Fable (video game)

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Fable
Developer(s)	Lionhead Studios, Robosoft Technologies(Mac)
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios, Feral Interactive (Mac)
Designer(s)	Peter Molyneux
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Xbox
Release date	September 14, 2004 (Windows) March 31, 2008 (Mac)
Genre(s)	Action RPG
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature (M) OLFC M15+
Media	DVD

Fable is a video game for Xbox, Mac OS X, and Windows. It was developed by Big Blue Box, a satellite of Lionhead Studios, and was published by Microsoft. Shipped to retail on September 14, 2004, Fable was well-received by critics for the quality of its gameplay and execution, even as they lamented its failure to include many of the features promised by creator Peter Molyneux.^[1] The game's music was composed by Russell Shaw, and the opening title theme was composed by Danny Elfman.

A bonus DVD containing a "making of" documentary as well as demo versions of other Lionhead games was included as a pre-order bonus for the game.^[2]

An extended version of the game, Fable: The Lost Chapters, was released for Windows and Xbox in September 2005.

The Mac version of the game developed by Robosoft Technologies and published by Feral Interactive was released on March 31, 2008. The Mac version was originally announced by Feral during early 2006, but took more than two years to release due to licensing issues.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Character customization 1.2 Experience and leveling-up 1.3 Alignment 1.4 Property development 1.5 Clothing 2 Plot 2.1 Characters 3 Development 4 Reception 5 On Xbox 360 6 Fable: The Lost Chapters 6.1 The Northern Wastes 7 References/Notes 8 External links

[edit] Gameplay

In the game, the player controls the main character from a third person perspective. The character can be made to interact with people and objects, and in battle can be made to attack and execute skills through button presses, or in the PC version by using user-defined keyboard shortcuts.

[edit] Character customization

Fable features a character-customization system based on the concept that everything the character does affects him to a certain extent, measurable through counters accessible through the game's menu, or more generally through your overall appearance, which will change your appearance depending on your choices. Eating too much causes the character to gain weight. Appeasing your wife will cause her to buy you presents, whereas abusing her leads to divorce. Drinking too much alcohol can cause the character to get sick and vomit. The hero will also obtain expressions throughout the game which can also affect his personality.

Every article of clothing the character acquires will change his in-game appearance. He can be further customized through a variety of haircuts, facial hair, and tattoo cards that allow for a range of body modification options. The clothing, hairstyle, and tattoos the character wears will affect the way he is seen by the non-player characters.

The build of the hero will affect the hero's outward appearance. High levels of strength cause larger muscles. High levels of skill increase height. Knowing high-level Will powers (magic spells) causes arcane tattoos to appear on the body and begin to glow.

[edit] Experience and leveling-up

Throughout the game, a player has to earn experience points in order to purchase or upgrade abilities and statistics. Points earned have four categories: General, Strength, Skill, and Will. General points are gained through completion of quests and killing enemies and creatures. How the player goes about killing those creatures will affect in which of the other three categories they will gain points. In-game actions can also yield experience in one of the three categories. Making the Hero use melee weapons to attack an enemy or making him eat healthy food earns Strength points. Firing the bow or engaging in trade earns Skill points. Using magic often earns Will points. The experience the character gains can be multiplied during combat through the combat multiplier. As the character successfully hits an enemy (melee, ranged or will attack), his combat multiplier increases. If the character is hit by the enemy, the combat multiplier drops down to the next multiple of five, or zero if below five. For example, if twelve experience points are earned and the combat multiplier is ten, the actual experience awarded is 120. Leveling up also ages the Hero. You will also occasionally find potions that increase your experience by 1,000 but can be increased if used alongside a combat multiplier. For example, a combat multiplier of 10 will yield 10,000 exp and 20 will yield 20,000. These potions are called Ages of Might, Ages of Will and Ages of Skill potions.

[edit] Alignment

The character has a positive or negative alignment. Their actions will award either good points, which produce a positive alignment, or evil points, which produce a negative alignment. For example, killing monsters or saving villagers will result in achieving good points, whereas committing a crime, killing an innocent person, or getting a spouse to divorce you will accumulate evil points. The apparel of the character also affects the alignment of the hero, such as dark clothing gaining evil points and bright clothing gaining good points. The alignment affects not only the responses of the non-player characters but also the appearance of the character. A hero with an abundance of positive alignment will soon find a halo surrounding his head, butterflies swarming around him and his hair will turn blonde. An evil character will sprout horns, emit a red haze from around his legs, draw flies, and have glowing red eyes, in addition to getting a receding hairline. As he grows older, whether he is good or evil, his hair will start to turn white. The apparent age of the hero is related to the core skills he acquires. Over the course of the game your character's "age" gets higher thus making his appearance older.

[edit] Property development

The player is able to buy property, and then either rent it out or live there. In each of the larger towns, there is a marital house that the player can buy. The player can also kill citizens of the town, and the deceased person's house or shop will appear for sale. When bought, the player can decorate the house and place trophies on trophy mounts to increase the value of the house. This increase in value is especially beneficial if the house is being rented out.

[edit] Clothing

The primary method of defense in the game comes from the types of clothing that the Hero acquires and wears. In addition to providing defensive properties, clothes also affect the way the Hero is perceived by the various NPCs throughout the game. Light-colored clothing makes the Hero look more noble to the townspeople, and thus cause them to praise and respect him. Dark-colored clothing causes the Hero to seem evil or threatening to townspeople and cause them to fear him.

[edit] Plot

The game centers on the only playable character, a male referred to by his title or only as the Hero. Players start with the title Chicken Chaser, which the others will refer to you by in place of 'Hero', and are able to buy new titles throughout the game such as Ranger, Paladin, and others including ones that can only be earned via completing a special accomplishment. The Hero lives in a land known as Albion.^[3] The period in which the story is set is similar to the European Middle Ages, but the history behind it— that is, the land being ruled by one king (who is unnamed and does not appear) down to the Hero's unknown but ancient bloodline and the growing sense of chaos—is clearly not.

As a child, the Hero's village, Oakvale, was raided and destroyed by bandits on his sister's birthday, during which his father was slain and his mother and sister were kidnapped and severely tortured (including the removal of his sister's eyes). An older Hero named Maze arrives on the scene, rescues him, and convinces him to join the Heroes' Guild to be trained to become a Hero; despite the Guildmaster's opinion, Maze sees great potential in the boy. He then embarks on a journey to discover the reason behind his village's destruction, discovering his destiny, and the true fate of his family along the way.

After a time, and after honing his skills, Maze informs the Hero of a blind seeress living among a bandit camp near Oakvale, and advises the Hero to infiltrate the bandit camp. To the Hero's surprise, the blind seeress is actually his older sister who was taken in by Twinblade, former hero and present Bandit King. After a showdown with Twinblade, the Hero is given the choice of killing or sparing the bandit king Twinblade.

Later on in the Hero's life, after he has gained more recognition among the people of Albion, he is invited to fight in the Witchwood arena, where he meets the legendary Hero named Jack of Blades, who is running the arena battles and, as a final show, issues a duel against the Hero and his rival and friend Whisper. When the Hero defeats her, he is given the choice to let her live or die. However, it soon becomes clear that it was Jack of Blades himself who was responsible for the destruction of the Hero's home. Aided by his blind sister, the Hero makes it his mission to defeat Jack of Blades one way or another, either through good or evil.

The Hero tracks down his mother, and attempts to rescue her from Bargate Prison, where Jack has kept her since the day of the Oakvale raid. However, the Hero is captured and spends several years in the prison. When he finally escapes with his mother, the Hero attempts to track down Jack. Maze, however, turns against the hero and kidnaps his sister. After defeating Maze, the Hero is led into a final confrontation with Jack, and after defeating him, must choose whether to keep the power that Jack sought, or cast it away forever.

[edit] Characters

The Hero

The Hero is the main character of the game, whose birth name is never mentioned during the game. His appearance is customizable, and thus depends on the players' preferences. Because of his bloodline with Archon, the ruler of the Old Kingdom, he is destined to become the strongest and most powerful hero of his time.

Guildmaster

The Guildmaster is one of the oldest Heroes alive. He operates the Heroes' Guild and is in charge of training Hero apprentices. The Guildmaster watches over every step of the Hero's journey through the Hero's adventure, often offering advice and issuing orders along the way. In Fable: The Lost Chapters, the Snowspire Oracle reveals that the Guildmaster's true name is Weaver, and that along with Maze, he led a bloody revolt against the previous Guild due to his belief that the Guild should not force its Heroes to walk the path of good, but rather should give them the freedom to choose their own destiny.

Whisper

Whisper is the Hero's friend and sometimes his rival, and is an acrobatic fighter wielding a pole staff. Whisper and her older brother Thunder were stranded on Albion after a storm wrecked their ship and, subsequently, were raised in the Heroes' Guild. She trains with the Hero when he is a boy, and the two quickly develop a strong friendship and rivalry. Throughout the game, the Hero will be pitted in duels against Whisper, peaking at a fight to the death at the hands of Jack of Blades.

Jack of Blades

The primary antagonist of the game, Jack of Blades is widely known as the oldest and strongest of heroes, as well as the most evil and feared. After traveling the world in search of knowledge and power, Jack became the unofficial ruler of Albion. His face is perpetually concealed by a white mask with a strange pattern. His study of the Old Kingdom, despite his hatred toward it, has allowed him to control minions and his influence and wealth (some of which is gathered from his own Arena winnings) allows him to hire bandits and bend some heroes to his will, giving him an impressive army. He rules over Bargate Prison, which he uses to imprison his more important enemies. This power, however, is not enough, with his ultimate sadistic desire to make the world burn. To that end, he seeks the Sword of Aeons, an ancient sword of immense power.

In Fable: The Lost Chapters, it is stated that Jack was never a hero or even a mortal man but a malevolent being who predated the age of gods and demons by millenia. Jack's spirit lives inside the mask, which he forged of pure evil to gain immortality, and has used countless host bodies to influence Albion from throughout it's ages.

Thunder

Thunder is Whisper's brother, and Champion of the Arena. He is initially disdainful of the Hero, and continues to look down on him throughout the game. Thunder is in love with Lady Grey and courts her obsessively and thus develops a grudge against the Hero when Lady Grey becomes interested in him instead, which intensifies with the death of Whisper, should the player choose to do so. Thunder makes a brief appearance near the end of the main story to aid the Hero in fighting off some of Jack of Blades' monsters.

Briar Rose

A very powerful and intelligent female Hero. She is from a noble background, but her family fell into hard times when she was a child, so she ended up joining the Heroes' Guild. She is more of a scholar than a fighter, and relies more on intelligence and magic rather than physical strength. Although she initially vilifies the Hero, Briar Rose slowly begins to respect him after the two fight together in quests against Jack of Blades' forces.

The Archeologist

One of the only men to examine the ruins of the Old Kingdom of the era, his study of the Focus Sites and Old Kingdom passages put him at odds with Jack of Blades, and as a result he has become rather reclusive, hiding wherever he can. The Hero first meets him on a mission for Maze, who claimed he was an old friend of his. The Hero later saves him from Jack's minions, only for him to continue hiding. He escapes to the Cities of the West disguised as a glove trader. He then never stepped near a ruin or opened a book since.

Lady Elvira Grey

The seductive but villainous Mayor of Bowerstone; in her youth, Lady Grey was convinced by Jack of Blades to murder her older sister, Amanda, so that she could inherit the position of Mayor. The player finds Amanda's skeleton in the basement of the Grey family home, clutching a piece of parchment exposing Elvira as the murderer. In the original game, the Hero is given the option of marrying or not. In Fable: The Lost Chapters, the Hero may also expose her villainous deeds and take her place as Mayor.

Scarlet Robe

The Hero's mother, she was once a famous Slayer of Balverines, and was respected as Champion of the Arena and the greatest female hero. When she was severely injured by balverines during a particular battle, Scarlet Robe was found and nursed back to health by Brom, and the two of them fell in love, became married, and raised a family. She is eventually killed by Jack of Blades to activate the Sword of Aeons.

Brom

The Hero's father, he is a woodcutter from Oakvale and married Scarlet Robe after he nursed her back to health when she was injured after an attack against a pack of balverines in the arena. Afterward they had two children, Theresa and the Hero. Brom was killed in the bandit raid of Oakvale while fighting to protect his family. His statue is in the Oakvale memorial graveyard and his tombstone can be found in the Lychfield graveyard.

Theresa

The Hero's older sister who has prophetic powers due to their ancient bloodline. During the Oakvale raid, Jack of Blades blinded her, and she was found by Twinblade and raised by bandits, eventually becoming Twinblade's second-in-command because of her prophetic powers. Despite her blindness, Theresa possesses extrasensory perception due to her exceptional Will abilities. However, she leaves Twinblade's service after he is defeated by the Hero. Searching for their mother on her own, Theresa is eventually captured by Jack of Blades.

Twinblade

A gigantic ex-Hero who left the Guild to unite a dozen bandit factions and become the King of Bandits. When Maze alludes to him being responsible for the raid on Oakvale, the main character infiltrates his camp and defeats him personally. Before finishing the duel, the Hero is interrupted by his sister, who reveals that it was Twinblade who found her after the raid and saved her from a seemingly inevitable death. Teresa then leaves, and the Hero is given the choice of eliminating or sparing him. Either way, Twinblade or his followers later hire a band of assassins to try to kill the Hero.

Scythe

Scythe is an ancient Hero and one of the oldest beings in Albion. He is obsessed with cheating death, and he has only managed to live for so long because of supernatural means. He is a withered shell of a man, resembling a tall, mummified corpse. At the beginning of the game, he leaves for the distant Northern Wastes to guard the Oracle of Snowspire. He returns after the defeat of Jack of Blades to seek the Guild's help in battling a new threat to the region.

Nostro

A deceased hero, once known as the Gatekeeper. When he was alive, Nostro founded the Heroes' Guild but was only happy with a blade in his hand. It is revealed that he had not died the way he wished because he had died at the hands of an assassin, who had poisoned him. Because of his manner of death, his soul wanders Lychfield in perpetual torment until the Hero defeats him in battle.

[edit] Development

While the game was still in development in 2002, it was called Project Ego.^[4] The game took roughly four years to create, with a team of around 70 developers working on it.^[5] The main ideas that constituted the entire development of Fable were that "the hero must visually reflect his experiences" and that "the world and its residents must react in a manner appropriate to the player's actions."^[6]

[edit] Reception

The game was generally well-received; retaining an outstanding rating (9.3) at IGN, and winning several awards.^[7] Though pointing out several flaws in the game such as bland character designs, Marc Saltzman of USAToday.com stated that the game "should satisfy you with its incredible depth, open-ended game play, and a solid story that gets even better about half-way through the adventure."^[5] Fable has been praised for its concept of free will and having consequences for the Hero's actions.^[8] The short length of the main plot was criticised by reviewers, but many overlooked this due to the much larger array of side quests available to the player.^[9]

Fable has also been criticized for its violence^[10] and for promoting male violence against women.^[11] It is however known that killing children throughout the game is prohibited, as a social limitation. However, this does not prevent them from being sacrificed at the Temple of Skorm.

One of the complaints that arose upon the release of Fable was the fact that it failed to include features that Peter Molyneux had mentioned while the game was still in development.^[1] One of the features that were not included in the game's release was the Hero's ability to have children^[12] despite the fact that Molyneux had previously mentioned that the Hero's own children would be significant in the game.^[13] Molyneux reacted to these complaints by means of a public apology posted on the official Lionhead forums, on which he said, "If I have mentioned any feature in the past [that], for whatever reason, didn't make it as I described into Fable, I apologize."^[1]

[edit] On Xbox 360

Fable has been released on the marketplace of the Xbox 360 gaming system on 4th December 2007 after a fall update of the gaming system's marketplace. To commemorate Xbox Live's 5th year anniversary, Microsoft released Xbox Originals, which allows original Xbox games to be bought and played on the Xbox 360 gaming system. Fable can be downloaded for 1200 Microsoft Points through Xbox Originals. The Extras link has remained on the menu screen but the Demos that were available in the original were removed, and when choosing the Extra option the game will crash. The original Xbox Fable game disc can also be played on the Xbox 360 console.

[edit] Fable: The Lost Chapters

Fable: The Lost Chapters is a remake of the 2004 Xbox RPG Fable, developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Windows and Xbox in September 2005. The game was ported to Mac OS X by Feral Interactive.^[14] The Windows version had only a few minor differences from the Xbox version.

Fable: The Lost Chapters features all the content found in the original Fable, as well as additional new content such as new monsters, weapons, alignment based spells, items, armor, towns, buildings, and expressions, as well as the ability to give children objects. The story receives further augmentation in the form of nine new areas and sixteen additional quests. Characters such as Briar Rose and Scythe, who played only minor roles in the original game, are now given more importance and are included in certain main and side quests. In Fable: The Lost Chapters Jack's voice also changed into a sly, more monster-like voice.

[edit] The Northern Wastes

A new area of land called the Northern Wastes is unlocked shortly after the game continues, following the first defeat of Jack of Blades. The land is a frozen area, with only one settlement: Snowspire Village. The Northern Wastes also houses some more unusual areas, including

• The Necropolis—a decrepit ghost town occupied by many spirits, undead, and frost balverines
• The Oracle—located at the peak of Snowspire village, can reveal a lot of background information regarding Albion and current characters.
• Archon's Shrine—a mysterious structure outside Snowspire village, it is central to unlocking the Bronze Gate
• The Bronze Gate—built in the time of Archon, it is said to have trapped a terrible evil. It is through here that the hero will face his ultimate battle with Jack of Blades.

[edit] References/Notes

[edit] External links

• Official Fable site
• Official Lionhead Fable site
• Fable: The Lost Chapters Official Website
• Microsoft's Fable: The Lost Chapters Web site
• Website for the Mac version of Fable

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