Fable: up to release and nostalgia...
7th August 2004 - 22:06 - Belgium
I am enjoying the last days of my holidays right now; I've spent around two and
a half weeks in Belgium. The weather was great, so were the people, the parties,
the food and everything else really. There's too much that’s happened to mention
here, and I'm sure none of you would be interested in any of it! Next week I will
go back to work - and am looking forward to it. Oh yes. It'll be another five weeks
before Fable will be released in the USA and after that another four weeks at maximum
for a European launch. It's definite now, the team is looking forward to their vacation,
some of them have moved on to another project while the majority are finishing the
game as we speak.
This past week I've also met Reynard and Atchoo both of whom you might know from
Alter Ego or the former Egomaniacs. We decided to meet each other at my house, where
they stayed over for almost a whole week. During that period we went to a LAN party,
had ice-cream and dinner together - not to forget breakfast - and basically had
a great time. Maybe the fact that I won at RISK or the chance to play Fable in a
protected but great environment caused the enjoyment all three of us got from this
week. Reynard's skills at Pictionary are crap and James has the typical sort of
humor you would expect from a Brit. And neither snores during their sleep!
7th August 2004 - 22:28 - Belgium
Several weeks ago there was the Lionhead Preview Event; journalists got the option
to play Fable for two straight hours, get an interview with members of the team
and get shown around the studio. By now most of these hands on-previews should be
published, and I expect the very first reviews early next month. Personally I'm
really looking forward to these verdicts and the waiting makes me curious. There
were several new things revealed at these preview days, and I do hope some publications
will pick up on this and mention them.
7th August 2004 - 22:53 - Belgium
There has been written so much about Fable, and prior to that about Project Ego.
Not much was really written or Wishworld. I had the chance to experience Wishworld,
Project Ego and Fable and have interviews with Dene and Simon Carter and Peter Molyneux
on several occasions. Obviously one of the subjects of those interviews has always
been Project Ego. But it was only recently I found a bunch of pictures and stuff
back on a floppy disk I stored somewhere. To my great surprise it included an interview
with Dene and Simon at the Game Developer Conference Europe in September 2001. With
pictures.
One of the questions that is still relevant, is the one about the interactivity
of items in the game. At a certain point, Dene said that every object in the world
must have five uses, otherwise it would be useless. Now the interesting thing is,
this still stands in Fable today! Maybe not to the extensive goal that was made
with Project Ego (five uses), but I could be satisfied with four or even three!
A box of chocolates is something you could give to your beloved ones, something
you can give to a friend, steal from a shop or leave behind somewhere. It's also
something you can eat or sell; it's that sort of thing really. Fable comes
in with NPC's commenting and reacting to these actions of yours, not only with the
uses for items but also with how you look, what you have done and how you behave
in general.
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The game we're talking about here, Fable, certainly has changed a lot during its
development, but that's a common thing to happen to any game that is still a work
in progress. Halo at a certain point was a strategy game, certain games have been
talked about for god knows how long and games often change development studios,
and the game itself changes, quite often, dramatically during this move. Not that
it matters at all, as long as you get a product in the end that is fun to play,
on rare instances even outstanding, remarkable and/or revolutionary. |
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7th August 2004 - 23:58 - Belgium
I have seen many beautiful things online, such as people posting a huge list of
features of which they think that will make a difference in their experience they'll
be having with this little game. I can recommend so many communities out there,
places on the web that are a great source for information, speculation, brainstorming
and even imagination. Apart from that it's also very welcome to see people getting
along with each other, even real life friendships forming from this communication
Following a game and spending quite some time being a fan surely has its down and
upsides. I've never been doing anything else in my life really; from the very first
game I got sucked into to future releases!
8th August 2004 - 00:04 - Belgium
It's time for tea.
8th August 2004 - 00:49 - Belgium
Outstanding! It's no longer a matter of me telling you as much as possible about
Fable, answering questions about the gameplay or revealing new features. No, Fable
will speak for itself once you get a change to play it yourself, or make up your
mind after reading one or more reviews. Expect some more updates to the FAQ in the
very near future, which should sort out most frequently asked questions or issues
as I'd like to say. The Will Compendium will be continued until you know all sixteen
spells available, there might be the option for more compendiums the following months
and then, then we'll have to wait for Lionhead Studios or Microsoft to announce
the next big thing?
8th August 2004 - 00:59 - Belgium
Feel free to submit suggestions for stuff you'd want to see happening in the Fable
Community. I’d consider almost everything! ;)
Sam, Community Pet Lionhead
Studios