Fable 3 Announced

[Lint]

Lionhead leader Peter Molyneux today announced both Fable III (360) and an episodic version of Fable II during the Microsoft press conference at GamesCom.

Fable III will be set in a Napoleonic-styled period of Albion, and will allow players to take on a King-like role in influencing the world, according to Eurogamer.

"I think there's something fundamentally wrong with RPGs like Fable," said Molyneux. "It's a mechanic that's been there since the eighties. I'm going to take that foundation stone and throw it away."

Players will begin the game as the offspring of a hero from Albion's past, gradually becoming powerful enough to exert their will over the world. Eventually, players can "use gold to build up a certain region, help poorer people, let people off taxes and so on," he said.

The game will take place some 50 years after the events of Fable II, and according to Molyneux, some characters from the previous game will return in Fable III.

Molyneux also tied the story in to the splash images of famous rulers recently seen on the Lionhead website.

"What promises are you going to make to become ruler, and then how many of those promises are you going to keep?" asked Molyneux. "You can see with Tony Blair and Obama that it's very easy to make promises and be a rebel. If Che Guevara had lived to deliver on his promises, if he had ruled, would he have been that wonderful amazing person? There's many examples in history of rebels who once they get power, they go bad a bit. This time in Fable, you're not a hero whose only power is in his sword. There's a certain point in the game where you have the power to rule, so how are you going to use that?"

"We've loosely chosen the Napoleonic period, and we've started to pull in a bit of Regency, a tiny bit of Victorian, and we're plugging in an early industrial age to Albion," said lead artist John McCormack. "It's a Napoleonic fairytale."

Added McCormack: "One of the main themes here is how the advancement of the new world is having an adverse effect on the beautiful lush environments of Albion. Industrialisation is changing Albion, and do you want to put a stop to that?"

Fable II will also soon be split into five downloadable episodes, all of which will be available on September 29. The first chapter will be free, with players having the choice to buy subsequent episodes after completing it. The episodes will be compatible with both the Knothole Island and See The Future DLC packs.

Fable III is set for a 2010 release, though not early in the year, according to Molyneux. Holiday sounds like a good bet.

I dunno...considering Molyneux tends to promise alot but not deliver I'm going to be a bit skeptical. Fable 2 was good but I still didn't think it was everything it was hyped up to be

[Herr Matzat]

I dunno...considering Molyneux tends to promise alot but not deliver I'm going to be a bit skeptical.

Wait, he only tends to? Wen was the last time he delivered big time, i must have forgotten.

I mean, the games are not that bad or anything, but they are nothing special... and nothing special is a big let down after he hyped stuff like it´s an industry changer.

[tenaciousg]

I dunno...considering Molyneux tends to promise alot but not deliver I'm going to be a bit skeptical.

Wait, he only tends to? Wen was the last time he delivered big time, i must have forgotten.

I mean, the games are not that bad or anything, but they are nothing special... and nothing special is a big let down after he hyped stuff like it´s an industry changer.

I think that Fable 2 was a big time delivery. Of course, I'm a sucker for games like Fable/Mass Effect/KoTOR, where you basically get free reign over how the character develops.

[Meacon Keaton]

I wasn't paying attention to any of the pre-debut hype for Fable 2, and I never played the first one. But I loved Fable 2 and played the Hell out of it. Fable 3 will be bought on release date and I will lose several months in it, as well.

[Dan]

I'm just playing Fable 2 through now so this is quality announcement timing for me.

Can't wait.

If I've finished Fable 2 by then

[Herr Matzat]

Free reign about how he devolops in two directions and has a choise to compleedly change his mind in or before the final battle is what you wanted to say.

I sadly canot play Mass Effect since i am on Mac and PS3, it sounds a bit like Wing Comander 3 and 4 wen it comes to parts of the story, i would love to check out to see if it hiolds up. Fable and KoTOR might be good games, but shurly are not what is free reign over character development and if you play it for the second time it dos not feel to much different from the first time you played it even if you act different.

Try games like Oblivion, Uplink, The Sims or Elite to see what "free" can be in a Video game. ;-)

It´s an honest question, wen did Molyneux bring the last real game changer? Would it be Populus? - Theme Park was s great idea - i loved it, but Rolercoaster Tycoon was the game that did it how it should be don. I never played Magic Carpet and Dungeon Keeper was the first game that realy got me hyped and did not feel that special wen it arived despite being a solid game. And after that this only happend over and over again with the Movies being the last Title i feel for (and that one disapointed big time)

And yes, i am old.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Michael Matzat on a Plane

[Xero Gravity]

As much as I enjoyed Fable 2, is it too much to ask for Black & White 3 instead?

[tenaciousg]

Free reign about how he devolops in two directions and has a choise to compleedly change his mind in or before the final battle is what you wanted to say.

I sadly canot play Mass Effect since i am on Mac and PS3, it sounds a bit like Wing Comander 3 and 4 wen it comes to parts of the story, i would love to check out to see if it hiolds up. Fable and KoTOR might be good games, but shurly are not what is free reign over character development and if you play it for the second time it dos not feel to much different from the first time you played it even if you act different.

Try games like Oblivion, Uplink, The Sims or Elite to see what "free" can be in a Video game. ;-)

It´s an honest question, wen did Molyneux bring the last real game changer? Would it be Populus? - Theme Park was s great idea - i loved it, but Rolercoaster Tycoon was the game that did it how it should be don. I never played Magic Carpet and Dungeon Keeper was the first game that realy got me hyped and did not feel that special wen it arived despite being a solid game. And after that this only happend over and over again with the Movies being the last Title i feel for (and that one disapointed big time)

And yes, i am old.

I do have to concede the point that the 'character freedom' is solely aesthetic. I would love to see games like Fable or Mass Effect where there are set good and evil endings, like, for example (Mass Effect 1 spoilers ahead, you've been warned...)

In an evil ending of ME1, instead of saving the Council/Alliance, you become, for all intents and purposes, the new Saren and ally yourself with Sovereign and the Reapers (perhaps even entering into a small battle against your former allies, thus there being a reason for what seems to be an entirely new character lineup in ME2?). It just seems kind of weak that despite that fact that you can make Shepard into a demented uber-soldier, he ends up saving the aliens that have been on his ass the entire game, and ends with the 'omg scary pose in front of a planet' thing.

That always seems to be the major problem with the 'choose your fate' style games now. Regardless of whatever you pick, you inevitably end up on the 'good' path.

As much as I enjoyed Fable 2, is it too much to ask for Black & White 3 instead?

Oh god yes. I never played B&W2, but I still have the first one and it's still awesome, even if I never really got that far into it. I always end up being such an asshole to the followers.

[Herr Matzat]

There are some old RPGs that have this, like Crono Trigger with it´s.... 140? Endings (only a cupple of different endings, but a lot ways of how they change in words)... Heavy Rain is suposed to have 20 endings.

[Gongsun Zan]

I'm pretty sure KOTOR had a very different 'good' and 'bad' paths, with two relatively different endings. I'm not saying it wasn't the most arbitary moral system, but it was sure a hell lot better than what was in Fallout 3.

Personally, I think the problem is that storyline and character development have pretty much been chucked out in favor of open-endedness and pretty graphics. I'd still rather much have Planescape: Torment than Fable 2 or Oblivion, but I guess I'm one one of the few that feels that way.

Again, I'm hoping Dragon Age will be different, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Fable II was awesome, so this is great, great, great news.

[tenaciousg]

There are some old RPGs that have this, like Crono Trigger with it´s.... 140? Endings (only a cupple of different endings, but a lot ways of how they change in words)... Heavy Rain is suposed to have 20 endings.

That makes sense, considering the whole 'anyone can die' mechanic. Hopefully it's a great followup to Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit.

I'm pretty sure KOTOR had a very different 'good' and 'bad' paths, with two relatively different endings. I'm not saying it wasn't the most arbitary moral system, but it was sure a hell lot better than what was in Fallout 3.

Personally, I think the problem is that storyline and character development have pretty much been chucked out in favor of open-endedness and pretty graphics. I'd still rather much have Planescape: Torment than Fable 2 or Oblivion, but I guess I'm one one of the few that feels that way.

IIRC, the only time KoTOR 1 had a major difference in paths is the planet you crash on before you go to the Star Forge. Regardless, it ends with the battle with Malak - the only difference is that you either get medals or complete galactic domination.

I do have to give them credit for the major differences that can happen on that last planet. There are at least three different paths the story can take at that point; the lightside path is fairly straightforward (as you try to convert her, fail, fight, she runs, you go to the Forge), while the darkside path has a pretty sinister turn (since you join Bastila, fight Juhani and Jolee, go back to the ship, potentially have Zaalbar kill Mission, and lose Carth when he runs away, essentially cutting your party in half in spectacular fashion.)

Personally, I love the the Darkside Revan/Malak battle, especially if you have Drain Life. Two Sith Lords fighting eachother while absorbing the life force of braindead Jedi whenever things get rough... it's awesome.

[apsham]

I think Fable 2 was basically what he said that it was going to be, he just has this idea that his games are going to change the friggin' world.