Did I Miss Out? Fable
- PadrePlayz
- Mar 19, 2024
- 4 min read
"Did I miss out" is a series where I go back and play classic or well loved titles to see if I "missed out" or "dodged a bullet". This article is on the Xbox 2004 RPG classic Fable.
I have a ridiculous Steam backlog that has bulged over the last decade. When I see a game at 80-90% off I always say to myself "I would be an idiot not to buy this!!". The existence of Humble Bundles also acts as a steroid injection into my steam account. "I get all these games, at this low low price, AND help charities?!? It would be a sin not to buy this bundle!!" It is that kind of thinking that has put me 200+ in my Steam account. One day I decided to actually go through this vast collection of gaming and actually play something. One Immediately caught my eye, Fable Anniversary Edition. This version is the 2013 remaster of the re-released version of the original version (gotta love the video game industry). Having never played Fable ever and always hearing great things I thought this would be a good one for "Did I Miss Out?" Fable originally released back in 2004 exclusively to Microsoft's first console the Xbox. Based on my research the game took 4 years to develop and was a huge commercial success having sold 1.5 million copies by 2006. How did I miss out on such a huge game? Basically the Xbox Legend of Zelda? I never owned an Xbox. I missed out on a lot of these early Xbox classics for the sole reason.
Fable is a role playing game with a fantasy setting where you play as "The Hero" of this fairy tale like story. The game starts off with the Hero as a child on the day of his sisters birthday. Joy immediate evaporates to death and sorrow as bandits raid your village and raise it to the ground. Your father is killed and your mother and sister are carried off by this lawless horde. Your life is saved by Maze, this old wizard type character. He takes you to the Hero Guild where he leaves you in their care to start on the path of becoming a hero warrior yourself. Over the years you train and go from a boy, to a youth, to a man. You pass the trials and can now venture off to do good (or be evil) in the land of Albian. Eventually, you learn your mother and sister are still alive and all your life's pain is due to the Jack of Blades. This former hero turned baddie is looking for this magic sword that he can use to destroy the world. The main story then becomes how to find and save your family and defeat Jack.
The game has a lot of depth and interesting mechanics. Morality is a part of the game where doing good makes you the gallant hero where doing bad makes you slip closer to evil. There is a romance system where you court NPCs and even marry them. You can own property and even be a landlord renting out the home if your not using it. Want to have a little side hustle buy goods at a lower price in one village and sell it for a profit at the next (I felt like I just described how Tinder, Airbnb, and eBay work). The gameplay took a minute to get used too. I forgot I was playing a 20 year old game and the controls are not as smooth as modern RPGs. You got your melee weapon, your bow, and a bunch of magic powers to utilize while you fight bandits and zombies in the land of Albian. You start off as a child and through the training and trails you leave the guild a young man off on adventures to good or evil. I honestly thought you spent much longer as a child as you are a kid on the cover of the game. The game does ask you if you want to keep exploring as a child or start your training. Doing the training takes you to your teens. So maybe there was more to do as a kid and I skipped in by accident? Either way the game is fun once you get the hang of it with an interesting story that keeps you engaged. I am a fiend for loot and cool armor sets which I think this game lacks. I felt the armour and weapons where pretty simple, but I give it leeway as its an older game and the first in its series.
Overall I am glad I blew the virtual dust off of Fable and gave it a full playthrough. At 30+ hours it gave me plenty of entertainment and has me interested in the subsequent titles in the saga. I definitely missed out on Fable back in the day.
As always I hope you enjoyed the post, thank you for reading, and stay safe out there gamers.
Fable is the intellectual property of Microsoft Game Studios
Wikipedia.org was referenced in making this article
This article is subject to Fair Use (US Law) and Fair Dealing (Canadian Law) as it is informational in purpose and is a critique of the product. All rights and credits go directly to the owners. No copyright infringement is intended
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