Fable III Previews

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Written by BuckGB on September 5th, 2010

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It all starts with the Hero's Sanctuary, a 3D representation of all the information you used to access from the pause menu. The Sanctuary is a suite of rooms, each with a different purpose - head down one hallway to browse through all of the weapons in your armory, or enter another hallway to peruse the trophies you've mounted on the walls. This shelf holds the gifts you've received from affectionate townsfolk, that room contains the clothes, hairdos, tattoos, and dyes you've collected so far. Check one wall for your stats, or another for your achievements. Paging through written descriptions of all your swords is a perfectly adequate way to choose one, but it's not nearly as intuitive or enjoyable as gazing longingly at the swords themselves.

So Fable 3 has done away with experience orbs. (It's okay if you need to take a moment to mourn the loss.) In their place is belief. As you kill monsters or make people like you, you'll earn their trust and support as represented by Guild Seals. Those seals can then be exchanged on the Road to Rule to open up treasure chests that include weapon and magic boosts. (Other less important attributes like the ability to buy and sell property are also included, which lets the team use the Road as sort of advertising for the game's lesser-known features.)

The main talking point with Fable III however comes in its timing of release. Although it's been two years since Fable II's release, to many of us it certainly doesn't feel it. In fact, a walk around Albion might well crop up any number of players venturing its cobbled streets, kicking chickens and scaring its posh English townsfolk.. In fact, Fable III is looking increasingly similar to its precursor which could affect sales results. Have Lionhead pondered enough over the direction to take the Fable series? On the other hand, Fable III's late-2010 release date looks increasingly worrying to be amongst. We already have more action-orientated games and arguably more RPG-centric experiences to be found with the likes of Fallout: New Vegas. Could this be an example of a case of the best of each or half-hearted of both, which relatively renders Fable incapable of competition. The competition from games of other genre's looks unsettling also, and many would question Fable III's standing amongst such heavyweight as Call of Duty: Black Ops, Gran Turismo 5 and Fifa 11. This said maybe Fable should have taken the route of Rockstar with Red Dead Redemption or 2K with Bioshock 2 and pushed for an early 2010 or early 2011 release when not as much marketing is required or competition to deal with.

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