Fable III (PC CD)

If truth be told, I am still angry at Peter Molineux for selling out and snubbing PC gamers - even if it was the PC platform that he made his name on. After the unforgettable Fable: The Lost Chapters, its sequel was never released for the PC, the most widely used gaming system. This means that PC gamers will forever miss on the complete tale that will determine the fate of Albion. Not to mention us missing on the best installment of the series.

AND YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD TO OVERCOME SIBLING RIVALRY!
During the first part of the game you try to rally the support of all the regions in order to dispose of your evil brother and, you guessed it, save the land. If you are successful you will also get yourself crowned, so it is a win-win situation (well, not for your sibling, no - just for you and the land).
And the game is far from over - now that you got the power you coveted you have to choose which promises you made on your way up you can actually keep.

ARE YOU SURE ALBION IS NOT SOMEWHERE IN ...THE NETHERLANDS?
In the tradition of Fable, your character can form relationships or marriage(s), stable or not, ephemeral or not, of the opposite sex or not. Everything goes - in a surreal playful atmosphere. This is one of the parameters that make FABLE III a very quirky and yet immersive game to experience.
At the same time, moral choices are also abundant and fun to follow through. And, as they say, it is easy to make choices - the hard part, sometimes, is living with their consequences.
What are not so easy to digest are all the personal delivery services you have to carry out. Everyone and their sister seems to have a parcel for you to fetch or deliver! Fortunately, they will reward you for your time and trouble.

APPARENTLY ALBION IS RIDING A BULL MARKET
You can set up a business or engage in property sales - but there is really no need to do so. You will be swimming in money very soon. Thus, the property customization is kept to a minimum. There are tons of (not so interesting) side quests that will keep you into the red, no matter how expensive your tastes in weapons or property are.

MAGIC SO OLD THEY HAD TO USE ...SOFT-FOCUS
The graphics have definitely improved since the first FABLE (a 2004 game mind you) but, playing The Witcher II in parallel, I was not that impressed. Lighting is dynamic, the environments look beautiful but not realistic and the characters as if walked in from a Japanese anime cosplay convention.
Having said that, high-end graphics had never been a FABLE game's strong point. Instead, an ever-playful atmosphere, imaginative environments and outrageous characters are what set the mood of the game.

A cRPG ON CRUISE CONTROL
This is where the game lost me. I did not mind the ...patty cakes or the juvenile body-sounds jokes from a Fable game but the gameplay oversimplification was sticking through in too many places to ignore. Although there is an appearance-modifying and weapon-equipping Sanctuary (accessible by hitting the Esc button), FABLE III has neither in-game inventory nor quick-slots.
Potions are consumed automatically. If you do not have enough you die. Something that never should worry you though. Because all you lose is some orbs and you respawn before you know it. This way, however, fighting not only is repetitive, it is also unchallenging. Even choosing the hardcore setting will not be much of a challenge to most gamers - and you still die with impunity.
Spell-combos are possible and the game encourages you to explore the possibilities but the combined effects are minimal. Most of your weapons gain levels and abilities as you keep using them. And you can always buy that coveted cool war-hammer.

ENTER THE DRAGON
Well, not the silverback one but still a dragon. The game utilizes mandatory Games for Windows Live DRM. Limited installations? Yes. Extra hoops to jump through for the privilege of playing the game you bought? You bet. Can you play offline? Yes - after you set up an offline Profile and forfeit any achievements while offline.

Overall I found FABLE III to be an overdue underperformer. It is a 3.5 stars game but I rounded down rather than up because of Monsieur Molineaux's snobbery towards PC gamers.

It is all about choices, right? Well, choices have consequences.

Fable III has been very disappointing. The whole system for interaction with the non-player characters is so silly that it borders on ridicule. You can choose to either do a "good" or "bad" thing to the person you are talking to (e.g. either shake their hand or belch in their face). Your action is then accompanied by grunts and noises from both parts, expressing agreement or disagreement. All social interactions are conducted that way.

The problem is that you cannot choose which type of "good" (or "bad") interaction to execute, and quickly the game gets stuck on "Dance". So you end up having a very silly and suggestive dance with everybody you speak to, from the city guard to the shop owner your were trying to haggle with. Watching my guy or gal character dance in a silly manner while moaning and grunting with city guards, citizens or sellers is not really what I have in mind when I think "creative interaction with the game world".

In addition to the nerve-grating social interaction system (which is unavoidable since you are supposedly trying to start a revolution and win people over to your cause -- by dancing erotically with them), you are stuck with a super-linear storyline. Basically you are following your dad's old friend from mission to mission while listening to him lecture you about your greatness and amazing future before he sends you off to kill something. You have no chance for dialogue, exchange or anything else of the style. You are just a characterless yeah-sayer who ends up following the old man and do what he says, for hours of gaming.

This is definitely NOT a role-play game: it completely lacks meaningful social interactions and freedom in the choice of what to do. The storyline is extremely predictable and unimaginative. And the silliness of the "interaction" system leaves one wondering what the designers were thinking.

This game series just gets better and better. Fable, the first game, was good, Fable 2 was better and Fable 3 is the best so far, in my view. It's more playable than the other two. There are plenty of quests to do, places to explore and hidden items to find. You can become a property tycoon to make money. Battling is fun. I enjoyed watching the heroic moves in slow motion. I have played this game twice, so far, from start to finish because I wanted to make different choices in it. The graphics are lovely and I haven't grown bored with exploring the beautiful land yet.