Molyneux Talks Fable 2 44
Eurogamer has some details from a discussion with Peter Molyneux, on the upcoming Fable 2 and the as-yet-unnamed 'Project Dmitri.' The site comments on Molyneux's obvious enthusiasm for his work, and manages to get a few tidbits of information from the designer on these in-production titles. From the article: "I think it's exactly what Lionhead stands for - it's uniqueness, it's originality and it's taking something and doing something with it that no-one's done before. And that's really what the core of what the whole of Fable is. Fable 2 should be everything you expect, then 10 times more that you don't expect — and that doesn't just apply to this one feature ... I almost said it then! — that applies to the whole game."
Fable (Score:3, Insightful)
But Fable was fun, I just didn't want to repeat it b/c of the "Hero Academy" BS, which should be shortened, eliminated, or given a skip-thru, at some point, it's too obvious and too much of the same things.
But it was fun, just, you know, short.
Re:Fable (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Fable (Score:1)
Re:Fable (Score:5, Insightful)
Lionhead's problem, and Molyneux's especially, is that they hype their games as if they were something entire new and unique. They're not. Black & White was an updated Populous game, only really short. Fable was similar to a Baldur's Gate/Zelda hybrid, only really short. They've got good ideas, but they spend so long fleshing them out that they end up chopping up half the game and the only thing left is a very short adventure for the amount of enjoyment people are supposed to have. 4 real worlds in B&W for a "play god and have complete customized control" game? 10 hours for a "create a unique character that exists in a unique world" game?
If Fable developed the story at half the rate it did, focused less on the characters reaching their more-or-less finished state, and gave the user some in-depth exploration, it would've been tons better. But, more than likely, Fable 2 will suffer the same fate as B&W 2 did -- it'll fix a lot of things wrong with the first game while presenting a bunch more problems that make the game plain unfun.
Re:Fable (Score:2)
M'Aiq the Liar says: (Score:2)
Molyneux is so crazy (Score:1)
Direct link to the video interview (Score:2, Informative)
More hyperbole from Molyneux (Score:5, Funny)
Good to see that Molyneux has learned his lesson about over-promising!
Good at innovation... (Score:5, Insightful)
"Look at me, I'm so unique!" (Score:5, Funny)
Fun game (Score:3, Funny)
I'd like to see a game that let's you play through the original and let you use your orginal charecter, even if he is god-like. Kind of like with Baldur's Gate.
Another thing I'd like to see is weapons that make a difference. In Fable you used the katana or the hammer because they did the most damage. That was basically it. Adding powers to weapons was nice too.
The game was far too short. I tried to complete as much of the game as possible, but that didn't seem worth it. Another gripe I had was the 'attractiveness' attribute. I didn't like the fact that if I thought my charecter looked cool in white leather, and he was a good guy that every person in town asked you to marry them. It got so annoying I had to slaughter whole cities for some peace and quiet!
Re:Fun game (Score:2)
chicken chaser...
Re:Fun game (Score:1)
Re:Fun game (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Fun game (Score:2)
And you STILL didn't finish it yet?
Re:Fun game (Score:2)
The much-maligned FFX-2 sort of lets you do this; you restart with stats back to level 1, but pretty much everything else in hand, including all your accessories that increase stats by what is an obscene amount even by the end of the game.
In Fable you used the katana or the hammer because they did the most damage. That was basically it. Adding powers to weapons was nice too.
If you w
Re:Fun game (Score:2)
Meh. heard it before (Score:1)
how about a little less hype (Score:2)
Spend some time creating a bit lengthier story and concentrate on gameplay rather than interviews and hype, if its truly worthy the reviewers will give you
The Molyneux Curse (Score:4, Interesting)
Regardless, Molyneux is a risktaker and an innovator and the gaming world has a lot to thank him for. It's tough to do something right the first time around, and many successors have built empires atop his various foundations over the past couple of decades.
Re:The Molyneux Curse (Score:1)
> for.
Yeah, but for my money BF2 for instance, despite being `just another war FPS game` by one definition, was also the best game I ever played. I was impressed with Populous, once, but I got bored of it pretty quickly, whereas BF2 got better and better as you improved with experience. I mean, eventually I got bored of that, but not as quickly as I've got bored with Molyneux taking himself and his `inno
Re:The Molyneux Curse (Score:2)
You can get married and then your wife gives you stuff if you dote over her, or you can not get married and just find the stuff in treasure
Re:The Molyneux Curse: unskipable intros (Score:1)
Magic carpet was a great game, but a slightly dodgy CD-ROM drive meant I quite literally spend longer watching the cruddy video then playing the game.
This continued in B&W, where the stupid tutorial wouldn't leave you alone if you wanted to try out different styles of play from the beginning.
Still from the person who brought me Populous and Syndicate (no idea why this was so good, but it truly
For Gamecube? or Wii (Score:2)
Re:For Gamecube? or Wii (Score:1)
Re:For Gamecube? or Wii (Score:1)
Article #3 in that list is titled:
Microsoft Buys Lionhead Studios.
Fable 2 on Wii or GameCube? Yes you are right to doubt it.
It could happen tough... i'd not bet anything above a penny on it, but it could happen.
Fable had potential. (Score:2)
He never learns (Score:3, Insightful)
This time make it really about good vs evil (Score:3, Insightful)
For those who haven't played it you get the main quest of buying your sister a present. Your father will reward any good deeds with a shiny gold piece and there just happens to be a salesman with a box of candy for sale.
The last quest is too simple, either protect some barrels or destroy them.
But in the end being good gets you no hazzle and 3 gold pieces. Being evil gets you hazzled and the same 3 gold pieces. You still end up spending your hard earned money on your sister, who at this point has done nothing to justify being given a gift. Yes she will be important later in the game but right now she is just sibling A apparently demanding you work your butt off to give her candy.
My problem with the game is that it just doesn't seem to reward evil and doesn't make you pay for being good. If the game would have just allowed you to pass the teddy of as a present allowing you to keep your money then being nasty would have been worthwhile. Who is going to join the mafia if they pay the same as the cops? On the other hand a truly decent cop would probably find life a lot harder to deal with as he lives in world were most people are in the grey area between good and evil.
Fable has none of this.
You also had precious little chance of influecing the story. No choices for instance on how the story of the side characters fate turned out. The PC version had an extended bit where you learned the fate of the original characters but I at least never felt as if I had been the one to set them on their path. Just side stories on a preset path.
For all the romance crap in the game, wich in the end was little more then spamming moves until you score enough points, you never get the chance to romance a named char. Evil? Incest. Good, get the black girl.
Fable just felt shallow. Yes, Planescape Torment and the Fallout series probably have spoiled me for life but even the bards tale was more of an RPG. Both these recent "RPG"'s light just seem to be more about hack&slash then about story and roleplaying.
Give us the lone hero, the troubled pragmatist worried about his soul, the evil maffia boss who own everything but has nothing. Give us STORY!
Oh and this time, make the weapons a bit more like their real world counterparts. Swords, katakana's and axes are not ALL the same weapon and should at minimum at least be swung differently.
When the list is made of the greatest RPG's in history, fable will be one of the also rans. Total mediocrity.
Anyone else want to join on a raid to capture the people behind Fallout and the entire Baldur Gate line of games and the people from troika (and some excellent bug squashers) and just put them in a dungeon and force them to make RPG's?
Re:This time make it really about good vs evil (Score:1)
Fable just felt shallow. Yes, Planescape Torment and the Fallout series probably have spoiled me for life but even the bards tale was more of an RPG. Both these recent "RPG"'s light just seem to be more about hack&slash then about story and roleplaying.
Give us the lone hero, the troubled pragmatist worried about his soul, the evil maffia boss who own everything but has nothing. Give us STORY!
It remains my favorite genre, but there's never any real role playing in any of
Re:This time make it really about good vs evil (Score:2)
Actually, it was her birthday, and your father demanded you work your butt off to give her a gift this year.
Re:This time make it really about good vs evil (Score:2)
You don't think they could escape your dungeon? They've spent their whole careers training for that!
Re:This time make it really about good vs evil (Score:1)
I would, but from playing recent RPGs I think I'd have to level up first by massacring slimes.
I wonder... (Score:2)
The basic gripe with Fable is that it's too short. The engine is fine. The idea is okay. The game is cool. Why reinvent the wheel and build a completely new engine and not build on the one tried and true?
There are quite a few games that could really use a sequel that doesn't do any engine remake, or just minor tweaks to fix worst annoyances. Especially these "too short" ones.
No Content (Score:1)
Molyneux: I'm working on new games! They're incredible! They've got amazing new features I can't tell you about!
Call me back when you have a screenshot or something.