U
Ulicus
Guest
To not suck, Fable 2 needs to...
Sort the aging system out
If other characters don't age with you, then it shouldn't be included. Was I the only person who thought that aging 0.7 years per ability increase was far too fast? When first introduced to the concept, back when it was still 'Project Ego', the idea was that the story would take the entire life of the main character, and that aging would be an integral part of it. Turning it into something superficial that does nothing but make your character look worse was probably the worst thing they could have done.
What's worse is that for the purposes of the story, you're still a "boy" and "child" in the eyes of characters like Maze and the Guildmaster... which doesn't really sit well with me if I look like I'm 65. Neither does being older than my sister, or for that matter, my mother.
Ideally, in Fable 2 - if aging is included, it will either be *VERY* slowly done in real time, with the rest of the world growing with you. Or it will come in big leaps, much like at the beginning of Fable, and be directly related to the plot.
You'd complete the portion of the story that takes place during your twenties for example, then be asked if you want to "go ahead to your thirties" and uncover the next portion of the plot. This would also be a good way to have your renown increase, since being able to become "Legendary" through killing hobbes over and over again in the hobbe cave (I was bored) seemed somewhat ridiculous to me. Renown should be gained through quests and trophies alone.
If they *do* carry on with the stupid "age per ability increase", then it should be lowered to something like 0.2 years per increase.
Dilute the relation between Attributes/Alignment and Appearance, or at least make it make more sense
Also bugged me. If I want to be super quick with a blade, have great skill with a bow and also be able to sneak around (I.E. be an assassin), why do I have to be an idiotic looking giant? How is that going to benefit the 'assassin' archetype I'm playing to? Same goes for strength, whilst I feel entitled to spend the experience I've earnt, I often HAVE to hold back from maxing out my strength stats because I don't WANT to look like a ridiculously beefed up cretin with tree trunk arms, I prefer the 'toned' look. And Will... well, the less said about that the better.
It would be better if increasing your attributes *unlocked* appearances further down the line. So, if you maxed out all your Will for example, you'd be able to choose an appearance anywhere *between* "no runes, no glowy eyes and no glowy hands" to "full maxed out runes, glowy eyes and glowy hands". With Skill, you'd be able to max it all out and CHOOSE a height between maximum and minimum, and then the same with strength and muscles.
Now, you may think that spoils the "natural progression" that Fable is supposed to offer, but they already threw that out of the window when they started talking about using EXP, as opposed to just "getting stronger by using your sword a lot", and I'd prefer to be able to tailor my hero exactly to my preferences.
Same goes for alignment. If I want to be good, I don't necessarily want butterflies flying around me and blond hair. Whilst being a caricature is fun sometimes, I don't always want to be one.
Remove the Hero Save
Speaks for itself. Exploit central.
Ideally, the only quests you'd be able to "try again", would be those directly related to the storyline. If you messed up a quest like the "Hobbe Cave Rescue" for example, then it would be a black mark on your Hero's record - you would't just keep doing it until you succeeded. I mean, obviously, if you'd saved beforehand then you could try to redo it - but you wouldn't be forced to by the game.
Give us a bigger world to explore, with free roaming
I'm not too bummed about the size of Fable's world, or the railtracks that it forces you to walk on... it was only an Xbox game after all, but ideally the sequel would be a lot grander in terms of the world it allows you to explore and it would let you go anywhere IN it.
Be set in a different world to the one Albion exists in, and get rid of the Heroes Guild, because it's stupid and makes no sense
The Heroes Guild was ridiculous.
"We don't care if you're good or evil, we just want you to do really impressive things"
First, that destroys any sense of verisimilitude [FONT="] that the world might have had otherwise. Second, it's a cheap way of trying to cover up flaws in the gameplay. Namely, the "go to the guild to pick up quests" system. Third, that's not the way things play out in the story - think about if you're evil and you betray the Guildmaster at the end of TLC, why the hell are you a disappointment? You're doing exactly what the amoral guild supposedly wants you to, "Great Things".
It completely trivialises the differences between good and evil.
If the Heroes Guild *is* included, it should be retconned so that it doesn't condone evil activity and only gives good quests. Evil characters should be able to pick up quests from other sources.
Plus, evil 'Heroes', should be called Villains.
---
Ok, I think I'm done... after writing a lot more than I set out to. If you read all of that, I hope it wasn't too boring.
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Sort the aging system out
If other characters don't age with you, then it shouldn't be included. Was I the only person who thought that aging 0.7 years per ability increase was far too fast? When first introduced to the concept, back when it was still 'Project Ego', the idea was that the story would take the entire life of the main character, and that aging would be an integral part of it. Turning it into something superficial that does nothing but make your character look worse was probably the worst thing they could have done.
What's worse is that for the purposes of the story, you're still a "boy" and "child" in the eyes of characters like Maze and the Guildmaster... which doesn't really sit well with me if I look like I'm 65. Neither does being older than my sister, or for that matter, my mother.
Ideally, in Fable 2 - if aging is included, it will either be *VERY* slowly done in real time, with the rest of the world growing with you. Or it will come in big leaps, much like at the beginning of Fable, and be directly related to the plot.
You'd complete the portion of the story that takes place during your twenties for example, then be asked if you want to "go ahead to your thirties" and uncover the next portion of the plot. This would also be a good way to have your renown increase, since being able to become "Legendary" through killing hobbes over and over again in the hobbe cave (I was bored) seemed somewhat ridiculous to me. Renown should be gained through quests and trophies alone.
If they *do* carry on with the stupid "age per ability increase", then it should be lowered to something like 0.2 years per increase.
Dilute the relation between Attributes/Alignment and Appearance, or at least make it make more sense
Also bugged me. If I want to be super quick with a blade, have great skill with a bow and also be able to sneak around (I.E. be an assassin), why do I have to be an idiotic looking giant? How is that going to benefit the 'assassin' archetype I'm playing to? Same goes for strength, whilst I feel entitled to spend the experience I've earnt, I often HAVE to hold back from maxing out my strength stats because I don't WANT to look like a ridiculously beefed up cretin with tree trunk arms, I prefer the 'toned' look. And Will... well, the less said about that the better.
It would be better if increasing your attributes *unlocked* appearances further down the line. So, if you maxed out all your Will for example, you'd be able to choose an appearance anywhere *between* "no runes, no glowy eyes and no glowy hands" to "full maxed out runes, glowy eyes and glowy hands". With Skill, you'd be able to max it all out and CHOOSE a height between maximum and minimum, and then the same with strength and muscles.
Now, you may think that spoils the "natural progression" that Fable is supposed to offer, but they already threw that out of the window when they started talking about using EXP, as opposed to just "getting stronger by using your sword a lot", and I'd prefer to be able to tailor my hero exactly to my preferences.
Same goes for alignment. If I want to be good, I don't necessarily want butterflies flying around me and blond hair. Whilst being a caricature is fun sometimes, I don't always want to be one.
Remove the Hero Save
Speaks for itself. Exploit central.
Ideally, the only quests you'd be able to "try again", would be those directly related to the storyline. If you messed up a quest like the "Hobbe Cave Rescue" for example, then it would be a black mark on your Hero's record - you would't just keep doing it until you succeeded. I mean, obviously, if you'd saved beforehand then you could try to redo it - but you wouldn't be forced to by the game.
Give us a bigger world to explore, with free roaming
I'm not too bummed about the size of Fable's world, or the railtracks that it forces you to walk on... it was only an Xbox game after all, but ideally the sequel would be a lot grander in terms of the world it allows you to explore and it would let you go anywhere IN it.
Be set in a different world to the one Albion exists in, and get rid of the Heroes Guild, because it's stupid and makes no sense
The Heroes Guild was ridiculous.
"We don't care if you're good or evil, we just want you to do really impressive things"
First, that destroys any sense of verisimilitude [FONT="] that the world might have had otherwise. Second, it's a cheap way of trying to cover up flaws in the gameplay. Namely, the "go to the guild to pick up quests" system. Third, that's not the way things play out in the story - think about if you're evil and you betray the Guildmaster at the end of TLC, why the hell are you a disappointment? You're doing exactly what the amoral guild supposedly wants you to, "Great Things".
It completely trivialises the differences between good and evil.
If the Heroes Guild *is* included, it should be retconned so that it doesn't condone evil activity and only gives good quests. Evil characters should be able to pick up quests from other sources.
Plus, evil 'Heroes', should be called Villains.
---
Ok, I think I'm done... after writing a lot more than I set out to. If you read all of that, I hope it wasn't too boring.
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