I'm sure that's what we were thinking before Fable 2 came out...and it wasn't terrible, but I didn't think it was brilliant either. I'll give this a watch though.

just watched a live stream and i have to say im sold, voice acting, combat, story all seem so much better, will be picking this game up for sure.

This Will Be Spoiler Free BTW.

I'm sure you are all familiar with the phrase......"There's no one else to blame?" This is true of myself and all Fable fans actually. We were once sold a lemon and praised it until it became lemonade, but I have a feeling many of us may not be interested in doing the same thing with Fable 3.

Fable 3 has to be the laziest piece of shit any MAJOR developer has ever dared to release in recent memory. It is plagued with so many bugs and technical issues that you are sometimes forced to struggle through or start all over again. Because Lionhead once again only allowed one game save at a time, when THIS one game save becomes corrupted..........your game is lost. This has happened to me twice, once before I was King and the other during a quest. I've gotten stuck during combat and have been knocked out repeatedly with no chance of fighting back or retreating. The golden bread crumb trail that was pretty useful in Fable 2 is capable of leading you just about anywhere EXCEPT your chosen destination. The much vaunted Map/GPS that Peter claimed was supposed to revolutionize travel and how you accessed Albion's Map is a sometimes working properly and a sometimes not working at all feature. Sometimes the map would transport me within a few feet of my chosen destination, others times it would place me about as far out of town as possible. lol!

Most of Fable 3's combat was a snooze unfortunately as Lionhead has ditched and gutted Dexterous and Brutal Styles, which I loved in Fable 2. There's still quick draw and sub-targeting but it's now terribly imprecise, there's still counter reversals but they're now completely random and no longer a function of skill or timing. Speed is gone, along with the ability to put together dazzling chain-attacks. Flourish remains, but it's a bore now. Fable 3 certainly encourages you to flourish and flourish often, the problem is that while you only have a flourish and a quick attack, your enemies have two and three hit combinations that break flourishes with relative ease. Blocking is simply not an option because while you're blocking, ranged adversaries are taking shots at you. When you're attacked it's often an ambush of enemies swinging swords at your back. The blocking function is now sooooooooooooo slow that you will barely block in time or get hit most of the time no matter what you do or your skill level. Magic and gunfire is the only way to break waves of enemies now as melee combat no longer rewards you for doing anything right. Just hack, slash and block. Wash-Rinse-Repeat. :P

But by far the worst thing about Fable 3's combat is the action sequence camera. In Fable 2 when you nailed someone with a reversal, you were treated to a slo-mo sequence that revealed a killing blow or move. In Fable 3 this function is broken. Let's say you take aim at an on-coming mercenary, the camera then pulls away from you and slowly towards that mercenary. This enemy is not dead however, in fact after you've pumped maybe three shots in slo-mo into this guy he may actually get back up again. And it's a false slo-mo sequence, what you thought was bullet time was actually REAL TIME because when the slo sequence is over the camera will zip back to you SURROUNDED by enemies waiting to hack you to pieces. BROKEN.

Another aspect of Fable 3's combat is weapon morphing. This has caused alot of grief because you don't get to forge your own weapons with augmentations anymore, that function has been gutted. Instead your weapons will only morph and change based on how you use them. This is honestly a crap shoot however as the GAME decides what your weapon will look like. Open too many treasure chests and your pistol will start looking like a Faberge egg. Kill too many hollow men and your sword or rifle will start looking like a sea shell. Legendary weapons don't morph but now carry a laundry list of requirements to get them to upgrade. They're cheap so you can get them early enough to unlock their capabilities while questing, but if you've spent all this time trying to morph your Hero weapons why would you suddenly move to these other weapons at all? But that's still a choice for each individual to make. I have the Dragon 48 and the Hammer(in place of the axes that were removed). I don't use anything else.

Again........more with the weapons. In Fable 1 and 2 you had to spend XP on Strength, Skill and Will. Strength beefed you up, Skill made you tall and Will made you older and caused your skin to glow. Guess what.........this was also gutted. Now you MUST use your sword, hammer or pistol to get Strength or Stature to improve. This will be a long climb as it will take several quests to improve these attributes. Magic pretty much remains the same as Magical Aura is naturally linked to how much you use magic. And your morality could turn you pasty white if you're too good. Seriously my Good Hero looked liked he was in terrible need of a blood transfusion.

As we all knew, Fable 3 was going to be broken up into two parts, the revolution and then your being crowned ruler of Albion. Slight problem..........your reign is very short after you're crowned if you've met certain requirements as I did. That's not a spoiler actually, it's more like a warning. I won't get into the details but Fable 3 is very short after you become King. VERY SHORT. Be Prepared for that. The much talked about judgment system that Peter promised in Fable 3 is nothing more than choosing to be Snow White or Darth Vader. Your choices are fixed because they aren't choices at all. You can either be evil and listen to people in your castle disrespect you as they pass by(which I don't allow anyway and explains the body count near the Throne Room when I'm playing the Tyrant), or you can be so sweet that everyone in your Kingdom will have a toothache. That pretty much sums it up, keep your promises or let Reaver (would definitely a spoiler) fuck your people with his cane.

Graphically Fable 3 improves on some things and downgrades others. Bodies of water look very realistic, all trees in Albion sway with the wind and Bowerstone looks larger than ever. Interaction with citizens is far more dynamic, it's a pity you aren't granted the choice of how to express yourself with them. More on that in a moment. The graphic downside is that the people of Albion look awful, they all look the same, they all look like they're from an Xbox 1 game. Everyone looks tired and worn out, especially the women. In truth they NEVER looked good in Fable 2 either, but now it's like they all fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.

Remember in Fable 2 how you could see expressions on your kids faces? Remember how you could see shock, fear, surprise, teasing, laughter, pouting, and even confusion depending on what you were doing Well that got gutted. The kids register no expressions at all now. Their mouths seem to move wordlessly and their eyes simply dart back and forth like a doll in a horror movie. They also all look the same no matter their gender or color. I've seen two white parents in homes that I own with a black daughter with red hair. I've seen two black parents and a white son. I personally have had a black son and white daughter, both shockingly dressed in rags no matter where they are born. It's all random, how they look, how they're dressed. One of the things we asked Lionhead to do was make it so our families weren't dressed like peasants after we moved them into better digs. No one was listening..............to anything. Peter and Lionhead removed everything that worked and introduced a bunch of new things that are quite honestly busted.

One of those things are "The Road to Rule" It's a path marking your progress. It has melee, spells and firearm upgrades there, which we all should agree is appropriate. It also has Piemaker, blacksmith and Lute player upgrades which is ridiculous. Why should I have to spend guild seals (XP colored orbs replacement) on piemaking or expressions? And that brings me to expressions, yep.......the old expression wheel was gutted and replaced with a three button choice system. You don't get to choose any expressions at all anymore so if you wanted to just shake someone's hand don't upgrade on the Road to Rule because the expression that will replace shaking hands will be dancing. And that means you have to dance with EVERYONE from now on. Yes, you will be doing the Cha-Cha-Cha and tangoing with ALL the men and women of Albion. You will also get to tickle men, and twirl them around gracefully and lift them in the air before kissing them on the hand oh so very gently. And if dancing doesn't come up in the random expressions.........there's always Pat-a-Cake. Yup, nothing like two grown men playing Pat-a-Cake in the middle of the town square. Peter has taken Fable 3 way past the homoeroticism that we've come to expect and has ventured into Barbara Streisand territory. I will say this, it's actually pretty funny in the beginning, but after awhile it starts to become tedious. That's when you'll really start missing the old expression wheel.

Ok one spoiler. The Story. There is this one part of the game where your Hero ventures to the nearby land of Aurora, a desert wasteland that's been ravaged by something called the Creeper. Yes, this turns out to be as stupid as it sounds but it started off quite well actually. It had lots of tension and great promise..............until you realize that the enemy is THE BLOB and the ridiculously easy combat that kills the excitement. So once again, a Fable game that doesn't have a real enemy. What gives Lionhead?

The last thing that I'm going to mention is the Sanctuary. THIS they got right........well almost. It has an armory, a dressing room, a treasure/trophy/achievements room (where your gold can pile up to the ceiling) and an IN-GAME store where John Cleese will be annoying the hell out of you to buy shit from Lionhead that you don't want or need. But it mostly works because everything is in order and available in a way that is actually thoughtful and clever. Want to check out your clothes and weapons? It's all there, easy to access and never a chore. If Lionhead had given as much thought to other aspects of the game as they did the Sanctuary, Fable 3 would already be a classic. But instead we have a buggy, broken game that offers a half-assed experience. Oh yeah.....and they want you to pay 80pts for the color black.

To non-Fable fans who are also core gamers, this is not the game you want to play to come aboard this franchise, you won't appreciate any of this shit. Fable fans will wait for a patch or some kind of technical fix for the many issues the game suffers from, but even then it won't fix what what was cut and gutted from this franchise. Fable is going though it's own Mass Infection, where a developer no longer knows what the fuck they want their game to be, so a whole bunch of things are thrown at it to compensate for what was ripped out in it's obvious mass appealing for casuals. The combat is just childishly simple and offers no challenge for core gamers. And with that, there goes Fable 3's re-playability. I can only hope that DLC redeems Fable 3 the way DLC redeemed Mass Effect 2.

This is the 2nd franchise I've watched this shit happen to and Bioware seems to be hard at work on number 3 with DA2. It's hard watching this guys, all the crazy assed predictions that people made about IN-GAME stores and casual garbage being thrown into everything is slowly materializing. I used to shrug my shoulders when people brought it up, now I can see how short sighted I was. And it's happening to my favorite genre.

I hope casuals go out and buy this, because this was made for them. I wouldn't recommend this to any core gamer. As for Peter Moleneux, eh I don't think his games will ever catch up with his wild visions, but to allow his game to be released with so many technical glitches that make Fable 3 sometimes unplayable is disturbing.

Gezz I hadn't planned on ranting this long. I didn't even cover co-op. lol

i'm still waiting to give an opinion on the game, becasue atm, i'm stuck in the sanctuary and can't progress. so far not so good. have they patched it yet?

No it hasn't been patched yet and don't look for Lionhead to announce it either, they never officially announced a patch for Fable 2's technical issues either. One of these days (soon I hope) when you're starting up Fable 3 you'll probably be prompted to download an update and that will be it.

As for your problems with the Sanctuary, many have mentioned that. Some say it's glitch that's linked to the game save issues that people like myself have reported to Lionhead. It's a shame that it's so buggy because the Sanctuary is about the only well thought out improvement to Fable's inventory system.

Hi guys, I need a female ruler of Albion to swap Fable3 King/Queen outfits. Anyone interested?

I finished it 4 times and did not find a single bug myself, not one

I guess it is extremely rare to come across these bugs and i have not pathced my game at all

BTW there is a patch out

the patch doesnt fix anything important tho, oh wait. yes it does. it fixes the money exploit. lionhead totally have their priorities screwed up....lol, they wont fix the game ending bugs (it's been well over a month now), but they'll fix the exploit...lol

most buggy game this gen for me. i rarely ever run across bugs so severe that i physically cannot progress. i've had crashes in fallout and oblivion. but they're minor annoyances, not crippling. fable 3 tho is unplayable. sure i could ditch the 6 hours i've spent playing the game and start over. but you still run the risk of getting ANOTHER of the multitude of game ending bugs AGAIN. whether a game works properly shouldnt be a game of chance. it should just WORK. and fable 3 doesnt. at least not as consistantly as it should. it's a fucking MS owned studio exclusive for christs sake, it should have more polish then this.

If the bugs were so severe, how come i did not meet any after finishing the game 4 times ??? Seems very strange, i understand the frustration when you do meet the bugs, but i wonder how come i have not found any yet

I must have been in and out of the sanctuary 1000 times by now and did most quests multiple times

I do have some slowdowns when playing evil though in the lake area mostly, that is all, no other bugs at all

then you are lucky, you only have to look at the official forums to see just how many people have been affected.

be it falling through the floor only for the game to autosave (meaning loading only takes you back to falling through the floor)

being trapped in the sanctuary

not being able to use the map to fast travel

not being able to use the map to chose a family home

not being able to change clothes or weapons

characters and spouses dissapearing

the pixie dust trail leading you in circles

the pixie dust trail leading you to the wrong location

the pixie dust trail vanishing altoghether

jasper not talking

losing ALL items, but retaining game progressions. meaning you're naked, you can't buy clothes, you can't buy weapons, you can't FIND weapons, you can't progress

i ran into almost all of those within 6 hours. then i ran into the sanctuary issue, and couldnt go further. i'm waiting on a patch for a game that shouldnt have been released in this pitiful state. this is the sort of shit i expect from a bethesda game. but even those have less issues then this. i mean, fable 2 wasnt a very good game. but it was at least stable. fable 3 is just a joke.

i mean, when a developer has to release a bug report form mere DAYS after release, you know something isnt right. that sort of shit is what you expect when you're participating in a closed beta, not when you buy a retail product.

fable 3 has just proven that lionhead are incompetant. despite my issues with the second game, i was willing to give then a second chance. but no-more. i'm done. the fable series is dead to me. it's just dissapointment after dissapointment.

I tend to believe that it is because i have the European version i did not come into any trouble myself, played for weeks and never found a single of the above bugs, maybe the golden trail dispeared 2-3 times, but came back after i stoped a bit, nothing else

Maybe they released a patched version in Europe ?

hmmm ... I have to admit I enjoyed it so far, combat is very easy as usual with the Fable series but it's still kinda addictive, though all in all it feels dumbed down a bit. Didn't encounter any major glitches so far as I have done with AC Brotherhood, but a bit more polish would have been good. I hope that for the next game they will lay off that release-date pressure and focus on a better experience from the get-go.

Played the demo at last, will be buying this next week :) aside from sluggish camera and the feeling of walking through water (amplified by the frame rate) and the HORRIFIC screen tearing, i reckon this will be a decent title, feels better than fable 2 anyway :)

Really though i still stand by they should use bethsedas new engine.. can you imagine fable and its art style in that kid of open world? would be fantastic.

I just randomly recall something

Peter and his crew asking the community what they would like to see in fable 2, many of these questions he and his team replyed to

I was on the first page.. and i had no response

My question..was this.

"If we was to have a shit in the toilet, could we poke it aftwards with our sword"

After seeing this was not in the final game, i somehow think they don't care what the community wants :(

I never played a Fable title before fable 3, which i played on PC. My fav rpg games, Baldur's gate 2, Mass effect... NWN was decent, without being great. Icewind dale lacked the humor as your characters didnt talk with each other :(

Anyhow, so fable 3 personal view.

CASUAL GAME... which is fine, i was NEVER stressed playing this game, worrying i would die and have to restart, carefull not to make mistake, or make the wrong choice, i just played it to explore the world and finish the game.

BEAUTIFUL world, the maps are fairly large, very atmospheric and i thought looked awesome! You get variation and a map is never so big as to get lost. The desert map and music score gave me goosebumps, especially at night settings, looks simply gorgeous. Again, just my opinion.

Combat, easy, decently fun, didnt seem to require any skill. dodge aoe magic, finish off mini boss...

I liked the two part story, again its casual, enjoyed it, nothing i'd think back about a few years from now, but a pleasant game. ohh and i had 0 bugs.

Stuff i would like improved, have the civilian quests with more variation, say a bunch of mind games instead of fetching stuff... add a skill element to combat, clothing should have rpg elements

Ohh, i liked the artstyle, which i think went a long way towards my enjoyment.
Wouldnt mind being able to go vampire, or werewolf, OR BOTH! weeeeeeeeeeeee