I got Fable:The Lost Chapters on the weekend. Like Fallout 3, F:TLC (and Fable II) offers the player a moral choice. "How do you want to play the game?" But unlike F3, F:TLC appears to offer a more realistic choice.
In F3 when you entered Megaton and encountered the Sheriff your conversation responses ranged from polite and respectful to arrogant ass. IMO a non-response doesn't really qualify as an "evil" response, it could also mean you're the strong, silent type.
But with F:TLC you have a real choice.
I wish I could remember the post I read on someone's Blog (or I'd link it here) about how people with strong, moral compasses may have trouble playing F3 with an evil character, choosing "evil" responses. Games like Grand Theft Auto are easier to play because they give you little to no choice. You're Tommy Vercetti, a mafioso who just got out of prison and is being asked to run the Vice City syndicate. If you want to progress through the game, you don't really have a choice as to how you play it. You follow linear quests and the story unfolds.
F:TLC, however, offers you a choice, starting with your very first quests.
A young girl asks you to find her bear, and when you do, you're given a choice of siding with the bully who's already mentioned he planned to pull the bear's head off, or siding with a younger child who has the bear, and beating up the bully.
When a villager asks you to guard his wares another child wanders up and encourages you to smash the unguarded barrels to see what's in them.
When you find a philandering husband you're given a choice of accepting a gold piece to keep quiet, or telling the cheater's wife what you saw.
All very real choices, and almost opposite sides of the coin. Not goody two shoes versus ass, but good guy versus bad guy.
Then when you find yourself in the Guild of Heroes, choosing your first quest for them, you're again presented with a very real choice. You actually have a choice of two quests but you can only accept one because the goal of each is contrary to the other.
A local Farmer has some valuable stones in his possession and is being attacked by Bandits intent on stealing them. You have a choice of defending the farm and fighting off the bandits, or protecting the bandits while they steal the stones. Interestingly (IMO) the person behind the quest to steal the stones is none other than a local Mayor.
I chose to defend the farm, and as I've leveled up I've been putting points into martial combat and physical strength. But having played Fallout3 through as a "good guy" and been unable to restart it playing through as an ass, I've decided to restart F:TLC and play the "evil" side first, focusing on becoming more of an Assassin-style character.
Why?
Because F:TLC has a key plot device which makes it easy for someone with a strong moral compass to play the bad side.
*SPOILER* Very early in the game your village is attacked by Bandits, your father is slain, and your mother and sister are taken prisoner. You are rescued by Maze who takes you to the Guild of Heroes, which is where the meat & potatoes of the game starts. How does this help a "good" person play an evil character in F:TLC? Quite simply, you're going to do whatever it takes to rescue your sister. As Bandits are the ones who took her away, it could be argued that the best way to rescue your sister is to become a Bandit yourself, infiltrate their network, and eventually destroy them from within. And if you happen to become corrupted by the dark side along the way, that's only to be expected.
It's like the post I made about the Torture Quest in WoW. You could have been presented with two Quests, one to torture the prisoner to extract the desired information, and one to help him escape, gain his trust, and get the information that way. That's a real choice, and F:TLC offers you choices like that.
While F:TLC may not have the polish of WoW, it's still a very good looking game, and combat is fun (at least in the early stages) without being a nightmare. But as far as offering the player choices on how to proceed through the game and develop their character, F:TLC wins hands down. All this, for a shade more than the price of one month of WoW. Bargain!
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3 comments:
I read quite a few articles where people bashed the Fable series for being shallow, but I enjoyed both games very much for many of the same reasons you have listed in your post.
Fallout 3 didn't really make me feel like I was playing a good character or a bad character as there were too many instances where morality became a shade of grey instead of black or white, whereas Fable gave you clear cut choices that were opposite in nature.
I also enjoyed how my characters appearance changed over time depending on how I played. I used a shit ton of magic in Fable 2 and by the end of it my character was wrinkled with glowing magical scars. He was also a fat ass from eatting too many hotdogs :)
Sorry for the off-topic Cap.
Just to let you know that if you want to do some duels on Wizard101.
Started playing some time ago and would love to kick the arse out of an internet personality! ;)
Horrible English, sorry.
"Just wwanted to know if you want to do some duels on Wizard101."
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