I cannot be brief in the slightest sense of the word... so I'll bold the basics. haha.
Like - A lot of things.
Agreed with the OP about the voice acting. I loved Jasper. I wish he would stop pressing me to buy that damn dog costume, though.
Spell weaving rocked. Not much else to say about that. I don't understand, however, why you had to wear gauntlets - a physical item - when you are a hero and supposedly have inherent power within you. I didn't mind them, but the idea made no sense. I would have also preferred more spells available, which was a huge problem for me in the last game as well.
Finishing moves = pwnage. Just wish it were possible/easier to do it on purpose, whereas I'm under the impression it's either random or purely based on luck.
The story was much more grabbing than F2, and the choices were sometimes emotionally draining when you don't have enough money. Not to mention that consequences actually exist now, which was a nice surprise. And I'm so happy they brought back real cinematic scenes - even if the facial animation was poor, they brought me into the game.
Relationships feel slightly more 'real' when you have to build them rather than be universally loved by default according strictly to how you look. The ability to choose where to marry, or adopt a child, was fun. The 'sex scenes' were quite funny; the addition of music made it more comical / enjoyable. In the last game it was just plain awkward.
Dislike - A lot of things.
Way too short. For a game franchise that I have been playing nearly every day since the release of Fable 1, the games themselves can be completed in one day. That is unacceptable. There are hours of extra things to do of course, but the story should not be so simple to run through. I hesitate doing plot-specific quests because I know the game will be over too soon.
Facial animations were weird. For a game that centered around it's cutscenes, I really wish they were polished a bit more. The mouths didn't fit the words, your expressions were off, etc.
There were not enough spells and the gauntlets didn't make sense. Like I mentioned above.The inability to lock on to a specific target when using your melee weapon slightly irritated me - I tend to dislike charging up a flourish against a white balverine only to waste it on a stinky little brown one.
The lack of enemies was major. In the first installment there were a few types of bandits / human enemies; lots of bugs to pester you; a few different casts of Hobbes; two species of Trolls; a variety of Nymphs which summoned various smaller enemies; the Undead; and Balverines / White Balverines. Fable 2 removed nypmhs, but replaced them with banshees. Not that it matters when every enemy dies in one hit, though.
Compare that to F3. Bandits; check. Addition; giant bandit with fireball abilities for no apparent reason. Bugs; no. Oh well. Hobbes; check. Even little skeleton ones! Great fun. Now...Trolls? Nymphs? Banshees? No, no, and no. We get humans, hobbes, dead things and balverines. Thats 4 enemy types.Thankfully Aurora introduced some really awesome pwnage fodder, but that is no excuse to dwindle the enemies we once had in Albion. Apart from a few side quests and exploration, Aurora is a seperate part of the game which tends to be left untouched while the player spends all their time killing monotonous enemies on the mainland.
The interaction was a disappointment. I had great expectations for this aspect of the game. What happened to the expression wheel? They took about 100 steps back with this game. I cannot choose which of my expressions to use, and only continue cycling through them until I find the one I am looking for. Fantastic.
With the touch mechanic, the expressions we do have got better. *When* we actually want to go that far. I should be able to dance in a bar and affect the dispositions of my fellow drunkards as a whole, I should not have to grab a random stranger and salsa with him just to make a friend. Now, I like dancing in this game, but I should be given an option.
What happened to the functional "Follow" / "Wait" expressions? Hand holding was a nice addition to the game, but Peter has a tendency to think that adding something new merits removing something else. I could have my entire family, or my many little sheep to slaughter, follow me at the same time in both F1 and F2. Now if I am to get anywhere with anyone at all I am forced to hold their hand schoolgirl style and babysit them the whole way there while they get stuck on stairs, caught on rocks or behind people, etc. Even criminals whom I am dragging to prison willingly skip along with me, hands cupped with my own, all the way to jail. Right up till we get to the guard, when they must be dragged across the glowing line.