I've only just started it and I'm warming to it aswell. I really liked the setup at the beginning with your sister and everything, I though that was very touching, but was later taken aback by how disappointingly familiar it felt. I dunno if I'm just getting into the Fable groove again or if it's getting better, but I'm starting to really like it.

I was off celebrating easter today and I found it somewhat difficult to pry myself away from the game to be truthful. :)

Will write some more about my endeavours in it on M7 when I'm done with a quick review of AiTD.

Aaarrrrggghhhhhh. The game just froze and robbed me of approx 6 hours of gameplay. Brilliant. :(

Well, the game is the length you spend with it really. If you rush through it, it's short, but if you mess around with stuff you can spend ages with it.

But the worst thing lost in my crash is the triggering of some quests. There's one in particular.

There's a guy in Westcliff Camp that wants you as a business partner to renovate the place or some such, and I can't get that quest to appear again. Does anyone know the specifics of how to do that? I would check faqs but I'm too scared of spoilers. I've yet to go on the "big trip".

I partially agree, and I will go into which points when I do my inevitable M7 writeup, but at the same time I don't think there's a difference between doing more than you have to in Saints Row 2, GTA4, Oblivion or Fallout 3 and doing more than you have to in this. The difference with Fable is that you have that overall renown thing building and you actually get feedback in quite an impactful way. I think it's oddly compelling, but I could definitely see how it wouldn't be for someone else.

It's not like WE understand eachother. I find your stance on Braid one of life's big mysteries. :)

I still can't find Barnum for the Westcliff Development quest. Any help would be greatly appreciated! There must be something that triggers him to appear.

False alarm! Turns out I'd already spoken to him and he disappears when you do. I went on the "big trip" and then it turns out I'd already done my part in that whole development scheme. :)

I tried to take my kid and wife for a walk but the kid got stuck on the other side of the portal.. I keep them in the Homestead home behind the Oakfield demon door.. When I went back in he was just standing there, unresponsive to anything I tried to do to him. Creepy! :O

Will check back when I continue playing tomorrow. Er, today.. Um.. After I've slept some.

I've written a short post on Mode-7 that I'd really love some your views on. I would find it very interesting to hear how you feel about those aspects in some detail even. Preferably spoiler free if possible.

Either here or there, either one's fine.

That was a great write up Simon, well done!

First of all I've got to go and agree with you on Fable 2 not actually hitting the mark on "getting the player emotionally involved".

Like you said, every part of the game that you are supposed to get emotionally involved with, is toned done by a shallow depth of that actual feature.
You've already mentioned the wife and kid and therefore I'll mention another aspect that royally pissed me off;

Your "trusty" canine companion......

I have to go back to the time before Fable 2 was released to explain it completely.
First off all; Peter Molyneux.
He seems like a really nice guy and enjoy listening to his ideas/concepts for his games. Now I know he's a bit a talker and more then often promises to much when it comes to his upcoming games.

Peter was absolutely raving about Fable 2's "special feature" which turned out to be the dog.... I absolutely loved the idea and was genuinely excited after him explaining that the dog was supposed to be; the best AI he has ever written. (It was supposed to be smarter than his Black and White 2 creatures). He also said that the players would really get emotionally attached to the dog.

He then explained some of the behaviour the dog would show;
The dog will run around and scout out treasures, warn for bandits and fight with you in combat. He also will have "different barks" depending on the situation. At the beginning an icon will show over his head and will explain what the dog wants. After a while the icon wouldn't show up any more and the player would be able to recognize what the dog wants when he gives a certain bark.

I found these idea's amazing and was really excited to see these in action...
But how did these things turn out?

Well as you might now already; One big F'ing disappointment.
Yes the dog did most of the things that were promised, but did I get emotionally involved? No I couldn't care less if that dog was there.
He helps you find "treasures", these being some stupid potions or some gold (of which I have more then enough, thanks to the brain-numbing mini-games)

Thanks for the compliments, and thanks for the reply! I'm especially curious about how people feel because like I was talking about in the text, the game in theory has the opportunity to make you feel invested in a way I haven't necessarily thought about in regards to games before.

I completely agree about the dog aswell. In fact, I find the dog thing pretty confusing. I think it's okay to talk cryptically about the time span involved here and the fact that.. there's a dog. So, when you're a tiny kid you meet a dog.. which.. doesn't strike me as puppy sized. Then, when you're grown up you're "greeted by a familiar face".. supposedly the dog from 10 years ago I guess. Let's say it's 10 at that point even though I totally don't believe that based on its size. Then later on you have the time jump 10 years again, and he's 20? This is a DOG. You're lucky if he's breathing at 20!

I totally assumed that the dog you have when you've recovered from the first set of events wasn't the dog from when you were a kid, because even that seemed unreasonable. I mean you're teaching the dog stuff when it's 10+! The whole thing is just really bizarre to me, and with that hamfisted delivery there's nary a believable connection to the dog either. At least not for me.

Mode-7 opinion is up if anyone is interested.

As I was saying in the intro, giving it some kind of all-encompassing review is impossible, so I fully expect agreement and disagreement. Please sound off here or there if you wanna discuss the game. Fable 2 is a subject that lends itself extremely well to discussion I reckon.