A tale of soul and sword...eternally retold.. Ok, so that's a different game. =P

From the intro you know, the people who made this were serious about what they were doing, you know you are about to embark on a potentially enjoyable journey,
perhaps like something out of a good book.

Fable has undoubtedly been hyped up a bit, those paying attention to gaming publications know this. Whether it lives up to that though of course relies on those who play it and what they're expecting.

In a game where almost everything you do effects your character, where you can own houses and get married to a man a woman (or both). Your hero can strut around his manly self in a dress, assasin garb or shiny new armour (gotta protect that pretty hero face and body, right?) all the while doing great deeds, and/or being nasty and sacrificing some poor shlub dumb enough to follow you to yon creepy temple. It does have shades of something Zelda-ish in it's playstyle if nothing else. I honestly could see it becoming a series easily (if done consistantly well especially, or getting progressively better).

I'm enjoying it thus far and have finished it once with my "evil" character save and am nearing the end with my "good" save file. I only rented it, but may end up buying it. n_n

The music is gorgeous, the graphics, pretty darn spiffy..Wow spiffy at times (to me anyway). I have found myself staring at my character's armour at times or as my poor hero gets older and older, get new scars or lines.

The controls are usually fine, though sometimes there's a hiccup and you don't target who/what you want ("I'm sorry Mr. Trader, I meant to hit that undead enemy"). There is "sex" of a sort in the game, the screen fades to black and some noises are heard (giggles, "oh"s and being told your "norty" by your bride mostly), so no need to freak over that (for those that would). The outfit and weapon options are nice and make sense usually it seems, though in some cases you'll probably have to sacrifice something in terms of offense or defence to wear or wield what you want. Makes sense that thick armour will protect you better than that lovely dress or light assassin garb or will user outfit after all.

Sometimes it seems to me the guards are too bright and it's a little too hard to do bad things. For example picking a lock into some store (which takes a bit and you could get caught doing this), there's a bell usually upon entering along with, at least last I tried, someone behind the counter making it hard to make off with things scott free, no matter your guile level. Pinching items also comes with a meter that goes down as you nick things (don't get caught, being chased by angry guards, not fun). Perhaps minor gripes really.

I've enjoyed it, as I said, and I don't doubt others might have a good time as well. That said, as usual, if it intersts you any, rent it and give it a go if you can.
If you're not sold on buying it, especially for the dedicated, it can be finished easily before rental time is up (without getting everything and doing mostly only story essential quests, of course).

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to continue my quest. :ph43r:

I liked the game, it was definatly over-hyped and not really worth the buy, but I definantly would rent it. The graphics (aside from the children, which lionhead always manages to make look terrible) are great, and probably are the only thing that make the game feel fresh. Naerly every single sound in this game (voicing aside) came from one of lionheads other games. Im sorry, but I had quite enough of that lightning sound in Black and White as my 40 foot tiger used it constantly while breakdancing my village to pieces. The storyline is less than predictable, and the side quests are fairly slim pickings themselves. Once you get time stop 4, the game ceases to be any challange at all aside from the occassional boss that can't be ground into a paste with a hammer while he can't move. Even these bosses can be done away in short order with once you puzzle out their one vital weakness, which is usually along the lines of "hit me when my swords are stuck in the ground" or "arrows". The good/evil system is fun, but hardly anything new and a far cry from "every choice, a consequence". Sure it fun to see how many children you have to kill to grow a pair of horns, but it doesn't really go that much beyond that. Towns you murdered a dozen peopel in welcome you back with open arms after twenty minutes, very few things you do have a lasting impact on this world. The apperance/scariness feature combined with your renown and good/evil makes it so that everyone has their own opinon of you, at in this aspect, Fable performed well. Word spreads fast, and everyone has their own little quirks, asuring no one feels quite the same way about you as their neighbor. There are girls that don't mind beign given a black rose from a guy with red eyes and horns, and a few citizens that will boo you for being good. Stiil, having children cower in fear or clap at your arrival seems to be the extent of this dynamic world. And liek every game, this game has its own share of little irriating things. For one, it took me twenty minutes to figure out how to read a book in this game. You can't just use it from your inventory like everything else, oh no, you have to delve into the depths of a seemingly unrelated menu screen to read them. I could understand if they were pages and pages long and requires their own little interface screen, but every book in the game yeilds little more than a blurb. Also, the guildmaster has to be the most annoying "help" character I've ever come across, He never shuts up the entire game, and has about four different things to say during your epic saga, "You have a new quest card!", "Oh no, you're healths low, drink a poition" "Get your combat mutliplier even higher!" and occasionally, but still altogether too often when you look at an object he'll demand "Whats that?" in an almost parnoid tone.
It does have its strong points though. There is a huge degree of freedom in this game, I can't thing of any other game of the top of my head that allows you to be bisexual/gay, and the ever present lionhead humor shows up in more that one place. My faovrite would have to be a door that demands you must be fat to enter, he wants someone thats is "Beefy, blubbery, plump, porcine". Unfrontunatly, this really is only funny the first time, and nothing really changes the seond time through. You might disagree, but in my opinion this game has 0 reply value, save yourself some money and rent it once or twice, play it, enjoy it, and forget it.