A pair of blog entries, along with my own Fable II experiences, got me thinking today, and that's never good for my loyal readers. You can start by reading this (the Fallout 3 entry) and this before continuing.

The question these two articles presents is: how responsible are we as gamers for the enjoyment we get out of the games we play? Both authors noted how they had to shift their views of the game in order to fill in something that was missing for them. Is this a consequence of some lacking in the game's design? or is it an opportunity for the game makers to make the worlds they truly want to create?

Picked up the game yesterday, and spent a few hours in Albion. Here are some initial thoughts:

The Good

Love the graphical style, which is very similar to the original. The characters' feet aren't quite as big, but that's not a bad thing. The cities feel very fleshed out, and real, at least in a fantasy story way. It makes the world quite deep and rich, and you feel the NPCs carry on their lives when you are off slaying hobbes.

Combat works well. The one button per style thing flows pretty naturally, and, at least early on, you can kind of button mash if you don't want to keep using the same attack over and over. There is enough of it to know that it is a major part of the game, but it is spread out enough so that you almost welcome it when there is some.

Allowing everyone to dress up their character how they see fit is a huge bonus. My chick is already is hot pants, mid-calf boots, and an assassins coat. With her dark hair and makeup, she is not unpleasant to look at hour after hour. Funny thing here: the devs felt that it was a problem in F1 that everyone just got the same armor, and looked alike. But, as it is a single player game, how many people saw other players' characters? Same thing here, as when you multiplayer, you just look like a henchman. Still makes me think they designed a single player MMORPG.

With the looming release of Fable II, and all that Mr. Molyneux has promised from said game, I once again attempted to play through the original Fable. Twice had I brought and stated the game, only to be disappointed/get bored, and trade it in. This third time I took the path of no return, downloading the game on the 360.

So, is the third time a charm? It seems so. With about 3/4 of the main game finished, I have to say it has been more enjoyable than my previous attempts. Now, I might have finally gotten past a certain point this time, and the game opened up more, but I don't think so. Most likely it was an altering of expectations, combined with a desire to have a background headed into Fable II, that has finally made the game fun. Even knowing that the original failed to live up to it's lofty goals, a lot was expected out of Fable, and regardless of how good it itself was, it was going to ultimately be a let down. "Lost" is going to be the same way; after so much buildup, the answers and outcomes just can't make everyone happy. But, as we have discovered with Lost, it's not the destination, it's the journey. If you simply accept the game for what it is, and play your character as someone seeking to be a hero, however that may be (for that particular play-though), there is a lot of fun to be had.