It didn’t bother you at all that you couldn’t buy more than one of each item? You were OK with not being able to see whether you already had an item before you bought it? Didn’t it seem weird that there was no easy or quick way to bring up a map of the current area? All of these things and a million other annoyances were non-existent in Fable 1.

I just finished Fable 2 the other night and couldn’t be more disappointed. There were far too many bugs and glitches that took me out of the experience. It was the exact opposite feeling I had after playing Fable 1… which I’ve finished 6 times now.

More traditional RPGs still don’t really appeal to me. Fallout 3 is a good example. I can appreciate that game, as I did with Oblivion, but I can’t play games like that. I started playing Fallout 3 the other night, and after sinking 7 hours into it over the course of a couple days, I knew I had to put it down. When I completed a 3 hour side quest, I immediately started feeling guilty – like I had just wasted a huge chunk of time on this quest that really didn’t do anything to progress the story. I was no closer to finishing the game, so why did I do it? But that’s the nature of traditional RPGs where leveling is a huge focus. You usually have to take care of those side quests to level up your character’s skills, or you’ll find it nearly impossible to progress along the main story line. I had that happen with Oblivion when I thought I could stay on the main quest. Didn’t even make it a quarter of the way through.

The best thing to happen to RPGs recently is full on voice-overs. I think Oblivion was the first to go the extra mile and do away with dialogue boxes all together. And that was the main reason I picked it up. I was glad to see that Fable 2 followed the same path, as stopping to read really breaks the immersion.

Where is the awesome Armour? The clothes are crap in the game.

Did you play as a female at all? I did my first time through, and she looked horrendous! Especially after eating a bunch of pies and getting all fat. The closed sat really funny on her, even after losing the weight due to being all muscular. Looked like a dude in drag. But yeah, not much variety in the clothing – basically one outfit for each style. Also wreaks of DLC, doesn’t it?

The Knothole Island DLC has a new armor set, which looks pretty cool. But still not nearly as heavy as most people would like, I’m sure. It’s still not a full coat of arms or anything.

Not being funny, but the game is big time homosexual? WTF?

Indeed it is! I noticed this as well. Playing as both male and female, the ratio of gay to hetero is about 50/50.

Also, the boss fight WTF!!!!!!?!??!?!? One damn shot? You kidding me? In Fable the Lost Chapters you have the original boss then later Jack of Blades comes back as a big arse dragon!

I’ve been noticing this more and more in recent games. Gears 2 is a great example. The first game had a big boss fight at the end that was super hard compared to the rest of the game. Gears 2 has a boss fight about 3/4 of the way through, that spans a couple chapters. You could do the end fight with your eyes closed.

I agree that Fable 2 does a lot of things right which other RPGs — especially fantasy RPGs — have done wrong.

Meanwhile, the bugs seem to have been stomped into something less powerful with the XBL patch download, and the infamous lock-ups some people were getting (myself included) went away completely for me as soon as I elected to play the game off my 360’s hard drive.

But back to you

I wonder if one of the reasons Fable 2 worked for you is that, like a number of games lately, the “genre lines” are starting to blur.

Yeah, F2 is an RPG, but it’s also got other elements in there also — same with Mass Effect.

Likewise Bioshock is more than “just another shooter” by a long sight, if you choose to fully engage the game content and story.

Even Grand Theft Auto IV defied the old genre categories. Shooter? Yeah, kinda. Driving game, sure but … RPG? Not really, but still …

You see where I’m going with this, I’m sure. The best games are starting to use anything and everything which works well. Screw genre expectations, if it’s fun and interesting and immersive, no one will care ten minutes into the game.

Maybe you liked Fable 2 partly because the old walls, they’re coming down …

Fable 2 was actually one of the key reasons for buying the Xbox 360. I bought it on release day and played it through (being the uber Hero that I am). I have completed the main quest and I’m now in the happily ever after stage and a big time property expert.

I have to say though after playing it through I’m quite disappointed. The reasons are simple ones too.

Where are the really decent and rare weapons? There are a few, but they seem a bit crappy.

Where is the awesome Armour? The clothes are crap in the game.

Not being funny, but the game is big time homosexual? WTF?

Also, the boss fight WTF!!!!!!?!??!?!? One damn shot? You kidding me? In Fable the Lost Chapters you have the original boss then later Jack of Blades comes back as a big arse dragon!

Another problem I had is that it didn’t really end. Threasa claims the Spire like she is going to use it for something, but what? Basically the game stinks of extra downloadable content (that we will probably have to pay a large sum for).

I love it, but I hate it. It’s basically a fantasy estate agent game now.

For example, I went into the crucible a thin, trim, powerhouse. By the end of it because I was “healthing up” so quickly, I was a big fat tub of lard…from eating too many pies!

I still don’t understand why there isn’t some sort of photo studio in the game where you could take pictures of your character and retrieve them on a web page. To me that is one of the most compelling features of the game, “look at the bad @ss I created!”.