Its appeal and beauty lies in the inherently intangible magic of the medium.
Fable III takes place during the Industrial era, but there are still plenty of untouched areas of Albion that didn't change much since the medieval times. The player takes on the role of a prince (or princess) of the realm tasked with leading a revolution against his ruthless brother residing on the throne. So you wander around the country (and beyond) looking for followers who will help you in your cause. The twist is that once you manage to get on the throne, you have the option of honoring or breaking all the various promises you made to your supporters on the way up. Meanwhile, a great dark force is threatening Albion, so by appeasing your citizens, you may inadvertently doom them all as you need copious amounts of gold for the things you promised and to protect the land. It's an interesting mechanic as it makes you wonder a bit what is the right thing to do.
Naturally, you are also a Hero with special abilities and powers. The combat system is pretty similar to the previous games in the series, you have a dedicated melee, ranged and magic button. It's far from a deep combat system, but by seamlessly combining all three, the end result is at least entertaining.
Fable has always been as much of a simulation game as it was an action RPG and this is once again true of Fable III. You can wander the land, explore every nook and cranny to find hidden secrets and the odd side-quest, you can buy houses and businesses, or get married and start your own family. Once again, none of this has much depth to it, but it helps in creating an illusion of a living fantasy world. And this is really where Fable III shines, just like its predecessors. It sports, by far, one of the most wonderful and enchanting fantasy worlds in gaming. The art-styIe is fantastic, it effortlessly exuberates warmth and charm.
Fable III did away with the traditional menu and map system and needlessly complicated things in the process. Instead, you can access your Sanctuary at any time in which you walk around to check out the crude and frustratingly lacking map, change your clothes, weapons and spells and so on. With the Sanctuary, the game gains on the immersion factor, but loses immensely on the functional side.
When picked apart, it's easy to completely dismiss Fable III. But as a whole, there's just something inexplicably engaging about it. Its appeal and beauty lies in the inherently intangible magic of the medium.