Fable II

The story of you...by Peter Molyneux
5/16/2008 10:47 AM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2

"It's all about freedom," Molyneux says. A new set of open environments replaces the original Fable's tightly constrained pathways; Players are able to wander as they please, returning the game's story-driven quests and locations by a trail of virtual breadcrumbs. This freedom also stretches to include, say, economic choices. Every piece of Albion, every farm stall and castle is up for sale ... for the right price, of course.

Even the protagonist's very nature is malleable. By choosing what skills to emphasize, players can make their hero into a powerful magic user, a burly swordsman, a nimble gunslinger or any combination thereof. Within each skill set, players can add features to flesh out the one-button combat: Warriors can add exaggerated flourish attacks, blocks and parries, and rhythm-based strikes.

More interestingly, simple -- and not so simple -- moral choices will shape a character and the way the game's inhabitants perceive him. Heroes will be worshipped; villains shunned and feared.

Good and evil are complicated notions. William Shakespeare noted that sometimes cruelty is kindness, and Fable II is making a genuine stab at exploring what it truly means to be a hero. It's a theme with which Molyneux is very familiar. "We've been doing this moral stuff for 10 years," he says, referring to his body of work.

Being a hero involves sacrifice, Molyneux suggests, and being virtuous in Fable II will mean players may have to forego gold, experience and power -- all role-playing game staples. Conversely, being evil is about greed and making people suffer.

Being good will not be easy. At one point in the game, the protagonist is faced with a choice: He must either suffer a tremendous bout of torture or choose to have a young woman suffer such. The torture will leave the victim horribly scarred, and these scars will not be removable. If the player's character endures this fate, the decision will live on his face for the rest of the game. "Your children," Molyneux says, for Fable II allows characters to marry and procreate, "will run away screaming."

It really is the player's story, then. And a whopper of a tale it may well be.

This preview is based on a publisher-driven demo of the game at Microsoft Gamer's Day. Fable II is scheduled for release in October 2008.