Gerald: Back to your original question, Gabe. I'm taking a different approach to combat than you are, balancing my ability allocations pretty evenly between strength, skill, and will. There are situations in the game where you're pretty much forced to use your gun, like when facing bandits that have set up an ambush atop a ridge, out of range of your sword and magic. Then there are situations where it just makes more sense to hack stuff apart up close, where it would be riskier to try and shoot 'em point blank. I think the blunderbuss and its shotgun-like blast radius may make this sort of encounter viable for skill-users, but I'm actually pretty fond of the swordplay.
See, as Peter Molyneux has been telling us for years now, even though combat is essentially powered by one button, it's actually quite satisfying and deep. You can make rapid swipes with your weapon by hitting the attack button, but that's only the start of it. If you hit someone when they're preparing for an attack, you can interrupt their swing with a stiff shoulder, knocking them off-balance. After unlocking the first level of the Brutal Styles, you can block attacks by holding down the attack button, but timing it properly will provide an opening.
Further specialization in the Brutal Style will allow you to perform a variety of flourishes, or special strikes. They're incredibly intuitive to pull off, you simply hold down the button as you would to block and then release while pointing the analog stick in the direction of your target. You could end up spinning around to swipe at multiple enemies, or rearing back to launch a leaping strike against a guarded enemy. You get to see these flourishes in close detail as time slows down and you get a zoomed-in look at the fight, allowing you to tactically decide where your next blow will be launched. Properly chaining flourishes together seems like a great way to escape from deadly engagements relatively unscathed, thanks to this cinematic effect.
I've also noticed that each spell has a pair of uses, one fast-casting area-effect ability, and another, directed ability for single-target usage. Time Control, for instance, can be used to slow down the movements of everyone in the vicinity or directed at a single target, allowing you to instantly dash behind them for an unsuspected blow.
So, while there are still higher levels of ability to unlock, I'm pretty pleased with the combat system thus far. I wasn't really looking for something incredibly deep, though. I was more looking forward to exploring the fantasy world of Albion and being able to take my adventurer in any direction I pleased. What do you think of Fable II thus far, Will?
Will: I had an opportunity to play the first four hours of Fable II a few months ago, and I wasn't really sure what to expect. While there were certainly things I enjoyed about the original game, I was one of the people that felt the sting of undelivered promises. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I always felt like Peter Molyneux bit off more than he could chew by promising too much. To be totally honest, I was worried that that might be the case again with Fable II, and I was happy to see that this is a far superior game to its predecessor.
My time with the game in both of my playthroughs has been spent honing my skills with various blades, from longswords to axes, to the point of dominance. Okay, so I'm actually only a few hours into it again, so my skills are about the same, but I've decided to go a different moral route. Yes, I've basically become a loudmouthed jerk. If I'm not busy shoving people around or saying awful things to their faces, I'm farting or belching with reckless abandon.
I'll probably restart the game this weekend now that I've got the final retail copy and really dive into it (that is, hunt down achievements). I still haven't decided what sort of person I'll try to be, or if I should just go with the flow and make decisions on a case-by-case basis. Being able to make potentially thousands of choices is something that I'm looking forward to.
I really like the combat system so far, especially the way it can be upgraded. As a melee combat practitioner, I went from simply swinging a sword around to diving acrobatically while performing dramatic finishing moves. I look forward to being the best in the land!
