Playing "Fable"

Like a lot of digital RPG fans, I have been looking forward to Peter Molyneux's "Fable" (via Simon and Dene Carter of Big Blue Box) for almost three years now, and I finished it yesterday. The visions of the developers were extremely seductive back in 2002, and as many critics in mainstream publications have pointed out, "Fable" failed to deliver on almost all of the most ambitious goals it laid out for itself. "Fable" does not have a complex and original storyline with numerous "forking paths". It does not have a living world in which trees slowly grow back after you cut them down and the progeny of your victims come back to hunt you down. However, that doesn't mean that "Fable" isn't innovative. In fact, it's probably one of the most innovative RPGs ever made.

Ironically, "Fable's" greatest contribution seems to be little improvements on myriad details of the genre, and oddly, to have done some very traditional things very well. First of all, the art direction in "Fable" is amazing - perhaps the best and most focused since "Ico". I felt truly compelled by the world the art team created. Second of all, the fighting and magic system was tremendous fun and felt very deep. My only complaint here is that the difficulty of the game did not force me to exploit that depth sufficiently. The enemies and bosses were good, but not quite as challenging and memorable as, say, the enemies in "Halo". Balverines and Hobbes may yet become classics, but they are not in the same league with "Halo's" Covenant Elites.

Unfortunately, I did not feel so compelled by the protagonists of "Fable" or their story. You will note that "Fable's" credits make not one reference to a professional "writer", though the visual creative team is extensive. Why is it that "game designers", whether their background be in programming or graphics or even interface design, inevitably feel that the game writing can be done by anyone (i.e. themselves)? They're wrong, and all games that require even moderately complex stories suffer for their hubris. Video game plots and characters are so consistently so very bad, they are worse than the most amateurish graphic novels. And "Fable" is no exception here.

Instead what really popped out were the personalities of "Fable's" townspeople and the algorithms that drove the system by which your character interacted with them. Pub games, flirting, beer drinking, and conflicts with police were all a delight. The character design here was excellent, striking me as something between the style of Ralph Bakshi's characters and the human world of Gargamel from the Smurfs. Also, where other RPGs often settle for allowing you to steal things right out from under the eyes of shopkeepers and homeowners, "Fable" takes the further step of actually making kleptomania a risk proposition. This is the kind of small development for which all future RPG designers will mine "Fable" in years to come. And though its designers flew too close to the sun with all their mighty proclamations, I am happy they had the courage to shoot so high - because they really came away with a delightful product that represents substantive progress in the genre.