If you're drawn into the world like I was, you'll be playing Fable 2 well into the 40 hour mark.
Let me start with the dog. Yes the dog that Peter M. spent so much time talking about ends up being one of the best and most useful NPC's in all of gaming. Not only was the animal fairly intelligent and undeniably charming, it also added to the whole gameplay experience. Even though my character was a foul, evil being, every time that poor dog got hurt I would rush to exact revenge and hurry up and heal him. He's a great partner in combat, treasure hunting and just flirting with the ladies or pissing people off.
So already Fable 2 has something over Fable 1, a character I actually care about. It doubles the effect by adding a sister that one can quickly admire and feel for. Although fate would cut that relationship short, she turned out to be a better sister than the one in the original game. This game even gives you a character to actually despise in the form of Lord Lucien. While the game may not have the best story or the deepest characters, it is leagues better than what Fable 1 was able to accomplish in character and plot and this quality trickles all the way down to the regular townsfolk.
The graphics have all the charm of an animated feature length film. Environments are beautifully detailed and while they're not wide open expanses, they often don't exhibit an enclosed feeling. Everything is very pleasing visually and areas flow into one another wonderfully. Later in the game when the engine throws more creatures at you and powers get greater, I've noticed the engine draws in some fog probably to keep frame rates smooth. This is especially apparent when casting a spell. Also path finding seems to be a minor issue as characters and even the dog companion will occasionally hit the side of a wall of object, stop in their tracks, turn around to readjust themselves and try it again. In busy places or tight areas this can occur 2-3 times before the characters correct themselves.
Characters are human looking but quirky sort of like the type of caricatures in the movie The Incredibles. While the NPC's are usually pretty vocal, it's easy to tell what they think of you simply by body language and they way they react to your reputation or actions. The player characters change depending on which stats are upgraded and the type of food eaten. Strength makes the character more muscular; Skill makes the character taller and will give the character a mystical glow in his/her eyes. Eating fatty food will cause the character to pack on some pounds and moral decisions will either ultimately give you hero blonde hair and a halo or black hair and horns. While the male hero can look extremely well done in later levels, the female character ends up looking disproportional. I saw my friend's character and she had a small head on this mountainous, unfeminine looking frame.
There are also more weapons and clothing options this time around and that's a great thing to see. On top of the various clothing styles there are also dyes to find or purchase that can further make the character more unique. Clothing doesn't offer a defense rating but can actually help offset an evil character's appearance and make it so that not every one in every town is running scared.
Most of the interactions with NPC's are done through gestures in Fable 2. There is enough options starting out to convey the basics such as flirting, humorous, social, rude and scary, with the rest becoming available through purchasing books or gaining renown. Any kind of reaction you want to get from someone is found and there are even some surprise reactions when you mess up these actions or try rude ones. Just like in real life, someone might not find your dancing funny but once you fall on your rear end, then the laughs come. There's even the rare woman that gets turned on by thrusting your pelvis in air and making guttural grunting sounds. It's an overall limited way to interact with NPC's but it's often funny and works for this game.
The ease of combat in Fable 1 was one of my main complaints and Fable 2 doesn't make it that much more difficult. I think I actually might have been knocked out once or twice but thanks to resurrection phials, there were no negative side effects. Combat is broken up into ranged, melee and magic and each one is mapped to a different button on the controller. Attacking with melee rewards you with melee orbs, ranger with ranger orbs and magic with magic orbs, killing a foe gets you general green orbs. These orbs are then absorbed and can be spent upgrading that particular stat with general orbs being able to be used like extras. It offers a bit of character decision for most of the game but by the end my character was pretty equal across the board.
A co-op portion was included in the game but it is fairly lackluster and nothing like what I expected. Characters aren't imported into your friend's game and vice versa. The second player plays as a generic avatar that is called a henchman. The reason for this in the game is that the main player is supposed to be the true hero while the second player is just a lackey. It makes sense but it doesn't make the co-op enjoyable. There's no control of the camera, a very small tether region so the characters don't wander too far apart and the lackey can't go on rampages unless the main character takes the safety off. Also it seems that some achievements turn into viral achievements this way as people can simply join another person's game and unlock things that they haven't done. It's a very lackluster portion of the game that I believe doesn't offer anything beneficial to gameplay.
The main quest line is fairly short and could probably be finished in 7-8 hours or constant play through and while this may upset people; playing the game in such a way is doing a great disservice to the main joys of the game. Buying property, doing the side quests that are often as fun and rewarding as the main quests, and just plain old finding a job and settling down seems to be the real draw of this game. Also the side quests often introduce the main character with some quirky characters and offer some laughs to counter the often darker main story.
While the main protagonist is silent, the other characters in the game are voiced wonderfully throughout the whole gameplay experience. There's simply not one week link in the bunch. The music is pretty good and fit's the mood and atmosphere well when it pops up.
Fable 2 is by far Peter Molyneaux's best work and a game that shouldn't be missed. It offers all the promises that were made for Fable 1 and then some. If you're drawn into the world like I was, you'll be playing Fable 2 well into the 40 hour mark.