Microsoft Game Studios has dropped off three new screenshots of the lovely Fable II, and these ones in particular show off the fantastic artwork being churned out by team Lionhead.
We recently travelled to the dev's (then) sunny HQ to see the game, talk to the devs and eat all of Molyneux's sandwiches.
"RPGs are one of the most complex game types there are," says Mr. M. "But for me, the idea of being who I want to be and my character being different to yours I think is one of the coolest genres of game.
"I think we should take that challenge of having casual people, who have never played games before, mixed with core people - why shouldn't we have a game like this where both those types of people can play together?"
Wouldn't say there the best pics yet- they do look a little jaggy- and the picture quality ain't great. The tree-thingy I think is the new version of the earth troll in the original fable. Can't wait for this! Hopefully the fuss over MGS will die down and the excitement will build up for this little gem!
Can't wait for this! Hopefully the fuss over MGS will die down and the excitement will build up for this little gem!
Look at GTA IV - hype died down after less than a week, and now it's practically not even talked about. Hype and excitement rarely lasts very long in this industry.
Same happened with Halo 3 - infact I think the only game I can remember thats had buzz surrounding it for more than a month after was Portal, and thats just because people latched onto the song and kept quoting it.
Agree with many of the posts above in that these definitely aren't the prettiest screens to be shown so far, but I really think this is going to be VERY special, also, I think "Moly" knows that he owes us a great game after the promises hyped with previous games that weren't quite kept, even though I loved the original Fable.
This game is the only reason I haven't sold my Xbox360 yet. If it's half as good as Lionhead claim then it will be special. I already have it preordered.
Molyneux is a crazy little guy. He hypes every Lionhead release way out of proprtion so I'd expect the same of this one That said, they do at least make the effort to make their games that bit special.
I never played the original Fable, but I'm kind of interested to see how this one works out.
Can't wait for this! Hopefully the fuss over MGS will die down and the excitement will build up for this little gem!
Look at GTA IV - hype died down after less than a week, and now it's practically not even talked about. Hype and excitement rarely lasts very long in this industry.
Same happened with Halo 3 - infact I think the only game I can remember thats had buzz surrounding it for more than a month after was Portal, and thats just because people latched onto the song and kept quoting it.
Well of course the hype slows down, the purpose of hype is to sell a product, once its been sold why waste money on further hyping? This is especially true in this industry where only a minute number of games sell consistently well months after launch.
It's far from a hack n slash... it's nothing like Dynasty Warriors or Ninety Nine Nights, It's an action RPG.
It's not a 'fully fledged' RPG like a JPRG or any other turn-based crap, it's - in my eyes - what an RPG should be. You get to go around being who you want to be, getting experience for doing what you want to do, having the population remember who you are and learn to love or fear you based on your actions.
It lets you naturally earn the skills you want simply by doing them more and getting better at them. There are no silly numbers or stats - its the perfect action RPG experience in my eyes.
I agree with MrXBob, Fable set itself aside as an RPG that sets the benchmark for others. Turn based RPG's and the like are wooden and predictable. Mass Effect showed us what RPG's are capable of doing, getting the player emotionally envolved and making every decision count. Fable started all that and now they are making it deeper and more fluid, taking out cutscenes and pauses during battles to make it feel like you are in this fantasy world.
I don't care if this game is over-hyped, that is something we can all choose to ignore. All I know is this game is going to reset the benchmark for all AAA RPG's and we can expect things to get a lot better.
Of course Fable (and Fable 2, presumably) is an RPG. You take on the role of a character and your decisions and playing style shape how he develops in terms of talents and appearance. Something like Ocarina of Time is NOT strictly an RPG because you've got no control over how your character develops.
It's far from a hack n slash... it's nothing like Dynasty Warriors or Ninety Nine Nights, It's an action RPG.
It's not a 'fully fledged' RPG like a JPRG or any other turn-based crap, it's - in my eyes - what an RPG should be. You get to go around being who you want to be, getting experience for doing what you want to do, having the population remember who you are and learn to love or fear you based on your actions.
It lets you naturally earn the skills you want simply by doing them more and getting better at them. There are no silly numbers or stats - its the perfect action RPG experience in my eyes.
I agree with most of that although I dont think turn based/Jap RPG's are crap just different.
I agree with MrXBob, Fable set itself aside as an RPG that sets the benchmark for others. Turn based RPG's and the like are wooden and predictable. Mass Effect showed us what RPG's are capable of doing, getting the player emotionally envolved and making every decision count. Fable started all that and now they are making it deeper and more fluid, taking out cutscenes and pauses during battles to make it feel like you are in this fantasy world.
Fable "started all that"? ROFLMAO! My friend, non-turned based, emotionally involved RPGs had been around since the 1980s!
The oldest that springs to mind is Ultima IV (I - III basically just being dungeon crawls), which came out in 1985. Ultimas V, VI, VII, and VII Part 2 kept up the tradition. The mid 1990s gave us System Shock, Star Ocean, Baldur's Gate (no, I'm not talking about Dark Alliance) and Planescape: Torment, and more recently we've had Knights of the Old Republic.
(Note that the BG, Planescape, and KotOR games are both turn based and non-turn based, as you can choose whether or not to have pauses during battles.)
I would love to see an Ultima game again. I realise the series closed off with the ambitious but slightly disappointing IX. It has always been one of my favourite series in terms of interaction Ultima IV actually fared best on the Master System in my opinion.
Back to topic Fable looks splendid and the graphics live off charm rather than sheer polygon grunt.Molyneux is one of the most ambitious and best gaming minds in history. I think he is actually dyslexic to my memory. He said it forced lateral thinking. His games may not always live up to their blueprint of ambition but he usually steps ahead of others with his final product in some way. I am very excited by Fable 2's release and hold out hope it will eclipse the original in every way.
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