This is not that post.
With the onset of free time that I received from finishing my first semester of Teacher’s College, I decided to hunker down and attempt to finish Fable 3. I am well aware that I am about two months late on this, but I now feel reasonably compelled to put aside my ambitions of writing a lengthy post about WoW to instead write a sizeable rant about what was supposed to be my (second-)favourite game of the final quarter of 2010. Lucky you.
I should warn you that this post will contain sizeable spoilers for Fable 3, its plot and game progression as well as mechanics. If you have zero urge to spoil yourself or to read what I have to say, then I don't want you to leave this post empty-handed.
An extremely cute holiday video featuring a really cute Japanese cat for those who don't want to read further. (Heck, even if you read the rest of the post, go watch the video. It's adorable.)
Last call, spoilers ahead!
================================================
Alright. Fable has had a pretty mixed history when it comes to reviews. It seems as if in the past, people either really LOVED Fable, or they completely hated Fable. In general, Fable 2 did better than the first Fable, but that was mostly because Lionhead/Microsoft Game Studios perfected upon certain elements of gameplay that were slightly problematic/boring in the first game. (Making money, figuring out how to be good/evil, maintaining property all come to mind as elements that were massively improved upon between Fable and its successor.) Naturally, I believed Fable 3 would be an improvement on even Fable 2. This excited me.
Another thing that excited me about Fable 3 was the premise. You are the daughter of the King of Albion circa Albion's version of the industrial revolution. Your brother becomes the King on your father's death, but his rule is built on tyranny. The people grow poor and restless, and you are called to lead a revolution against your brother. Um, kick ass. The trailer (the awesome version of which I cannot seem to find on the internet anymore - funny, that) instills a sense of absolute epicness regarding your undertaking as the new hero of Albion. You gain alliances with people in the kingdom, and together you thwart a tyrant. Yes, kick ass indeed.
When I picked up my controller after my large gaming hiatus because of school, my budding heroine was still in the process of gathering alliances. She carried on, kicked some ass, took some names, and eventually I had gathered enough people and made enough alliances to take on my brother. And take him on I did!
And then.
And I am disappointed to say that there is, in fact, an "and then".
And then you are asked to rule for your first year as ruler of Albion. What this entails is making sure that you make good on your promises with the various people with whom you allied yourself as well as amassing troops for the RANDOM SUDDEN THREAT THAT WAS INTRODUCED IN BASICALLY ACT 4 OF THE GAME. You need to gain 6.5 million gold in order to have enough to amass a decent enough army to fight the "darkness incarnate" about to invade Albion. You have 365 days in which to make this gold, while also making good on your promises (or breaking them, whatever, but the choice becomes make good on your promise or be a complete amoral dickhead in order to not spend money) which ends up costing you several hundred thousand gold. This would seemingly be possible, except for the fact that if you advance the plot at all by doing a day's worth of royal duties (making good on the aforementioned promises as well as other random pointless things), YOU SUDDENLY ADVANCE ABOUT A HUNDRED DAYS INTO THE FUTURE.
Uh.
Oh, did I mention that when you do advance about a hundred days into the future, you do not gain profits from your properties/businesses as if a hundred days have passed? So if you ended Day 1 with about $100,000 in your treasury and personal accounts, at Day 100 you have...$100,000 in your treasury and personal accounts, even if you have incoming assets. That's probably worth mentioning.
So I conducted an experiment. I finished the game while being completely moral, making as much money as I could (and I should point out that by the end, I was still in the hole by about $400,000-ish) and letting the final chapter happen after only three possible cash-making days. Sure, I was good, I got my good powers and I defeated the darkness. But most of Albion was killed, dead bodies littered the streets, and on top of that, the final boss was my best friend in the game who had gotten possessed by the darkness. And once the game was actually over, it was noted that my rule would be the one in which I LET ALBION DIE. And when you open the save file after all of this occurs, Albion has about one sixth of the population you started with, and the same dead bodies litter the streets.
Yeah.
I did some research when I was done playing through the plot, because I was sure as hell not going to continue with that save file, since the result was completely ludacrous, and I found that pretty much the only way to get the necessary gold was to use a goddamn exploit.
Seriously, Lionhead Studios? I get that you wanted this to be like "a real monarchy", but everything about this final keystone chapter was flawed. Why couldn't I gain money in the same real time that I should have? Why didn't more opportunities come up to save my people? Why must dead bodies completely litter the streets after I am done playing the game, as a constant reminder of the "great sacrifice" I made as the motherloving benevolent leader of Albion?
If it was possible to end the game directly after I became the ruler of Albion, I would not have needed to write this post. But the last chapter of the game ruined the rest of the game for me, to the point where I actually want to delete my completed save file and create a new one so I can run the game overnight to accrue funds like people needed to do in the original Fable. That's just peachy.
Okay, seriously...next post will be about Cataclysm. Then you probably won't see a game-related post from me in a very long time, either much to your dismay or to your enjoyment.
Happy holidays everyone!
Although I can understand where people might have been irritated by the end portion of the game, I think it makes a very artistic point about the difficulty of being a ruler. You can be morally good, and still make decisions that lead to people dying.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it does suck that you don't get to make the money you should have.
I do get it, I really do. But I think the point is rather lost since the difficulty of being a ruler is only exacerbated by the unrealistic time skips and lack of morally accepted ways to make cash. I mean, you get the donation from the noblewoman, you get the expensive diamond...but the worth of those two items tallies up to what...1.2 million?
ReplyDeleteMaybe I am a bit harsh on the game, given that its ultimate goal seems to be to show what happens AFTER a revolution. But I feel they could have developed that chapter a bit better.