout" trick can be pretty fun though, especially when you have to consider how one would teach his dog to do that every time he farts.

There also is a simple economics system at work in Fable II. You can buy pretty much every piece of real-estate in Albion, but the price may vary wildly. First off, if you want to drop the price, you may want to cause an economical crisis first. Towns will prosper or despair thanks to you, and to see the world change by your hand is the thing that Fable II does really well. You can control the entire region economically, and it's great fun. Buying a pub and then setting the price of beer to zero can turn the town into a drunk man's haven, and you'll often see adults stumbling by. Setting prices low will make many a man love you, but upping the rent on houses is an act of corruption. And the best part is that you'll actually keep making money while your Xbox is off. It's great to be welcomed to the game by a nice wad of cash each time you pop in the time. It's these kinds of details and gameplay mechanics that make Fable II great.

The game's combat is pretty basic. You have a button for melee attacks, a button to shoot and a magic button. You can pump experience into any of these three trades, although I couldn't be bothered with the guns and crossbows, which led to a lack of experience in ranged attacks. You can unlock special moves like a zoom attack and a harder-hitting, unblockable melee attack by adding points there. In the case of spells, each one has 5

levels. Learning more and more spells will cause blue will lines to criss-cross your skin, which is quite a cool effect. Overall though, I found combat to be pretty boring. The enemy design is pretty uninspired. Balverines are simply annoying, bandits are cannon fodder and trolls are quite tedious to fight. The combat obviously wasn't the focus of the game, and it shows in its execution. The combat just seems a bit throw-away, although knocking a spire guard plummeting off a bridge is quite satisfying. There are much more fun things to do in Albion than fight bandits though.

The world has lots of bloom to give it a fairy-tale looking feel, although some of the environments are almost depressing, like the Wraithmarshes. Overall though, this game looks great, with expressive characters (obviously) and good-looking towns. The sound is also great, with some really good music and great voice work all across the board. This is helped by some pretty funny writing. Lionhead is done an excellent job of making Albion come alive in Fable II, and that is probably the game's biggest highlight.

Overall, Fable II is really easy to recommend. It has a really great world to play in, and the game is just filled with little details that make this game really fun to play and experience.