Played Lately: Fable II

• I've typed these words many times before but it bears repeating here: I rarely finish video games. If I were to review games, I could rate them solely by the percentage of the game I completed and most likely that would match whatever arbitary rating I would give. It's just that most games are too long to fight my way through compared to how much enjoyment I get out of them. The original Fable for the Xbox was one of those games I was able to finish and enjoyed doing so. I seemed to like that game a lot more than other people did, but I had not poisoned by the high expectations everyone else seemed to harbor. Thus then Fable II was announced, I was thrilled to have a favorite game return for a second try.


• The first thing I thought when I started playing (and I know this is weird, but hear me out) is that this game plays a lot like the first Fable. Considering it had been a couple years since I'd even looked at the prior game, I was amazed that the sequel evoked such strong feelings of familiarity. I was able to jump right in and start playing with very little difficulty.


• So far, I've been taking my time with the game. I know the main storyline can be run through rather quickly, but there is so much else to do that I was to relish everything instead of rushing to the ending. That means I've been spending a lot of time collecting things, like clothes and weapons and real estate. I never bought that many properties in the first game. Here they make it so easy and rewarding that I can't help myself. My prized purchase so far was the main bookstore in Bowerstone. For all that, the main story is interesting enough that I'm looking forward to seeing how it is resolved.


• On the combat side, I've been trying to play the hard way. I have focuses almost entirely on leveling my Skill abilities so that I can shoot people head's off. While this is a lot of fun when I get the drop on an opponent, a lot of encounters start as ambushes where I don't have the time to aim and carefully snipe at the baddies. Thus there is no way to neglect my melee or magic abilities. Luckily those are just as much fun, just not what I wanted to focus on.


• In all, I'm having a great time playing Fable II. I just hope the lure of Fallout 3 doesn't distract me from this great game.