Author Topic: Fable III (Read 22381 times)

K-man · « **on:** Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 10:46:50 AM »

On top of the episodic content for Fable II announced earlier, Molyneux has officially announced Fable 3 set for a 2010 launch.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/19/molyneux-announces-fable-iii-at-gamescom/

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Peter Molyneux has just announced Fable III is coming later in 2010. You'll play as the son or daughter of your Fable II hero and start a revolution to become the ruler of Albion.

# Molyneux teases: "I think there's something fundamentally wrong with role-playing games. Game like Fable ... it's been there since the early '80s." Won't say what he thinks it is yet. Will announce later.
# "The race for the crown has begun." Tagline spoken by Zoe Wanamaker/Narrator.
# Game takes place about 50 years after the first. You play as the child of the hero. Bowerstone has continued moving on and has become quite industrial. The game is not just about Albion this time.
# Half the game will be spent trying to ascend to power. The game will not turn into a micromanagement RTS after that point. Judgment and Touch system will be used to influence the world.
# Focus on story and drama in this iteration. Actors and writers have blocked entire scenes. Video shown of practice sessions.
# Asks what type of kingdom will you have: poverty/greed, tyranny/compassion, progress/tradition?
# On the way to the crown, players will make deals and promises to factions. The question is whether people will keep those promises once they're in power.
# Players are a hero ruler -- Molyneux used the example of Star Trek or Caesar, that players won't just be sitting around once they rule Albion. They will still have adventures.
# New gameplay mechanic: Judgment and Touch. Judgment allows the player to dictate the outcome of a situation. The example used was a girl who steals food is brought in front of the ruler. The player can judge her immediately or investigate. Touch will allow players to grab NPCs. Example used was running into a burning building to grab a child who wouldn't come otherwise. Now you can shake someone's hand or refuse to. Handshake leads to hug, to embrace, a "snog," and as for that last one, Molyneux "won't say where it'll lead." This will replace the expression system.

Could be interesting. I certainly like the premise.

MysterD · « **Reply #1 on:** Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 01:31:05 PM »

I thought I had a Fable 3 thread going already...
I call for a merge.

idolminds · « **Reply #2 on:** Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 06:35:51 PM »

We'll live with more than one thread.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #3 on:** Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 06:55:27 PM »

That guy annoys the shit out of me now. Not even because of Fable. I just find him really irritating. It was beginning to get that way a while ago, and then when he did that fucking video for E3 with the little virtual kid... I've just had this urge to attack him with a chainsaw. I'm not sure why that is.

MysterD · « **Reply #4 on:** Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 08:03:36 PM »

Quote from: Quemaqua on Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 06:55:27 PM

That guy annoys the shit out of me now. Not even because of Fable. I just find him really irritating. It was beginning to get that way a while ago, and then when he did that fucking video for E3 with the little virtual kid... I've just had this urge to attack him with a chainsaw.

A Natal-based chainsaw?

Quemaqua · « **Reply #5 on:** Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 08:04:45 PM »

No. A real one. Powered by gasoline and pure hatred.

MysterD · « **Reply #6 on:** Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 08:08:30 PM »

You wouldn't do that to poor Milo...or would ya...?

K-man · « **Reply #7 on:** Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 08:54:51 PM »

My experiences with Fable games have been weird. At the end of both games I felt a little underwhelmed. I think the major reason for that is because by a little after the middle of the game you are just so absurdly powerful the game is just way too easy (Lost Chapters fixed this to an extent). After that both games are kind of a bore. I have such fond memories of both games and I think that is because of the setting and atmosphere rather than the game itself. Regardless the warm fuzzies are still there and I really can't dog either game as much as I'd want to.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #8 on:** Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 09:28:46 PM »

I feel much the same. I never finished either game (well, I never finished the lost chapter of the first -- did finish the stock game), and even though I was generally underwhelmed, I really enjoyed the time I spent with both. Like I said, my current irritation toward Molyneaux has nothing to do with Fable. I don't think the franchise has ever lived up to its potential, but I'd love to see it manage to do so.

K-man · « **Reply #9 on:** Thursday, August 20, 2009, 07:14:50 AM »

If there's anything I'd want to stab him for it's the cut scenes in Black and White you couldn't skip initially.

MysterD · « **Reply #10 on:** Thursday, August 20, 2009, 01:50:54 PM »

Of course Molyneux's Fable games will never live up to their potential -- b/c he said Fable would be "the greatest RPG ever." Fable TLC was great, but it's definitely NOT the best RPG ever. That's a title you have to earn from critics and gamers alike, not by just being a hype machine and saying your game will wind up as such numerous years before your game drops.

Molyneux does have some great ideas b/c he has such huge scope and ambition and tried some things nobody else really has came up with or implemented before -- but half the time, he scales them down from his original intentions and/or the touted feature winds up completely cut-out of the game entirely.

MysterD · « **Reply #11 on:** Monday, August 31, 2009, 05:08:40 PM »

Fable 3 interview w/ Peter Molyneux.

Peter's desire...

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IGN AU: It's taken three games so far in the Fable series to accomplish the ambitions, scope and vision you had for the first game.

Peter Molyneux: Wow, that's interesting you should say that.

IGN AU: Well, you tell me what your thoughts are on that. Is it a progressive, building-blocks process?

Peter Molyneux: That's very interesting. We're plagued by this idiotic—well, it's not an idiotic line, I still stand by it—this line that I said back in Fable 1 – 'we want to make the greatest role-playing game of all time'. And I mean that – and I mean that about anything we do. And quite often at Lionhead, I'll say 'look – why are we doing this shit, man? We're not doing this to make the fourth or fifth best role-playing game of all time – we need to make the first.

Good luck w/ that one, Peter. A lot of great RPG games you're gonna have to surpass, to try to top that...

The "Start Here As Nothing And Become Something By Defeating A Bad Guy" RPG Cliche

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Peter Molyneux: In Fable III, the very story says 'right—why is it there's this formula in both film and games that you start here and you're a little nobody here, and you get more powerful and you hear about a bad guy here... and by the end of the game, you defeat the bad guy; credits roll.

"Dynamic Touch"

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IGN AU: So to extrapolate on that thought for a moment, during your presentation, you mentioned that you were breaking an 'insidious, fundamental RPG mechanic.' Are you eliminating endings? Is that what you were referring to?

Peter Molyneux: Good guess, good guess – but it's not the thing I'm referring to. The thing I'm talking about isn't structural as much as it's gameplay. You know, when you work on something and you sit down, it's an interesting process that you go through. I'll give you this example, because it's a good one – and if you extrapolate it and link it to gameplay, it gives you a clue.

'Dynamic Touch' will be an interesting new direction and evolution of Fable II's Expression system.

You know with the expression system – it was new and different with Fable 1, and a bit more polished in Fable II – but just adding 20 more expressions in Fable III, it's not enough. And you know, when you're king, just standing around and farting, it's funny for five minutes – but does this really add to it?

Then, inventing this 'touch' mechanic and touch-based expressions...

IGN AU: This is the perfect segue, actually – and I think this is a distinctly Lionhead thing. With 'Milo and Kate' (the Natal human interaction simulation), it's very much about 'touch' too – emotional and, with the camera-passing, physical too. When you looked at Fable III, knowing you wanted to extend the expression mechanic, did you look to your work on Milo and Kate for crossovers?

Peter Molyneux: Do you know, you're right – and the weird thing is, I've only just realised it talking to guys like you.

IGN AU: Well, it's an interesting parallel.

Peter Molyneux: It is. More and more – and these aren't questions I can really answer about Milo because I have some very strict rules about it – but more and more I can feel that it's about a game character meeting you. This is very interesting; it's about making that barrier between you so thin that, subconsciously, I wanted to get that across in Fable. And of course, I'm not announcing any Fable stuff for Natal at all, but the touch mechanic is very much like that.

As The "Active King".

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IGN AU: I guess, related to ethics, few adventure games and RPGs have truly done politics well. I mean, there are strategy games that use elements of this, but it's difficult to convey realistically the nuances of political manoeuvring. Mostly it's just been cause and effect. In Fable III, it sounds like you're loosening the choker a bit; can characters challenge you for rule, create risings, revolutions and anarchy, for instance? Can the game push back at you, if you're pushing one way?

Peter Molyneux: Okay, so – yes, is the answer to all of those things. The beauty of this mechanic and the judgement mechanic is that it enables you as a player to get involved in whatever area you'd like to get involved in. So whether you're passing judgement on a small case about a loaf of bread or whether it be a big case about this community should go under military rule, you can decide 'no, I'm going to go out there as king and sort it all out'.

IGN AU: You're the 'active' king.

Peter Molyneux: Exactly. You can be an active or a passive ruler. Or you can say 'my judgement is...' –and I need to be very careful about how I say this, because of spoilers—'one of my advisors is going to go out there and sort it out for me.' And I would just say to you, 'be careful, man – power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.'

You know that element from Fable 1 and Fable II that we had called 'Renown'? That is super-important now! It's related entirely to what the people think of you and your rule. And if your renown goes too low, don't expect them to just sit there and take it, man!

Fable III is inspired by...history.

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IGN AU: So we can expect a framework of real historical events as your building blocks.

Peter Molyneux: Yeah, and if you look at the history of Amman in Jordan, the two brothers – it's well worth looking at that stuff as well. That's almost a spoiler. Look at Henry the VIII – not only did he have six wives, but he also threw all religion out of the country and reinvented it. And, he taxed people enormously heavily; that's where the 'window tax' came from – taxing peoples' windows in their houses – and he used five percent of that total tax income just on his wine cellar!

Xessive · « **Reply #12 on:** Tuesday, September 01, 2009, 02:37:57 AM »

More Molyneux hype.

MysterD · « **Reply #13 on:** Sunday, February 07, 2010, 06:00:47 AM »

Molyneux says Fable 3 is close to its "final edit stage."

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Fable 3 'almost at its final edit' stage, says Molyneux
by Ben Gilbert { Feb 5th 2010 at 5:30PM }

The head of MGS Europe assuredly has a few more things on his plate than the third game in a franchise he helped create, but in a recent feature on Peter Molyneux at Develop, the British creator calmly pronounced the game to be nearing its "final edit" stage of production. Whether he means "ready for submission to Microsoft" or "we haven't started polishing it yet" (or, heck, anywhere in between) remains unclear, though we'd certainly like to get our hands on the final product sooner rather than later.

Additionally, Molyneux triple dips on his love for Valve, proclaiming Half-Life 2 as his "favourite" game ever (you crazy Brits!) as well as the game he would most like to have worked on, and also notes the developer as the one he most admires (get a room, you two!). And hey, if you've been hankering to know his "favourite" album, it's Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." (Yep, we were kind of disappointed too.)

MysterD · « **Reply #14 on:** Monday, February 08, 2010, 03:29:38 PM »

Molyneux says there is something about Fable 3 that is going to "piss off" some people...

K-man · « **Reply #15 on:** Monday, February 08, 2010, 05:30:49 PM »

Well, that's sort of par for the course for him isn't it?

Quemaqua · « **Reply #16 on:** Monday, February 08, 2010, 07:33:09 PM »

Will it be because Peter Molyneaux is still taken seriously? That kind of pisses me off.

PyroMenace · « **Reply #17 on:** Tuesday, February 09, 2010, 12:22:26 AM »

It's hilarious how transparent he is.

iPPi · « **Reply #18 on:** Tuesday, February 09, 2010, 01:04:21 AM »

I've played the first 5 minutes of Fable and never played it again. I've played the first 30 minutes of Fable 2 and never played it again. With luck, I might be able to play 1 hour of Fable 3... and will probably never play it again.

MysterD · « **Reply #19 on:** Thursday, February 11, 2010, 06:13:36 PM »

Fable III is Natal-equipped and will NOT have a HUD.

EDIT:
A lot more on this from Kotaku.

Pugnate · « **Reply #20 on:** Saturday, February 13, 2010, 05:34:25 AM »

Well, Fable III is going to be an action adventure game and not an RPG. That is stupid beyond words because I don't think Molyneux can make a game that is compelling purely because of the action it offers.

MysterD · « **Reply #21 on:** Sunday, February 14, 2010, 06:23:48 AM »

Quote from: Pugnate on Saturday, February 13, 2010, 05:34:25 AM

Well, Fable III is going to be an action adventure game and not an RPG. That is stupid beyond words because I don't think Molyneux can make a game that is compelling purely because of the action it offers.

Thanks, Pug, for pointing that out.
Here's more on that.
From Peter Molyneux's own words - this is from CVG.

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Fable 3 isn't an RPG, says Molyneux
Friday 12-Feb-2010 4:45 PM Lionhead boss labels title an 'action adventure'

Peter Molyneux has said he no longer considers Fable an RPG series - labelling Fable III as "more like an action adventure".

The news comes after the revelation that the third iteration in the RPG series doesn't feature a health bar or HUD.

If the hero's life is in danger, the screen will inform the character by changing colour - in a similar way to Modern Warfare.

Molyneux has also scrapped the previous Fable game's expression system for a 'touch' mechanic, which allows players to hug, shake, fondle, drag and more.

"I'm not sure I even call Fable an RPG anymore," he said at X10 last night. "Certainly not a 1990s RPG, for sure.

"In a way, you could look at it and say it's like an action adventure. There's a lot of drama, there a lot of story, there's a lot of emotion in there - but with levelling up. I love that levelling up.

"I'm not the sort of person that likes being given a pre-planned character and told "this is you no matter what".

Read our full preview of Fable III from X10 - featuring commentary from Molyneux.

K-man · « **Reply #22 on:** Sunday, February 14, 2010, 09:40:19 AM »

It's always pretty much been an action/adventure anyway.

MysterD · « **Reply #23 on:** Friday, March 05, 2010, 02:50:55 PM »

This would so make me freakin' happy...

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PC Fable III?

[Mar 05, 2010, 2:19 pm ET] - 13 Comments
WorthPlaying points out a job posting for a Lionhead/Microsoft Game Studios Network Programmer that seemed to have indicated there are plans to bring Fable III to the PC and to provide cross-platform gameplay with the Xbox 360 edition of Lionhead's action/RPG sequel.

That's in the past tense because the listing no longer contains the clues they noticed, but apparently at one point the listing indicated the job: "involves converting and maintaining the network code of the Xbox 360 version of this game to the PC, and enabling the Xbox 360 version and the PC version to play together."

Big Download points to a post on Koku Gamer where they have a screenshot of the ad before alteration.

MysterD · « **Reply #24 on:** Sunday, March 14, 2010, 03:06:07 PM »

Molyneux at GDC '10 on Fable 3.

Your "Experience" Shows...Physically.

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While the process of morphing the avatar to fit the user’s play would stay in Fable 3, Molyneux noted that players found the cause and effect confusing. “It was [a good feature], but it was very mystical and it was defined by the experience you spent. In Fable 3 we’ve got this: if you use a sword, your muscles get bigger. That simple. No more complex than that.”

Moral Choices.

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Along the way, the character will also make “campaign promises” – for example, to close factories or end child labor. Players will make moral choices around these promises, and they’ll also run into practical problems as they struggle to meet all the promises they made on their way to power. “You will make a lot of promises. It will not be possible to meet all those promises.”

Reputation

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In addition, players will gain or lose followers who allow them to level up. Even personal choices will affect their number of followers: for example, marrying the daughter of a mayor will make the player more popular than marrying someone from the slums.

Weapon "Morphs" As You Play

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Lead designer Josh Atkins also spoke at the talk, describing the combat mechanic, where a player’s weapon morphs based on how often they use it and what they kill with it.

Going Beyond Your Horns and Horns...You'll now also get Wings.

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Molyneux showcased many other details. In addition to the horns and halos seen in past games, avatars in Fable 3 will also have angel’s or devil’s wings: Molyneux showed off the large red wings that had sprouted from a hero’s back during combat.

Marrying Co-Op Players

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Two-player co-op will be come back, but players will have the option of marrying a co-op character – making this an interesting game for spouses.

Story

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Molyneux also discussed the story for the game. The goal of the Fable franchise is to make the player feel “powerful.” “We realized that we could sit down and do another Hero’s Journey. You’d start off the game pretty weak as a character, there would be some big baddie … [but] what if we made that Hero’s Journey the halfway point of our game?

What if we constructed a story where you started as a hero without any power at all, and what if there was this evil terrible king running Albion, and what if you went out as a rebel, took forces, and took on and overthrew that evil king – and then you became king yourself?”

Pugnate · « **Reply #25 on:** Sunday, March 14, 2010, 11:41:00 PM »

Wait, what about Fable II PC?

MysterD · « **Reply #26 on:** Monday, March 15, 2010, 01:55:50 PM »

Quote from: Pugnate on Sunday, March 14, 2010, 11:41:00 PM

Wait, what about Fable II PC?

Agreed - I want that to come here. I would NOT be surprised still if that does come here, actually. I still think Fable 2 PC would be the perfect vehicle for testing sales through G4WL GOD.

But, The Fable 3 PC/360 rumor is just that right now...a rumor. Take it with a grain of salt. But, I'd guess it might be true b/c Molyneux has refused to say what platforms the game's in development for.

Molyneux might have that kind of pull to convince Microsoft to publish a PC game - he's a Gaming Legend, love him or hate him.

Xessive · « **Reply #27 on:** Monday, March 15, 2010, 02:26:41 PM »

Regarding the rumours, a game like Fable could work well in and benefit from cross-platform play!

MysterD · « **Reply #28 on:** Monday, March 15, 2010, 03:20:17 PM »

Quote from: Xessive on Monday, March 15, 2010, 02:26:41 PM

Regarding the rumours, a game like Fable could work well in and benefit from cross-platform play!

PC Gamers and X360 gamers working together over Microsoft's Live services = sounds like a great idea to me.

Xessive · « **Reply #29 on:** Monday, March 15, 2010, 09:02:46 PM »

Quote from: MysterD on Monday, March 15, 2010, 03:20:17 PM

PC Gamers and X360 gamers working together over Microsoft's Live services = sounds like a great idea to me.

That really should have been a priority for Microsoft, especially considerig that most people who own a X360 would also likely own a PC.

So far I think there are only 4 games that are cross-platform, one of which is Shadowrun.

MysterD · « **Reply #30 on:** Monday, March 15, 2010, 09:10:24 PM »

Molyneux talking about "episodic" plans and DLC in Fable 3.

Fable 3's Shop Network sounds like The Cerberus Network

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"So we've got these things – these couple of simple things we've got in Fable 3 – which are really, really nice. The first is that some of the shops in the world of Albion are actually linked to the internet and are populated by the staff of Lionhead every so often. So they don't have to be fixed things, we can put new stuff in the world all the time. And you don't have to go out to some horrible Dashboard and download The Armageddon Pack version 5, or drive down to a retailer and wait for some big pack to come out.

Ferry To Different Islands (DLC)

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"The sort of thing we're thinking of – I suppose I shouldn't tell you this but I'll tell you anyway – after you've been playing the game for awhile you'll see this ferry," Molyneux reveals. "This ferry keeps coming into Bowerstone and going away. It goes off to these islands that we've been talking about but there's no way you can buy a ticket. So one of the things that we enable online is this ticket to this ferry and actually in this ticket is the islands, so we make it feel like you've downloaded this ticket when, in matter-of-fact, you've downloaded the islands."