So I've been thinking lately I need a place to write about what I think about games I've recently played and what better place to do than Giant Bomb. So to start I'm going to talk about a game that I would have enjoyed if it wasn't for some very poor design decisions. I am of course talking about Fable III.  

In this I will be making comparisons to Fable II as I believe it is the far superior game. Fable II did a great job of simplifying usual RPG mechanics without making them idiotic, the game featured the ability to upgrade weapons and let the player see their character grow in age, physique and appearance decided on the players moral standings and upgraded abilities. In Fable III your character doesn't look that much different at the end from when you started the game. One of the biggest mistakes made in the game's design is the implementation of 'The Sanctuary' which replaces the traditional pause menu and inventory system found in Fable II. When playing the game I found it frustrating to equip weapons, in order to change my gun or magic gauntlets I had to be transported to a room then walk into another room then walk up to the part of the wall with the gun or sword  I wanted to select and then press A and then press A again to equip it. This simplification of  the menu system ends up making the process longer and in some cases even more complected. For example me and a friend were playing co-op and once I decided I wanted to leave the game we could not figure out how to do so, we went into each room  of the sanctuary trying to figure out how to leave in the end my friend had to exit to the Xbox dashboard, Lionhead's attempt of simplifying the menus caused simple tasks that could be solved within seconds with a traditional menu. Another problem the menu system suffers from is the player is unable to view what items and loot they have such as presents and health potions, when playing the game I was unable to see how many health potions or food I had until I was in a fight.
 
In terms of narrative the game seems to build up and build up then just fizzes out once the character has reached his goal of becoming king or queen. The last part of the game seems rushed and just becomes monotonous to the player as they just make decision after decision whilst sitting in the throne room in order to prepare Albion for an impending attack from an  enemy just labeled as 'The Darkness'. The enemy is never really explained to the player, all the player knows is after a short story quest is that it makes people blind, talks in a strange voice and puts black inky stuff everywhere. The lack of a fleshed out villain doesn't really give the player any idea what kind of threat their facing and why it is such a big deal. Once the player is king/queen they are told the darkness will attack in 365 days and with every decision made either takes or puts money in the treasury in order to fund Albion's army. At this point with every group of decision's made the day timer seems to be going down at a steady pace and then all of a sudden without warning the timer skips forward about a hundred and fifty days and launches the player into the endgame. By the time I entered the endgame I was completely unprepared and most of the people of Albion died. The game's ending was also an anti-climax with the end boss being unimaginative and incredibly easy to beat.
 
The level design in Fable III was similar to that of Fable II with small contained environments the player could explore. As the environments are quite concentrated and separated into different segments the player does not feel over whelmed and unsure where to go. I liked this as it allows the player to feel they are adventuring although they are being guided by the environment and the 'Bread-crumb trail'. 
 
So thats what I think about Fable III, it's not a terrible game it's just Fable II is so much better. I think where Fable III went wrong was it's simplification of mechanics found in the last game which where simple enough already. 

Yup, I agree with you entirely!

Although I think I actually agree with Fable II being the better game I didn't find difficulty with most of the issues you've mentioned. In fact I liked the sanctuary. I found going through a normal menu like in Fable II a little ordinary. Obviously it wouldn't have been a problem if they had carried that across from Fable II to Fable III since I wouldn't have been any wiser to the change! 
 
I agree that it felt rushed at the end. In fact it was a little of an anti-climax.
 
My only real problem with this game was after playing in coop not being able to loot from dig holes and treasure chests any more. That never straightened itself out for me like it did for others. =[

It's funny, this basically echos the Fable 3 discussion on the bombcast last week (I think it was last week). All of these things--especially the bit about the game rushing you to a conclusion--have turned my excitement to play this game from "pretty excited" to "meh. I'll pass". I guess I just feel like I want to leave the series on a high note. Maybe I'll get around to playing it eventually, but as I mentioned, I've become very uninterested.  :(

" @JJWeatherman: If I had known then what I do now about the game I wouldn't have been in such a rush to buy it. It's a good game don't get me wrong. But it's something I think can be waited for. Heck, I still play Fable II yet I traded Fable III in against AC:Brotherhood after only a week or two of having it! =[ "

 @JJWeatherman:  I was thinking about it before the bombcast and their talk just confirmed it more for me. I just thought I'd get some of my thoughts down.

The framerate in the game was terrible, trying to do the job mini-games was made so much harder, every so often it would spike and completely throw you off the rhythm. Luckily this wasint so much of an issue from mid to end game with the amount of money the real-estate wasint pulling in.

Totally agree with you about the menu system (or lack of) being a complete drag, it was a cool idea in concept but maybe having 5 separate rooms was a bit much, 1 room with all your stuff on the walls would have been just fine. A designated button for the map screen would have saved so much damn time aswell. 

I'm all for innovation, but when it comes at the expense of the gameplay experience its a wasted effort.

As for the combat I thought having 3 different functions (melee attack, strong attack and block) mapped to the same button was just lazy, especially when there are 4 shoulder buttons sitting idle. 

Gutted the game turned out like this, another good man down.

Great first blog mate.

Nice impressions!  I can relate to the points you discussed here. But as I didn't like all that much Fable 2, I'll not even touch Fable 3 until it is in a bargain bin.  
 
From the franchise I think the first game is the best one. The story is the most gripping and seems the more fleshed out of them all. 

You could see it struggling during the load screens, the save icon animation wouldint even run smoothly. Probably one of the best examples of a bad framerate on the 360.

" @Jeust:  I need to play the first on really. "

Good Bloging, keep up the good work.

I can agree with most of what you say but there are a couple things I personally will point out.  First you actually don't need to enter the doors of the sanctuary, you get shortcuts in the form of the D pad, press up takes you to room X automatically etc.  Once I learned the short cuts and how to page through items using the shoulder buttons without going into the "detail" view I could move from room to room and get whatever equipment I wanted in seconds.  I can honestly say I could switch my weapons and spells by end game in under 20 seconds, that is fairly faster than what it took in Fable 2 which had a very laggy item menu.    Not to mention how you can save pre made outfits which I don't remember being able to do at all in Fable 2, sort of a vain thing to bring up but the game does force you to wear certain clothes every so often and it is nice to be able to switch back with minimal hassle.  For me it worked great and had tons more personality to it than a crappy generic menu.
 
The sudden shift to ground 0 did suck but many people seem to forget it happens while you are standing beside the kingdom's account ledger.  You CAN make changes to the books and pad out Albion's money at the literal beginning of the endgame.  I have heard of tons of players just not realizing this and saying the game "forced them" into the last fight without giving them a chance to make last second changes.  Also if you played all three fables and read most of the "lore books" hidden in them (particularly fable 1) you would basically know what the "darkness" thing is and what it is about.  I agree this isn't something you should have had to play all three games to appreciate and 3 should have had more ... details on it.  As for the last fight, well it was sort of ho hum but hey at least there was one.  Don't forget Fable 2 didn't even have a last boss.  I do miss the trolls though, wish they had kept them in game.
 
You do have some legit gripes on the framerate and potion issues however.
 
People need to give props where it is due though.  The multiplayer of 3 was solid in 2 it was a tacked on joke.  The story of 3 even though rushed at the end and light on explanations of the main foe was better than the story of 2 at least in my opinion.  Add in the additional changes to weapons to make them considerably more unique and cool, the new way magic works, and the neat little instant kill every so often combat felt a little more fun to me as well.  It was definitely harder too regardless what people say.  Fable 2 rank 5 timestop = I win, every time and with no effort or risk.