New Review Posted: Fable

Daniel Weissenberger · 09-29-2004, 01:27 AM

I review Fable, and apparently don't like it very much:

"Let's say Hitler was walking down the street one evening, alive and well and a hundred and twenty or so. It just so happens that this street is in the bad part of town, so it comes to no surprise when some socially maladjusted punk comes up, stabs him to death and steals his Social Security check. Was that a moral or immoral act? Most people would agree that killing Hitler is a good thing. But the person who killed him wasn't aware of who he was, and killed him out of greed, which most people would agree is an immoral act. So was the act moral or immoral? Can an act be moral or immoral in and of itself, or must the circumstances around it always be considered? And what if the thug needed the money to save the life of an adorable puppy?

These are the kinds of questions that come up any time the question of absolute versus relative morality is raised, and Fable's resolute failure to address any of them is the best evidence that mainstream videogames just aren't ready to deal with the big issues. After three years in the making, Fable offers a perfect example of a game whose eyes were too big for its stomach."

If you'd like to read a little more of the review, please click the following link: http://www.gamecritics.com/review/fable/main.php

Nicato · 09-29-2004, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GC_Danny

I review Fable, and apparently don't like it very much:

"Let's say Hitler was walking down the street one evening...

Well, if the Hitler refrence didn't state the obviousness, I suppose the score will.

Let me guess: Mikey D. has the second opinion in which he gives the game a respectable score.

EnduroGamer · 09-29-2004, 03:19 AM

Very good review, Dan. I'm not quite as down on it as you are (despite my disappointment, like Thom, I seem to continue to play anyway) but you do raise quite a number of great points.

Quote:

I searched long and hard for a single example of everything wrong with the game's system of morality and renown, and I found it in the "naming" system. Because the incidental non-characters always refer to the main character vocally by name, it would be impossible for players to name him themselves.

One other suggestion of how they could have pulled personal naming off is provided by Links 2004, another Xbox Exclusive. That game features what must be a list of hundreds of names and nicknames that you can select, each of which has had the voice acting recorded for so you can hear your name be called out by the commentators during play.

Also, with regards to how Fable actually does it--here's a perfect example of how copy/paste the game is. I never bothered to buy a new Title, so everyone is still calling me Chicken Chaser. Anyway, there's one mission where I'm dressed entirely in bandit clothes so I can sneak into the bandit camp. While in costume, and supposedly one of them, the bandits in the camp continued to refer to me as Chicken Chaser. Soooo... that leads me to believe that they knew exactly who I was, yet because I was dressed like them, they ignored the fact that I was a "Hero". Whatever. Copy and Paste design at its best.

Mike Doolittle · 09-29-2004, 04:29 AM

Just wait until the IGN boards spot this one.

It's really an excellent review. I'm sure it will piss someone off.

There's only one thing that seems a bit incongruent to me. Now, I haven't played Fable yet. But even in this very critical review, nothing about it, save perhaps the frequent load times, sounds particularly below average.

I would think that the simple virtue of having a good combat system, good graphics and sound, a nice world to bop around in and unique if not fully realized NPC interaction and level-up systems would at least put it at "average."

In any case, the review itself is exceptionally well done and very fair in its criticisms, but I wonder if the score isn't akin to Chi giving Virtua Fighter 4 a 6... that is, the score is meant to be a statement in itself. Like a bitch slap to developers that says, "If you are going to do it half-assed, then don't do it at all."

GC_Thom · 09-29-2004, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicato

Let me guess: Mikey D. has the second opinion in which he gives the game a respectable score.[/font]

Actually, that might be me. At least, I will probably give the score a higher one than Dan, and I've just put in to do the Second Op - someone may well have beat me to the punch though.

David Stone · 09-29-2004, 09:06 AM

I'm actually going to go against the grain here:

I didn't like the Fable review. Not to say that the points made aren't valid or well thought out, but the overall structure was bloated. It doesn't look like it was edited in any way, and there actually IS an important dungeon in the game's plot.

And again, the number. Yeah, the game wasn't great, but I think the number is shock value, publicity stunt material for gamerankings. I, too, was disappointed in Fable, but there's still a line.

I don't mean any offence, and Lord knows I'm a staunch supporter of this site. But I'm sorry, I feel you guys missed the mark on this one.

EnduroGamer · 09-29-2004, 11:30 AM

LD makes an excellent point.

For once, I thought I'd let someone else lambast the numerical score given. But, for all of the game's flaws and for all of it's shortcomings, the game, IMO, is still an average, if not mildly above average RPG.

Like I said in the other threads, the action is fun and the skill/EXP system is very well constructed. I'd score it a 5.5. I know that's not much better, but there is that stigma with anyone below a 5 being "below average" and let's not kid ourselves, there's a lot of really shitty RPG's out there. Fable isn't one of the best, but it's better than some.

Mike Bracken · 09-29-2004, 01:08 PM

Ah, now Daniel can experience the joys of hatemail...you've truly arrived, my good man.

I don't agree with the numerical score, but I will say that I think the review at least manages to justify the game getting a less than average number. For me, that's all I really ask for--if the reviewer feels strongly either way and makes his case supporting why he got the score, I can live with it. Personally, I still think it's too low, though.

Mike B.

Daniel Weissenberger · 09-29-2004, 02:59 PM

Thanks for your (mostly) kind words everyone, I just wanted to weigh in and say that I stand by the number. What it really came down to was that I felt the game got more wrong than it got right - that it failed at what it was trying to do, and was therefore a failure, and deserving of a less than five score. When I finished the game, it was going to get a six, but during the second playthrough, all of the game's flaws seemed so much more apparent, and I decided on a five. Then I actually started writing the review, and by the time I was finished, I had found so much more that I hated that I ended up with a four. I feel the score should be a synthesis of the review, all of my feelings about a game wrapped up in a number from one to ten. The game failed more than it succeeded, and that's where the four came from.

bassbeast - are you talking about the tunnels between the graveyard and the jail? Because, again, that was just five rooms arranged in a straight line, with never more than two doors in an area - an entrance and an exit. To me, that's just not a dungeon

GC_Thom · 09-29-2004, 04:18 PM

I don't want to imply that I think Dan's review is bad - I realize that since I didn't say anything about that in my initial response, it might have come across that way, but I respect his opinion, I just happen to disagree with it.

David Stone · 09-29-2004, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GC_Danny

bassbeast - are you talking about the tunnels between the graveyard and the jail? Because, again, that was just five rooms arranged in a straight line, with never more than two doors in an area - an entrance and an exit. To me, that's just not a dungeon

***MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD***

The part where you rescue your mother.

Jerm · 09-29-2004, 10:05 PM

Ya, I got a little bit of sticker shock after seeing that score, but Dan was pretty thorough on why he didn't like the game, so I can't fault him for that. I just think that a 5 or less should be reserved for games that are amateurish and buggy. Fable is far from that.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

A good review nonetheless, even if I do happen to disagree with it.

sleepy · 09-30-2004, 01:02 AM

Come on, Dan, admit it....it was just too fun to give it a 4, wasn't it?

Despite your explanation, it still looks like a devil's advocate score to me, but maybe that's just because I love playing the devil's advocate myself. Anyway, it doesn't change the fact that I really liked the review itself. No, I haven't played Fable...but, umm, I bet if I do I'll think the same things!

It's funny, there must have been like 5 times while I was reading your review when I thought, "Hmm. If that's true, they should have made the developers play Fallout 1."

Daniel Weissenberger · 09-30-2004, 01:19 AM

Excellent point about Fallout 1, Sleepy - wish I'd thought of that comparison.

Of course, Fallout 1 had more of an excuse, being based on an existing RPG - they just forgot that pen and paper RPGs are generally played with groups of characters with varied skills, and so their capaign design isn't well suited to single players.

Fable, by comparison, has no excuse at all...

bassbeast - while that sequence was literally a dungeon, it isn't the kind of dungeon we've come to know and love in videogameland. If I were to draw a map of it on graph paper it would be five boxes arranged in a straight line. I mean, Kid Icarus had more complicated dungeons

Oxybeles · 09-30-2004, 10:24 AM

No hate mail will be forthcoming, but a point to consider:

Any game that allows one to make obscene gestures, be a bigamist, and just pay money to change your alignment deserves at least a 5.0!

However, while this noble experiment failed to live to the advance hype, a score of 4.0 places it in the company of other Game Critics Reviewed Gems as Devil May Cry 2, Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the Dragon, and State of Emergency.

This does not appear to be a logical score in comparison to these other titles.

Clearly, Fable did not strike your fancy, but you have captured the lead position of the lowest score on Game Rankings by a substantial margin - 40% vs 70%. Congrats!