Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

[Dark Drakan]

Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

Lionhead has done away with some of the "mindless" one-button combat seen in Fable 1 and 2 for the third game in the series - in an attempt to get players using some of the RPG's all-new fighting mechanics. Lionhead design director Josh Atkins has recently given an Interview on the new system.

Every Fable game has intentionally been made accessible and as a franchise we have done our best to ensure all our players can complete the entire experience and feel fulfilled. We work so hard on all the content so we don't want to use difficulty as a way to frustrate our users and keep them from finishing the game.

However, I think in the past we have allowed some aspects of the game to become so easy that they became a bit too mindless, so we have made some balance changes to the game to try and keep you on the edge of your seat. For example we have included more interesting one-to-one fights as way to increase the drama and push our players a bit further in exploring the combat possibilities.

 

[POOP]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

Interesting. I hope this is true. My main "beef" with the Fable series has been the difficulty. It kind of ruined the second game, how easy it was.

 

[Necromancer]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

^I thought TLC was much easier than Fable 2.

I'm glad to hear all this though. It sounds like they're not making the game extremely difficult, but just not as easy as its two preceders. That's exactly what I want.

 

[SimonKalevra]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

Just allow us to change the difficulty already!

 

[GrimWhim]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

Fable (The Lost Chapters) was easy. Fable II wasn't quite as easy if you were a pure Will user because of how terrible the magic system was. However, this ought to be interesting regardless... unless they make it so that the only combat systems being changed are with melee weapons and guns. I don't want to sit there and be forced to charge my spells again.

 

[SimonKalevra]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

Fable (The Lost Chapters) was easy. Fable II wasn't quite as easy if you were a pure Will user because of how terrible the magic system was. However, this ought to be interesting regardless... unless they make it so that the only combat systems being changed are with melee weapons and guns. I don't want to sit there and be forced to charge my spells again.

The magic system has changed ^_^
You still have to charge your spells, but this time around you can charge your spells to the max from the beginning.
However as you get more adept in the use of magic, you can charge your spells faster - faster than in Fable II.

So you should be able to bring much more destruction much faster this time around :lol:

 

[POOP]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

^I thought TLC was much easier than Fable 2.

I'm glad to hear all this though. It sounds like they're not making the game extremely difficult, but just not as easy as its two preceders. That's exactly what I want.

I never bought TLC so I wouldn't know. And when I played Fable, I guess I thought it was hard because I was about 10, and sucked at every game.

But the reason Fable II was so easy was mainly that you couldn't die. Both in the sense that enemies weren't good enough to kill you, and if they did it didn't really matter. I know that carries on in Fable III, but hopefully it will be more of a punishment.

 

[Necromancer]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

I never bought TLC so I wouldn't know. And when I played Fable, I guess I thought it was hard because I was about 10, and sucked at every game.

Eh, TLC, Fable 1, same thing. It's not like the difficulty of a game would change with the expansion pack.

But the reason Fable II was so easy was mainly that you couldn't die. Both in the sense that enemies weren't good enough to kill you, and if they did it didn't really matter. I know that carries on in Fable III, but hopefully it will be more of a punishment.

Well sure you couldn't die, but getting knocked out was similar enough. What I'm saying is that getting knocked out in Fable 2 is easier than dying in TLC.

 

[GrimWhim]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

The magic system has changed ^_^
You still have to charge your spells, but this time around you can charge your spells to the max from the beginning.
However as you get more adept in the use of magic, you can charge your spells faster - faster than in Fable II.

So you should be able to bring much more destruction much faster this time around :lol:

I know it's changed but from what I've heard, they still haven't gotten it right. I loved how magic worked in the original Fable. You could strafe around while charging up a fireball or casting lightning. The only spells you couldn't move while "charging" were Divine Fury and Infernal Wrath. Which was fine because they were so powerful it would have been even more game breaking to have made it so. All that was fine. I admit, I didn't like turning into an old man after leveling up Will but if I remember correctly, you can change that at one point in the game.

In Fable II the magic system was terrible and weak. In fact, you're pretty much handicapping yourself by using magic. It took too long to charge up, you couldn't move around and there were so few spells that it got boring quickly.

I don't mind having to charge up SOME spells but charging them all while not being able to move and not being nearly as powerful as guns or swords just... it's lame.

The gauntlet idea looks very promising but mostly because I can deal with those handicaps as long as the spell mixing aspect is amazing. Like, I want to be able to cast a fireball and vortex and either have a giant flaming tornado appear or shoot out a high velocity fireball that's capable of taking off an enemy's head while simultaneously setting them on fire.

 

[GhostlyIcicle]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

I think they should have implemented something like the Director, from Left 4 Dead 2.
To those who don't know what it is, it's where; the better you're doing, the harder it becomes. More enemies come around, and in some cases, even the scenery changes to make it more challenging. So every playthrough is different.
All of this is on the go, so while your playing. E.g, if your taking out all the enemies real quick, the game sends more.
It'd be hard to do in Fable III, but I think they could do something like that and pull it off. ^_^

 

[joslen1]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

I think they should have implemented something like the Director, from Left 4 Dead 2.
To those who don't know what it is, it's where; the better you're doing, the harder it becomes. More enemies come around, and in some cases, even the scenery changes to make it more challenging. So every playthrough is different.
All of this is on the go, so while your playing. E.g, if your taking out all the enemies real quick, the game sends more.
It'd be hard to do in Fable III, but I think they could do something like that and pull it off. ^_^

that would be a wonderful idea for any game, like adaptive difficulty from lego star wars (god its been years since i went on that), but less cheesy.

 

[The Invisible Hero]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

it should be if you are knocked out 3 times in one fight you are sent back to your last save.

 

[GrimWhim]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

I think they should have implemented something like the Director, from Left 4 Dead 2.
To those who don't know what it is, it's where; the better you're doing, the harder it becomes. More enemies come around, and in some cases, even the scenery changes to make it more challenging. So every playthrough is different.
All of this is on the go, so while your playing. E.g, if your taking out all the enemies real quick, the game sends more.
It'd be hard to do in Fable III, but I think they could do something like that and pull it off. ^_^

Fable III is practically done. I mean, it's being released in about two months and implementing something like that would be impossible at this point unless they pushed back the release date. Of course, I'd be very upset if they did it.

 

[pkreniles]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

I think they should make the game harder!

 

[GhostlyIcicle]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

Fable III is practically done. I mean, it's being released in about two months and implementing something like that would be impossible at this point unless they pushed back the release date. Of course, I'd be very upset if they did it.

Well if you'd have read what I wrote, I said, "they should have implemented..." So I wasn't suggesting they put it in, I was saying they should have put it in. It'd of been a good thing to add. Adaptive difficulty is alot better than choosing your difficulty. In my opinion anyway...

 

[GrimWhim]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

Well if you'd have read what I wrote, I said, "they should have implemented..." So I wasn't suggesting they put it in, I was saying they should have put it in. It'd of been a good thing to add. Adaptive difficulty is alot better than choosing your difficulty. In my opinion anyway...

Sorry, I was reading through it too quickly. I have a nasty habit of doing that sometimes. Adaptive difficulty would be bad for players like myself. The game would get to the point where it would either become sentient and try to kill me in real life or it would end up sending army after army to kill my character.

 

[GhostlyIcicle]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

Sorry, I was reading through it too quickly. I have a nasty habit of doing that sometimes. Adaptive difficulty would be bad for players like myself. The game would get to the point where it would either become sentient and try to kill me in real life or it would end up sending army after army to kill my character.

Hahaha, no worries ^_^
And yeh I guess. If they'd of done it properly, I think it'd of gone down a treat. But so far, Lion Head has made quite a few shortcomings. (Fable II-wise)
I'd rather they don't put it in and keep the successes of the game so far, than put it in and ruin what good they've accomplished so far. If they were to put it in, it'd have to be perfect to work well. :lol:

 

[GrimWhim]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

Hahaha, no worries ^_^
And yeh I guess. If they'd of done it properly, I think it'd of gone down a treat. But so far, Lion Head has made quite a few shortcomings. (Fable II-wise)
I'd rather they don't put it in and keep the successes of the game so far, than put it in and ruin what good they've accomplished so far. If they were to put it in, it'd have to be perfect to work well. :lol:

Well, nothing is perfect but it could work. Still, there would have to be a limit or the game would indeed send whole armies to come after your character. I mean, for the skilled players anyways. I'm sure other players would die not too long after, haha. Still... it's an interesting idea and while I would like them to amp up the difficulty, I would prefer if they perfected the magic system first.

 

[Albion Knight]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

Good to hear that the combat will be more challenging. Adaptive difficulty would be cool if it took into account skill and technique. Like if you win ten battles in a row it gets tougher. Also having enemies that are resistant to ranged weapons appear the more you use ranged weapons and respectively for other modes of attack.

 

[GrimWhim]

Re: Lionhead kills off 'mindless' combat for Fable 3

Good to hear that the combat will be more challenging. Adaptive difficulty would be cool if it took into account skill and technique. Like if you win ten battles in a row it gets tougher. Also having enemies that are resistant to ranged weapons appear the more you use ranged weapons and respectively for other modes of attack.

That would be terrible. Why would I want enemies to become more resistant to my attacks? That would force me to use something I don't want to use which in turn would kill the whole "Pure Will" play style that I'm so fond of. At that point, I'd have no interest in the game. I don't know if others would feel the same way but I can tell you this, there would be quite a few people unhappy with something like that.