Fable 3 Preview

Everything is a little more industrial in Bowerstone, and players will soon realize in Fable 3 that this town is far more advanced than the Middle Aged Albion in Fable 2. A castle looms over the industrialized town and the tyrannical King watches over all. It’s a dark time for the residents in Albion; with children being abducted from the streets and forced into hard labor in the factories spread out across town, each projecting a cloud of smoke that hovers over the grimy land. The people of Albion are in desperate need for a change in leadership, and fear of protesting against their leader, but that’s where you come in.

Peter Molyneux has already gone into great lengths as to what the player should expect of the story. Today, we know that only half way through the game you will raise an army using your social interaction and combat skills, and overthrow the terrible King resulting in you becoming the new King or Queen of Albion. It sounds like something you would do at the very end of the game, but there’s more. The last half of the game is you as the King or Queen left to fulfill the promises and hopes that have been pinned on you earlier in your adventure. But don’t worry nothing has been totally spoiled for you; these are just what you can expect half way through your adventure, and the actual gameplay should keep you more excited more than the story itself.

In Fable 3 your interaction with other characters plays a vital role in the type of person you become, and how others react to you. A simple gesture such as a greeting is varied depending on who you are welcoming.  Let’s say you are greeting a fair lady you have just met on the street, you might shake her hand; but then greeting your wife when you get home, you might just embrace her with a kiss or hug. Simply put, touching is an important aspect this time around. You may lead NPC’s that you meet by hand almost anywhere that you like, a la ICO. Like all other physical interactions in this game, it will have a different effect depending on who the NPC is.  You may try to lead your daughter around town and she’d love to go down to the shop, but if you come by a factory she would beg you to not put her to work.  Think of the same situation but this time it’s a bum you picked up from the street; depending on what type of person they are they may or may not want to work in the factory, but walk them near a pub and I’m sure you’ll get a pleasant reaction.

Your love interest can be just about anyone you want it to be. They can be male or female regardless of your own gender, hell you can even have multiple spouses if you’ve passed the law to legalize polygamy. You make just about any decision you like.  Head honcho over at Lionhead Studio, Peter Molyneux, had referred to how King Henry made up his own religion so that he can divorce and marry another woman; imagine making decisions like this. You wouldn’t want to go too far because these decisions will impact the way your people will react to you, but don’t think that making any type of decisions when you take the reins of Albion would be easy at all.  Molyneux talks about how you may promise someone something like abolishing child labor prior to your seat in the throne, and then when you become King or Queen you realize that if you get rid of child labor you can’t possibly fulfill your promise to feed all the starving people of your land. It is trade-off situations like these that will have you biting your lips in Fable 3.

“The really strange thing about leadership is that there’s a common thread that has existed for centuries in all cultures. Whenever politicians, rebels or juntas are climbing to power they make promises, and very often these promises are not delivered on. We want to give a sense of that, so as you’re building up your forces, as you’re being a rebel, you will find this opportunity to promise things to get more power. Then after you’ve become leader, the opportunity to live on those promises has real consequences.”

-Peter Molynuex-

The dog is back in Fable 3 and he sticks with you through out your adventure (unless he sees a rabbit; in that case you’re alone until he either loses it or catches it and returns to you), and co-op also makes a return. This time around your co-op buddy is his own hero that has his own dog as well; they can also adventure through the land no matter what you’re doing. The leveling system has also changed this time around, instead of choosing points to add onto certain assets of your character; your levels increase depending on your weapon.  If you use a certain weapon a lot it will change and grow stronger and even change in color to visually illustrate how powerful it is compared to other weapons you may use in battle. If you’re a huge fan of the original Fable and its sequel then you should love this game no less. Fable 3 is scheduled for a holiday release this year, and I can not wait to finally get my hands on it.