Why is it so hard to make a good Fable game? Everyone is sitting here wanting one, and they just keep pushing literal crap out. Give us what we ask for for fuck sake, not what you mistakenly think we want.

As someone who genuinely enjoys the Fable games, all of them, this makes me sad. Such a shame.

Also, I remember when Peter Moleneux said the game wasn't on rails. And how he got a bunch of industry people to sign on a whiteboard agreeing that it wasn't on rails.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/13/molyneux-declares-fable-the-journey-definitely-not-on-rails/

Oh Peter, you rascal you.

Well this turned out exactly how everyone expected. So...no one is going to be bummed out about it at least. That's the one good thing I can say about this.

...I expected this to suck literal ass in every way possible, knowing that it actually has a decent story and characters that the actual game play ruins makes it actually sting.

C'mon Peter, you know we love you, but just STOP dumbing down Fable with each new iteration! II was the strongest in the franchise thus far, you should be building off of that one's mechanics, not continuously removing more and more bits of them as time goes by. The "casual" crowd that you're trying to appeal to just isn't going to be interested in a proper RPG ever, so just STOP trying to reel them in and make the ones you've already caught happy before us few you have left just opt to jump ship once and for all!

Meh, at this point I think it's very clear that the first Fable was a fucking accident. Seriously, the second game was a colossal pile of shit, and I heard the third game is even worse, so clearly the answer is to give up and remove all of the actual gameplay and maybe people won't realize that you're an incompetent game developer.

And the best part is, people just keep buying this horseshit.

Susan sounded (on the podcats) like she was really dreading doing this review. I was disappointed with Fable 3 and got burned by Molyneux promises, so I'm really not expecting much from this game either...

sunsetspawn:
Meh, at this point I think it's very clear that the first Fable was a fucking accident. Seriously, the second game was a colossal pile of shit, and I heard the third game is even worse, so clearly the answer is to give up and remove all of the actual gameplay and maybe people won't realize that you're an incompetent game developer.

And the best part is, people just keep buying this horseshit.

See, I thought Fable II was the best of the series. One of my favourite games of this console generation in fact. The third instalment was very disappointing though, and The Journey plus whatever that hideous XBL Arcade title is called just take the piss with their craptasticness. With The Journey in particular I get the feeling Microsoft wanted a Lionhead Kinect title regardless of what it could (and should) have been as a last-ditch effort to save motion controlled gaming on the 360. I wonder where Lionhead go from here; no more Peter, no more fan following, no more contracts?

A bad Kinect Fable game...

Who would have guessed?

Now excuse me a friend of mine had this brilliant idea of combining gasoline and fire. I don't know what's going to happen, but it's probably going to be something really awesome.

1337mokro:
A bad Kinect Fable game...

Who would have guessed?

Now excuse me a friend of mine had this brilliant idea of combining gasoline and fire. I don't know what's going to happen, but it's probably going to be something really awesome.

I love it when the avatar goes perfectly with what someone says.

I have really liked the Fable Series of game ever since I was gifted Fable: The Lost Chapters. Fable 2 was great, but then they somehow began to make games that just reeked of missed opportunity.
I think that much of Fable 3 was great, but the endgame, the most important aspect for the player as it will likely be the most remembered section of the game was completely screwed up.
I think its endgame was -almost- the greatest morality exploration I had seen thus far in gaming. It was ruined by the presence of infinite rent money, in a situation they was designed with the assumption your cash was finite and tight.
This could have been fixed simply by stopping rent income during that section, and giving you actual rent gained based on the number of days that had passed between each court, when the court began.

Fable: The Journey however was not so much a disappointment but a confirmation for what I expected. The Kinect just cannot do proper 3D movement because of how uncomfortable and immersion breaking it would be. You can't actually move, and so must use some abstract command to achieve to do so. A rail shooter was all that could be expected.

I think everybody saw this coming, at least it won't disappoint much as it wasn't really expected to be good. It is like saying "Well at least he hasn't put pencils in his ears and nose this year"

Well I think I better go back to a round of Kinect Star Wars Dance off

wait who put action adventure aspects, pretty graphics, and even a story into my hoarse driving simulator. which for a hoarse driving simulator it is quite accurate, and has good flow. just like if you were really interesting in learning what it would be like to drive a hoarse drawn cart, but there is a slight break in the immersion for me because I know that the seat that I am sitting on is much more comfortable then the wood blank, or bench that I should be. then yeah the adventure stuff. I mean why would I leave the cart with some stranger especially if I am already separated, and on a schedule. cave I don't have time for some cave I have a job to drive this cart.

Am I the only one who sees Avatar Korra when I glance over the picture of this article on the front page?

Damn. I expected as much as I played the demo, but there is SO much potential in this game. Then again, I can honestly say that about all Lionhead games... and that is a depressing realization for me.

I was hoping for some refinements for the Kinect controls and curse Molyneux for saying this wasn't an on-the-rails experience. Someone should explain to Molyneux that even if you're not on the carriage the whole game, having the programming move the character around for you is still being on-the-rails. But honestly, I'd probably let that slide if the gameplay just worked, I had a hell of a time once the game threw 3 or more enemies at me, just flailing my arms around with no response from the game.

Fable & dungeon Siege must learn that if the first game in your franchise is cross platform, then you're not allowed to have ANY console exclusive titles.

I like how the main character is not even a quarter as good looking as he is on the cover.

So it's basically "Fable 3.5: The Horse's Butt."

A Fable game sequel turned out be be bad, and Peter Molyneux was revealed to be an utter liar.
And no-one was surprised.

Irridium:
As someone who genuinely enjoys the Fable games, all of them, this makes me sad. Such a shame.

Also, I remember when Peter Moleneux said the game wasn't on rails. And how he got a bunch of industry people to sign on a whiteboard agreeing that it wasn't on rails.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/13/molyneux-declares-fable-the-journey-definitely-not-on-rails/

Oh Peter, you rascal you.

In his defence, he quit the project a while ago. They could have changed it since, but overall, I think microsoft was trying to sell kinects by attaching the Fable franchise to it, knowing that it is a very popular series which they can flush down the toilet without the rest of the company going with it.

Or in other words, Fable is popular, but Fable is not a lynchpin series like Halo.

Susan Arendt:

But even the best approximation of steering a horse cart is still an approximation of something that is, by nature, not very interesting. The game does its best to try and spice things up by forcing you to steer around trees, tossing in some chase sequences and making the different colors of experience impossible to pick up unless you're going the correct speed, but mostly, you're just looking at Seren's butt as she clip clops along the trail.

FINALLY!!! A game that caters to all that enjoy staring long and hard at a horse's anus. Just imagine how much better Ocarina of Time would have been if we had just let Peter Molyneux strap a carriage to Epona's rear and counted the fun-filled hours to each destination with her beautiful derrière at our viewing pleasure!

Susan Arendt:

Recommendation: The world is inviting, the characters are likeable, and the adventure is enticing, but the actual gameplay of Fable: The Journey is a waste of your time. Unless you're desperate for a reason to dust off your Kinect, don't bother.

A famous philosopher once said, "I can get a hell of a good look at a T-Bone steak by sticking my head up a bull's ass, but I'd rather take the butcher's word for it".

We could all sit in front of Peter Molyneux's game staring at a horse's ass, but I'd rather take Susan's word for it.

"A broken action/adventure RPG that contains neither action nor adventure ported to a barely working platform with a buggy interface? Brilliant! Now let's clone giant sharks and make them super-intelligent..."

In all seriousness, I cannot understand what happened to this franchise. Fable: The Lost Chapters was a blast and hinted at so much potential to come. If only they moved in the "open world" territory like the Elder Scrolls games.

Man...that would have been something.

Instead Lionhead went the opposite direction to "broaden it's appeal" (translation: "dumb it down")and created a bunch of loosely strung together mini games with features no one cares about in a moderately interesting world no one can explore.

Looks like the trend continues...

Another decent game ruined by the fact that Microsoft is trying too hard to promote their already-dead peripheral.

Can we just let the Kinect die? Please?

Aw, it's sad to see developers hamstringed by being forced to peddle to the gimmicky stuff like kinect. Clearly they can design beautiful lands and craft likeable characters. In a game that was mainly... a game and that was perhaps complimented by kinect rather than being a kinect tech demo, maybe this would actually work.

What do you mean it's not fair to criticise a game for being designed for the kinect?
The kinect does not work.

As an idea, it's a great one.
But because it doesn't work, every game (except dance central) on the thing is a piece of shit.

It's absolutely fair.

TBH I don't really care about the Fabel franchise. It simply never appealed to me and proved to me that Molyneux is mostly talk these days. His games were interesting when he was with Bullfrog but not any more. I would argue that his last good game was Dungeon Keeper 2 and that was 13 years ago.

Anyway to the matter at hand:
If Microsoft continues trying to make a gimmick the main attraction in their video games I certainly have to rethink a purchase of their next console.
Motion control for me is the same as 3D in movies. It is actually limiting the media instead of advancing it. 3D dictates a certain cinematography to be effective (e.g. in your face shoots) and so does motion control influence game play because technical limitation such as missing feedback and lacklustre accuracy, not to mention that they haven't found a comfortable way to control free character movement while standing still, is simply limiting the applications of this technology by a great deal.
This is mostly not an issue as long as it is kept at an gimmick stage e.g. head tracking in FM or UI control but it becomes down right game breaking for anything not resembling a party dance game (e.g. Steel Battalion).
Microsoft stop it, just stop it.

Dissapointing, but not unexpected, a failed tech-demo for Kinect-using magical combat on rails is about all I was expecting out of this one, though the fact that so much of it is a dreary horse-and-carriage simulation is fairly baffling.

another Lionhead game that molyneux lies about and turns out to be average at best.

at this point I'd rather see Lionhead liquidised and have the talent go to other companies where their skills can be put to good use. the only reason I've played 2 and 3 was because they were gifts, i haven't personally bought a Lionhead game in years.

if Seren were a mule we could enjoy starring at

-------------------------
inb4:

it is not on rails. yeah. the sarcasm is strong in this one