User Reviews (11 - 21 of 298)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

it's good, but it doesn't meet all its expectations

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 18
Date: October 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

When you pick this game up expecting an epic tale of unimaginable proportions that provides everything it was supposed to, all you can expect is to be let down. For one, the game is far too short. Playing through all the quests and getting all the secrets takes you a couple days, and that's even if you take your time. Secondly, the level up system is bland. From what I had heard, I expected it to be more like real life, where the more you do something, the better you get. Instead, we get these lame experience orbs that we have to collect and sell to get level ups. Thirdly, the environments in the game, though definitely easy on the eyes, don't change at all! I was promised to see seasonal and weather changes! Also, I expected more character customization. It's boring knowing that if you go evil, this is EXACTLY how you'll look, or if you're good that you'll turn out EXACTLY like this. I wanted something more to the effect of "If you're evil like THIS, you end up like THAT, but if you're evil like THAT, you end up like THIS." Overall, this game is an entertaining hack 'n' slash that'll steal a couple days from your life, but nothing more. Sometimes I wonder, if, had the people who made Morrowind (which is similar to Fable, except that the area you get to explore is probably [no exagerrations] ten times the size of what you get to see in Fable, there's more character customization, and a better level up system. Also, however unimportant it may be to anyone else, Morrowind also has different weather conditions for the different regions)teamed up with Peter Molyneux and his crew, if this game would've turned out to be the masterpiece it should've been. This game is good, but I would recommend renting it before you're sure you want to give away fifty bucks for something worth two days (Morrowind was also substantially longer, having 80+ hours of gameplay).

Too Linear

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: December 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First off, I was not a person who followed the development of this game over the years, so I didn't have any particular expectations of it upon its release. Playing through "Fable", I encountered a mediocre action/RPG that was solid in some respects, but severely lacking in others.

What's good:
-Graphics-
The lighting effects were outstanding. As characters move through the world, light and shadow pass smoothly over them, in concert with the time of day. In evening, shadows elongate and the light becomes redder. You can actually see the changes occur in real-time.
-Character Design-
The player, as well as NPCs, are well-proportioned and move realistically. While the same voices are reused a little too frequently (out of three wives I had, all had the same voice), there were enough different physiques to keep the game interesting.
-Sound-
The sounds of "Fable" were your typical fantasy mix, with a music track that may put one in mind of childhood cartoons and bedtime stories. But what was most important was the balance between voice, effects and background music. Unlike most games, I never had any trouble understanding the spoken dialogue.

What's bad:
-Story-
Simply put, there wasn't one. Or, rather, it was about as fleshed-out as an old NES game such as "Zelda". Of course, any game that lets players design their own (voiceless) character is going to suffer this fate to some extent. (Only KOTOR worked around this well).
-Control Scheme-
Combat is far from enjoyable in "Fable". If you're a player, like me, who eschews magic in any game in favor of a more 'hands-on' melee approach, you'll probably find the button placement and troublesome lock-on system more than a minor pain. Often, one wants to target an enemy with a ranged weapon first, but cycling between enemies can't be done well (if at all) while blocking. Furthermore, the system targets friendlies as easily as enemies, with no quick way for the player to tell the difference (any creature targeted is automatically outlined in enemy-red).
-Difficulty-
This is truly the easiest game I've ever played. It's more or less impossible to be killed by anything in "Fable", no matter how lousy a player you are or how weak a character you have. This is because restorative and regenerative items are practically thrown at you with every step you take. I easily went through the entire game my first time through without ever dying (or using a 'regeneration phial') or even using a health potion. Simply carrying a ton of 1-gold green apples was all the restoration I could ever have needed.
-Freedom-
Here's the point where the games loses its stars. "Fable" is supposed to be all about freedom. This is a nice feature in general, but especially important in a game with such weak story elements. Unfortunately, this game is one of the most linear RPGs I've ever played. Even old standards like "Final Fantasy" or "Zelda" had more freedom than this. To start with, there are very, VERY few additional, optional quests. There ought to have been at least four times more, even if the generalities repeated themselves. Having a few basic outlines with randomly generated parameters (such as enemies, location, etc.) would have been a better way to go.
Also, the world of Albion is tiny. There are less than 100 places to visit, including single-room locations. What there is is almost completely linear. Only a very few maps have more than two ways in or out (one on one end, the other on the opposite).
-Character Development-
This is another of the much-touted attributes "Fable" was supposed to bring to the table. While it is true the player can watch his or her character age and change depending on his or her actions, this only happens within a very narrow framework. For one thing, there is only one character template. For another, the choice of clothing (especially for players who wish their character to be something less than horrifyingly ugly to the NPCs) is extremely limited. Then, the entire morality system is quite weak. Players can easily change their entire alignment at most any time throughout the game. Finally, the hero never speaks (other than one-word commands from the player outside of conversation), let alone enjoys branching dialogue trees.
For a far more complete presentation of player-controlled character development in morality, reputation, dialogue and more, I strongly suggest you look into the excellent "Fallout" and "Fallout 2" for the PC.

"Fable" is a decent game, but fails to deliver not only on many of its most-touted features, but also in a disturbing number of areas simply essential to any good game, open-ended or not. There is no idea, device or extra feature in this game that has not been done better in many other places already.

:0)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 16
Date: June 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game was a new experience for me i didn't think i would like it but i did, i like the story telling and it keeps you interested overall , interesting, fun, and it will entertain you....

Fable Doesn't Deliver on Hype but is still a Great RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: September 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you paid attention in the last few years about all the things that Fable was supposed to allow you to do, a good majority of it was taken out at the last minute or somewhere along the way (but hey, there's always Fable 2!).

For example, you can no longer have children, there are no longer really a bunch of other heroes competing with you for renown. There is also not a completely open-ended storyline and you are not followed from birth to death like was originally imagined.

Instead, you pass through childhood and your teenage years in about 30 minutes game time and then are a young adult hero entering the world and ready to fight some evil (or be evil).

The thing that I find most fun about this game compared to others such as Knights of the Old Republic and Morrowind is that compared to KOTOR, the combat system is much more fun. It actually requires some skill, instead of just queuing up actions for your Jedi to own with. Fable has most of the cooler "Force" powers such as Force Lightning and Force Push - except even nicer graphics. There is also one called Battle Charge that looks like the Back to the Future car disappearing into time except it is your character smashing into someone else. Compared to Morrowind, in Fable you cannot just run anywhere, you have to stay on the paths and go into defined areas. There are also a lot more loading screens than in Morrowind, maybe slightly more than KOTOR as well.

Overall 5/5

Graphics 5/5

Sound 5/5 - with a score by Danny Elfman - what can go wrong?

Gameplay 4/5 - some initial awkwardness in combat and camera control

Replayability 5/5 - you can probably play through this game several times with different characters to see how cool you can make them. Plus you can own shops, buy towns, or be evil and kill tons of people by luring them into the woods - and then steal their houses.

Cackling gleefully at the thought of complete dominion.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: October 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Being an devout 'RPG'er I (like so many other Xbox owners) was completely thrilled at the fact that 'ole Mr. Gates' console is finally getting a bonafide RPG to add to it's repertoire. For all fans of role-playing games this was to be the end all, be all game of games for the RPG genre. And we so patiently waited for the grand "Fable" to arrive and entrance our minds for nearly 4 years now. This game has garnered much discussion and anticipation from the "underground" gamers abroad. All bets were off, this game was to revolutionize the way RPG's were to be programmed and played just as Final Fantasy VII had done to the genre in '97. Did it? Was Microsoft able to pull it off and alter the future of RPG's? Was it as great as anticipated or was it a huge dissapointment and a waste of time and money?

Well, according to the various forums, chat rooms, and reviews of it Fable is all of the above-It is both fabulous and a failure.

I personally can not honestly say that Lionshead Studio managed to reinvent the way RPG's are to be played, but I must say that the freedom in this game is grander than what I have experienced in all other RPG's to date. The premise that you start off as a young child (propably around 6-7 yrs. old) and age along with the story line as you progress in experience (all the way to senior citizenship) definately makes it easier to immerse yourself into the game. I have laughed to myself many a time now at how outright inpropable, and yet impowering, it is for a 65 year old man to manage to have women (and men alike) fall madly in love with his elderly "hero" self. The beauty of this game is that impowering impropability. Yes, I know all RPG's are games of donning someother reality, but still most of them still do not reach the depth of total control over your character as Fable has managed to do. The control over the Hero's appearance from hairstyles to facial hair is rare. Then add into it clothing, weapon of choice to wield, powers/attributes/abilities, moral/ethical choices,even sexuallity-heterosexual, gay, bi? It is all up to the player and however he or she may want to take it and then RUN with it! These types of decisions enable a deeper sense of connection with the character-shallow they may be, but they allow more control over character development than any other RPG that I have yet to play.

Unfortunately however the storyline is still rather linear AND VERY short. I completed the game in under 9 hours. The limitation in the length of the main story does not restrict freedom to "wander around" though. My latest replay of the game I have managed to strecth my 9 hour game to a 19 hour game and I am not even 2/3 done with it yet. So, Fable permits plenty of "filler" time (if you will) to make the game experience that more unique and personal to the gamer and the gamer's intentions during a run through. For example, if I want to be wickedly evil I can do so and still complete the game at my own pace hacking and slashing townsfolk, robbing them in the middle of night, or even killing them in thier sleep. Or another day I feel like being noble, virtous, pure and full of integrity so I defend my fellow man as he is attacked by a raid of bandits or trolls earning holiness. Then again another day I want the best of being both morally good and sinfully, immorally bad. And this where the twisted fun can really happen, because the gamer now has the opportunity to save his/her fellow man once again from the dreaded bandits and immediately following the now rescued person's gracious, flattering remarks YOU can now strike them dead, thus balancing out the games moral meter.
*Rescued Trader-"Thank you, kind sir. Hooray for the mighty (hero's title)!!"
*Hero-In response to the traders compliments and adoration you smash his face in with your (weapon of choice) thus killing him immediately.
Note: As I'm writing this review I realize that it may read quite disturbing that someone would find such a scenario enjoyable . . . well trust me IT IS.

All in all the heart of Fable is not the storyline nor the gameplay, which by the way is superb and quite easy to grasp almost immediately, but in the honest moral choices it asks the player to make. Nobility is honorable and gratifying, but let's all be honest here it's FUN to be bad. And having a game to explore some of these completely uncivilized decisions can be rather well . . . entertaining. I must add though that these moral decisions should be left to more socially/emotionally mature minds with enough reason to understand right and wrong, cause and effect. Fable should not be played by children who do not yet grasp the understanding of appreciation for life. In fact this statement should not even be neccessary, because the game itself is rated mature (17+), therefore these moral/ethical questions should not reach the minds of children nor young teens.

Fable is just that-a complete and total farce made up of whatever you choose it to be. Good, bad, indifferent the choice is yours. So why not have fun with it, because that's what RPG's are really about right? Making your 'own' Fable?

As far as whether or not one should own Fable, I recommend renting it for the average gamer and owning it for every RPG fan.

Try To Get Your Combat Multiplier Even Higher

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: May 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This isn't too bad of a game to rent, but I would never buy it.

Yes, it's overhyped. It wants to be Morrowind, but it fails to live up to that standard. Still, there's a fairly decent adventure game behind all the bells and whistles. However, unlike other games who's bells and whistles support it, the bells and whistles of this game are annoying.

Most annoying is the constant mental presence of the Guildmaster. For example, there's a side-quest where you have to eavesdrop on a pair of people. Right in the middle of listening to them, the Guildmaster will say in his booming schizophrenic-hallucination of a voice, "THERE IS AN IMPORTANT QUEST CARD AT THE GUILD FOR YOU." Almost every time you fight anything, or even attempt to aim you bow at something, he will say in his booming schizophrenic-hallucination of a voice, "TRY TO GET YOUR COMBAT MULTIPLIER EVEN HIGHER." I suppose his advice to watch for low health is almost, but not quite, useful... but he's very annoying. Also, you can't kill him.

The stealth and guile bells and whistles are the worse. If you spend the tens of thousands of experience points needed to be able to pick locks... you won't be able to close the doors behind you... the guards will be very curious about those open doors and will arrest you for trespassing and throw you out of town, every time, without fail. Even worse is the shoplifting option. The only place this works with any level of success is the open bags of apples in Orchard Farms. Otherwise, you will be caught. It's not a quick pocket-it-and-leave, no matter how small the item. Rather, it's a progress bar that has to go all the way. The good thing is there's an awareness-eye to let you know how many people see you before you start. The bad thing is, once you start, you go into a cinematic mode where you no longer have access to this feature. Maybe that's a realistic description of the total focus and intensity of shoplifting, maybe not. I've never done it, so I don't know.

The worst thing is fishing. It starts off OK, but it quickly becomes too hard. If you press A at the wrong time, the line will snap. If you are conservative and cautious, the fish will get away. If this was just an optional feature, like the bar games or the very creepy Cockney moaning that passes for sex in the game, it wouldn't be so bad. It's not just an optional feature. You CANNOT open Nostro's gate unless you go fishing for his shield, and you CANNOT complete the quest without finding his shield. So, if you want to play this game, just rent it. If you do the side quests, you'll get to about that point before you need to return the game. Personally, though, I would never purchase a game unless I believed that I could finish it at least once.

One side note, not too important to the game but slightly annoying, is the way the character ages. You're 18. You go to a bar and talk to Maze, the Hero-Mentor of the Hero's Guild. It seems like you've only talked for a few minutes... but in reality you've just aged nine years. I guess that's why they call him Maze.

An excellent RPG for mature gamers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: September 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Fable is the latest RPG by Peter Molyneux, creator of Populous and Black & White. As in the previous games, your actions determine your look and the look of the world around you.

You start out as a lad in a village, doing random quests for your village. You can choose to do those quests nicely or cruelly, changing your reputation as you go. The townspeople react to your new reputation. The village is soon torched by bandits and you go off to a guild hall to become a Hero, to get revenge.

The game is very open ended, letting you choose which quests you wish, roam around slaying beasts, hang out in the pubs playing pub games, getting drunk. You can get married, get divorced and slay people. As you set your course in life, and choose clothing and armor, people react to you with pleasure, fear, appreciation, laughter, and more.

The graphics are stellar in this game. Trees have leaves of different types. Smoke rises from the glowing forge, the game cycles from day to night as you adventure. Your character can wear hairstyles and tattoos, changing clothes to suit the occasion. The sounds are great as well. You hear hoot-owls at night, sparrows during the day. People sleep and snore at night, while kids arond during the day. Amongst it all, a gentle classical musical score puts you into the medieval frame of mind.

There are the traditional elements of an RPG here - you slay creatures, solve quests, earn money and reputation. You use experience to build up the skills in the area you enjoy - magic, ranged weapons, hand to hand combat. If you choose good things to do, the people love you and your look and atmosphere is one of joy. If you choose evil things, the townspeople run in fear, you sprout horns and even get a bug-swarm near you.

But the true joy of this game is where it lets you pretty much do whatever you want. You can marry a girl - then kill her off for her inheritance. Or kill off her parents. Or divorce her and marry another one. The choices are pretty much endless, and since every person in the game related to each other one and to you, you never know what the various combinations will cause to happen.

This is NOT a quick game to win. It will take you some time to get through the intro / tutorial areas and really learn the basics. Once you do, the gameplay itself can easily take weeks to months to try out everything, if it is even possible to try everything. You'll want to create several characters to be able to try the world as good, evil and everything in between.

Also note this is a MATURE title and lists in its "things you've done" items like "getting drunk" and "having sex" and so on. You run into situations with cheating husbands, cheating wives, etc. This isn't meant for the younger set. Still, for adults it can be great fun.

Highly recommended, 10/10!!

Rent it

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 15
Date: October 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Seriously, you can beat this game in 12 hours or less. Most of the game time is spent hacking and slashing your way through a very limited set of maps, I mean, trails. There is no real exploring in this game other than the prescribed path.
Despite what the box says, this is not a do-anything, be anyone RPG. It's not even an RPG for petesake! You get a sword (or variation of one), a bow, and some spells then go out and kill things.
They should have called this game "SIMS: Gettin' Medieval", because besides hacking and slashing you're supposed to spend the rest of the time pointlessly flirting with townsfolk and trying to get them to marry you. Or you can flip them off and cuss at them. It really doesn't matter. Being good or evil doesn't have an effect on the story either way, it just affects the way you look.
If you are an avid RPG fan, it'd be best to skip this one and keep playing the Neverwinter Nights expansions. However if you are stoned or a beginner gamer, it's a pretty fun button masher.

Great game with a bit too much hype. Not KOTOR

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: September 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Fable is, simply stated, a great game. But, IMHO, it is not a "groundbraker" as many people defined it.
PROS of the game:
1. Your character will evolve based on your decisions. He will age, show a Halo over his head if he is good, horns if he is evil, grow fat if he eats too much. Scars will cover the body of fighters used to close combat, magic induced wrinkles will wear out the skin of mages.
This, ultimately, links you a lot to your character as you have a vivid image that shows your characters demeanor.
2.Lots of sub quests, and they are VERY cool. Almost better than the ones that are part of the main plot.
3.Vast economy of game, lots of weapons and equipment. Enormous possibility of character personalization.
4.Awesome graphics and fighting engine. Some spells are so well done you'll just want to use them over and over again to see them in action.

CONS
1. This game is sort of a "the sims" meets Kotor. What comes out are lots of emotes, possibility of getting married, having sex, getting drunk, people liking you... etc. I really didn't get too much of a kick out of it. NPC (AI driven non player characters) do not have names, unless they are main characters from the main plot. You can get married, but what you base that decision on is probably just the looks of the maiden. You can rent and live in houses, furnish them, etc... but I couldn't really understand if the effort of putting such features in the game was worth the gameplay boost they should deliver. But I'm not a sims gamer so, this may be a PRO for other gamers.
2. Talking about KOTOR... the game reminds of it. Actually the real time fighting engine is even better than the turn based Kotor one (expecially for those who like more action and less tactics)...BUT... Kotor had an awesome story, which fable lacks. Fable's story is as simple as the name of the videogame.
3. Your character will NEVER say a word. I wen through the game and started thinking he was mute. People will talk to him and you will not have any possibility of interaction. It made me feel I was getting "talked over." Very annorying.

Bottom line:
Overall Fable is a strong game and a MUST BUY for:
1) Rpg lovers
2) Those who loved the Kingdom Hearts and/or Kotor
3) Those who enjoy sims games and would like to see it applied to a fantasy world

Big on Visuals, Short on Time

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: October 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Visually, this is a beautiful game. It is gorgeous. Great sound, too. If you have a digital system (Widescreen HD TV, DTS surround sound, etc.), this game will deffinately get your heart thumping with the incredible sights & sounds it has to offer.

Unfortunately, they don't last long enough. This game is WAY too short. You can do every mission and side quest in it and finish the game in about 12 to 13 hours. This includes maxing out your characters stats and skills.

Rent it or wait for it to come down in price, but IMO $40 to $50 for 12 to 13 hours of play is not worth it. If you haven't gotten it yet, Morrowind (GotY) is going for $20 and gives you about 80 to 100 hours of play and the visuals and sounds are just as good (if not better - depending on what type of graphics and animation you are into). Morrowind is the RPG that sets the new standard for RPGs - and Fable falls short of it.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions