And So, Our Story Begins…

Bowerstone Market... the closest thing to living in a Ye Olde England Christmas card ever... and if you were that way inclined, you could own every nook and cranny in Fable 2.

I can’t think the number of times I listened to Ms Wanamaker utter those words in her velvety soft voice, preparing me for great battles and frequent immersion into the downright surreal humour of the people of Albion. As we’re all too aware, the beauty and aesthetics surrounding Fable 2 was enough to tempt even the most cynical of gamers to dip their toes in the water to see what all the hype was about. As expected, the game didn’t quite live up to the hype… but it was something that could be forgiven due to the obvious efforts made by the developers when it came to creating a game that was attempting to keep to the original format, but still meet the expectations of the modern gamer.

Regardless of anything else, my own journey back to Albion was captivating and the graphics whore inside me was jumping for joy at the caricature styled imagery and the christmas card stylings of Bowerstone Market. The game was flawed, probably less than I remember, but I still looked forward to playing it each and every time because there was nothing that actually ruined the gameplay, just hindered it slightly.

Now we reach the point where Lionhead have starting to publish information on Fable III, starting with screenshots and the first of the usual developer diary videos. As usual, Peter Molyneux is a little over enthusiastic about certain aspects of the game which are, to be honest, nothing special. The ability to click an “expression” button and immediately sprout wings to show everyone your true character may be groundbreaking to Peter but to me it’s no different than clicking an “arm” button and immediately sprouting a big-assed laser cannon to show everyone that your true character is “one who means business”. Perhaps I’m being overly cynical but I see it as being “button produces reaction” like in any other game.

What I DO like though, is the thought that every person would have their own unique weapons as they are based on whichever weapon you’re using and how youv’e played the game. Sure, there certainly won’t be an infinite number of variations available but at least it’ll be slightly different to the one your mate is using. I like that aspect. As with Fable 2, I’ll be reserving judgement until more information in available but I’m a lot more keen this afternoon than I was this morning. Perhaps that’s just the geek side of me getting excited over how powerful their dev machines are, who knows.

I’ll leave you now with the various screenshots and the first of the developer diaries.
Click here to view the video

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