As a wanna be designer, Ive been informed to evaluate other games for the good and the bad. In a segment which I will do weekly if not more often then that will be to look over one of my favorite games and explain why I liked it. Why I disliked it. If I was in charge, how I would have made it better.
Game # 1
Fable 1 & 2. When you think of famous designers you think of a few big names, John Carmack, Cliffy B,Tim Sweeney, Sid Meyers, and then theres Peter Molyneux... Peter Molyneux is more then just a designer hes a visionary, but with his visions there needs to be restraint. The hype, the build up, the design process is unforgiving when your game falls soo terribly short of what you promised.
The Good.: Content, Experience System, Puzzles, Good and Bad system, epic story line.
The Bad: The Hype from Peter Molyneux, the Good and Bad System, Over powered combat abilities, the food system.
Explanation:
The Good - Dont get me wrong the bad list is extensive because of the Hype brought from Mr. Molyneux, you expected so much and it just fell short. All in all though Fable is an IP I love and I hope he makes more and more to finally reach his dream of the Butterfly Effect in video games.
The items, the puzzles, the quests, amount and quality of anything in these games were enjoyable, entertaining, and they truly made the game stand out. You had a tons of main story line quests but if you explored and did everything else in the game, you had many more hrs of fun with Fable. Getting a wife, tattoo's the talking doors, there was just so much to do. The experience system was unique that you gained 4 types of experience points. 1. Melee, 2. Ranged, 3. Magic, 4. General. Each one was used to upgrade only that specific type of abilities, the General could be mixed to augment any of the other three. This meant if you wanted to focus on Archery or Pistols you could, and you would lvl up your pistols with that experience. If you wanted to also get a spell to help change your fighting style up a little bit, the general orbs of Exp, would let you buy a spell to help out too. Only small discretion I had was that collecting glowing orbs of experience did kind of pull you out of the immersion of the game play. Why not just award them to the player and keep the game moving on?
Fable is really known for doing the Alignment system... The outcome of your actions in a quest would augment how people looked at you and actually the way you looked. Kick over the farmer's barrels while he was going pee, earn bad behavior points. Protect them, get Good points. This system was ingenious in design, but flawed in execution and I will go more into that later.Your actions affecting your character was an amazing feature.
The Story line of Fable has always been a big selling point for me. I cared for the characters i interacted with and genuinely had an interest in the arcs of the story. Fable 3 seems to me as if its going be grander by far more then I could expect, and I'm hoping it doesn't disappoint.
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The Bad:
Peter and his team talked about how cutting down a tree would cause this massive chain reaction later in the game that would be visibly noticeable. They talked about how everything you do mattered and changed your character. They went on and on and on. I know they are trying to sell the game, but at some point the hype becomes over hype.
The major issue with the game I had was the main selling point of the game I love so much. The good and bad system was flawed in a major way in Fable 1. Yes your character changed, yes people cowered, but at the end of the game when my Actions TRULY should matter. What did they present to you? A Simple choice of good or bad. ONLY that 1 choice mattered to alter the games ending. Save your Sister and forsake ultimate power or Forsake your sister for the ultimate power. In Fable 2 they actually got a bit better, you actions did have some effect on the world it self, people asked for autographs and or ran in terror, you got different emotes at different levels of good and bad. The Ending of the game actually had a few endings depending on if you chose, love greed, or a few others which I cant recall off the top of my head. Once again though all of the choices to get to that ending, didn't matter. All that mattered was that final choice.
The over powered combat abilities... if you played Fable, you can probably guess what ability im talking about. If you haven't well im not telling you... just kidding... Time Stop. Time Stop was a spell that slowed or stopped time for a duration depending on its lvl. This is such an amazingly broken ability because you can literally just slow time or what ever and run around hacking and slashing your way out of anything. Yes its pretty bad ass, but when you start to remove the danger from the game, it becomes a problem. No matter what skills I picked, I ALWAYS got time stop.
Last and the smallest concern I had was the food system. Eat certain foods and your character got fat or skinny based on what he ate and how often. Cool idea, but really the only things I can eat to lose weight is Tofu and like Lettuce? Everything else is fattening? I went through Fable 2 playing my Evil character and enjoying it all, until I took off his clothes to change a tattoo and outfit, to see he had a bigger keg then at a college frat house. This was just with food I found and used in combat. Trying to lose weight was impossible, since like only 2 vendors had Tofu and only like 1 piece of it at a time.
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Changes:
1. I mentioned the Experience Orbs, they are just a draw away from the immersion you could feel, be done with them and just award the 4 types of experience to the player.
2. A game with multiple personalities good, bad.. Needs to have a Neutral option, sometimes your don't wanna be the goody two shoes and or the evil master mind. Mr Molyneux, life isnt just Black & White®... (get it? HA!)
3. Story Endings. I want a lot of them. I want people I saved or let die to be in my ending, I want the mayor who's daughter I saved to come help me, or the town I stopped from burning to the ground to stand up and fight with me. I want something more then. Oh you beat the game, Here: Pick your Endings. Hogwash. I picked my ending by how i played your damn game. YOU give me the ending that goes along with the choices I made to get here.
4. Time Warp: Remove it.
5. Range Combat. steal Red Dead Redemption's gunslinger mode and slow down time when you draw your pistol but let the players shoot in like a First Person or over the Shoulder view. an Automatic Lock on is just meh.
6. More puzzles.
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Conclusion: I'm sure I can think of a few more things but it is 1:46 AM and I have a few questions to answer from some one I hope to call a friend some day, named Josh Hamrick. He worked on a little game you might of head... Halo: Reach?
So here it is:
Fable is a great series with all of its flaws and charms, Gimmicks or Features, I feel its a strong game and a very promising look for Fable 3. I just wish the Dev Team and Mr Molyneux would make my choices matter in the outcome of the game and not just let me chose A B or C. When Im able to chose how the game ends based on that you make everything else in the game ive done insignificant and you belittle everything. Why is that 1 decision sooo important that every other ones wanes in the shadow of this one? Its a great game and I will always be an admirer of Mr. Molyneux. His visions reach for the moon and even though he comes short some times, he's at least among the stars.
-Michael Isaacs
Full Sail Student
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