Fable 3 E3 2010 Preview

Peter Molyneux doesn't feel that anybody remembers the story in Fable II. This time around, with Fable III, the designer wants a "memorable story". Players will take the role of the son or daughte

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Peter Molyneux doesn't feel that anybody remembers the story in Fable II. This time around, with Fable III, the designer wants a "memorable story". Players will take the role of the son or daughter of the protagonist from Fable II. The player's brother, Logan, has ascended to power and is king of Albion, but he rules with an iron first. The first half of the game is spent forming a revolution and overthrowing your brother, while the second half is what happens after you become king.

Once you become king, well, Molyneux is being tight-lipped on what that will entail as it would reveal some story details. Expect the game to continue and promises made to followers made before you took the crown to come back and impact the story in a big way. If you wish to leave your castle, wear a good disguise as subjects may swarm you with adoration - or try to kill you if you've become a tyrant.

The system of leveling has been completely re-thought for Fable III with experience points being replaced with followers. "You start with three," says Molyneux. "You need 300,000 [to overthrow your brother]." As the story follows your coup, the measure of your progress will be the amount of people in the game won over to your side. Followers will be earned by completing quests, defeating enemies, and doing other RPG-like tasks. Followers, in turn, will unlock more of the game's progression.

"We solved one of the problems we had with Fable II," explains Molyneux. "Where talking to people, getting married, getting divorced, buying houses didn't really mean anything. It didn't add anything to the game. Now, because everything gives you followers, everything means something." Additionally, much of the game's menus have been removed in favor of an in-game sanctuary, which will house all of the player's loot, gear, clothes, and an entertaining butler voiced by Monty Python's John Cleese. Players can instantly teleport to this location to change loadouts or interact with a map of the game world. The map, which shows a life 'feed', for lack of a better term, of the game world can be used to zoom into cities and accept quests, interact with the world, and teleport to various locations in the world.

Weapons will evolve as they are used based upon how they are used with some new morphing technology. If you use a lot of quick attacks, a sword might shrink in length becoming more dagger-like. Conversely, large flourishes and strong attacks will morph the sword into a more lengthy beast. Eventually, a weapon will be so customized that it will take your name, forever branded with your influence. It can still be traded and sold at this point. There are some 88,000 combinations within each weapon type and will happen organically over a weapon's lifetime. Melee weapons, ranged weapons, and magic gauntlets will all be morphed in this way.

"Co-op in Fable II: it was okay," according to Molyneux. "Being locked together was tedious. We had the henchman [mechanic], which was a bit weird. So Fable III's co-op: when you bring someone into your world, their hero comes into the world - with their dog. You do have the two dogs meeting each other. With that co-op player, you can be seperated. One of you can go off and do a job, the other can do a quest. You're not locked together with the camera. You can marry your co-op buddy. You can have sex with your co-op buddy - sorry, Americans - you can have children with your co-op buddy."

Fable III is to be released on October 26 for the Xbox 360 and PC. A digital version will able be available on the PC exclusive through the Games for Windows Live service.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 24, 2010 8:40 AM

    An as American, was I supposed to be offended by something he said there?

    • reply
      June 24, 2010 8:49 AM

      It's a well known fact that Americans find marrige offensive.

    • reply
      June 24, 2010 9:02 AM

      same sex marriage

      • reply
        June 24, 2010 9:54 AM

        Umm, okay. When he said he was going to do a more full co-op experience, I didn't think he meant THAT. Also, yes, americans in general treat sex as some sort of taboo compared to the rest of the world, so he was just trying to save his ass by saying "sorry americans", even though that won't help him anyway. I see this as the new game scandal of '010! I wonder if your dogs can have puppies as well, then we'll just have this game branded as "Most Perverted Game of 2010". I can just see it now...Just look how people reacted to the ability to kill civilians in COD:MW2. You didn't HAVE to, but it was there and that was enough, I guess... Oh well, I just see this as more ammunition for the anti-gamers to hate on video games with. I am going to go ahead and say it first: "SHITSTORM 2010".

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