You are also able to purchase any property you see fit, be it a business or a stall, or simply a town house; every property in the game is up for sale (for the right price) and these can either be rented out or furnished for your own family... or second family, depending on your take on relationships in the game.
This again emphasises the rags-to-riches theme of the game, which gives you real satisfaction when you purchase your first business and begin receiving income from this, even while your console is switched off.
On your quests, you will have access to a number of spectacular weapons. There are two classes of weapons, melee and ranged. You are also able to perform magic. Fable II has done away with the traditional wealth of stats from role-playing games and has significantly watered things down. Each weapon merely has a base level of damage, which your experience then compounds. However you do not have a range of skills to attribute points to, you merely have strength, will, and skill. Strength affects your melee combat, will your magic, and skill your ranged weapons.
Each of these increases when you use the skills, as coloured orbs for the respective skills are spilled for you to collect. These orbs then allow you to upgrade the skills as you wish, and to focus on specific ones. You no longer have a mana bar, or anything of the sort, simplifying combat significantly. Similarly, potions are not used to buff skills, they simply work to provide you with bonus experience, to be invested into enhanced skills.
Fable II has implemented a one-button combat system, which works well in the heat of battle. The X button allows you to do melee attacks, Y allows for ranged, and B allows you to do magic attacks. The range of magic attacks you can do is substantial, depending on where you spend your experience points. The combat reacts to the environment, where you are and how much space you have around you. This, for the most part, works quite well, although occasionally the game will have you slashing around when what you actually want to do is deliver the killing blow to your downed foe. This can be frustrating when you are trying to dispatch a number of enemies only to see them stand up again, as you couldn’t finish them off. Enter your pet dog, who thankfully makes up for some of these combat issues, but only a little bit.
In the early stages of the game a dog befriends you, this dog then stays by your side for most of the game and becomes a real companion. It becomes significant, and really grows on you as your character develops and your dog develops with you. Perhaps this is the input of Peter Molyneux’s history with pets from Black & White, however the pet acts primarily as a treasure finder. It does not show you your way, but alerts you to buried treasure as well as treasure chests in the area and guides you to them. The dog will also alert you to any enemies in the vicinity, which can avoid you having a bandit drop out of a tree onto your head. The dog aids you in combat, biting to death enemies that you knock to the ground. Initially, your pet seems relatively useless, however the more you increase its skill (by using books to teach him) the more effective he becomes.
As previously mentioned, the dog does not show you your path, which is where the bread-crumb trail comes in, which is a glowing trail that shows you the way back to the quest path you are currently on. This is a very unobtrusive feature, and a system that works well at making sure your current path is always right in front of you.
Books are available all over Albion which can teach you new expressions with which to woo villagers with, or to strike fear into the hearts of those around you, or simply to be a little bit rude. These expressions that you can make (including pulling the middle finger) impact your relationships with villagers. If you want to get married you will have to see that you generate some love and provide a family home for your wife, and the potential offspring. This is a fun way to interact with people and gives you a real sense of control over your relationships, particularly when this can involve some of the fun that might result in some illegitimate children on the scene.
One of the main complaints about Fable II would have to be the somewhat clunky menu system. When you purchase a number of books and want to apply their skills, you need to access the menu through a few steps for each individual book, over and over again. This can be quite tedious, however the context based buttons that are represented by your d-pad are a partial solution, if not for books. By pressing the d-pad you can quickly access potions, or your expressions, or interact with your dog, depending on the context. This works well in combat when you need to heal yourself quickly, provided you have the necessary food or potions.
One of Fable II's strengths is the integrated multiplayer which allows for virtually seamless co-op play. Essentially all your friends on your friends list playing Fable II will be visible as orbs when they come close to you, and you will be able to talk to them, or overhear them talking to others. This feature can be disabled, but it is brilliant when you are wanting to link up on a quest with a friend. Unfortunately though, one of you has to give up your character for the duration of the matchup, and step into the shoes of a henchman. The henchman will be able to gain experience and gold however for your primary character, so all is not lost. Offline co-op play is also possible one console as well, if you would like a friend to aid you in your questing.
Overall Fable II is a rock solid role-playing game with a wide breadth of features. Admittedly a fair number of the features don't have a lot of depth, but there's such a variety of things to do that you can invest a considerable number of hours into this game. That is provided, of course, that you don’t play simply the primary quest, which would be a waste.
To be truly experienced, you need to go forth, marry, have children, be good or evil, corrupt or benevolent, and play the game accordingly. This is where the depth is, and this is where the true awe sets in while playing.
Fable II grabs you and immerses you into a fantastic fantasy world, one that you won't want to leave.
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We have a couple of videos showing E3 2008 and game development for Fable II available now from GP Downloads.
