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[Zeliard]

Man going from Dead Space to this. It just feels like such a weird shift in quality. I think the thing thats been bothering me the most is the way the character walks/runs. Well it didn't stop me from playing 8 hours straight, but this game certainly takes some getting used to.

I felt the same way, especially when it comes to the UI/HUD. Going from Dead Space's UI to Fable's menu-heavy system is quite jarring, but you get used to it fairly quickly.

One thing that annoys me is the relatively heavy loading and just generally slowness in the pause menu. I mean seriously. I hope they get that patched, since you're constantly using the menu to check your inventory, abilities, quests, etc. The loading during the game to go from place to place doesn't bother me (particularly when the environments are so strikingly beautiful and varied), but the loading during the pause menu does.

One thing I hadn't really considered about Fable II pre-release, but have ended up enjoying a ton so far, is the humor.

I laughed out loud right at the beginning of the game, when you have to gather up the five warrants, reading the descriptions of the various criminals and their crimes. I like that one of them was nicknamed "The Nickname."

I didn't expect the high quality, detail-oriented item descriptions to continue throughout the game, and have been very pleasantly surprised to learn that it has. The first thing I do when I get a new item now is read it's flavor text

Another good bit of humor is the quest where you run into the ghost that wants you to find his lover. The letter he wrote was just brutal :lol :lol His little riff about it being so difficult because he's incorporeal was good, too.

The writing in the game is superb. Everything in the game I've come across so far has that same sort of sardonic, snarky humor (even the achievements), and it's great. The voice acting is strong as well. It might be the most amusing game I've played since Psychonauts.

 

[Silicon Knight]

Is it possible to do just the narrative on the first run and save all the side quests for the second, while maintaining you equip/xp from the previous playthrough?

 

[glaurung]

Is it possible to do just the narrative on the first run and save all the side quests for the second, while maintaining you equip/xp from the previous playthrough?

I think you can play all the sidequests after finishing the main campaign.

 

[garath]

Throughout the heavy discussions on co-op yesterday I wanted to participate because co-op is something that really interested me about Fable 2. However,I didn't want to throw in my 2 cents until I actually had a chance to play with it and not just read descriptions on the internet.

After playing last night with my friend (who sadly bought the game just to play with me, hopefully he'll enjoy the single player experience as well), that camera HAS to be fixed. If there is any hope of having an enjoyable co-op experience online, player 1 has to be able to move the camera. I don't even mind the tethering, and I can get over the henchman thing (though it is disappointing that the henchman cannot use items or weapons we find in the game). But the camera is almost unplayable. Maybe part of the problem was that we were going through a cave at the time but we couldn't see upcoming enemies, got stuck behind rocks a number of times and the camera was rarely pointed in the direction we needed to go.

If Lionhead just makes the camera controllable by player 1 we've got a workable co-op experience.

 

[Zeliard]

Throughout the heavy discussions on co-op yesterday I wanted to participate because co-op is something that really interested me about Fable 2. However,I didn't want to throw in my 2 cents until I actually had a chance to play with it and not just read descriptions on the internet.

After playing last night with my friend (who sadly bought the game just to play with me, hopefully he'll enjoy the single player experience as well), that camera HAS to be fixed. If there is any hope of having an enjoyable co-op experience online, player 1 has to be able to move the camera. I don't even mind the tethering, and I can get over the henchman thing (though it is disappointing that the henchman cannot use items or weapons we find in the game). But the camera is almost unplayable. Maybe part of the problem was that we were going through a cave at the time but we couldn't see upcoming enemies, got stuck behind rocks a number of times and the camera was rarely pointed in the direction we needed to go.

If Lionhead just makes the camera controllable by player 1 we've got a workable co-op experience.

I haven't tried co-op yet, but I've read that each player can center the camera on their guy whenever they want. Dunno how much that would help, though.

 

[Wizman23]

Question about the colored orbs you get from killing ememies.....

Do they "disapperar" if you dont suck them up fast enough, its kind of tough to tell. It looks as if they all stay and turn into bigger orbs, but I wanted some clarification.

 

[impirius]

My impressions after about seven hours...

YAY:

• Prompts for jumping off ledges and "hold down A" prompts for things you might not want to do (steal, travel) eliminate many possible "aw, dammit" moments.
• Bonus experience is awarded for mixing things up during combat... melee->force push->rifle is fun.
• The humor in the game is charming.
• Some moral choices have actual consequences for you other than earning more or less gold.
• The dog is one of the best support characters ever: he finds treasure and stays out of trouble.
• The glowing path is actually useful without being annoying. Being able to turn down the intensity of the glow is a nice touch.
• The experience system works very well so far. I especially like being able to unlock battle techniques (block, flourish, aim ranged weapons) as well as stat boosts.

BOO:

• The meter for minigames and expressions is ridiculously choppy.
• The menu system is a bit slow, and it kicks you out whenever you use an item. It's a pain if you've just bought, say, six books.
• Your character skates around on an invisible layer of ice instead of actually walking and running on the ground.
• There's not much variety in the weapons and clothing... at least, not so far.
• Changing spells during combat is clunky and not worth the effort.

Overall, I'm very happy and am looking forward to pouring many more hours into this.

 

[Dunlop]

Question about the colored orbs you get from killing ememies.....

Do they "disapperar" if you dont suck them up fast enough, its kind of tough to tell. It looks as if they all stay and turn into bigger orbs, but I wanted some clarification.

I believe they do, you notice that every time you get orbs the totals for each color will appear at the top of you screen.

 

[garath]

I haven't tried co-op yet, but I've read that each player can center the camera on their guy whenever they want. Dunno how much that would help, though.

Wouldn't help much unfortunately. It's more of a directional issue than anything else. It is something to try though. Not sure what button would do that. Will play around with it tonight.

 

[Sectus]

I'm having fun with the game but... ugh, there's some things which are definitely frustrating.

I got the game purely for coop. When I first joined my friend's game I thought something was wrong when I tried to load my save and use my own character. Took a while before I realized I can only play as a generic character. I really don't see the point of that. So now I'm stuck playing through the game as generic "Good Male".

#"¤%£ the coop camera. It's a constant pain in the ass. I can understand Lionhead's motivation, that they wanted to keep the players together. But couldn't they at least have just given them separate cameras but kept a distance limit? It's just endlessly frustrating how the camera angle will obscure enemies, or one of the players, extremely often. You can manually reset it with LB but that's a hassle to use, not close to as easy as moving the camera in singleplayer.

Another coop annoyance is menus. If one player presses start or talks with certain NPCs, the other player gets a generic "Player # has paused the game" pause screen. Letting both players access their start menu would have been great, but oh well.

It definitely feels like the game was designed for coop on a single console only. The 2 above annoyances would be fully understandable if you were playing on the same console. But for some reason Lionhead didn't realize they could improve things specfically for online play.

There's some other issues I've got with the general balance of the game. Combat has been ridiculously easy so far. I know that you can try to get bonus XP by fighting well in combat... but the highest amount of bonus XP I've gotten has been by just repeating one attack over and over.

Another issue is the glowing trail which always tells you "Here's the *exact* way to go if you wanna complete the game!". I really dislike it, but playing without it is a nightmare. You've got no minimap, not even a compass on the screen. So trying to figure out where to go without using the glowing trail is way too hard. You could periodically press start to access the full map to get an idea where the quest might be, but that becomes a big nuisance for the other player who's just getting a generic pause screen.

Well, amazingly enough, the game is still a good deal of fun so far. It's just so annoying there's several obvious flaws they should have worked on.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Haven't tried cooperative mode, yet. But can the other player use the character they designed in their single player? Or do they have to make a new avatar just for that session?

I haven't read about it, either. So, don't kill me.

I believe they do, you notice that every time you get orbs the totals for each color will appear at the top of you screen.

Actually, they don't. Instead of disappearing, the orbs merge together to make a larger orb.

How do I know? I didn't realize that I had to hold the right-trigger to absorb experience until the mid-way point of the first dungeon. :lol

 

[joelseph]

It is odd and annoying that no matter how you enter water there will always be an accompanying splash of epic diving proportions.

 

[kaskade]

Anyone have both Fable 2 and Far Cry, I'll be picking one up and don't know which one I want.

 

[UltimaPooh]

Another issue is the glowing trail which always tells you "Here's the *exact* way to go if you wanna complete the game!". I really dislike it, but playing without it is a nightmare. You've got no minimap, not even a compass on the screen. So trying to figure out where to go without using the glowing trail is way too hard. You could periodically press start to access the full map to get an idea where the quest might be, but that becomes a big nuisance for the other player who's just getting a generic pause screen.

I like this feature. Sure it shows you the exact way to go, but you don't have to go on to the storyline if you don't want to. You can go explore and do other things and when you feel it's time you can take the trail.

As others have been saying it's also a good indication on where to explore. If there are two paths and the trail goes to the left, you can go to the right because you know there will be stuff in there to explore.

 

[supermackem]

Cant see it being posted on the last few pages anyone know what happends to cheated pub games money if you merge player?. I know i goto hell but what about my character.:lol

 

[Zeliard]

Wouldn't help much unfortunately. It's more of a directional issue than anything else. It is something to try though. Not sure what button would do that. Will play around with it tonight.

Tapping the left bumper centers your char. Works in the normal game, too, though the transition from non-centered to centered is a bit clunky. Gives you a whole new appreciation for the completely seamless way that Ninja Gaiden 2 centers the camera when you hit the center button. Not a big deal at all, though.

 

[Dunlop]

Actually, they don't. Instead of disappearing, the orbs merge together to make a larger orb.

Good to know, thx

 

[supermackem]

Anyone have both Fable 2 and Far Cry, I'll be picking one up and don't know which one I want.

Depends if you like multiplayer i would think, far cry seems a bigger single player game too.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Why are there flies around my character? I slept with both Kate the Gypsy (sense renamed Hobag the Gypsy), but I don't think I got a STD. Perhaps it is because I'm evil.

 

[birdman]

Why are there flies around my character? I slept with both Kate the Gypsy (sense renamed Hobag the Gypsy), but I don't think I got a STD. Perhaps it is because I'm evil.

Yep, that's exactly the reason.

 

[Sectus]

I like this feature. Sure it shows you the exact way to go, but you don't have to go on to the storyline if you don't want to. You can go explore and do other things and when you feel it's time you can take the trail.

As others have been saying it's also a good indication on where to explore. If there are two paths and the trail goes to the left, you can go to the right because you know there will be stuff in there to explore.

But that feels so artificial though. I like exploration to be a lot more natural instead of thinking "Okay, that glowing line is where I need to go, therefore all other paths probably lead to some random treasure." Then again, the level design in the game is so limited that exploration probably couldn't be a big part of the game anyway.

Oh, and another thing I forgot to mention. Dig Spots. I wish I could smack the dog with my spade each time he whines about them. They're everywhere and I'm not too interested in digging up condoms half of the time.

 

[DangerStepp]

Anyone have both Fable 2 and Far Cry, I'll be picking one up and don't know which one I want.

I already have Fable II and I'm going to pick up Far Cry 2 after work today. It's a nice combo because you can go back and forth without any genre fatigue.

 

[UltimaPooh]

Oh, and another thing I forgot to mention. Dig Spots. I wish I could smack the dog with my spade each time he whines about them. They're everywhere and I'm not too interested in digging up condoms half of the time.

That's odd. I have dug up like three things thus far and have yet to dig up a condom.

My friend did when I was playing co-op with him.

 

[Geoff9920]

That's odd. I have dug up like three things thus far and have yet to dig up a condom.

My friend did when I was playing co-op with him.

No kidding, I usually get gold or something useful when I dig something up. I have yet to get a condom.

 

[Mohonky]

No kidding, I usually get gold or something useful when I dig something up. I have yet to get a condom.

First thing I dug up was a condom. Maybe I'm just lucky :/

 

[xbhaskarx]

I have never dug up a condom.
I wish you could loot the corpses (for treasure/weapons/clothes) of the people you kill, and that at least a few of the barrels and wooden boxes strewn across Albion had a few gold coins inside...

 

[Chernobyled]

The co-op camera is a wreck. Close to unplayable.

The rest of the game is bliss. I'm having tons of fun.

 

[xbhaskarx]

Question: when an enemy dies from falling off a cliff, do you still get the same amount of experience?

 

[Hawk269]

This game is downright gorgeous, Brightwood during the day is a sight to behold, wow. The vista in Bandit's Coast is a beauty, too. Holy shit, this is the engine that other rpgs should be made on, imagine what it could do in far smaller areas. Oh, a buddy decided to invite me to coop(he didn't even know it was possible, clicked it thinking it wouldn't work) and I'm surprised that I actually enjoyed the session that we had. I did not even want to play it from what I had read earlier in the thread, yes, I think sharing the screen is stupid, but I had a ton of fun regardless and I'm looking forward to doing it again. This game seriously rocks.

I had the same thoughts when I ran into a friend on-line, he wanted to try coop, but some here were freaking out. We gave it a try and it was not that bad. The camera was wonky, but hitting the LB would put the camera behind us, so it was not all that bad. If they can fix it to where the camera can be independent of each character, it would be appericated, but what they do have is playable and we did have some fun with it.

 

[DangerStepp]

I find myself exploring more than actually following the main quest. It's kind of over whelming in the same sense as Bioshock. I feel like I have to look behind every nook and cranny or I'm going to miss something.

 

[StranGER]

i went back again to try and claim my chicken outfit but it keeps telling me to go to fable2.com to get details.

what the F?>

anyone else know how to make it show up in my hero chest box.
should i do the website again with a different browser? used safari the 1st time.

 

[jon bones]

i went back again to try and claim my chicken outfit but it keeps telling me to go to fable2.com to get details.

what the F?>

anyone else know how to make it show up in my hero chest box.
should i do the website again with a different browser? used safari the 1st time.

Wait, you can go back to the chest? I got the stupid damn chicken suit and I'd like to unlock whatever else the FAble2.com experience gives you...

 

[BLaZiN PRopHeT]

So im 100% corrupt in the game. all because i bought some property and jacked up the rent 100%

 

[Poona]

nm. Do u ever go back into the first dungeon ?? i missed the dlc dammit, dont wanna start over.

Yeah, you can go back to the place where you get your web items and Halo armour/weapon whenever. I wasn't sure you could to start with but I just tried it again after I had already retrieved them all. You can use the map to get there more quickly too.

 

[Hawk269]

I believe they do, you notice that every time you get orbs the totals for each color will appear at the top of you screen.

It is the LB Button that centers the camera. I played for about an hour in coop with a friend both in the outdoors and in a cave and the camera was not that big of a deal. Using LB helped allot in the cave. The thing that kills it though is when the characters become a little seperated, the game has a maximum amount of space allowed to have between characters and you cant go beyond that, hiting the back button allows the henchmen to teleport back to the main. This spacing is not that much.

Luckily, we stayed fairly close and it was less problamatic. With all the raging going on about it, I did not even want to try it, but suprisingly it was not too bad, needs to be fixed for sure, but still playable and enjoyable.

I am not sure if it was mentioned, but if you COOP, you might want to turn SAFETY ON if you are the host. With the Safety On, your coop buddy cannot kill NPC's, only enemies...this will be usefull if you decide to join someone that you do not know. I have already heard of people getting their wives killed by the coop buddy and or killing innocent people that drove the Evil up in the host's game (as well as the coop partner).

 

[xbhaskarx]

I really want to buy the buildings that can't be bought, for example the mill in Oakfield.

 

[Jugendstil]

Good stuff:

- Fantastic setting. I loooooove the pseudo-Victorian look of the game, and I love using swords and flintlock rifles. I don't know why more games haven't explored this setting.
- I love the art and character designs.
- Getting to customize the look of your character is fun, like playing with Barbie or something. My character looks like a gay goth pirate ninja! AWESOME!
- Exploration, at least so far, is amazingly satisfying. The areas are huge and full of some really nice detail and secrets. I keep seeing things and knowing I'll have to come back later when I figure out what to do.
- The music and voice acting are great.
- The writing seems pretty decent so far.
- Combat is simple but fun.
- The dog. I love him! What a great sidekick. He's way better than your bitch sister.

Bad stuff:

- Loading whenever you go to the pause menu. It sucks.
- Lack of a mini map. I know it's meant to keep you immersed in the game world, but when I am trying to figure out where certain shops are and I have to squint at the stupidly small map on the pause screen, it kills the enjoyment really quickly.
- The weird floating/skating you get from the controls. It kind of doesn't feel like your character is really in the environment.
- The social interaction with NPCs. Honestly, and this is just a personal opinion, I could really care less about being married or having kids, or making people love/hate me. I just want more loot and action. And more clothes to dress my character in!!!
- Someone else mentioned with earlier in the thread, but I really wish the cutscenes used different camera angles. Using the in game camera removes any interest from the scenes. For example

Spoiler

when your sister is shot and killed... she just falls over next to you. It's the whole event the plot hinges on and it has zero impact.

It makes certain elements of the game seem kind of half baked and detracts from what are otherwise entertaining cutscenes.
- The camera is kind of annoying. I wish it was slightly further back, sometimes I feel like I can't see enough of what is happening.

I know that's a lot of negatives, but I will say I am enjoying the game even more than I anticipated. I liked the original Fable a lot, and this is a huge step up in a lot of ways. I played for 5 hours straight last night, and I hardly ever spend that much time with a game anymore. In fact I wish I was at home now playing. Stupid work.

 

[Blackface]

I bought the bookstore, and went to sleep last night.

I better have at least made by some of the money when I log in.

 

[Poona]

i went back again to try and claim my chicken outfit but it keeps telling me to go to fable2.com to get details.

what the F?>

anyone else know how to make it show up in my hero chest box.
should i do the website again with a different browser? used safari the 1st time.

Uh oh... not sure if is a glitch on Lionhead's part but from a comment from Sam in reply to his own blog, he says:

http://community.lionhead.com/blogs/fable_2_development/archive/2008/10/21/3144009.aspx

Sam said:
Make sure you unlock all the stuff before opening the chest, I can't re-open mine!
October 21, 2008 3:39 PM​

You'd kinda hope it was possible to do though, as not everyone is going to know to choose each crown if they want all items.. Also, it seems the site works best with IE.

 

[jon bones]

^^lame

 

[Wizman23]

Magic Question:


Lets say we upgrade 5 spells all to level 5. Does each spell act as a level 5 spell no matter where you put them on the spell meter, or does does it only act as level 5 if its in the 5th spot which you have to hold "B" for the longest?

 

[Zeliard]

Aw man, they spoiled the outcome of the ghost/lover's quarrel quest on the latest Bombcast, without a spoiler warning at all beforehand.

It would've been pretty shocking to see it play out in-game, considering what ends up happening (provided you make a certain choice). Oh well.

 

[xbhaskarx]

Aw man, they spoiled the outcome of the ghost/lover's quarrel quest on the latest Bombcast, without a spoiler warning at all beforehand.

It would've been pretty shocking to see it play out in-game, considering what ends up happening (provided you make a certain choice). Oh well.

Can you spoiler what the "certain choice" that leads to the shocking outcome (not the outcome itself) is?

 

[crowphoenix]

I spent all last night running around, buying new clothes, working at the blacksmiths, and getting people to like me. This was over several hours. I think this game is going to take me a while. :lol

 

[Dark Octave]

My impressions after about seven hours...

Overall, I'm very happy and am looking forward to pouring many more hours into this.

:lol Good cause if it's anything like the first one, you've got about three more to go before finishing it.

Also, I heard someone say (Speevy I believe) they got married, had a kid, and cheated on her in the first hour of the game. That sounds horribly rushed for any game, not just an RPG.

/fablehate.

 

[Blackface]

Magic Question:


Lets say we upgrade 5 spells all to level 5. Does each spell act as a level 5 spell no matter where you put them on the spell meter, or does does it only act as level 5 if its in the 5th spot which you have to hold "B" for the longest?

Wait you can move spells around? How do you do this?

I always thought to use your rank 5 you need to charge up.

 

[Blackface]

:lol Good cause if it's anything like the first one, you've got about three more to go before finishing it.

Also, I heard someone say (Speevy I believe) they got married, had a kid, and cheated on her in the first hour of the game. That sounds horribly rushed for any game, not just an RPG.

/fablehate.

They probably had tons of money because of the pub game glitch.

I didn't play pub games, had no money, and have struggled to buy any property while keeping my weapons up to par.

 

[Beaulieu]

Can you spoiler what the "certain choice" that leads to the shocking outcome (not the outcome itself) is?

Hevent heard to podcast, but played the quest, and I assume that

Spoiler

the choice is to give the dude the letter

It's really not that shocking at all really...

 

[Poona]

Hm, I'm slowly but steadily sliding towards "corrupt" and I can't figure out why. I'm playing a good character and he's edging towards "Good" and away from evil pretty quickly... but for some reason corrupt/purity is moving in the other direction.

As far as I know I've ALWAYS chosen "the path of the light."

Thoughts? Is it because I'm keeping all the shops and homes I buy at the default price? I didn't raise any of them, but I didn't lower them, either...

There are certain foods which are known for purity (or no purity). Just look on the second page of them when looking at the items. It gives the stats of each item.

 

[Zeliard]

Hevent heard to podcast, but played the quest, and I assume that

Spoiler

the choice is to give the dude the letter

It's really not that shocking at all really...

Kidding me? It's a fairly jarring break from the general light fantasy atmosphere of Fable 2. I certainly would've been surprised to see it happen, even given the rest of the mature-rated content in the game, most of which is relatively tepid.