Fable 2 Preview
June 19,2008 - While Peter Molyneux has notoriously goofed up on numerous occasions when it comes to explaining the features in his games, one thing that we can surely be certain on is that Fable II will offer plenty of new ideas and dynamics. Given your expectations of the first game, and whether or not you took Molyneux’s apology into fruition, this sequel looks to branch out the action, character development, story, and environments to give gamers a “truly memorable experience, “as stated by Molyneux himself. Before you go off and express your anger on the message boards about Molyneux’s potential lies, read on to find out some of the new and exciting things you can perform and interact with in Fable II.

Fable II continues the story set down from the first game but follows in the footsteps on an entirely new character. The story begins with a boy and his sister off on an adventure to find a magical music box that grants wishes as magic lamps would. After the two siblings finally gain access to the box and wish to live in a magical castle in the heart of town, no sooner are their words muttered than they are whisked away into the center of a luxurious, stone structure. Once inside you meet one Lord Lucien, who informs you that he is searching for various characters called Heroes. Nothing much more is said to his purpose of these Heroes or what their tasks will be for him, but it’s quite an interesting premise to say the least. After meeting with Lucien you are then shoved ten years into the future to begin your journey of good or evil.

Exploration is essential to the story of Fable II, and to encourage players to venture out into the world and do their own quests, the developers included a new glowing line called a breadcrumb, which replaces the mini-map. This line simply points you to your next objective or major town. These new objectives also have much more freedom than the previous game as well, giving you much more choices and consequences to withstand. While roaming the world, you can gain access to important items which can then be used for your own will. A pack of warrants issued out to dangerous thugs can be given to local lawmen, which in turn will make their city thrive from the lack of danger, or be given to crime lords who will then turn that same city into a bustling, gloomy crime land. Ultimately, your actions in whatever you do can shape the aspects of the entire world.

Part of the fun of Fable II adds to the fact that your character can activate various emotes during any conversations with NPC characters and can even be used while randomly roaming around towns. The emotes range from farting noises (which usually involve grossed out partisans who avoid you or get angry at your behavior), to kissing sounds to show your affection to someone. The emotes all have an underlying effect on the outcome of your character, and angering or pleasing certain people during important story segments could change the effects of the entire story.

While the story is only part of the fun of the Fable series, fighting and exploring at your own will makes up the majority of the game. The fighting system has been re-invented to allow a more seamless and continuous flow of combat. The first thing to notice is the addition of the “lookout” button, which is used by holding down the left trigger button. Using the lookout button automatically shifts the camera to focus on the most important and crucial aspects of the area around you. Think of it as the camera zooming in on the biggest and baddest thing that could easily kill you. This lookout action also places the camera into first-person view, which makes the experience more personal in witnessing the action around you.

The combat is allocated to three specific buttons, and each one will determine a different style of attacking. One button is used for melee, one for projectiles, and one for magic. While the first game had a lot of repetition in the combat and forced heavily on hack-and-slash style gameplay, Fable II looks to change that by giving options to make combat much more enhanced and user-friendly. By simply pressing any button the player will initiate a normal attack. Holding the same button will allow your character to block, and releasing the button after a successful block will unleash a devastating super attack. Determining when to use certain spells or attacks will play an important role throughout the game, and relying simply on button mashing your way to victory is a thing of the past.

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