Once upon a time...
The thing I like best about Fable 2 is that it's made of simple thing but you can get sucked into the simple things for a long time. The main story, I should mention, is really short. Really short. However all the things around the main story can take hours to complete and indulge in like buying out property, working for a living, completing repeatable quests, finding gargoyles, finding silver keys, screwing with the villagers, making economies better, breaking economies, finding hidden dungeons, and finishing out side quests that have a long term effect on your story.
The controls are easy to learn and intuitive after only a short period of time. Slashing, shooting, and throwing around a spell or two are very simple tasks to manage.
The world is amazing and wonderfully lit and designed. The characters are hilarious in what they say and do and the voice acting is phenomenal. The ability to interact with the environment, dive into water, jump a wall, and break open a false wall make the game even more interactive.
The main plot, though very short, is deep and interesting but just like the original Fable game it's the side plots that really make the story for your character anyway. This is something Fable 2 does quite well.
However, there are some disappointing aspects to this game which I had hoped dearly that they would have remedied. For one thing, the character models are pretty damn generic when it comes down to their foundations. Yes, Fable 2 does provide the means for you to mix and match clothing, however no matter what hairstyle or beard or whatever you pick, your face looks the same as any other hero in any other world. And, if you want to max out all aspects of your hero in the game, your hero, like everyone elses, will become a huge hulking individual that's ten feet tall and covered in Will lines. Traits are directly related to the aspects that you level up and there's no choice in the matter.
In some respects, the character design for the NPC heroes are way more appealing than the player's hero itself. i wished many times that Could have a shirt like Garth wore with scrolls and vials stuck all over it. I even wanted the hat that the alchemists wore because of the neat goggles. Or a deer skull helmet like the bandits. Nope...
Also, despite a larger verity of weapons, I was personally disappointed that EVERYTHING is sheathed on your hero's back AGAIN. Yes, it looks cool and solves some clipping problems, but on smaller characters that are pure Will users, a melee and ranger weapon crowding on their backs looks kinda ridiculous.... and you ALWAYS have to one kind of both weapons equipped at all times. There's no way around it. I know this is a small thing, but really I was hoping for a fix here.
The first time I played the game through, one of many times, I played as a mainly ranged character. Eventually I found a legendary pistol, a clockwork pistol called the Red Dragon, and absolutely owned everything from there on. With a little bit of skill in avoiding ranged counter attacks, I hardly took any damage at all and never needed a resurrection vial. Melee became a little more difficult to overcome because this character needed to get in the middle of everything to do the most damage. Will use is based entirely on how much damage you can take while charging spells to an appropriate level. So my advice for new players: ranged - easy mode, melee - medium mode, will - hard mode. It evens out though.
It is very easy to get sucked into this game and advance your character through the story losing track of time IRL. It's also a game with a lot of reply value because, fundamentally, you will want to make all your choices differently at the end to see what the world would be like.
If you're into action RPGs or are a Fable fan, even a LionHead fan, I recommend dropping the cash for a copy of this to own. Renting is not enough.