Last week I talked about wanting to go backand give the first two Fable games another try, though in the case of Fable Anniversary/ Fable 1, it would be my very first experience with the game. After hearing from many Fable fans about how the original is still the very best, I started it up this week very curious to see what exactly makes it the best one. I’m still early in the game, but I must admit that I’m feeling a bit confused on that point. Is this really the best of the original Fable trilogy?

Starting with the good I’ve observed so far, I’m liking the setting and setup. The beginning section of going around and earning gold to buy your sister a present was a nice way of introducing the game’s morality system, and it’s a good chance to get to know your hero a little bit. That is, they really did have a life before tragedy struck and they were more or less forced into becoming a hero. Having that background matters, I think. On that same note, it was also nice to see some of the character’s early days at the guild and the establishment of their friendship/rivalry with Whisper.

It really gives you the sense that your Hero is an actual person in this world, and not just an avatar like they are in Fable II. It’s also nice to see places like Bowerstone in its village days and the legendary Hero’s Guild itself. I kind of find myself wondering what exactly a “hero” is in this world though. In all the Fable games, you can be either good or evil and still be called a “hero” so I wonder if the title is something more akin to “adventurer” than anything else. Finally, I will say that I appreciate not being led by the nose in each quest. Some of the quests can be a little unclear, but the world is small enough that this isn’t really a problem.

As for the things I don’t much care for so far, I suppose the clunkiness of the controls and the overall beefiness of the enemies is at the top of my list. Targeting enemies is a problem for ranged weapons, magic is too slow and too weak at these early stages, and melee is too weak even with upgraded strength and weaponry. Combat is still easy of course; I’m not dying. However, it’s still annoying to deal with.

It takes an overly long time to kill even just a basic hobbe since you often have to wait for them to get back up after knocking them down, and then it still takes a minute or two of wailing on them to actually kill them. Using flourishes is also inconsistent, since the game doesn’t always register when you’re holding down the attack button. I can forgive it somewhat since Fable 1 was the first of its series on the original Xbox, but it’s still frustrating.

My other complaint is one that I think all Fable games share. The passage of time is very unclear and the Hero’s age is (for some reason) tied to how many skill you buy with experience points. I bought like 3 or 4 skills and my character went from looking like someone in their late teens to someone in their mid-forties!

They also had very light-colored hair thanks to my playing as a good guy. The NPCs don’t notice this though and still address the hero as if they were a very young man. It’s very jarring. I’m also disappointed that there don’t seem to be many meaningful interactions with NPCs. Like I get that this is kind of the thing with Fable and it’s kind of all supposed to be a joke, but a bit more depth would be appreciated all the same.

So yeah, my experience has been mixed so far. Intend to play the game’s main story all the way through, so we’ll see if it earns back some points as the story plays out. I remember Fable II’s story being relatively weak, so perhaps that’s where Fable Anniversary can shine. We’ll see though, I guess.

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What do you think of Fable Anniversary? Is your favorite of the three? What do you like or dislike about it?

Image from the Steam page