My completion left me feeling wholly unsatisfied and somewhat cheated.
To my surprise however, my completion of the third iteration left me feeling wholly unsatisfied and somewhat cheated.
The game begins similarly to the previous games, in that after a brief introduction to the protagonist, the controls and the basic game mechanics, you will bear witness to the murder of someone close to you. The killing is executed (no pun intended) by none other than the tyrannical king; your brother. This murder sets the foundation for the narrative of the entire game... revenge. But unlike other games revenge-based-plots, the narrative does delve quite a bit deeper and will present to you the suffering of the common folk in Albion and how the King is mistreating them.
You will take it upon yourself to start a revolution, take the throne and bring harmony back to Albion.
I do not wish to spoil the story for others but upon taking the throne, you will make a discovery that twists the narrative in an unexpected way. It is a dark discovery that will influence every decision you make from then on, and believe me, there are plenty.
This twist in the story-line is nothing short of spectacular. I will not ruin it for you but I promise that it will change your entire stance and approach to the game, the characters and your upcoming decisions. When you take the throne the game will provide many choices for you to make, day after day. You will have to make sacrifices one way or another. You will truly have to think about every action you make, think of the repercussions in the short run and the long run. And you will witness changes around you, based upon what you choose to do. Whether it be building factories around Albion, draining Bower lake, building a brothel or an orphanage, and so on. There are always complications involving either money or respect from the citizens of Albion.
Being a king was the biggest new feature the game implemented and I truly enjoyed having freedom to craft the future of Albion. So what is my complaint?
As far as the game-play goes, it plays virtually the same as the previous two games. You can still have children, have a house, have sex, get a job, get involved in the whole real-estate thing, customise your character, customise your house/s and whatnot. This is all entertaining as before, however none of it feels fresh.
I was also a little disappointed with the relationship side of the game. In previous games you could romance everyone and effectively have numerous girlfriends/boyfriends. Now everyone has a set sexuality so if you are a male you cannot romance a lesbian female or a straight male. If you are a female, you cannot romance a straight female or gay male. This, despite being perhaps a bit more "lifelike", will limit the enjoyment of the game for most people who missed having an entire town of bisexual people in love with you and crowding around you, begging to get married.
But that is only a minor issue.
One of the major issues for me was how darn quickly the game can be completed. As usual, Peter Molyneux put Fable 3 on a pedestal and claimed that the part of the game where you gain the throne accounts for a solid half of the game. This was a big, fat lie. In actual fact, the part of being king was incredibly short, and while compelling, could have been stretched out a lot more.
Overall the main narrative was short, however it has great long-life if you do the side quests and whatnot. But for such a major part of the game to be so hasty really spoiled the experience for me. Seeing months go by in a blink of an eye gives the impression that Lionhead ran out of time or ideas towards the end of the game and wanted to get it onto shelves as quick as possible.
Sadly there is little initiative to go about the side quests as they are not nearly as captivating as the main story-line. And if you do not complete a solid number of side-quests, then no matter what decisions you make as king, ultimately they will all be useless. Everything boils down to simply one thing.... money. If you gain a lot of money early on in the game, then you are sorted. You wont be put into situations where you are forced to make bad decisions as king. As I ploughed through the main campaign, I lost a lot of freedoms.
My final complaint in regards to game-play is a bit picky but I think that Fable's exploration is starting to show its age. The small areas, the load times... it shouldn't still be occurring in this day and age. By now gamers expect to be able to roam the entire world of Albion, witnessing a load screen perhaps only when entering a city or village.
In terms of sound, Fable 3 truly doth shine. The voice acting is excellent. It is the first Fable game to have such an extensive cast of famous actors/actresses to do the voice work. These people effectively capture the wacky, sometimes serious but mostly quirky and comedic mood and feel of the Fable universe.
The soundtrack itself is pleasant as always but doesn't particularly stand out.
Graphically the game won't be impressing anyone but it is by no means a bad looking game. It is certainly a lot better than average, and in some cases looks wonderful. The animation is particularly nice, especially on foliage and other kinds of scenery, like bushy tree's branches and leaves blowing in the wind. Some texture detail is a little muddy and character models have a somewhat low polygon count. Otherwise, the game looks good.
Overall, Fable 3 is an adventure worth experiencing in spite of its shortcomings but those expecting a high quality rpg in the vain of The Elder Scrolls will only be let down by this short-winded, anger-inducing, albeit enjoyable and solid rpg.