Fable III confirmed

[Drakul]

Theres too much to quote so here is a link.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/fable-iii-preview

Ontop of Fable III, we're getting Fable II as an episodic download. As of September 29th we will get episodes 1-5 with Ep 1 being free.

We play as the son/daughter of Fable II's Hero. You begin the game trying to over throw the tyrant King of Albion by leading a revolution. You do this by gathering support, gaining followers and uniting factions. As you attempt to overthrow the King, you make promises and you can choose if you should keep your promises or break them.
Two new game mechanics revealed were "Judgement" and "Touch".
Judgement is, oviously, you making judgements. An example given (thats not in the game) is a woman is caught stealing bread. She is brought to you where you can listen to her pleas, investigate it yourself to see if she is lying by visiting her family to see if she is as poor as she claims to be etc. You can choose to throw her in the dungeon or throw her some gold.

Touch is the ability to touch those around you. You can walk up to someone and shake their hand or refuse. This can be built up to hugging, embracing, kissing. You can also use it to hold hands, pull people to take them places etc.

Peter Molyneux says "Imagine hearing the cries from a young child in the house, and you as a ruler storm in to save the child. In Fable I and Fable II, you'd get a button prompt - press A to save the child. With dynamic touch, you can pull the child out of the flames and the burning house."

PM is also giving a talk at GDC in a few hours so more info may be revealed. Fable III is due out in 2010.

Trailer:

[Kalyx triaD]

Awesome.

[Kane Knight]

Oh God, more gimmick developments.

[Drakul]

Lionhead intend to add more depth to the story and include things such as drama. To do this they had actors act out parts of the story so they could see how things played out.

Fable III at IGN.com

There are a few things to note in the video. One being the list of bullet point shown at the beggining. Pause at 0:48 for a brief screen shot of a courtyard. We see one scene is titled "Sabine Intro" at 1:36. I'm not sure of Sabine is a character or some technical term for camera work but I thought I'd point it out.
As the video fades out, another list pops up. It reads:

• Choice/consequences this time affecting everyone and everything in the Kingdom

• Judgements

- Feel the power
- At anytime pass judgement
- Decide on the fate of the outcome

• Touch

- Expression touch
- Dynamic touch

[Kalyx triaD]

I'm surprised at how quickly they're getting down on this.

[Drakul]

They've said they started working on ideas and concepts for Fable III half way through Fable II.
I'm thinking by 2010, they mean Christmas 2010. So thats still over a year to get things done.

[Kalyx triaD]

I always felt working on sequels during development of the present game was folly, but to each developer their own.

[BigDaddyCool]

I want it now.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Originally Posted by Kalyx triaD I always felt working on sequels during development of the present game was folly, but to each developer their own.

Different dev teams, perhaps?

Lionhead have learned when to stop people coming up with new ideas for the current game and move them on to the next game so they can actually hit schedules. Valve have learned that lesson too (See: Left 4 Dead)

[Kane Knight]

Originally Posted by Kalyx triaD I always felt working on sequels during development of the present game was folly, but to each developer their own.

It can actually lead to a lot of good, like internal consistency, and ideas of what to aim for based on current limitations.

What bothers me is that they Nerfed Fable 2 and added a few gimmicky ideas like your dog. Naturally, I'm skeptical.

[BigDaddyCool]

BDC wants to know more about the Nerfing of Fable too, I'm assuming it is a play on the foam missles and not the poster.

[Mr Regal]

I love my dog.

[BigDaddyCool]

Yeah...until he died, that made me sad.

[Funky Fly]

Originally Posted by Kane Knight It can actually lead to a lot of good, like internal consistency, and ideas of what to aim for based on current limitations. What bothers me is that they Nerfed Fable 2 and added a few gimmicky ideas like your dog. Naturally, I'm skeptical.

The dog may have been a gimmick, but it as a pretty well executed one.

Originally Posted by BigDaddyCool Yeah...until he died, that made me sad.

SPOILER: show

You can get him back in the knothole Island DLC

[Kalyx triaD]

I named my dog, Jet.

[Drakul]

Originally Posted by Kalyx triaD I named my dog, Jet.

I named my "main" Heros dog Storm, after my cat.

Another bit of info: Fable III will use your Fable II save to make the game reflect what you did in Fable II and the consequences.

[Indifferent Clox]

jsdvfiafdjoapidjfoa DAMN IT I OLD MY FUCKING XBOX my gf is gonna have to play this whole thing over to get that when I buy it for her. UGH!

[BigDaddyCool]

Originally Posted by Kalyx triaD I named my dog, Jet.

I named my dog Scruffy after my ex-wifes dog, who was my wife and dog and the time.

When I replayed to get to see a different ending, I named him Lord Barkington.

[DAMN iNATOR]

So I wonder if the plot is something along the lines of, you take whatever (male or female, apparently from the teaser) character you build, as usual, from early childhood, through a story that eventually makes you the King or Queen of Albion, who through previous and future actions is seen as someone the people love, like an FDR, or someone people hate and who opresses at the slightest hint of revolt, kind of like GWB 43...

[BigDaddyCool]

DAMN iNATOR i hate FDR and love G. Dub.

[Drakul]

Interview video from Gamescom



Don't worry about the mention of Natal. Apparantly everyone thinks "touch" will use Natal because PM made certain motions with his hands as he talked about it on stage. A Member of the developement team said on the Lionhead forum that they wont use Natal for Fable III.

[BigDaddyCool]

What is Natal?

[BigDaddyCool]

So it is going to be more open ended? I like open ended games.

Anyhow the interview makes me so interested.

[Drakul]

Originally Posted by DAMN iNATOR So I wonder if the plot is something along the lines of, you take whatever (male or female, apparently from the teaser) character you build, as usual, from early childhood, through a story that eventually makes you the King or Queen of Albion, who through previous and future actions is seen as someone the people love, like an FDR, or someone people hate and who opresses at the slightest hint of revolt, kind of like GWB 43...

You start the game as an adult trying to overthrow the tyrant king. You're the son/daughter of your Fable II character. It's set 50 years after Fable II and your save game from Fable II will dicatate certain things about Fable III (I'm assuming it would be what areas you destroyed and developed, what major choices you made etc.). Half way through the game, you become King/Queen and then you play the rest of the game as the ruler with new powers and responsabilities.

Originally Posted by BigDaddyCool What is Natal?

A motion detecting camera being released for the 360. It's able to track you in 3D and, apparantly, able to detect something as small as individual finger and eye movement according to an article I read online a weeks ago. It has facial and voice recognition and can track multiple people at once.

Articles (Links found by someone at the Lionhead Forums) :
IGN
Eurogamer
Kotaku
Nowgamer
Gameindustry
G4TV
Gamescom
Spike

The full Microsoft/Lionhead Gamescom conference Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4

[Funky Fly]

Good thing I didn't trade in Fable 2. You get 6 game saves and I've made use of 2. 4 more to get in as many permutations as I can.

[Verbose Minch]

Get ready for more unfulfilled promises!

[G]

omggg can't wait. started playing fable 2 a few days ago and haven't put it down. just bought the 2 dlcs. i it so much. it's so awesome seeing other orbs and hearing them talk. haven't even thought about playing mw2 or anything else.

[Kalyx triaD]

Kinda missing Fable 2 now. Great game.

[Drakul]

Yeah, Fable II was great, I thought. Everyone else I come across seems to just pick out it's faults, though.
I've nearly done everything in F2 but I can't get the last achievement, "Collect all the Hero Dolls" because you have to go around asking other players to swap and trade with you for them.
If anyone here has all the dolls and wants to let me borrow/buy them, I'd appreciate it and I could pay in whatever you need, I have multiples of everything I can get multiples off.
Funky Fly only has to get that one achievement for 100% aswell, I think.

Fable III should be even better but nothing new has come out besides the developers going on the LH forums and saying small things about graphics being better, more regions, bigger variations in the regions and that the story will be dramatic and moving. Standard stuff you'd expect from devs on their own forum.

I really hate it when developers announce a game and then just don't share anything else about it. They did say we'd be getting stuff very soon, though. Hopefully that means just a month or so before a new trailer.

[Funky Fly]

Yeah, been farting around on 360achievements.org trying to find someone to help a brother out, but no luck thus far.

[G]

What Hero dolls do you need. I just dug up a Theresa Doll. Need to find that free Hero one that apparently you buy in a store.

[G]

wooooo got all the dolls. hit me up and i'll gift them

[Drakul]

I sent you a friend request. When you say gift, do you mean I can borrow them, get the achievement and give them back to you or do you want to give me the ones I need and I'll give you something in return? If you want to trade, I have plenty of items for you to choose from.

I only need Garth, Lucien and Reaver. I have multiple Theresas if anyone needs one her dolls.

[G]

you can "borrow" them. just gift them right back after you get it. i don't need anything but money, because i have everything

[G]

1350/1350

[G]

X10: Fable 3 impressions (spoiler: we're not pissed off)

by Randy Nelson { Feb 11th 2010 at 8:47PM }

Receiving a live demo of Fable 3 from Lionhead, er ... head and Microsoft Games Studio boss Peter Molyneux during today's X10 event, we learned that it, in his words, "is all about power and uniqueness." Well, that and Charles Dickens. (More on that in a sec.) Yes, the game is up, running and actually looking pretty far along at this point. But Molyneux was much more keen to talk about some of its new gameplay mechanics than anything involving graphics, sound or other trimmings.

First up, he revisited the premise of the game. It's set in Albion, which -- as we noticed right away -- has become heavily industrialized. You play as the son or daughter of the hero from Fable 2, with Molyneux confirming that you can import your saved game from that title, but that it "will make minor, not major, changes to the story." The game's structure will have you starting out as a "nobody," getting people to believe in you and eventually starting a revolution. About half-way through, you'll be the king or queen of Albion.

The Albion in the demo could certainly stand a change in ownership. It's smoggy, grimy and the streets are full of the homeless, poor and starving. The factories are full of everyone else, including children as young as five-years-old. Molyneux says that all of this is inspired by the works of Charles Dickens; in particular, Oliver Twist. As bad as it is, he promises you'll eventually have the power to change it all, should you choose.

Molyneux points out that it's important to be mindful of what you promise during your rise to power, since the second half of the game and much of its drama will involve deciding whether or not to honor your word. Playing through the first 50% of Fable 3, you'll be approached by characters who'll ask you things like, "Will you promise to replace these workhouses with schools when you're king?," and you'll actually have to put the promise in writing. One you're in power, these same people will come before you, present these papers, and you'll get to pass judgment on them. Will you keep your promise, or lose their loyalty?

"Will you keep your promise, or lose their loyalty?"

Passing judgment will be done using what Molyneux calls "the most emotionally driven feature in a game," a touch mechanic inspired by ICO. In the first example given, the character's wife was in hysterics -- their child had gone missing. The demo driver was able to use his dog (yes, man's best friend is back) to track her scent. As it turned out, she'd just wandered off to play with friends. The touch mechanic (performed with the right trigger) was first used to admonish the child. (The actions performed by press right trigger are context sensitive to the other character's emotional state.) She began to cry, so the touch mechanic was used to pick her up, hug her and start tossing her in the air until she was happy again. The character then stood next to her as the demoer held right trigger to hold her hand and walk her home.

Along the way, he tried to go into a pub, child in tow. The girl said, "Dad, that's the pub! You promised mom you'd never go there again." So, yes, the AI is always "aware" of the current situation. Case in point: The second demonstration of the touch mechanic. The character walked up to a beggar and took him by the hand. The beggar, thinking he was being taken home for dinner, began to exclaim his tanks. Only the demoer was going to be naughty -- he led the beggar to a workhouse, where he intended to sell him. As they got closer to the factory, the beggar become more and more afraid, eventually pulling against the character's arm in an attempt to escape. It was pretty horrifying.

Molyneux explained that the touch mechanic will also work when interacting with objects and in combat, though he wouldn't elaborate on either of the latter. He simply stated that this "is not a gimmick, but a really big feature." Emotes are still in the game, though they've taken a back seat to touch.

Next up we saw some combat inside of a vast cave, prompting Molyneux to explain that the "dungeons" in Fable 3 are much more "open" than in the previous game. He then went on to explain how your character's physique will change based on the weapons you decided to use; if you want a tall, lithe female character, use lighter swords. Wielding a large battle axe will result in your character becoming much more buff.

"It also evolves based on your Gamerscore. It can be traded. It will be named after you."

Saying that "we're bored of making new weapons," Molyneux revealed that all players will be able to craft their own totally unique weapons. Every weapon starts sort of bland and will change to reflect the way you use it. It can also level up. Its look will change; killing Hobbes make it spiky, Hollowmen make it blunt, for example. The more you use it, the bigger it gets. Kill innocents, it drips blood. It also evolves based on your Gamerscore. It can be traded. It will be named after you.

Combat also features more finishing moves and level of gore dependent on how evil your character is. Every player will develop a pair of ethereal wings that will grow and display their power. Molyneux calls them an "extreme expression."

On the topic of co-op, he couldn't expound too much, saying only that "pretty much whatever you can do in single player, you can do in co-op."

So, what about those things Molyneux had tweeted would "seriously piss off" fans? It involves "simplification," he says. Health bars, for example, are gone, replaced by a FPS-like desaturation of color. The biggest change, however, is the removal of experience orbs. Molyneux likened leveling up in Fable 2 to using Windows 7 (go corporate synergy!). In place of the orbs, Fable 3 will rely on "followers" -- do good and get more, do poorly they'll leave. They're what will determine the overall greatness of your character.

With a Fall release promised, we're certain to be seeing much more of Fable 3 soon – with Fable 2 occupying Joystiq's top spot for 2008, we're equally excited and nervous about the changes. For now, we're giving Mr. Molyneux the benefit of the doubt. We're not pissed off ... yet.

[Kalyx triaD]

So in co-op I can go in your game and... touch your child? Sweet.

[Drakul]

I'm willing to bet a few people will try to run off with my child/wife. You can seperate now in co-op.

Molyneux says all of the contextual touching will also work in cooperative modes, allowing you to interact with other players in the same way. The co-op will also allow you to separate in game, he said. "You could go off earning money, while I go off to kill people," Molyneux said. "It's a true co-op experience."

http://kotaku.com/5469995/fable-iiis...responsibility

[Drakul]

First few screenshots:












New video, likely a Dev Diary, will be up on the market place in roughly 24 hours.

[Kalyx triaD]

If we can split up does that mean the world map is streaming or what? I can imagine it still working with the way it is now but that could be clunky.