Fable II

[phoenix1967]

^It's a very unique game. It's basically Action/Adventure/RPG/Sims. I like it enough, though. I think it will have some fun replay value as well.

[phoenix1967]

My extended impression of the game is that if you're in it solely to complete the adventure portion of the game and move on to something else, this should probably just be a rental for you and is likely only worth about a 7 out of 10.

However, if you feel that all of the other aspects of the game enhance your enjoyment of it where you have no problem with taking a gradual approach to completing the main quest in between sidequests, gargoyle hunting, real estate/family simulation, demon door solving, etc. likely it is worth an 8.5 out of 10 in my opinion.

I do agree with the previous statement about it needing additional playtesting prior to release. Even though I'm still early in the main quest portion of the game, there have been a couple of glitches already; 1 of them was where my dog was floating in air after I ran down a hill...which corrected itself. The other glitch was when I first encountered a Troll. I was in the middle of an attack and all of a sudden my character was up in the sky by the moon and couldn't come down, so it caused me to restart. Good thing I save frequently.

However, the good far outweigh the bad as far as I'm concerned. And I'm in the 8.5/10 opinion.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Fable 1 had the same stupid glitches. You'd think they'd learn. Is balance any better? In 1 you could pretty much just buy everything from a vendor and sell it back for more than you had bought it for because of the game's awful "supply and demand" mechanic.

[Sirgin]

I played it a bit last week. I'm not sure what it was, it just didn't click for me. I really enjoyed the first Fable, so I assumed I'd really enjoy the second one, but I find it lacking. It's frustrating, because I can't put my finger on any one issue that is bothering me, just the game as a whole isn't my cup of tea I guess.

Is it that much different from the first Fable then?

[phoenix1967]

Fable 1 had the same stupid glitches. You'd think they'd learn. Is balance any better? In 1 you could pretty much just buy everything from a vendor and sell it back for more than you had bought it for because of the game's awful "supply and demand" mechanic.

I had no problems with Fable 1 on Xbox. I can't speak to the PC version of it, though.

The commodity supply & demand mechanic in Fable 2 is pretty simple. It's pretty much buy low-sell high...when you see vendors selling things under the market price, buy them out and hold onto them until you see that there's a Shortage in another town. Go there. Sell. Repeat. You're really never encumbered from what I can tell. Although, I've invested a lot of points into Strength so it just may not affect my character.

Is it that much different from the first Fable then?

Some things are similar, but overall, it's A LOT different. But that point of view also depends upon your expectations of the game.

For example, 3 mechanics have been vastly improved...first, the digging in Fable 2 is made a lot easier by having your dog with you. Second, adding swimming and removing fishing makes it a lot easier to obtain treasures that are under water. Third, the expression system in Fable 2 is more fun (because it uses a meter "mini-game") and easier to utilize (RtBumper)than it was in Fable 1. But if you liked these were handled in Fable 1, you may or may not like the way it is in Fable 2.

I've been dabbling in just about everything...main quest, side quest, and other stuff. And it's making the adventure longer for me for sure, but I'm not minding that. Others may have a problem with it.

Then again, I am an achievement ho at times and this game's achievements are fairly well thought out.

Unfortunately, there's no demo for it, so rent it and see if it's something you'd like.

[Tan]

My worst 2 glitches were when an NPC who I was supposed to follow, froze in place because I sniped the baddies I was fighting from afar instead of running down to meet them head on with my companions.

Second one, my character froze in a jumping pose. His arms were over his head spread out and his feet together while looking down. Everywhere I went he was stuck like that, floating a couple inches off the ground like some corporeal spirit or something. I could still fight, shoot, and "float faster" when I sprinted, but it denied me the ability to jump.

Then of course the dozens of times my dog got stuck or I got stuck while exploring or the horrible, horrible menu lag .

Compared to many people I've read about, I got lucky. After putting in 40 hours with this game I've seen plenty. Otherwise I'd have given this game an 8.5/10 as well instead of the 7.5 in my review.

[Sirgin]

Do game developers don't go through the effort of taking out bugs before releasing a game anymore? Especially for a Triple-A title like Fable II.

[Tan]

Do game developers don't go through the effort of taking out bugs before releasing a game anymore? Especially for a Triple-A title like Fable II.

It was probably rushed to make the holiday season and fit into a schedule that didn't conflict with other major titles. It's not a coincidence that these games that take years to make all seem to come out during fall/winter. Like I was saying about my backlog habit, no one wants to dump a great game on people during Jan-March. Everyone is recovering from their Christmas bills and getting ready for tax season, not a good time to release a "Triple A" $60 title.

That or the engine used for the game is inherently broken, it wouldn't be the first time. Anyone who has played a game using the Havok physics engine knows what I mean. Sometimes you have to sacrifice quality for ideas, vision and usability.

I'm sure Fallout 3 has many of the same problems Oblivion did as it uses the same engine. It just a matter of how intrusive it is to the gamer who's trying to enjoy it.

[phoenix1967]

Found a 3rd bug during play yesterday in Fable 2.

I was in the Crucible quest, 4th room I think, and was about to vault over a balcony when I pressed a button ("Y") to access my rifle. It held my character in a pose that had him floating with his arms spread wide and feet on tip-toe. I had to finish the Crucible quest in this position.

When I got through with the quest, it was still stuck in this position even though I could move around and go to other regions. When I rebooted it was back to normal.

@Tan, like you said, it's really too bad that they didn't put more time into debugging the game. How are the bugs in Fable 2 when compared to Two Worlds? I heard that patch updates corrected TW's major issues.

[Tan]

Found a 3rd bug during play yesterday in Fable 2.

I was in the Crucible quest, 4th room I think, and was about to vault over a balcony when I pressed a button ("Y") to access my rifle. It held my character in a pose that had him floating with his arms spread wide and feet on tip-toe. I had to finish the Crucible quest in this position.

When I got through with the quest, it was still stuck in this position even though I could move around and go to other regions. When I rebooted it was back to normal.

@Tan, like you said, it's really too bad that they didn't put more time into debugging the game. How are the bugs in Fable 2 when compared to Two Worlds? I heard that patch updates corrected TW's major issues.

Having played and beaten Two Words twice, and having explored every bit of the map for the 1000/1000 I can honestly say it's not nearly as buggy, patched or pre-patched, as Fable II is. The framerate of TW chugs along a bit, but so does FII. TW doesn't have much if any menu lag either where your waiting for the game menus or expression tree to catch up with you.

A shame so many based their judgment of Two Worlds on the first couple hours of play, in many ways it has set the bar higher than Oblivion and it does some things better than Mass Effect. That the sequel was delayed from September to next year is my biggest disappointment this gaming season.

[phoenix1967]

^Looks like you and I had the same glitches regarding the dog and the "frozen jump/vault".

I might check into TW when the price drops a little further. I'll trust your judgment on that one. But if it truly sucks I'll hunt you down!