First ten hours Fable 3
So, the first post. First, hehe, ::get on with it.::
The first ten hours of Fable 3 has been quite fun. For people just beginning their journey to Albion, they have a lot to jump into(if there was a jump button, about that…). Right off the bat the player decides male/female. If the player had a save from Fable 2, their "mom" hero or "dad" patriarch have recently died and the player must start the slow climb to understand their sibling's unrest and general disinterest of Albion as a whole.
It was quite captivating to see how such a bad monarch's, akin to the English crown history; decisions have splintered the in game world. People beg on the street, and the player must right wrongs, if not always taking the high road to fulfill promises and ascertain allies for the inevitable coup. Where Fable 1 was straight popularity culminating with a good end boss battle, and Fable 2 was a run around a paper loading screen map to a weak end boss, Fable 3 makes the story interesting leaving the player to live with his/her actions in a Industrial Revolution world.
Ch-ch-Changes
By far the best part to Fable 3's story of a sibling power struggle is the "Sanctuary" pause screen. Instead of looking at slow in game menus of loot and items, Fable 3 stream lines the process for a full Sim's-esque house. Not one to live in, it organizes your weapons, money pile, Sanctuary Shop/Lionhead DLC, and multiplayer options so they are physical things to look at instead of 2D models to flip through.
Like the food in Fable 2 and GTA San Andreas, the food affects weight and that leads to attractiveness, instead of just piling pies and mutton chops for a quick heal, why not buy out the potion shop or stock up on apples. It at least keeps the doctor away.
Leaving the Sanctuary's abode
The social aspects have been retooled as well. Instead of just pressing the right button to open the social tab, the player's hero has to "click" on a person, whoo them ala patty cake or dancing, which gets odd when haggling or making friends with people of the opposite sex interest. The whooing aspect is pretty cool, but quickly becomes a way of getting better deals. To top it off, most friend quests become repetitive in that they all boil down to fectching quests/deliver this then we are bffs.
The other main area that has been relaunched has been the whole multiplayer element. Instead of being peons to another players heroic story, Lionhead Studios finally implemented the drop in feature going into random peoples games and friends storylines. A great feature in that is when a Xbox Live friend is near, a circle with their avatar floats by you, easy to communicate or just see like someone competing in a town. Even the loading screen(which I highly recommend installing like any other Xbox game if space allows) features random tidbits of each friend's stats. Has a friend kicked a chicken farther than your dashing little sparrow, has a lad/lass killed more hobbes; the inclusion really makes the game stand out from every other action rpg on the market.
Was it any good Chicken Chaser?
The first ten hours have been fun. My character hasn't dethroned big brother just yet(but he does watch from afar…) but the gameplay has been solid. Multiplayer encounters have been fun but early trials yield buggy after effects and the easy road dust just vanish. The gameplay is solid, but oddly enough there isn't a health bar, apparently a omnipresent rebounding health system akin to FPS games has been instilled.
Peter Molyneux and co. have at the least made Fable 3 playable and enjoyable, but time will tell if DLC is worthwhile like Fallout 3 or the multilplayer features make Crackdown look like a JRPG.
Please check out Joystiq's review:
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/26/fable-3-review/
or Gametrailer's Review for thorough review of treks in Albion.:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-fable-iii/706740?type=flv