Sigh... I can't stand Fable 3 personally, I loved Fable TLC to the point where I've completed it around 10 times (I'm not exaggerating), but then Fable 2 was a game killer for me, since the storyline was so linear and orientated to good players (I felt like an evil warlord helping a cat out of a tree, simply because the game told me to) and the only thing that saved Fable 2 in my eyes between the insulting lack of difficulty and the fact that it had no replayability was its epic customization and character morphing. So I played through Fable 2 only 3 or 4 times and looked forward to Fable 3, where we were promised the ability to control 'extreme morphing,' limitless weapon possabilities and a unique look for every character. So, we get around about maybe 6 or 7 possabilities per part for weapons and can only evolve them after certain points, and we have to evolve them because if we don't we'll look like noobs even though we wont ever need these weapons since magic can kill 7 enemies at once and swords take several hits to kill one, and can be blocked. Seriously, one of the first things I thought about Fable TLC when I got it was that it was incredibly balanced; no matter how I chose to play, I couldn't decide on which was the best. And the spells! I'd never seen so many decent spells in one game, usually you get 3 or 4 decent spells and maybe 5 or so more spells that you're never going to use, but the Fable team must have spent hours testing these because all of them were actually worth trying out!
Then came Fable 2, bragging more choices, better gameplay! Turned out they'd changed flourishing, a system that worked perfectly and completely balanced sword fighting that was totally unique to Fable, into simple charged attacks. This made them much less worth using and got rid of a lot of the tactics once used in Fable and turned the game into simple button mashing. But hey, now you can use spells more freely with magic being free to use! They'd also gotten rid of every spell that I'd ever loved and made it so that there were instead a handful of spells that you'd never use, and one or two overpowered spells that you'll just end up spamming throughout the game. Sound familiar?
Then came the final insult in Fable 3, when they abolished almost every decent looking weapon, removed nearly every item of clothing leaving you with just a handfull of outfits that you'd look silly mix&matching for the most part, and, worst of all, changed character morphing to the point of hardly being able to notice it. I know that a lot of people were complaining about how they didn't like it, but it's what set the whole damn series apart from other games! At first I accepted it; they said that you'd be able to reveal your 'true form' after becoming ruler of Albion through extreme morphing, so I became king. Nothing happened. I made my decisions. Nothing happened. But look, Theresa's taken me to the road to rule, and at last! I've morphed!
For three seconds! So, as it turns out, extreme morphing lasts 5 seconds maximum between spellcasting and flourishing, and you can use it as an expression. And even after having learned of its being an expression, it took me the best part of 10 minutes to use it! Is it actually possible to cycle through expressions without breaking conversation?
Oh, and the lack of menus is unbearable! It made the game so awkward at the start; I wasn't sure how I was supposed to sell anything, I couldn't see what I was buying properly half of the time until I highlighted it, and it severely limits what a shop can sell. All in all it pretty much doubled the time it took to do a simple action, even after I learned how it all worked! You want to change your hairstyle? Go to the sanctuary, go to the style room and find the hairstyle you want. Between loading times, running up and down rows of styles and finding the hair you want, it takes at least two thirds more time than simply opening a convenient menu and finding it there, plus Jasper wont make repetitive comments in a proper pause menu. So, Fable TLC earned my love and respect, Fable 2 lost my love but kept my respect, and Fable 3 got resold.
It's a game. xD
