Stolen Pixels #65: Ten out of Ten Stars

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Feb 17, 2009

Filed under: Column 8 comments

It isn’t exactly how the scene played out in Fable 2, but this is how I remember it.

 


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8 thoughts on “Stolen Pixels #65: Ten out of Ten Stars

  1. Luke Maciak says:

    Ah, but you forgot that your character is mute so you have to express your adoration towards Peter Molyneux via the built in gestures.

    I believe the correct combination in this situation is:

    – flex muscles
    – pelvic thrust
    – fart
    – chicken dance

    :P

  2. Solid Jake says:

    I believe the most important thing I learned from this episode is that apparently you can wear a bandana in Fable 2 (the lack of bandanas being one of my chief complaints about the previous game).

    Now if only they’d release the damned thing on PC…

  3. Noble Bear says:

    [quote]
    Fable 2 has many activities, and while a few of them exist for their own sake, most are interconnected in ways that lead you naturally from one activity to another. Doing trade runs leads to buying better clothing which leads to being more attractive which leads to flirting with villagers which leads to rounding up more expressions and emotes to use which leads to romance which leads to getting married which leads to buying a house which leads to getting involved in real estate which leads to redecorating houses to alter the local property values and economy which leads back to trading… etc. This is a playground with a lot of fun toys.
    [/quote]

    Between this paragraph and what a friend who likes the game describes, it sounds like all the supporting activities are very Sims-like. I made this comparison already over at the eacapist. On further consideration though I have to ask:
    Is this a fair comparison? What does Fable 2 do differently?

    Separately; is there any real difference in gameplay if you are good or evil?

  4. Shamus says:

    Yes, it has a lot of Sims flavor to it.

    * Court pretty much anyone you like (assuming they’re into your gender) although the more you match their particular tastes, the easier it will be. If they love you (a heart appears over their head) you can give them a ring and become engaged.
    * Just take an engaged person with you to a house you own, click the thing to move in, and get a little cutscene. Cutscene. Now you’re married.
    * Have unprotected sex with your spouse and there is a 70% chance you will have a baby once the screen fades back in.
    * You can move the fam from one house to another at will.
    * You can redecorate houses to change their value. You can’t re-arrange the place – it will always have the same layout. But you can replace the broken down heap of a bed with a luxury version, etc.
    * Your spouse derives their happiness from the value of the home, the size of the household budget (which you set) and how often you visit them. It’s harder to keep rich spouses happy than lower class types.
    * To improve the value of a neighborhood (and thus all the homes you own within it) you just give them better furnishings and spend money or take jobs in the local shops. The local economy will gradually improve. Running around smashing stuff and murdering people will have the opposite effect.

    It’s not quite as deep as the sims, but the way it ties into the larger game is really compelling if you’re into this sort of thing. It’s like a version of the Sims where you actually go to work with your avatar. And he’s an adventurer.

    Fun stuff.

  5. Shamus says:

    Good vs. Evil gameplay:

    * NPC’s jeer you in the streets if you’ve murdered innocents.
    * The skin change, naturally.
    * Corruption affects your looks, so being evil makes it harder to attract a mate. (You’ll have to find someone shallow and buy them with gifts instead of finding someone nice and wooing them with charm. Now that I think about it, there is a quite a bit of truth in that.)
    * You can align yourself with either of the two satirical religions – Temple of Shadows or Temple of Light. Both are hilarious, but the Temple of Shadows gets points for being funnier. (They have an “evil points” rewards program, and the human sacrifices are done using a gameshow-styled “Wheel of Misfortune”.) The Temple of Light gets points for having a very useful donation system where you can basically game the good / evil slider by buying good points. Which is handy if you want to be evil but are trying to maintain your looks.
    * You can always take slave gathering / rescuing missions to nudge the slider up and down, although it’s much faster to simply give money or sacrifice people if you’re in a hurry. (Eventually one temple will prevail over the other, which will make it harder to move the slider in that direction.)

    But at the heart of it, nope. No real differences in gameplay. (No powers unique to each side, anyway.)

  6. Julian says:

    I, too, love this terrible game. There are some games which you look at and you say “They’ve done NOTHING right on this game!”, yet you can’t. Stop. Playing.

  7. Noble Bear says:

    Ok. :)
    Thanks for the response, Shamus! :D

    I’m not big on Sims (my wife is the real fan) but what F2 offers sounds a lot more interesting than just instructing the avatar to eat breakfast and use the toilet. :)

    @Julian:
    What are other games that were terrible but you had to proceed forward with ( I assume for reasons other than boredom)?

  8. Felblood says:

    Does every reviewer copy of Fable 2 come with the Poorly Photoshopped Head of Peter Molyneux?

    Shamus and Yahtzee both have one, and use it with tremendous glee.

    Edit: Hey, my smiley is… slightly less dopey looking…

    Is this a side effect of the recent system repairs?

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