What do you guys think of Fable:TLC?

[chamr]

It looks like it could be good fun. A few concerns, though:

1) Quite a few reviews say it's too easy
2) I can't get a good feel for how the combat works. I've gotten a bit spoiled by the "direct control" nature of DL's combat and would be much more likely to buy Fable if it offerred something similar.
3) While they, like every RPG these days, claim it's a "large, open-ended world", it appears to be more rail-like (read: DS) from the maps I've seen. A big immersion killer for me is if your path in the game is physically constrained so much so that you feel you're on a ride more than playing around in an open world.

What do you guys think? Any of you planning on getting it when it comes out?

[txa1265]

It seems to be very short and pretty linear (~15 hours is what PC Gamer said), but supposedly fun. I do plan to give it a try.

Mike

[Visigoth]

I dont mind linear as long as the game is fun and immersive.

[redman5427]

I have been waiting for Fable also seeing as there has been nothing out to play lately. Has anyone heard if Dragonshard will also ship this week? Gamespot is still showing them shipping this week.
Also, I picked up Thief 3 in the bargain bin this week at Gamestop and was astonished at this great game. Third person, immersive, good story- Wasn't that the game dungeon lords was going to be? Except the fact that there is only one way to play Garrett and you don't get any character changes (except if you decide to toast everybody instead of sneaking and knocking out your adversaries) I think this has become my favorite game for quite a while. I think I played a demo of the original Thief and wasn't real impressed but I just got a 6600gt Fx card and am really blown away so far after doing the 4th mission. Mike, I am surprised you haven't reviewed this game yet as you seem to play all the other great titles. Unless, I missed your review

[Visigoth]

Also, I picked up Thief 3 in the bargain bin this week at Gamestop and was astonished at this great game.


Oh heck yeah. Thief 3 is outstanding... have you gotten to the "Cradle" level yet? If not, be sure to turn off all the lights, put on some headphones and slip on a nice new pair of Depends... it's creepy.

[redman5427]

Yeah, its been all headphones so far. Great music as you mentioned and so much spoken dialog. I just finished the pagan level where you have to take out the big monster at the end but I didn't know he was there..... whoaaaa!
I now have two faction ready to kill me on site. I really liked that big Church with all the brothers with the big hammers running around. Too bad I can't use one, heheh

[Shock]

People were saying they blew through the original game in 15 hours when it came out on the Xbox. This new version for the PC adds new areas, quests, and content so I don't see how they can still blow through it in the same 15 hours. I think that's exaggerated.

The game is pretty cool as long as you take your time with it and don't blow past all the side quests...plus you have a "boasts" option that adds some more challenge.

Once you play through the game as a good character, you can do it all over again and be evil.

[txa1265]

Has anyone heard if Dragonshard will also ship this week?I think it is supposed to - it is on all of the lists. I played some of the demo, just to see - of course it is a strategy game, so it isn't my thing.
Also, I picked up Thief 3 in the bargain bin this week at Gamestop and was astonished at this great game. Third person, immersive, good storyYeah - that one really got missed - it was on several 'great games you're not playing'. It is immersive and interactive to the point where you sometimes expect it to be a RPG, even though it isn't. After playing the Cradle level (as well as the hotel level in VtM: Bloodlines to a lesser extent) ... Ravenholm wasn't even remotely spooky.
Mike, I am surprised you haven't reviewed this game yet as you seem to play all the other great titles. Unless, I missed your reviewI don't get 'review copies' in general - I review what I pay to play, and GamerDad isn't on the 'send it here before release for review' list, so even when a review copy comes my way I might already have the game (which is why I have two copies of DL). So I'm waiting until Wednesday, when Best Buy has it - they are running a $10 off for 'Reward Zone' members ... which always helps ...
People were saying they blew through the original game in 15 hours when it came out on the Xbox. This new version for the PC adds new areas, quests, and content so I don't see how they can still blow through it in the same 15 hours. I think that's exaggerated.
I thought that people were claiming 12 - 15 hours on the original, and I've seen 15 - 20 on the PC version. Given that they say they 'tacked on' ~30%, the math actually works.

Mike

[Sento]

Once you play through the game as a good character, you can do it all over again and be evil.

lol heck be evil first!!!

also fable TLC is coming out on the x box as well for the same price as the first one!!!

[chamr]

Has anyone heard if Dragonshard will also ship this week? Gamespot is still showing them shipping this week.

Funny you mention it. I downloaded the SP demo on a complete lark this weekend and was really surprised by how much fun I had. I like RTS's and especially ones that go beyond the common "Mass and Crash" approach of Age of Empries or the "Click-fest/Twitch-master" approach of Warcraft 3. Dragonshard looks like it might have the kind of depth that rewards thinking over build orders and reflexes. I've been really into Kohan 2:Kings of War for that very reason as it's been the best "thinking man's" RTS I've played. I'll be keeping an eye out for the reviews...

[phalzyr]

Funny you mention it. I downloaded the SP demo on a complete lark this weekend and was really surprised by how much fun I had. I like RTS's and especially ones that go beyond the common "Mass and Crash" approach of Age of Empries or the "Click-fest/Twitch-master" approach of Warcraft 3. Dragonshard looks like it might have the kind of depth that rewards thinking over build orders and reflexes. I've been really into Kohan 2:Kings of War for that very reason as it's been the best "thinking man's" RTS I've played. I'll be keeping an eye out for the reviews...

I also liked the demo, but am holding off on buying full version RTS isn't my cup of tea. I got the feeling from the demo they were trying to hide the RTS side and make it feel RPGish. I doubt full version will feel as fluid as you'll have to worry about resources and building which wasn't really an isssue in demo... I'll wait for reviews and maybe even a price drop before I buy it, have to buy new glasses this month and other expenses anyway...

[chamr]

I also liked the demo, but am holding off on buying full version RTS isn't my cup of tea. I got the feeling from the demo they were trying to hide the RTS side and make it feel RPGish. I doubt full version will feel as fluid as you'll have to worry about resources and building which wasn't really an isssue in demo... I'll wait for reviews and maybe even a price drop before I buy it, have to buy new glasses this month and other expenses anyway...

I think you're right that it will be more RTS than RPG. I think a developer even said that in one of the many things I read. Balancing that out a bit, I think, is that the SP campaign might be more story/lore/RPG-ish than your average RTS campaign, but that's a guess at this point. Bottom line is: if you really don't like RTS, Dragonshard probably isn't for you. That's my take-away from what I've read on the game so far.

[redman5427]

Funny, I almost picked up that Kohan 2 game the other day. Is it any good?
I really liked spellforce and Warcraft although I didn't think lords of everquest was as good. I heard Kohan doesn't have quite as much micro management or numbers of units on screen like the others so I was thinking of downloading the demo.

[chamr]

Funny, I almost picked up that Kohan 2 game the other day. Is it any good?
I really liked spellforce and Warcraft although I didn't think lords of everquest was as good. I heard Kohan doesn't have quite as much micro management or numbers of units on screen like the others so I was thinking of downloading the demo.

It's great! Unlike any other RTS I've played. It really streamlines eco and army management but adds a lot of sublte strategy and options at the same time. Definitely check it out. Here's a couple of sites where you can get more info:

www.strategyplanet.com/kohan
www.ronintms.nl/kow

[txa1265]

What do you guys think? Any of you planning on getting it when it comes out?
I picked it up today (love that $10 Reward Zone discount at Best Buy!) ... installed but no time for play yet.

Let you know tomorrow ...

Mike

[phalzyr]

I picked it up today (love that $10 Reward Zone discount at Best Buy!) ... installed but no time for play yet.

Let you know tomorrow ...

Mike

Play a lot of the game before stating an opinnion, I've played games like this that had first couple missions RPG like to get you into it then go fully RTS C&C type... But I really look forward to how it plays later on and how little unit manufacturing their is. I can play C&C type once in a while but the "here is your base now create a mass of units as fast as you can" thing gets old to me quickly.

[txa1265]

Play a lot of the game before stating an opinnion, I've played games like this that had first couple missions RPG like to get you into it then go fully RTS C&C type... But I really look forward to how it plays later on and how little unit manufacturing their is. I can play C&C type once in a while but the "here is your base now create a mass of units as fast as you can" thing gets old to me quickly.
Sorry ... forgot about the 'Dragonshard Thread Hijack' ... I was talking about FABLE - you know, as in the thread title "What do you guys think of Fable:TLC?" :D :D :D

I am unsure about Dragonshard for now ... in terms of whether I'll like it, so I'm staying away.

Mike

[Gorn]

I read the game was the same as the Xbox version ALL the way through, but then they added more content at the end. This means anyone who has played the game already will have to replay it to get into the new stuff.
They also claim more tattoos, more items and more side quests, but the majority of new stuff is After you beat the last boss from the Xbox.

A nice touch was the ability to continue playing the game even after defeating it, but you had to sit through 20min (!!) of credits, only then were you rewarded with the quest points and allowed to play on... in a mostly dead
game play area...

I went through this game about a year ago on the Xbox and found it to be fun, but Way too linear... there were many side quests to fill time and a number of hidden areas (well, sorta) to explore. The magic doors that require solving a puzzle and/or task were cool... and added some nice items to your inventory. Still, the paths were locked shut, no wandering off, no swimming, no Gothic II type exploration.

The choice between good & evil allows you to branch out into other quests, but in the end does not affect the way you win.
Getting married to a women in each town can be fun, but tough to lure them into the bedroom (?!) I will only try so hard in real life, so this becomes a real pain fast... and don't get caught cheating, it's worse than killing when it comes to evil points! I'll have to admit, it was very cool to see my wife get drunk in the bar after seeing me give another women a gift, and then see her ranting in the town square about her no-good husband.

I'm going to play TLC on the PC this time, I was a good character on the Xbox (halo and butterflies around my head - LOL), but this time it's evil & flies buzzin' around.

Gorn

[redman5427]

Ok got it from my wife for my birthday today..... along with a 19 inch flatscreen who hoo!! 4 disks wheh! Loaded, booted, and crash," windows will have to close this application would you like us to send it to support?"
I am feeling really bad so I loaded it up on my wife's old 1.5 p4 with old fx5200
no drivers up to date, no sound blaster, you get the picture. Guess what? Yup, runs like a top. Okay after screwing around for 3 hrs and countless trips to the forums, downloading new drivers, etc, the conclusion I have come to
is my soundblaster extigy card. Unplug it and it runs great just no sound.
Tonite I will be installing onboard sound drivers I guess then I will see how the game is. Looks great visually anyway!

[phalzyr]

Sorry ... forgot about the 'Dragonshard Thread Hijack' ...Mike

:o Opps oh well, unless I get really bored before gothic/oblivion comes out I'll stay away myself.

redman: Congrate on the 19" flatscreen, but I hope you meant flat panel (yes there is a difference). I got a 19" flat panel with my new computer also and it is awesome and weighs way less than my 19" flat screen CRT that I had previously. takes up a heck of a lot less space to :D.

[redman5427]

Sorry to be away so long but I fixed the Fable issue that was keeping me from playing and judging from the boards over at Lionhead it was affecting quite a few customers who bought it. I had to download a new dll for my creative card just to make the game work and the sound is still not exactly right yet. Everyone complained alot about dungeonlords but at least it booted up!! Anyways, once fixed Fable is quite a lot of fun and it's been taking up all my time.

[phalzyr]

Actully quite a few including myself couldn't get the game (DL) to boot up properly, mine was a vid card setting issue, but others had more pressing problems with DL. Just because you didn't... Hardware/driver compatability issues will ALWAYS exist with games if you are not used to dloading new drivers and such... Most of DL's faults/bugs are not system specific they happen to everyone no matter what hardware/drivers they have. And On top of that creative is known for having issues with games with certain of their sound cards.

[vlad]

I've been playing Fable: TLC for a week now. I've been doing all kinds of stuff.
I've opened some of the demon doors, done alot of fishing and won the entire
tournament single-handedly by catching a moonfish that weighed 563.7g which gave all the prizes: fisherman's hat, rod of masters, and a silver key, donated books to the school in Bowerstone for a reward, "became a man" at the darkwood bordello, played coin golf, played the chicken kickin' tournament, been in some street gang contests where you fight for money, been digging for buried treasure with a spade, and have changed hairstyles as
well as tattoos. Now, I'm thinking about wearing this wig I found for a disguise. Though, I'll have to buy some ladie's clothing pull that off for a full disguise.