Seventh game review: Fable Overall Review

This will probably be my final review on this game. The storyline behind the game was truly well written. However it was extremely short. I started out as a young boy, and grew up through a real time basis. As the game progressed different challenges came up. For one thing each quest presented a piece of the puzzle that would determine the out come of the game. There were three very important parts of the game to me, basically that has some sort of impact. In the beginning where the training began was a good part because that is where the story got interesting. I think there was a possible climax to this game, not so much the ending, but during the middle of the game. At this part I was entered into an arena, and at the end of the arena I had to choose on killing my friend for money or not. This part pretty much decides if you will be good or evil throughout the rest of the game. The final part I would have to say is the choice you make when you kill the final boss. Much like I mentioned before you have choice again between good and evil. You can choose to wear this mask which provides power and all that is evil, or you can destroy the mask and rid evil.

The storyline was good, but what did bother me was the detail, animation, and worst of all the sound. Somtimes different people would speak, but then the sound would just stop but their mouth continued to move. Much like you see in a chinese translation movie to an english one. It wasn't because it was laggy or because the game was slow, this happened almost everytime I talked to a character. I also looked it up and this was a similar problem to others. However subtracting that I did enjoy myself. It was addicting and did find myself playing it hours on end.

Everything Bad is Good For You by Steven Johnson

When it comes down to it, you need to decide for yourself if gaming is right for you. The book Everything Bad Is Good For You gave one hell of a reason why it can be good for you. It also goes to explain why the addiction to video games is so large. Steven Johnson gives a whole new outlook on how gaming produces the right mindset and the gives a great analysis on the learning process behind the gaming. In some ways after reading this, I almost wonder why do people complain so much on how gaming is bad for you.

There are certain points of this book that need to be mentioned for one thing, he states “You hit a point in the game where you need to do something, but there's some obstruction in your way.” (pg 54) This is where the addiction part comes in. He explains how when we are faced with a challenge we will go to all means to understand it. He also goes on about how the narratives comes in levels in other words layers. With this in mind he goes on to explain how we need to focus on the tasks ahead of us to complete and actual game. So in other words in a book, but you need to have more of an attention span to actually go with it.

There is also a key point which must be mentioned and he pretty much pin points it right on. He talks about something that I truly never though of until reading this and that is that games are not always fun. There is a lot of frustration and goes along with a game. It is how we solve different problems that gives us the satisfaction.

There are certain element's in a game that will influence us, but what a lot of people do miss is how games actually teach us and even improve certain senses we may have. It is like figuring out a puzzle, and completing different objectives that are given to us. When we complete those objectives it is stored in our minds for later use. Whether that “objective” comes to us in the real world or not. The way we complete tasks will be similar to that of the real world and the game world.

I truly think he hit is right on cue almost about everything. The way media will over exaggerate or overlook certain parts of gaming. He best puts it “No other form of entertainment offer that cocktail of reward and exploration: We don't “explore” movies or television or music in anything.” This is what makes video games what they are. The interactivity and the brain power used behind it.

Fable The Lost Chapters: Final Boss (Game Culture)

All I can say is wow, way to easy. Anyone who plays an entire game through should not have to be able to beat a game with such ease. So I went through every quest and every mission. I got to the end and hoping to expect a challenge, but I was way off. I am hoping I don't give out any spoilers, but the last map here is this character who turns into a dragon. About 10 times larger then me. Anyways all it took was a couple of magical powers and a few swings of the sword. It was kind of obvious that this new fable was kind of just thrown together a bit espeally when it came to the new characters. However getting to the final boss what kind of hard. I had to go through a series of challenges to get certain objects just to get to him. I think there are certain elements developers have to look at for one thing game play, and the other graphics. To me game play is much more important while of course to some others graphics are. But without a good storyline it really doesn't have much to go on. Fable did have a decent story line which I did enjoy. However was way to short. They probably could of focused on many other aspects of the game. Like mentioned before the bosses. I am pretty sure they could of took more time in the development of this game.

Fable: The Lost Chapters... Looks and Age

So throughout the game as you may already have know that this is a time based game. Now what this means is that the character ages, days to go by. As my character grows up he goes from a teenager to well an old man. As he grows his looks do change. I actually like this feature of the game. You can actually choose how your character looks. Now of course there are certain limits to how he can look, but it is interesting none the less. What you choose your character look like will ether increase his attractiveness status and lower it. The same works with his scariness level. You can choose the style of haircuts he gets. You can choose if he has a beard or not. You also have the lucksury of choosing what kind of tattoos you want him to have. There actually is a way to design your own, but I can't remember how. In any case it works the same way has the haircuts when it comes to attractiveness and scariness. There is only one flaw this game does have though and that would have to be the way he ages. Every time you get more experience and then use that experience to upgrade he will age. If this really was truly “time based” then he should age by the days which he does, but a lot more slowly. Still a great game and it just ending soon. Oh and to make things interesting for the blog I was able to make my character look like Michal Jackson. I got really bored. Well his scariness level is basically maxed, attractiveness -70% right now. And coincidently he is almost max evil. I can't say that this doesn't hold far from the truth in the real life ether.

Fable and the Evil Villain, Twin Blades

Ah yes the evil villains of Fable. So I have got through one quest which I found particularly interesting especially with the twist involved at the end. Oh yeah spoilers may be in this post, so stop reading if your currently playing the game. Well any ways this quest is all about finding out information about where my sister is located. Now of course there not going to make this mission to easy. Well I was bit wrong on that part. It actually is probably because I almost have my (will) power in other words magic power maxed out. The only hard part was sneaking into the bandits camp. From that point I was just a giant ant eater running through a bunch of ants. When I reach the point where the boss is, his name is Twin Blades, and ironically enough he actually holds two swords. This guy is no push over especially considering he is the king of thieves or well in this case bandits. About three to four times my size I was able to take him down with quite a thud. Ironically before I give the final blow my sister turns up. Even this caught my surprise. She had her eyes taken out by Jack of Blades, the true evil villain of the game. She also has been living among the bandits training and actually was next to Twin Blades during his rein. So she starts explaining all this and then I “rescue” her although it didn't matter much. I had the choice to defeat Twin Blades or let him go out of sympathy. Well since I chose the evil side no doubt I just killed him.

So there you have it that was the true first villan to me in the game. Also the first real quest that actually had something to truly do with what I was trying to accomplish.