Fable III Hints and tips

**Hints and Tips to follow soon**

Quick Review

Well firstly it should be said that if you loved Fable 2 then you’ll absolutely adore Fable 3. While there are some intriguing new elements to the game, such as creating a revolution and running a kingdom, the underlying game hasn’t really changed that much!

While you have quite a few moral choices to face along the way that effect the way the world is, the whole premise of the game really continues to be one in which you run about the world, kick some enemies, and amass a great amount of wealth! It’s a little more detailed than that of course, but essentially there isn’t too much complexity.

You will be impressed with the storyline though – I would say it is far more compelling that Fable II and the narrative is much improved upon. The graphics are much the same, still pretty decent but nothing to write home about!

On the plus side, you now have a way to get from one location to another without having to spend the ten minutes running there – on the minus side, building friends and relationships got a little more boring involving many trips to different locations

One big change is the way in which progress is tracked and how this progress provides chests to upgrade weapons and social skills. Now you have to either complete quests or impress people to be able to open these chests and therefore the ‘emotions’ you use to impress people become more important - quite why jumping around like a looney will help you increase skills is beyond me, but there you have it!

Personally I didn’t like this system – it seems like they were trying to be innovative and come up with something to challenge Final Fantasy – but for me it is just plain silly.

So what is the game really like?

Well the graphics are mostly very good with a few silly glitches; the game play is suitable for most average players, and eventually all people will finish the game; the mini games are a little annoying and yet, somehow the whole game is simply addictive!

It’s not a comprehensively advanced role playing game that requires advanced strategy and general ‘questing’ skills, but it’s satisfying enough for most casual gamers who want to spend an hour or two of fun!

It definitely is more appealing and rewarding than the prior games of Fable and has more re-playability factors, especially with the way your choices influence the world. Is it worth $50? Probably not, but heck, it’s a lot of fun!

Plot

The game is set in the content of Albion (as were the previous Fable games) fifty years after Fable II. Logan, the hero’s brother, and tyrant king controls Albion. The Hero (that’s you!) is forced to take up a quest to remove his brother from the throne after an ‘injustice’ happens to their parents; this injustice is rumored to have been cause by King Logan.

The game is essentially in two parts as the Hero attempts to overthrow Logan and if he is successful then subsequently faces challenges from a sinister foreign nation that threatens Albion.

Other than the outline above, there really isn’t much known about the overall plot.

Some Characters

One of the best things about the Fable games is their stellar cast and voice acting! Just looking at the fantastic actors they already have secured tells you a lot about the quality of voice acting you can expect!

• Jasper the Butler – John Cleese.
• Reaver – Stephen Fry
• Logan - Michael Fassbender
• King of Mist Peak‎ - Sir Ben Kinglesy
• Sir Walter Beck - Bernard Hill
• Theresa – Zoe Wanamaker

Gameplay

Like other Fable games you take control of the Hero and are able to walk all over the Kingdom of Albion (and other neighboring nations). You can talk to people along the way, accepting quests etc, or go out into the wilds and fight the dangerous creatures that control the world.

However, as you have seen in previous Fable games, there’s much more to it than simply going out and bashing a few bad guys until you win the game. The whole world is a ‘real’ world with ‘real’ people in it who have their own objectives. Some of the things that therefore will be part of the game are:

• Family members will want to benefit from your Kingship and will pressure you to use Royal funds to improve their lives (maintain and upgrading castle etc.).
• As King, you won’t have an easy life –it’s not all parties and enemy bashing. There’s crime, poverty and that swear word ‘taxation’ to deal with – every decision you make, including deciding to go beyond Albion’s borders will change the game.
• From previous games you’ll remember that as you do an action it can change your appearance – evil characters tend to get more sinister and ugly, while nice characters tend to become handsome; eating too much food can make you fat etc. Well Fable 3 builds on this, but instead of the player changing, the world actually changes! For example, if you don’t work to reduce the crime rate, then your villages will change to reflect the higher crime level; if you tax a region more, then there will be less money for the population to spend on fixing house etc and the poverty will show.
• Menus – nope there are none – Fable III has changed the way you interact with everything – you no longer have things like Menus, Shop screens and Inventories – you actually have to interact with objects in the ‘real’ world. This is probably going to upset a lot of hardened gamers who will find this sort of interaction a waste of gaming time – it does however make it more realistic and perhaps more fun for a wider audience.
• Fable III promises to have the most interactive world ever giving the ‘king’ complete control over his/her kingdom. This allows you to become a good king or a tyrant, and allows you to basically do anything ranging from putting people in jail, to creating and designing your own weapons. Personally I’m not sure how well this is going to work, we will see.
• Add-ons – expect to see a lot of additional quests, items etc available online for download (at a cost) – this really is a part of the modern gaming world that I do not like – when I buy a game I want to know I have bought the game at its best – however, these days to do that you have to spend a lot more money!