Fable III Hype Thread
Release date October 26th 2010 (XBOX 360), 2011 (PC)
Gamespot launch center
Official trailer
The latest in the Fable series has you take on the role of your child from Fable II to become the ruler of Albion.
Available on the XBOX 360 and the PC (No release date confirmed yet)
Fable III gets a pre-order bonus (Village Maker)
Collector's Edition
The collector's edition will be available for the XBOX 360 it's content will include:
1. A new quest: Uncover the mystery of of the haunted forests of Silverpines and earn a legendary sword, Wolfsbane, deadly against wolves and balverines.
2. Exclusive location: Unlock a new region, ideal for settling down with a family and disovering new treasures.
3. Fable III playing cards: Created by Lionhead, these cards depict every type of character in "Fable III," including heroes, royals, rebels and villians from across Albion and beyond.
4. Guild Seal Coin: The coin features a good side (Blue) and evil side (Red) to assist players in making critical that will impact the fate of the world forever.
5. A new dog breed: Renowned for its loyality, the boxer is a brave canine companion worthy of greatest Kings and Queens.
6. One unique outfit: Unearth one male or female outfit from the mysterious, faraway lang Aurora, a new destination in your "Fable III adventures."
Story and Setting
Fable III is set approximately 50-60 years after the events of Fable II on the continent of Albion where the Fable series is set. The old monarch, the heroe from Fable II, has died and left the Kingdom of Albion to Logan, a corrupt, tyrannical King. Logan's sibling, the playable "hero," is forced into a quest to become a revolutionary leader after a decision early in teh game illustrates Logan's cruelty. Over the course of the first hour of the game, the Hero will gain support of the people of Albion's support, overthrow Logan and become ruler of Albion. During the second half of the game, the player will have to choose whether or not to follow up on promises made to the public, which were made during gameplay, at the risk of losing Albion's approval. While dealing with this, the player will be faced with the possibility of war when "Aurora", a neighboring country, begins war with Albion.
Gameplay
Molyneux has promised to remove traditional RPG mechanics from Fable III, the emphasis being on removing "clunkiness" and making the game more accessible. One of the most striking changes in Fable III is the menu system, or, rather, the absence of one. Citing the distaste of lists, the game lacks any semblance of a traditional 2D menu, instead relying solely on the game universe from the moment the player hits the start button. Upon hitting the start button the player is transported to the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is inhabited by the player character's personal butler, Jasper, who makes in-game suggestions and advice. Changing clothes is now accomplished by using a changing room that features all of the wardrobe possibilities. Magic is now cast by gauntlets kept in the Sanctuary instead of changing them through the HUD, and shops contain their inventories on the shelves instead of in purchase screens.
There are rewards for being a self-serving ruler, including a treasury filled with gold piles that grow or diminish based on the player's wealth. When the player accumulates a large quantity of gold they will be able to climb it to retrieve a key on an otherwise inaccessible balcony. The player's in-game family will attempt to pressure the player into selfishly taking money from Albion to maintain and upgrade his or her castle.
The player's preference of combat also impacts the gameplay. Depending on the skill level and experience, the player's melee and ranged weapons will change with use, as well as the player's magic-casting gauntlets. The example is if a players slaughters innocents and civilians the weapon will darken and drip blood, but will glow if used against evil. The blade will also lengthen and widen if the player uses advanced attacks and defensive blocks. Molyneux stated that "Everybody ended up going towards one big weapon, that's not choice, that's not power, that's everybody doing the same thing. So we thought to ourselves, we're not going to design any more weapons, we're going to get the player to do it."
The character-morphing that defines the series, where the player's character changes appearance based on his or her actions, growing beautiful or ugly based on good and evil actions respectively, is reported to be more dynamic.
The player is also tasked with dealing with how society works on a day-to-day basis, such as how to handle crime, poverty, and taxation. Fable III introduces location-morphing. If the player taxes a region heavily, the people will become visibly poorer, their buildings will start to fall into disrepair and the player will encounter hostility from them if he passes through the area. The example Lionhead gave was the town of Bowerstone: in the time since Fable II Albion has undergone the industrial revolution and Bowerstone has become "a mass of Victorian-era inspired churning industry," with the skyline being hugely affected by this. During the technological upheaval, however, crime, injustice and poverty have grown and the player can choose to eradicate it or let it continue unchecked. Either way, Albion will grow to reflect the player's decisions or lack thereof. Molyneux has also promised that the player will have complete power over the game's world when he/she becomes king or queen. Citizens of Albion can be punished for doing things good or bad, and can be dealt with in any way the player chooses. For example citizens who don't pay their taxes can be dealt with by being thrown into a dungeon or being slaughtered by an army dispatched by the player.
Once the player becomes the monarch they have the decision to go to war as another country named Aurora will threaten Albion. Aurora looks different to Albion (which is roughly based on Britain) and Aurora is based on a Middle Eastern nation. While Albion is only a single continent in a much-larger world, Fable III is the first game in the series to expand the playable areas beyond Albion's borders.
A new system applies to general interaction expanding on Expressions. Expression Touch is similar to the previous games but leads to a new feature called Dynamic Touch. Molyneux gave some examples of this new feature like of a child trapped in a burning building. The player can go into the house and comfort the child with Expression Touch before using Dynamic Touch to carry the child to safety. The other is being able to use Expression Touch to talk and flirt with a character, then using Dynamic Touch to shake their hand, then embrace, and then leading to intimacy.
There is speculation that Fable 3 will break away from the tradition of a silent hero due to a gameplay video with the hero conversing with the character Walter Beck. Another player reported to hear a short exchange between the hero and his companion.
Fable III will use a similar drop-in, drop-out Co-operative system as its predecessor. However, Molyneux has revealed that rather than being "tied to one camera", players will be able to explore the world freely. Molyneux also stated that players will be able to use their own character, rather than a henchman such as that in Fable II, and will use the same equipment and have the same dog. Players will be able to use Dynamic and Expression Touch on another player, help in quests, and even marry and have children. Marriage and family has also changed, and players will be able to adopt children. This will allow players to have families through homosexual marriage or through a "business partnership."
Intro cinematic
SDCC 10: Floor gameplay (Cam)
E3 2010: Floor gameplay (Cam)
E3 2010: Magic and Guns gameplay
Reviews
Currently 83 on Metacritic
Fable III review in - 8/10 in Level
92 - Computerandvideogames
90 - Gameinformer
8.5 - IGN
83 - 1UP
80 - Joystiq
80 - Gamepro
80 - Eurogamer
Kotaku review
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