split/screen co-op

A couple a weeks ago, when I was deep into the amazing world of Fable III, I wanted to write a post, praising the genius who first thought of including achievements in games. The achievements in Fable III gave me a reason to stay a bit longer in a world I wished was real.

Though, having a few weeks to think on the post and play a little more Fable III and than replay Fable II, has changed my mind about achievements. I am now finishing Fable II, playing the DLCs and trying to collect all expressions. In order to to do that, however, I would have to radically change my character, making her from a Saint into a Devil. This is not only annoying, but actually spoils the whole fantasy

I don’t for you guys, but I need a very serious reason for replaying a game. Even games that have been interesting and entertaining the first time around are not usually able to get me to click “New Game”.

A few recent examples:

Heavy Rain — was great, story was acceptable, the level of suspence was alright and things could have turned out better for the characters at the end. Even so, it was not enough to make me go back try to correct the mistakes I made the first time. I actually caught the killer but lost one of the characters whom I actually liked a lot, because I was not quick enough with the buttons.

A few other remarks after the jump

I have completed the game and had all my questions answered. It is fair to say I am obsessed with Fable III. Have started a second game, because I was a bit careless and did not collect enough money by the end — the result was not satisfying. Although I am “blue” because of how the ending turned out I do not mind replaying. I think the greatest attraction of Fable III is that the choices you have to make to progress in the game are hard and affect not only the further gameplay, but also the player’s feelings. I remember I actually spent several minutes contemplating removing or keeping a ban on alcohol use in Albion, which was weird (in a good way).  I like feeling such a strong connection to the game. Most games on my “best-ever played” list have affected my emotional state in some way. At the end of Fable III I cried and was really upset about the turn of events. Wish there were more games like Fable III.

NB: Regarding the question about the class-divided society in Albion. I was very happy to discover that the NPCs do react in diffrent ways based on their position in society. I took my new (middle class) bride to Brightwall Village and she immediatelly commented that “here live mostly common people”.

As for the question about the lower number of gay people in Fable III as compared to Fable II, I’ve noticed that the game seems to adapt to the choices of partners you make, because near the end I had no problem finding lesbians anywhere I went.

I am close to the end now, prolonging my stay in the game by completing minor quests, exploring the world, shooting gnomes off windowsills and collectiong books.

As always (since Fable II, where I still log in to see how my two wives are doing) I feel very comfortable walking around and just being in the game. Because I like to walk and not use the fast travel option, my playing runs in a slow, leisurely manner, and I have enough time to think about the world I am exploring.

As a whole, the world of Fable III is very realistic, especially when it comes to the main characters in the game. I especially like the fact that none of them, even those who seemed eternally evil at first glance, is completely good or bad. Every character has his or her small (or in the case of Reaver, not so small) inperfections, which are particularly visible when the characters are faced with a conflict.

Although I have only good things to say about Fable III, I still have three questions:

Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the greatest game of them all?

Right now my answer to that question would be Fable III. Started playing on Saturday night and continued playing the whole day on Sunday. Numerous hours into the game and I am totally hooked.

Some ranting about the great story, characters and the changes in the inventory & map after the jump

In this week’s installment: BioShock pumpkin, the best split-screen co-op story, GTA: San Andreas, Pixar’s Up, Borderlands and Fable III.

Hit the jump for all the Qs and As.

I played a demo of Fable III on the first day of the show and thought it was rather short. On the second day I noticed that people were playing something that looked different from my experience and I was puzzled. On the last day I had another go and solved the mistery.

It turned out that they had several different demos, showcasing different aspects of the game. One was all about combat and fighting enemies, one was a demonstration of the game’s social aspects, like holding hands etc, one was heavily dialogistic, and so on. I’d picked the shortest one because it was first on the list and I didn’t realise there were any other options.

On Sunday I played another demo which was so long that I didn’t actually finish it (though I completed two quests). My initially excellent impressions did not change a bit. It seems that Lionhead has kept all the best things from the previous game and added cool new features. This will be one of my next favourite games, I have no doubt.

If you follow the news on Fable III, you will have noticed the way Lionhead and Microsoft have been behaving ridiculously by releasing one puny single screenshot at a time. In keeping with this fine tradition, Fable III‘s demo at the Eurogamer Expo was so short I’m not really sure I’ve even played the game at all.

My brief impressions follow after the break.