I must say, I am in complete agreement of this thread. Perhaps I should break down exactly why:
-The combat. Why is it like this? What was wrong with the combat in Fable 1? All it does is make the game ridiculously easy. In Fable 1, downing two balverines was an achievement. Now, it just requires holding down block and then flourishing backwards.
-The magic. What the fu**? Is there even going to BE magic in Fable 4? Cuz at this rate, there won't be... Bring back my magic! Yes, that means my ghost swords, multi-shot, assassin rush, ect, ect, and put Slow Time and Raise Dead BACK as spells. FFS.
-The choices. Should I be an evil king, thus being good, or should I be a good king who can make his own money and fund the war himself and still be good? Choices, choices...
-The characters. I seriously could care less for any of the characters but Elise, and that was only because she was hot. (Seriously, it seems like an Angel snuck into the LH office just to carve out her face, but I digress.) The only people you know long enough to make you care about them is Walter, and I wanted to kill him simply because he refused to let me walk in front of him- despite how slow he walked. I guess it didn't matter, though, as you didn't actually have the choice to kill any real characters in the game... Why not have Reaver make you and Whisper Page fight to the death in the arena? Why not give you the option of killing Sabine off in a massive fight for the trees in Mistpeak? I personally would have sliced the sh** out of Jasper if given the chance, similarly to how I killed the Guildmaster. Nope. (That brings me to my next point, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.) I just want to feel like it's actually my world. Fable 2 was guilty of this same thing.
-Alignment. Where do I start... Why is being evil losing all of it's cool factor? In Fable 1 I had a dark shroud form under my feet, I actually looked like a demon, and, most of all, people RAN AWAY when they saw me. Not none of this "Please don't kill me! I don't want to die!" BS the NPC's do nowadays while blocking your way. It was just annoying. Watching a guy in Fable 1 drop his cargo and SPRINT out of town at top speed while crying like a little girl (Exaggerated) was satisfying. Hearing several people crowd around you and beg for you to spare them is not.
-The story. Wow... where to start? The first Fable had such an engaging main enemy, who posed such a threat and was an actually formidable opponent... and then Fable 2 had... Lucien. Oh, and that fat bit** that wouldn't stfu that you're unfortunate enough to have to stick with through most of the game. Guildmaster>Hammer by far. In Fable 3 my guy stopped Logan from killing 3 workers. He then turned around and massacred Brightwall (100+ kills) because people wouldn't stop begging him for money. And what the hell is up with the final choice? Who's bright idea was it to base it on money? I mean, the first one made me think HARD, even as an evil hero. Now, it's like there isn't an evil hero at all. Be evil and ultimately be good, or be good and ultimately end up... good. Blah. Hurts my brain.
-Being king. You know what the worst part of being king was? The guards let you break the law. That means that not only does Fable 3 not have ANY quests for after you kill the Crawler, but you can't even go on a good killing spree because the guards don't care and all the civilians run. Yay~.
-Weapon morphing. Raise your hand if you haven't looked up how to not get something or how to get something else. Thought so. It's a good idea in concept, but in practice it fails. I mean, WHY do I have to get that damned hollow man handle EVERY TIME? So what if I killed them? IT'S A LINEAR GAME! YOU ARE MAKING ME KILL THEM! Even worse, it doesn't even work all the time... My rifle morphed to take on an arcane design due to my prowess with combat magic. I hadn't used any magic since I got my sword because I deemed it overpowered and swore not to use it. ...Yeah...
-The glowing trail. Wow. That thing is a mind-fu**. When it's not leading me in the wrong direction or just downright disappearing, it's handicapping me from exploring the rest of the regions, although on the rare occasions I did manage to ignore it, I never found anything...
-The Road to Rule. It needs to be closed. Unlocking magic and skills is more fun than learning to give someone a high five.
-The touch system. Please let it die. I don't wanna drag everyone around. It takes AWAY from the experience. This trader is a grown ass man! Why am I holding his hand like I hold little Sally's when it gets dark in her room? Ugh.
-Slow motion effect in combat. Honestly, I do not care. Sometimes it even slows down when I don't actually hit anything.
There's much, much more, but I have school tomorrow and it's already pretty late.