Fable
Fable is an interesting mesh between great ideas, and not so great implementation. But first, let's set the record straight. This game barely qualifies as an RPG as we've come to know the genre. This game is much more easily compared to Legend of Zelda, and interestingly, Grand Theft Auto. Now yes, you do play the role of a character that is completely yours to control, and that is what role playing is supposed to mean. But the fact is, an RPG implies much more then that, and to go into this game expecting the greatest RPG ever is to be incredibly disappointed. But as a 3rd person action adventure, this game is one of the best of all time.
First, the games' strength. This game absolutely reeks of style. From the opening scenes on, it just bashes you over the head with it. Think a mix of Lord of the Rings and Warcraft for an idea. It's beautiful, it works, and it's fun. It's in the graphics, the music, and even the way everyone talks. It's the first thing you'll notice when you enter Albion, and in my opinion, is it's strongest point.
For gameplay, things get more complicated, and my feelings become mixed. Combat is very solid overall, but has it's flaws. My character was focused in Melee and Archery, so I don't have much to say about Magic. Well, the one thing I have to say about it is that it turns your hair grey quicker then you can say "my character is only 26 god damn it!" Melee is the strongest aspect of combat. It's easy to learn, but hard to master. You can use targeting to focus on one enemy, or you can simply attack in any direction you wish. However, and this is important, you don't attack innocents unless you specifically target them. That's super.
Archery is much more finicky. Your two options are A: enter a first person perspective with a reticule and aim at enemies, but lose the ability to move. B: target an enemy, and be able to move all you want. At first, this is just fine and dandy. Eventually however, the game decides it needs to up the difficulty by throwing hordes of enemies at you. Once you get the hang of this, even this is pretty easy to deal with. Plus, the timing aspect of archery can be really fun. However, around this time they also throw in friendly characters that you have to keep alive for certain missions. Get ready to throw your controller out the fucking window. The targeting system is decent, but gets frustrating quickly when you have more then 2 enemies to juggle and a friendly in the area. Plus, unlike melee, arrows can hit friendlies at any time, no matter what. It's just annoying, and was a huge blemish in an otherwise decent combat system. In the end, despite my plans to do a straight archer, I quickly had to train melee for any time friendlies became involved.
NPC interaction I have conflicting feelings about. In one sense, these NPCs are some of the most interesting fellers of all time. They work during the day, they party at the tavern at night, and they sleep when it gets too late. They get drunk, fall in love with you, or hate you. It's extremely immerssive at times. However, it's the actual interaction with them that I personally don't like, and becomes very gamey at times. See, everything is done through expressions. There's a Flirt expression, a thanks expression, a middle finger expression. There's even a fart and belch expression. This is how you interact with the world, and in my opinion, it's very shallow. For such a dynamic world that seemingly reacts to you at every moment, it gets very shallow when the only way to communicate with anyone is to put your fists on your hips and laugh.
Now, the first time you fart and get a reaction, it IS very funny and interesting. But after 10 hours, you will have exhausted all your emotes, and you will begin to starve for some actual conversation. You'll want to actually find out something about anyone in this world. But for the vast majority of the npcs, you'll get nothing. They're all just a bunch of cheering/whimpering empty shells that mimic the actions of real people, but have absolutely no depth. This is where the game fails as an RPG in my opinion. Well, that and the lack luster story.
But, on a certain level, it's still a great idea. People really do react to you. If you punch someone, they'll remember it, and hate you for it until you do something nice for them. If you kill someone in a town, the whole town will remember. But not the entire world. If you're a hero to everyone else, they'll love you, even if that one town remembers you're a murderer. But even they will forgive you if you make it up to them. It's just amazing how every action will produce a reaction. As I said before, it can be very immerssive, at times.
The story. In one sense, I like it. It's a very dark story filled with some serious tragedy. It's actually told in a way that you can actually believe why your character could become so evil. Avoiding spoilers, but trust me, your hero will have plenty of reason to hate the world. Or he can overcome his tragedy and become a good person despite it. It makes your moral choices a little more meaningful. But when you look at the story as a whole, it's not actually THAT interesting. It's pretty short, pretty predictable, and pretty damn cliché at times. The other big failing as an RPG.
Last thing I'll talk about. Throughout the game, there is a very strong feeling of incompleteness. There's so much to find in the world, but so much of it is incomplete. Your best friend in the guild starts out with all this potential to be a very interactive character... and then you see her 4 times during the course of the game. Her father, again a very interesting character that could add so much to the story.. you'll see him about 3 times total. The famous female hero with the glasses? You'll see her twice. This happens a lot. You'll get glimpses of interesting engaging characters, or glimpses of potential plot lines, and then they'll just sort of cease to exist. It's like the developer planted the seeds for twice as many quests as actually made it into the game. Of course, that's another sign of the incompleteness, the sad number of quests actually available in the game. It just leaves you wishing Lionhead hadn't tried to do so many things, and had instead focused on polishing what already worked in the game and finishing content.
So, to recap. Greatest RPG ever? Hells no. A really good 3rd person Action Adventure? Hells yes. Overall, this game was entertaining, and that's really the most important thing. But the lost potential does sting. Hopefully the sequel will offer a more complete package, and we'll finally have one of the rpg greats we hoped for.