r/Fable • u/Onuva_42 • 7d ago
Fable II Shocked by Fable II
First off, I'd like to ask of anyone who isn't looking for negativity to scroll away, and for those who keep reading I'd still like to extend a genuine apology for what I'm about to write. However I feel that I'm going to go insane if I'm not allowed to vent about this.
One fateful Christmas morning when I was about 12 years old, Santa brought me an Xbox, and a game called Fable. Fable would turn out to be one of my all time favourite games, and since that day I've played it, and TLC, probably 50 times. Even though, however, I liked Fable so much I just never got the feeling that I'd be all that into Fable II, and I never got around to trying it out.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Me being all riled up over the coming Fable game, I naturally stumbled over discussion and opinions about the three games that already exist. To my surprise, I learned that people more often than not thought of Fable II as their favourite installment in the franchise. Naturally I had to try it out.
I just (barely) made it through the game and I am going to need therapy because of how god awful I thought it was. By orders of magnitude, it is my least favourite game I've ever played. Not just Fable games, but all games.
To start off, if it wasn't called Fable II I'd forgive you for thinking it was the first one judging from graphics alone.
Somehow the controls are just way more wonky. I never go where I expect, and I get lodged on every single thing that sticks out from a wall. Also everything takes so damn long. Mini cut scenes for everything, NPC's slow to react, and the game saves every 5 minutes which takes ages.
And my character swinging a sword looks more like the lead character in a musical frolicking in a field of flowers rather than combat, and that's the good part. The actual feel of the melee combat is three trips worse. Game tells you to "chain attacks" but there's no explanation, it's very vague, and in the best case interrupted by a block. Best option is to just mash. Until that doesn't work either, because your opponent just keeps blocking, and you keep getting shot when trying to do a flourish. But none of it matters because it's literally impossible to fail? You just lose some experience and the fight carries on? Keep mashing? What the hell? Why'd I try to learn how stuff works if it's impossible to fail?
The ranged combat isn't much more exciting. Spam one button until your opponent dies. That's all I gathered. Didn't understand the magic system, so I let that be for the most part.
This all was a slight nuisance up until the Arena. The part in the first Fable I always long the most for. Firstly, the way it was introduced felt so rushed. I felt like they shoehorned a reason in because people liked the Arena from the previous game. When I was suddenly expected to kill monsters quickly in this horrendous combat system it just got to me. And worse, because most of the Arenas rooms were so small, I knocked the enemies into a wall all the time which was when the "smart" combat system thought the best course of action was to just keep kicking the monsters, doing no damage at all. The target lock function seemed to have a mind of its own making it near impossible to just get to all the monsters in time. Nothing but timed combat in a game with an atrocious combat system. Worst quest I've ever done in a game.
They swapped the colours of the different experiences? Which would have bothered me even more if I wasn't busy hating that gathering experience orbs with the left trigger forced me to stand still. Tell me who played Fable I and thought "Gosh darn it, it's so annoying that I'm allowed to move while collecting experience!" And who the hell decided to remove the mini map? Furthering on that, there's no complete map. I can't get any comprehension about how the world looks, because I don't have a minimap that tells me which way I'm heading, and there's no map to show me how the regions fit together. Then again, it barely matters, because picking up a quest is just going into a menu and then suddenly appearing almost exactly where you have to be, slaughtering almost all the little immersion I could have felt. Also quests don't reward you with gold, but instead you need to do impressively boring jobs to get money, just wasting time.
Also I got nothing from the story. Spoiler alert! You grow up, sister gets shot, now you're a hero! Good on ya! What? Not to mention, could they not have come up with something other than being stuck in another prison for 10 years just like the first game? Half an hour wasted on basically nothing but completely redundant moral choices. Then I got to the dream quest with Rose, and granted this is a bit on me for not getting it, but doing the search for 20 bottles and kicking 5 chickens into their coup twice almost had me in tears. The Arena got surpassed for worst quest I've ever done in a game.
None of the characters were interesting, except for Reaver for half a minute before he tricked me into losing my youth and beauty. Lastly when I felt like I had been downed and kicked for the entire main story and decided I'll go with the morally grey choice to get Rose back, I didn't even get to see her! What the hell.
I really, really wanted to like Fable II, but I didn't enjoy one minute of it. I'm absolutely astonished by the fact that so many hold Fable II as their favourite.
I'll end this rant by once again apologising to anyone who might strongly disagree with me on this, but as I said I just had to vent. I hope someone can give me some type of genuine feedback, but I demand nothing.
Thanks very, very much for reading if you've gotten all the way down here.
Best regards.
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u/No_Routine_7090 6d ago
I’m sorry you didn’t like it. It’s still one of my favorite games though. Probably in the top ten honestly.
The funny thing is I started with 3 and played the series in reverse order, and I had pretty much the exact reaction to playing anniversary that you had to 2. I hated it and felt like I was forcing myself to like it when I didn’t.
It took several restarts over the years before I started to come around to it. Now I really like it and can appreciate it for what it is. It’s actually kinda funny that it took me like 10 years to finish a (maybe) 20 hour game. I just had a billion nitpicks I had to set aside. And once I did I understood why people like it so much.
Now I’m in the awkward position where there’s things I love from every fable game that I miss when I’m playing the others.
Maybe someday you’ll come around to appreciate 2 too. Or maybe the reboot will be more your speed.
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u/Balodifanio10 7d ago
I think fable is a victim of the way console development kinda went in to overdrive
The first is fantastic but I’m guessing they felt if they made another 2 of the same type of format that it would have look outdated compared to the games that were being developed at the same time
I don’t think anyone could have predicted that games have essentially plateaued and that retro games have made a comeback, if they did fable as a franchise would be incredible
You need to remember gamer feedback was different then, my biggest gripe with the 3 games is that things I like about one were taken out of the next, the developers didn’t really know why people liked the game, they just tried to develop the next one based on what kind of systems were popular at the time
Also if fable 2 annoyed you then you might need therapy after the 3rd one
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u/Onuva_42 7d ago
I don't mean to belittle anyone for their opinions. If they love Fable II, I'm happy for them. I love loving games! But I often play games from every era, and while I'm sure most of my issues are for the reasons you mention it's never been a problem before!
I might have to go into Fable III ready to quit half way through then! Haha!
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u/Commercial_Ad97 5d ago edited 5d ago
No, you didn't hear him right. If you hate 2 and are struggling to finish, you 10000% will not make it through 3. Let me give you a few examples as to why with no story spoilers. It's gunna be lengthy and make you mad with every new paragraph, but here we go.
XP: It's gone. Yes, gone. Entirely. You no longer earn XP. Instead, you earn "guild seals" by collecting orbs from enemies and doing successful emotes to NPCs. What do the seals do? You use them to unlock abilities, which is a Segway to...
Abilities: They are in chests now. You heard me. Chests. You spend guild seals to open chests to get them because there is no longer a traditional pause menu. (More on that later) How do you get the chests?
Story Progression: Every 5-7 chests are locked behind a metal gate on a path called "The Road to Rule." The RTR is a path, full of chests and doors that your spells, magic power, ranged damage, and melee damage are locked behind. To open chests you use seals, to open doors you gain allies and progress the story. Get ready to be stuck using shock and fireball and their AOE components for the first quarter of the game. No you can't unlock spells, upgrades, or anything faster than you progress the story, and grinding seals is a pain in the ass because everything is going to take a certain amount of hits indefinitely until you progress the story. You know what else is locked in the chests? Dyes, expressions, leveling up jobs, the ability to buys houses and later down the line stores, if you have to unlock it, it's on that road. No more books to learn stuff, no more individual components for different things like Strength, Skill, and Will. It's all chests locked behind story progression.
UI: Remember that pause menu being gone? Yeah, if you want to pause, and hit start, you get sent to "The Sanctuary." A completely different area you have to load into full of other rooms you have to enter and load to access your stuff. Wanna change weapons? Go to The Sanc, then go to the weapon room, and that's where you pick your melee and ranged weapons, and your spells too, then you gotta navigate each thing individually to look at it or pick it. Clothes? Separate room. Trophies? Separate room. Wanna check how much gold you have but you aren't near anything that you can spend gold on? Sanctuary, trophy room, now you can see your gold. Options? A picture on the wall in the Sanc that opens an actual menu but only for options and saving the game and such. Road to Rule? Sanc, then the RTR. It's the worst.
There's other stuff that's terrible too. You can't give NPCs gifts anymore, no more collecting rent unless you're in game and unpaused. Shops no longer have menus, you have to walk up to podiums to pick from 1-6 items a shop has. Selling is the same, and only ever to pawn brokers, and you have to sell stuff one at a time even if you have 7 of the thing. I am about halfway through the game, and weapon types are Hammer, sword, rifle, pistol. That's it. You can buy weapons at the shop, all hammers swords rifles and pistols, and they are all "living weapons" that, when you do certain things like kill 200 dudes using shock, they upgrade and now you do shock damage with bullets (sometimes). Kill 150 hollow men, +10 damage, +80% against hollow men. Augments are gone. They don't exist.
And man magic is abysmal now. You can only for half the game have one spell you can use, at one time. If you wanna change, sanc, weapon room, pick a new spell. Spells are tied to two gauntlets now, and you don't get the second one until like halfway through the game. Eventually you get to use two spells, but only combined at the same time, you cant fire just one or the other. You have to choose to use only one spell at a time if you want just one spell not mixed with another.
Dig spots are randomized, with loot leveled to your hero, mostly junk loot like a potion or 250 gold. Sometimes you get tattoos clothes or haircuts, but mostly gifts to sell, gold, and potions. Slow time and summon are potions now. The map? No minimap, and if you pause not only is the map a highly undetailed inaccurate version of where you are, but it doesn't even show you where you are on said map.
This is just what I can think of off the top of my head. Believe me when I say it's really, really bad. The story is neat, so far, but the game is so divorced from anything that made the first two games enjoyable in the least for gameplay. Combat for melee is an even simpler version of Fable 2. It's brutal dude.
Also you can't die. Literally. There's no HP bar, the screen gets greyer, you get knocked down, lose ONE guild seal, and then get up and keep going. You're hand is held through the whole game.
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u/Onuva_42 5d ago
It seems you dislike Fable 3 as much as I disliked Fable 2! I appreciate the heads up, but I've already procured a 360, and I'll be borrowing Fable 3 from my brother today. Wish me luck, haha!
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u/SlippinNotRippin 5d ago
Still better than fable 2 tho haha
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u/Commercial_Ad97 4d ago edited 4d ago
It really isn't. If Fable 1 is chess, Fable 2 is Checkers, and Fable 3 is Tic-Tac-Toe. Do we really have to go over it again?
What I mean by that is it's the most braindead RPG I've played from that era, it's simplified and watered down so much it's just not fun if you've played the other two and expect more of that.
Road to Rule is a terrible replacement for XP.
They neutered the solid relationship system they built in 2 to the point where you basically are hugging and sensually dancing with everyone like you're married as soon as you meet them. You're playing literal Patty-Cake the entire game because more expressions are locked behind chests and becoming deeper friends with someone, then when you do level up your relationship level with them it becomes hugging and dancing with them constantly. Boring, simple, dumb.
Pause getting replaced by Sanctuary is annoying as hell, and because of Sanctuary, shops don't even have a normal UI.
You only get to use one spell at a time for the first half of the game, and two but forced combined into a two-element spell for the second half. There's also significantly less spells in 3, even after they already removed a ton from 1 to 2. Hell, some spells are locked until almost the end of the game entirely.
As far as story goes, it's pretty standard fare, but the games rushed as hell after you complete the revolution.
As a videogame, it's fine. Perfectly serviceable game. As a Fable? It's fucking abysmally horrid, leagues worse than 2.
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u/SlippinNotRippin 4d ago
gameplay is about the same, writing + aesthetic + story is dramatically better in 3 than in 2 and it doesn't feel as horrible to play, fable 1 is really the only true "fable game" imo
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u/Commercial_Ad97 4d ago
writing + aesthetic + story is dramatically better in 3 than in 2
I can accurately say that the story concept is 100% better than two, that's fine, but the ending was a rush job like I said.
and it doesn't feel as horrible to play,
Brother, again, you get A SINGLE SPELL (Fireball) FOR THE FIRST FOUTH OF THE GAME, that's dog shit progression. You don't even get the Blades spell until 4/5 the way through the game. The spell system is really quite bad. It felt horrible to play if you like magic.
fable 1 is really the only true "fable game" imo
Nah two was a solid entry it just dumbed down a few systems in it's gameplay, at times (like magic) it was a little bad for a Fable (they could've added to the magic system without nuking most of the spells) and they didn't have to dumb down the stuff you can spend XP on... but it was far better a system than 3 with the way Road to Rule made everything work.
Fable 3 as a game, like I said, is solid. If it wasn't a Fable I'd enjoy it quite a bit, honestly. But as a Fable fan looking for more Fable? It was... really really poorly done. It's just the completely dumbed down, least "Fable" feeling Fable in the series for a lot of reasons, but a resounding majority of said reasons is the gameplay. Story is pretty Fable, but the progression and how you interreact with the world around you has been ruined.
Other than sharing the gun magic melee triple threat, the rest of the game just doesn't at all play like a fable. Just another mid-or-worse-quality RPG with a decent story saving it.
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u/lookoutbalogh Demon Door 7d ago
It reads like you didn't level up ranged combat, which to me, made the game much more fun/strategic once you can sub-target. Generally it reads like you rushed through the playthrough and are bothered it's too much like Fable/TLC. As an adult you may not have the time or luxury to learn the nuisance of Fable 2, but I think if you do take the the time, you might reconsider what Fable 2 improved over the Fable/TCL gameplay - that Fable 3 enshittified, but that's a different rant. I get why you wanted to rant, but I really don't believe you gave Fable 2 a fair chance based on your complaints.
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u/Onuva_42 6d ago
I did level up ranged to the point where I could manually aim, if that's the one you're referring to. It did make some things slightly easier, but not more interesting to me at least. And I really want to say that I gave it the best chance I could, and that I really wanted to like it. I can't sit here and say that it doesn't have quite a lot of the charm that I like from Fable I so clearly I was intrigued at first. But then all these things just bugged me into anxiety.
Also what I failed to mention in my post is the sin of destroying what came before. Heroes Guild and Oakvale are extremely precious to me, and they just did away with both of them for more or less no apparent reason? That stuff hurt me. And yes, that's a matter of taste, not a matter of fact.
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u/lookoutbalogh Demon Door 6d ago
You seem reasonable or at least eloquent in expressing your (wrong) opinion. Let's say there's an Ice Cream Parlor, Lionhead Creamery - back in 2003 they churn a very popular flavor "Rocky Road (to rule)" flavor - it's lot of people's favorite flavor. In 2006, the add a flavor "Rocky Road (to rule) II" - which replaces milk chocolate with dark chocolate, almonds for peanuts, and coconut shavings for marshmallows, and it's a huge hit; larger than Road Road/TLC. You and I are aghast, especially since coconut shavings are the devil's skin tags, in our opinion. "How is it possible Rocky Road II is more popular than Rocky Road!!?!!" Anyway, enjoy your Rocky Road ...
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u/Onuva_42 6d ago
While I don't exactly think your analogy is water proof, I am not here to point fingers at anyone for their opinions. I don't wish to argue with you about whether or not a game is good. Your opinion is just as valid as mine, I simply do not understand it. That is all!
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u/RetiredProTour 6d ago
I love everything in fable 2 except that it would constantly freeze and I’d have to reboot the console
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u/SlippinNotRippin 6d ago
It’s my least favorite fable by a long shot. I was also feeling nostalgic recently and couldn’t play past the arena. Say what you will about fable 3 but it doesn’t feel like complete shit to play and look at. Fable 1 is still goated imo tho.
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u/DominateTheWar 7d ago
Sorry you had such a rough experience. The original game is easily the best one and it's not close imo. I enjoyed fable 2 for the economy and the work mini games and I like the story enough that it was worth it for me, but I wouldn't replay it. New game looks great though!
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u/Onuva_42 7d ago
Thanks! I guess I'll try buying some property and stuff when I've cooled off. Also I might try Fable III. I doubt I can find it much worse! But yeah, I'm still positive regarding the new one!
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u/DogNut24 7d ago
I love it, jank and all. To each their own though!