The “choices” in Fable 3 are by far, the worst I have ever seen in any RPG game that provides this dynamic methodology of story-telling.
Perhaps it’s lazy writing or a sign that the British education system is failing in the political science department, because the options I get look more like an episode out of Pokemon than anything meaningful or connective on an emotional level.
For comparison, look at Mass Effect. The choices you make have stark differences, yet no matter what you choose, you are still the good guy. This is a realistic approach to comprehending and analyzing historical characters (why Chin the Emperor of China, did what he did, and so on) as well as providing players a greater emotional connection to the character they are playing. Some of these choices are difficult for me to pick, and sometimes there are so many choices available, I have to save the game and reload it multiple times to see my different outcomes, or to even play the game multiple times over to fully experience it.
Fable 3 provides none of that depth. Can you imagine if Lionhead Studios made Mass Effect?
“Shepard, you can either starve off half of humanity and sell the rest as slaves to alien civilizations; or you can transform Earth into a vegan nudist paradise and spread the message of peace and love across the galaxy!”
How about ‘none of the above’? Neither of these choices makes sense to any degree of human understanding, and I think the only realistic option would be to gauge my eyes out rather than excruciate myself further to another minute of simplistic dribble.
These are the types of choices you are constantly exposed to in Fable 3. Are you a savage barbarian meat-eater or a loving, kind, vegetarian? Are you seriously providing me with this choice? Can I not be good and a meat eater simultaneously? Is it not possible to be evil and a vegetarian at the same time? Clearly the staff of Lionhead Studios couldn’t even fathom the possibility that the man responsible for the Holocaust was perhaps one of the most renowned and principled vegan’s this world has ever known.
I was annoyed and dismayed that Reaver was the archetype of the “evil conservative right-winger” who wishes to do no good, simply for the sake of doing it. Now I understand the Fable series retains a sense of humour, and perhaps it’s sometimes better to force people to choose sides rather than allow them to sit on the fence. But what happens when both sides are full of ****? Then you’re really screwed.
And what makes the hippies automatically good? If I had even thought about listening to their nonsense, the whole kingdom would have been millions in debt, and the darkness would have killed them all. I can only be thankful that my real estate empire (ie. The very capitalism your rebels are fighting against) saved me from racking up Obama-sized deficits.
Despite the fact my real estate empire is the saviour of the kingdom; all you ever hear is your people bitch and complain. “Why do you have to own my house! I want to own my own house!” even after I gave everyone the lowest rent rate possible. Since when did industrial-era caricatures even give a **** about owning their land? If you want to have your child benefits and not have your house swallowed by shadow, then I need some form of cash to make that happen.
So why were these people complaining about their home ownership? Why is Reaver the bad guy? Why are hippies and vegans the good guys? It’s the bias. The liberal-Labourite bias that Fox News is always ranting about has manifested itself in a British video game that targets Echo boomer males, of all places. Politics has little place in the video game world, and as a political science major, I can sniff out this rubbish one pixel away. I’m a moderate, but I’ll quote Matt Stone on this: I hate conservatives, but I really ****ing hate liberals. The self-righteous, arrogant, latte-sipping social justice crusaders are by far the most annoying segment of society. So why on earth are they bringing their indecipherable megalomaniac stupidity to my TV screen? I don’t want it. And if you’re going to force it upon me, then at least provide an opt-out.
But there was no way out of this. You can either be a good person, and start preserving the environment, giving rights to animals, and redecorating your castle to suit post-modern avant-garde tastes, or you can be the right-wing nut job who will reap destruction upon his own people for his own personal gain. This was by far the most annoying aspect of the game. I was willing to ignore the glitches, the plot holes, and put the missing functions aside, so long as I could get something out of this experience. I did not gain anything, but I did accumulate a sort of spite for the folks at Lionhead Studios for thinking they could pass horse **** for Haute cuisine.
It was like trying to convert Karl Marx’s Das Kapital into a colouring book. How on earth can you **** up industrial-era politics that much? I don’t even think the writers of Lionhead Studios have an understanding of Marxism, rebellion, republicanism, and all the “history” this game tries to base itself on. My elementary classes on social studies had more depth than their interpretation of the materialist conception of history.
In conclusion, the choices this game provides are liberal biased, incoherent, lack sophistication, and reflect a lack of understanding on Lionhead Studios staff part. The people that play Fable 3 are not the same demographic of Pyjama Sam’s adventures, and everything Fable 3 provides only insults the intelligence of those of us who belong to the “Mature” rating this game sells itself on.
If Lionhead ever wants to regain the loyalty of once-fans like me, then they need to both acknowledge their sheer stupidity, and go on a massive hiring spree; because their current weakness was not in programming, but in story telling.
Your thoughts or opinions on this essay/complaint I may send to Lionhead Studios?
Oh and what would be the thing that you despised the most in Fable 3? I hope I'm not alone in my assessment. I understand there may be a lot of people who absolutely disagree with me, or didn't notice or care whatsoever, but it was definitely an issue for me.
Perhaps it’s lazy writing or a sign that the British education system is failing in the political science department, because the options I get look more like an episode out of Pokemon than anything meaningful or connective on an emotional level.
For comparison, look at Mass Effect. The choices you make have stark differences, yet no matter what you choose, you are still the good guy. This is a realistic approach to comprehending and analyzing historical characters (why Chin the Emperor of China, did what he did, and so on) as well as providing players a greater emotional connection to the character they are playing. Some of these choices are difficult for me to pick, and sometimes there are so many choices available, I have to save the game and reload it multiple times to see my different outcomes, or to even play the game multiple times over to fully experience it.
Fable 3 provides none of that depth. Can you imagine if Lionhead Studios made Mass Effect?
“Shepard, you can either starve off half of humanity and sell the rest as slaves to alien civilizations; or you can transform Earth into a vegan nudist paradise and spread the message of peace and love across the galaxy!”
How about ‘none of the above’? Neither of these choices makes sense to any degree of human understanding, and I think the only realistic option would be to gauge my eyes out rather than excruciate myself further to another minute of simplistic dribble.
These are the types of choices you are constantly exposed to in Fable 3. Are you a savage barbarian meat-eater or a loving, kind, vegetarian? Are you seriously providing me with this choice? Can I not be good and a meat eater simultaneously? Is it not possible to be evil and a vegetarian at the same time? Clearly the staff of Lionhead Studios couldn’t even fathom the possibility that the man responsible for the Holocaust was perhaps one of the most renowned and principled vegan’s this world has ever known.
I was annoyed and dismayed that Reaver was the archetype of the “evil conservative right-winger” who wishes to do no good, simply for the sake of doing it. Now I understand the Fable series retains a sense of humour, and perhaps it’s sometimes better to force people to choose sides rather than allow them to sit on the fence. But what happens when both sides are full of ****? Then you’re really screwed.
And what makes the hippies automatically good? If I had even thought about listening to their nonsense, the whole kingdom would have been millions in debt, and the darkness would have killed them all. I can only be thankful that my real estate empire (ie. The very capitalism your rebels are fighting against) saved me from racking up Obama-sized deficits.
Despite the fact my real estate empire is the saviour of the kingdom; all you ever hear is your people bitch and complain. “Why do you have to own my house! I want to own my own house!” even after I gave everyone the lowest rent rate possible. Since when did industrial-era caricatures even give a **** about owning their land? If you want to have your child benefits and not have your house swallowed by shadow, then I need some form of cash to make that happen.
So why were these people complaining about their home ownership? Why is Reaver the bad guy? Why are hippies and vegans the good guys? It’s the bias. The liberal-Labourite bias that Fox News is always ranting about has manifested itself in a British video game that targets Echo boomer males, of all places. Politics has little place in the video game world, and as a political science major, I can sniff out this rubbish one pixel away. I’m a moderate, but I’ll quote Matt Stone on this: I hate conservatives, but I really ****ing hate liberals. The self-righteous, arrogant, latte-sipping social justice crusaders are by far the most annoying segment of society. So why on earth are they bringing their indecipherable megalomaniac stupidity to my TV screen? I don’t want it. And if you’re going to force it upon me, then at least provide an opt-out.
But there was no way out of this. You can either be a good person, and start preserving the environment, giving rights to animals, and redecorating your castle to suit post-modern avant-garde tastes, or you can be the right-wing nut job who will reap destruction upon his own people for his own personal gain. This was by far the most annoying aspect of the game. I was willing to ignore the glitches, the plot holes, and put the missing functions aside, so long as I could get something out of this experience. I did not gain anything, but I did accumulate a sort of spite for the folks at Lionhead Studios for thinking they could pass horse **** for Haute cuisine.
It was like trying to convert Karl Marx’s Das Kapital into a colouring book. How on earth can you **** up industrial-era politics that much? I don’t even think the writers of Lionhead Studios have an understanding of Marxism, rebellion, republicanism, and all the “history” this game tries to base itself on. My elementary classes on social studies had more depth than their interpretation of the materialist conception of history.
In conclusion, the choices this game provides are liberal biased, incoherent, lack sophistication, and reflect a lack of understanding on Lionhead Studios staff part. The people that play Fable 3 are not the same demographic of Pyjama Sam’s adventures, and everything Fable 3 provides only insults the intelligence of those of us who belong to the “Mature” rating this game sells itself on.
If Lionhead ever wants to regain the loyalty of once-fans like me, then they need to both acknowledge their sheer stupidity, and go on a massive hiring spree; because their current weakness was not in programming, but in story telling.
Your thoughts or opinions on this essay/complaint I may send to Lionhead Studios?
Oh and what would be the thing that you despised the most in Fable 3? I hope I'm not alone in my assessment. I understand there may be a lot of people who absolutely disagree with me, or didn't notice or care whatsoever, but it was definitely an issue for me.