Fable II delivers on Peter Molyneux's lofty vision, telling gamers a story that couldn't have been told through any other medium. It offers highly enjoyable gameplay mechanics, like a one-button combat system that even a small child could master, while still offering considerable depth. Fable II looks and sounds beautiful, but the most lasting impression it leaves in its wake will likely be its story. It's not the story that the game is telling you that will leave that impact, though its droll sense of humor and interesting morality plays can leave you thinking. It's your freedom to interact with Albion and its denizens as you see fit, as well as your personally directed experiences in emergent gameplay. They're what will stay with you long after the game concludes.
Gerald: One thing I admired is how Fable II turns gaming conventions on their heads. There's no fiddling with game saves and reloads; if you die, you simple accrue a few handsome scars and pop right back into the fray. The result is that you no longer deal with annoying artifacts of ancient game design and instead play through an experience that flows more like an interactive storybook should.
Miguel: But it introduces some new artifacts, doesn't it? Fable II was really good at alerting you about stuff -- like, when your spouse needs affection, or when there was a sale on breastplates. When I was playing, it kind of felt like getting a million IMs at a time in real life. It was a little overwhelming. Gerald, you've played much more Fable II than I have. Was that alert system necessary? I had an almost conditioned reaction to them. Could people simply ignore them? Or would they miss out on some of the best elements of the game?Gerald: You could ignore the alerts if you wanted, but I looked at them as I would an auto-updating quest log in an MMO. The way Fable II was structured, I always felt that there was something happening in Albion that required my attention. I had to force myself to continue pushing the main narrative forward, because all too often I'd wander off the beaten path to find more gargoyle statues, kick off new relationships, increase my combat skills, or micromanage my real estate investments. If I had ignored all these other diversions, I wouldn't have gotten nearly as much out of the game as I did. Looking back, I personally enjoyed the game more when I was doing my own thing and not advancing the storyline. Did you have a similar experience?Miguel: I guess I got mixed messages from the game -- whenever an alert would pop up, I would feel it was imperative that I see to it, and yes, often to the detriment of the "main" quest. I've played enough games to know that, if you look into the diorama's guts, you'll map the scheme and learn that every sequence will replay at a later date. But I guess it's to the game's credit that all those little things felt so important. At worst, I felt like I was playing on its agenda, rather than my own.Gerald: I think part of the allure was that you could suspend disbelief and pretend, if only for just a short while, that your actions really could shape the world around you. While the medium still hasn't approached free-form storytelling or role-playing in this regard, it's getting closer and closer.
