Fable: Huge Hands-On With Final Game

We begin our epic coverage of Peter Molyneux's mind-boggling Xbox adventure with this massive hands-on preview with pretty much the final version of the game. Come in, sit down, have a beer!

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During our interview with the Carter brothers (see the rest of our massive upcoming Fable feature), they were quick to point out that Fable is an action-RPG. There are no turn-based battles here, and the end result is something not too distantly removed from the Legend of Zelda's interface of recent iterations. Attacks are mapped to the face buttons, and pulling the left trigger will allow you to lock onto an enemy. Switching between enemies is a simple matter of easing off the trigger and then pulling it again, and the transition from enemy to enemy is as smooth as you'd want. Which is a good thing, since several missions will see you grossly outnumbered. While locked-on, you can sidestep and roll with the press of a button, letting you evade attacks and rapidly manoeuvre to an enemy's flank for a more effective attack. If you string together successful attacks, you'll gain the option of performing a more powerful attack, known as a flourish.

This generous repertory of attacks is necessary as an effective countermeasure against the range of weapons available to both enemies and yourself. From swords and spears to cleavers and hammers - all the traditional fantasy-RPG staples are present and accounted for. There are more than fifty different weapon types. Of these, bows deserve special mention, as they are an integral secondary weapon for long-range attacks. The left analog stick is used to aim, and the strength of the shot is determined by how far you pull back the arrow using a face button. Your weapons have another, more visible effect too. Wielding large swords requires more strength, and the more you fling around your mighty blade, the stronger - statistically and visually - you'll become.

As with most RPGs, Fable relies on gathering experience points for character progression. Defeating enemies releases luminous, evanescent experience orbs. These are gathered either by simply walking into them or - in a manner familiar to those who have played Onimusha - by sucking them up using the right trigger. Since the experience orbs are short-lived, this secondary method is often useful, as you'll find yourself bogged down in combat and unable to casually stroll over to pick up your rewards.

Of course, no role-playing game based in a fantasy world can exist without magic. In Fable, it's called Will, and the wealth of spells on offer enables you to throw fireballs, push skeletons from bodies and everything in between. Spells are laid out over the face buttons, making their usage during even the most frenetic battles a cinch. The offerings are rather sparse initially, but progression through the game and accumulation of experience yields well over a dozen spells, each of which can be upgraded through up to seven levels. In an ostensible homage to the Legend of Zelda series, your magic meter is diminished as you cast spells, and replenishes itself automatically when not in use.

It makes sense that in a game as reliant on NPC interaction as Fable, there are specific actions available for these situations. The D-pad can be mapped with various sundry actions, like laughing, farting or burping. It's a little juvenile, but then you have to choice of whether to do it or not. There's no real purpose for several of these actions, but they can have hilarious consequences. If you come home after adventuring for a few weeks and see your wife for the first time, a nice, solid burp in the face seals your already-grim fate with your seething spouse. It's nuances like this that make playing Fable feel like a very personal experience. No one else will be able to play it just like you.

The other end of the spectrum introduces a concept long since lacking in any sort of competent manner in console games: sex. While the sections of the game we played did not contain any sexual scenes, Molyneux told us that it does form a prominent part of the package. And why shouldn't it? Fable will be carrying a Mature rating when it sees release, which allows the developers to take a more frank approach to this oft neglected aspect of normal human existence. In a move sure to draw the ire of religious conservatives, both hetero- and homosexual relationships will be possible. There's no player interaction in the sex scenes, but their mere presence in a mature form means that we're getting away from the puerile approach taken by the majority of console developers till now.

Accompanying your newfound sexual side is the possibility of marriage. But, just as in real life, this is neither mandatory nor containing. You can have as many relationships as you want, and with the complex AI system you'll be able to be a good beau in one town and a sorry excuse for a husband in another. Don't bank on settling down though, as you're forcibly pulled along by the game if it looks like you're readying for retirement with the family.

A feature long touted during development is the physical metamorphosis of your character during the game. Everyone will start out looking the same - a young, round-eyed, big-footed boy with just a glint of mischief in his face. From there, it's all up to you. Hair, clothes, tattoos - all are yours for customization. And the breadth of possible looks is quite impressive, allowing you to create a traditional RPG hero with wavy hair and tunic or a mohawk-coifed, tattoo-covered, pale-skinned, goth-looking miscreant. Physical damage also takes its toll on your hide, leaving you battle scarred and worse for wear. The character models themselves are detailed, and everyone down to the lowliest bar wench comes across as a unique individual.

This individualization is further accentuated by the dense script. Unlike in most RPGs where each NPC has only one or possibly two lines that begin cycling almost immediately, the denizens of Albion have something to say. Their responses to your questions depend on their opinion of you, so if you, as a malicious evil-doer, approach someone for information, your rapport will be tainted by their lingering fear of you. There are several states for each NPC to be in, resulting in different responses in each instance.

What's more impressive is that each of the 22,000 lines that make up Fable's script is fully voiced. While it's fairly common these days for a game to have voice acting, most of them only take around ten hours to compete. Fable, on the other hand, clocks in at an impressive 20-30 hours, and that's if you ignore every non-essential facet of the story and speed your way through as fast as you can. Surprisingly, British voice actors have been used throughout. While this would seem fairly obvious, considering the birthplace of the game, it's still an impressive leap of faith on the part of the developer in an industry currently dominated by North America. Despite the paucity of big-name talent, the quality is impeccable and complements the detailed script to a T.

As mentioned previously, there is a central story that threads its way through Fable. While you're free to do anything you want outside of this, there are certain story elements that everyone will experience. Lionhead have forgone the storytelling mechanisms of current CG-obsessed development houses and have instead attempted something much more stylized. Important plot points are played out via static, 2D art. While this might sound a little boring compared to the cinema sequences from, say, Final Fantasy X, the gorgeous artwork and excellent accompanying narration will win over any detractors. And these sequences have an in-game effect as well. These 2D images form part of frescoes that adorn a physical shrine in the game world. This shrine will change as you progress through the game, incorporating your most recent travails.

A very real problem when playing large games - especially ones with as many distractions as Fable - is that you forget where you were headed, or what you were supposed to be doing. Oftentimes, taking a weeklong break due to real life commitments is enough to render impossible your completion of an RPG, simply because the developers have not made provision for a decent save and journaling system. You'll be spending most of your time in Fable completing missions of various sorts, snippets that you can play through in a single sitting. This both allows gamers with strict time demands to be able to get some meaningful play time in, but it also introduces a convenient save point. You're prompted to save as you enter into mission areas, and your progress is automatically saved once you exit. What's more, you won't need to spend all your time traipsing to and fro - horses were considered but have not made the cut - as there is a robust teleportation system that does away with excess walking.

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