Fable 3 - Now Available, Reviews and More

Dhruin

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The PC release of Fable III is now available in NA and on digital systems such as Steam, Games for Windows and Direct2Drive.
On to reviews. IGN's review subtitle is "A royal disappointment" and the score is 6/10:
The problems start with the characters, a majority of whom are walking cliches distinguished more by their style of clothing and accents than their actions. What should theoretically be a gut-wrenching decision as I consider whether or not to ignore their demands and promote child labor or establish a brothel falls flat. With the exception of my mentor and frequent companion Walter along with Logan, the villain king, the characters are imbued with such one-dimensional personalities that few feel like anything more than diorama props. When, as king, I break my promise, it's tough to feel anything but the key underneath my finger to input a command that tells them to get lost.
Worthplaying also has a review, although they appreciated it a more with a score of 7.9/10- although that seems generous given some of the comments:
While the porting process didn't harm the game, Fable III has a solid yet decidedly dated core. Combat is fun but has a slew of issues that detract from what it otherwise could have been, and that's a sentiment that could just as easily to be applied to most of the game. Fable III is a good game that is worth diving into, and you'll end up having a great time right up to the conclusion. At the same time, it feels like a game that tries to do too many great things and just settles on being decent instead.
Lastly, Eurogamer has an interview that discusses the reception, piracy vs used game sales and more:
But if you want a fun, wide game... And that's the thing, if you play [Fable III] to finish it as soon as possible, Fable won't give you as good a game as Oblivion. But if you play the game to enjoy the world, try everything and play all the little bits and bobs hidden around the game, you'll have a much more fun experience.
Every time you finish playing Fable you'll have a smile on your face. Every time you play Oblivion you'll say "I enjoyed my time there but now I want to go play something fun". [Fable III is] a different type of game: it's more of a fun, comedic TV show than a serious Lord of the Rings film. I think a lot of people that play it think it's a Lord of the Rings - and it isn't.
More information.
 
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I don't understand the low score from IGN, they gave the Xbox version 8.5? Aint it the same game?
 
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Different reviewer. One of the reason I use to like EGM so much back in the day was because they always used multiple reviews, sadly they no longer do that and are like all the other mags now.
 
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"How do you tell who's a PC gamer ?"
"He/she's never played Fable 2 …"

Interesting statement, by the way :

You've got core gamers on Xbox, but you very rarely get casual PC gamers with a 3D card. If you've gone out and bought a 3D card you're usually a core gamer, just because of the cost - a good 3D card these days costs the same as an Xbox.

And on the differences "light" vs. "dark" settings (bold printing by me) :

Eurogamer: The Witcher 2 arrives on the same day as Fable III. Isn't that a game for PC gamers?

Mike West: I don't see the same people who play The Witcher as playing Fable, and the other way around. The Witcher 1 was quite a dark game with a lot of blood and bits flying about, whereas Fable is very friendly and happy and funny - it's a fun, relaxing time. I loved Fallout 3 on the Xbox, but I couldn't play it for more than a few hours because everything was brown and grey and rusty and there was a nuclear war. It was a great game, but every now and then you just got depressed.

In future games we're going to have difficulty levels for everyone on every machine, but this time we wanted to give PC gamers something more challenging. We've upped the difficulty level; we've stopped the player's health regenerating all the time - the player has less basic health, the AI attacks more often. It's tweaks.
 
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I think Molyneux is actually helping Witcher 2 - by way of quality contrast :)
 
Interesting bit from the beginning (I'm reading so fast I often overlook these tiny gems) (bold printing again by me) :

I'm slightly disappointed we haven't won any audio awards to be honest, because our music's great, our vocal talent's great - and then you'll see a standard shooter get an audio award. I just think that's because they're more popular than us.
 
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I think Molyneux is actually helping Witcher 2 - by way of quality contrast :)

And vice versa ! ;)

You didn't notice it goes the other way round as well, did you ? ;)
 
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I wasn't speaking in terms of quality - but in terms of audience ! :p
 
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I wasn't speaking in terms of quality - but in terms of audience ! :p

I wasn't :)

Oh, and it doesn't make sense that The Witcher 2 would help Fable 3 in terms of audience.

Besides, I'm not at all sure that there's no audience for BOTH games - if only Fable 3 wasn't so crappy.

It's what happens when you try to market-math and PR your way to success. Bioware recently learned this. Let's see if Molyneux can reflect on this, and understand why it's not all good to completely abandon established game mechanics and design basics.
 
I begin to believe that the "Fable is crap" meme is something like an urban myth nowadays - nobody plays the game, but ALL agree it's crap ...
 
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I begin to believe that the "Fable is crap" meme is something like an urban myth nowadays - nobody plays the game, but ALL agree it's crap …

That's because you're obsessed with this "gritty vs. happy" thing.

Fable 1 and 2 were pretty good, actually. I especially liked the first game.

I like light and bright games quite a bit, but they have to be GOOD.

The same is true for gritty games - of which there are MANY bad ones.
 
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