Fable II

I have a confession to make...

I like Fable II.

I say this coming off of watching the latest Zero Punctuation where Yahtzee tears into the game with his usual zest. Sometimes it's hard to argue things he brings up because he has a point – however, this time I would argue it was more personal. Like a jaded ex-lover tearing into his former's creation... still bitter over promises from the past.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating it a little - but there is also some truth.

I've read quite a bit of criticisms about the game and so many of them are from people who listened to Peter and what Peter promised. And even though some of them say they didn't believe him in the first place... I know they hoped... and it lead to disappointment.

Lesson? Don't pull a Peter.

I was fortunate enough to dodge him this round and I think it lead to me enjoying the game more. Also, fair to note that I did not play the first Fable so any expectations of 'x' and 'x' being improved/corrected/whatever were not there. I went in aiming to have a game that I could enjoy at whatever pace I wanted and I walked out with that exact experience.

Maybe I'll address other things later on (such as “holy crap there were a lot of bugs that made it thru but the game had to be such a biatch to test and you have to draw the line somewhere” and “why does my dog have five stars in attacking but he takes more time to smell the flowers than chomp a Hobbe”) but for now I'll leave with this thought.


**Possible Spoiler**

I read someone who had the criticism that the game peeved him off because it was lacking a huge boss battle at the end. I would like to quote T.S. Elliot here...

"This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper."

I can understand if your years of gaming gave you a Pavlovian expectation when you neared the end of a RPG but I welcomed the change that ultimately the choice that came afterwards could be the bigger battle. Unfortunately, I think this was undermined by the fact that not everyone develops the attachment that makes this a meaningful choice. Therefore a Final Fantasy-esque dedication requirement that you can boast to your friends afterwards seems much more like a real accomplishment than “I chose 'x'.”.

In any matter, this is the first game I finished on the 360 in ages and for that I give it a lot of credit. I tend to be married to my DS and make little time to sit in front of my TV religiously and many game's endings suffer because of it.

Lionhead does have an announcement to make in a week or so regarding the game and I'll be interested to hear what they plan on doing. I'll not so secretly hope those of us who ordered the LE can still get our Hobbe.