Good rant.
A UI may hinder immersion but the tradeoff is that you can do what it is you want to do in an amount of time that does not hinder gameplay. If it takes you a significant amount of time to change clothes or weapons, that hurts immersion much more because you are not playing the game during this time, and obviously any time spent not really playing the game hurts gameplay. The sanctuary not being a unique idea, something of the sort was also present in the 1995 SNES title Terranigma. And you know what, it sucked there too.
I dislike not having a decent UI as well. I can't immerse myself if I don't have any idea of what's going on. Same with a minimap. The satellite-view 3D map is good and practical, but looks bad, is not very comfortable to use and frankly makes the game even more braindead.
Molyneux never hesitates to talk about choices and consequences, actions and reactions. There is a stark irony in this when you cannot die. Remember Fable's death system, die, and game over. I rather enjoyed the game over screen too, it was very grim and the point was made to be clear, you died, you suck, try again if you dare or ragequit like a little girl. As is usually the case with most games. But even in Fable it was made rather easy considering if you had any number of a specific item, you are instantly revived. But that was too hard, I guess. What about other choices, you're free to do anything and everything you could possibly want, as long as you don't want to get rid of that stupid and often useless dog. You can do anything you want, as long as you don't want to kill off key characters (you could do it in Morrowind, folks). You can do anything you want, provided it's also something the devs and designers at Lionhead wanted. That's not open and free full of choice, that's a mere photocopy of the word 'freedom' in comparison to what such a thing actually is in a game. This is not specific to Fable 2 or Fable 3, this is across the whole franchise. Instead, the real choice here is to walk down a narrow, linear hallway for ten hours or sell the game and buy a different one - many people here at this site, a Fable fan site, chose to play a different game.
I haven't died yet so I don't know. As for choices. Yeah, there aren't many to be made that actually change your path much - there were a little in Fable: TLC, not sure about Fable 3 since I haven't played it as much.
However, I can't comment on that point anymore because I generally haven't been a big fan of totally open world RPGs like Morrowind and Oblivion.
I don't even want to go into time/setting and bring about the debate with ranged weapons. But yea, that too. And of course there's the lack of armor and the limited number of clothing and weapons and the fewer number of weapon types... when you cut out a weapon type, you kill off a combat type as well. A style of fighting that is no longer there. I will always think that getting rid of armor was a mistake but there are those who will disagree and they make fine points as well, so I won't go too much into that. However, if they are to get rid of armor mechanics for the purpose of encouraging individuality, you would think that they would provide a good variety of clothing but then you would think wrong because they don't. Most players have the same favorite outfits that they wear throughout the entire game, the end result being that they all still look the same and armor mechanics were cut in vain.
I like the morphing weapon thing, it's a neat idea. Honestly I still haven't understood if there are other weapons you can buy in Fable 3 other than the hero ones?
And to add to your last point - I'm pretty sure I'm going to wear the nobleman's outfit you get in the very beginning throughout most of the game.
And while I'm adding on to this, the post that has now turned into a full-blown rant, each game provides less and less incentive to use magic unless the goal is to get an uber spell that you can spam throughout an already-easy game, it's like there's no point. And it gets stupider as well. There's no more magic, but you can use magic, wut. And what the s*** have they done to the morphing system? People were disappointed that you couldn't look like the evil hero on the cover of the Fable 2 game, so Lionhead's response to this in Fable 3 is to severely limit morphing but provide an "extreme morph" that you can use only when prompted... well that's totally logical at Lionhead Headquarters, take a complaint and make the source of the complaint worse. And might as throw in one quick cheap shot, the Hero sword blows.
This is my biggest issue with Fable 3. Magic is just so dumbed down. When I started playing I immediately decided to make a full blown magic hero. And what do I get... 3 spells so far that, aside from the visuals, work exactly the same. Then it's the stupid "stance" system and most of all, the removal of utility spells. And the levelup. Hmm... so what should I focus on, guns, sword or magic. What's the difference. I can simply levelup how much damage each path makes, no diversity at all, no neat moves or cool spells. Of course, there're so many seals I can simply buy all the upgrades anyway (not that you couldn't do it in Fable:TLC, but at least initially it encouraged choosing a path to your liking). Same with Strength/Agility trees in Fable. I hate the Jack-of-all-trades approach in Fable 3. It's like I'm not the hero at all, but some simply dude who happened to stumble upon a guild seal.
And of course, morphing, the thing that made Fable so special.
One thing to also remember is that Fable 3 is not a PC game. It's a port, and not a good one at that.
Pros: the music is still extremely good and perhaps the thing that gives the game a high nostalgic value at least.
