Fable III Message Board older than one year ago

Remember when Lionhead and Microsoft decided to make the collector's edition of Fable II much, much less appealing by removing the sweet little Hobbe figure? Now is your chance to make that right, thanks to a Fable III merchandising survey posted by Lionhead. The survey asks users to rate different categories of merchandise, based on how much said merchandise is desired. Do you want book? Coffee mugs? A nice T-shirt, perhaps?

Of course, the answer is no. You don't want those things. What you want is collectible Hobbe figurines. Preferably with mix-and-match accessories. Also, just remember that we would never influence our readers for personal gain. Now go ask Lionhead for some Hobbes.

Call it merchandise. Call it stuff. Call it crap. Fable III developer Lionhead Studios is already thinking about things to sell you. "With the release of Fable III imminent this year we've started...

Peter Molyneux describes what it feels like to have real power in Fable III.

If there's one thing we could've used in Fable 2, it would've been a more fleshed-out co-op system. Sure, we could see our friend's orbs floating about Albion and we could even invite them to play as a one-off character in our world, albeit one unable to collect experience or have any lasting impact on our game. As you might image, Lionhead's head lion Peter Molyneux is ready to deliver just that in Fable 3. Molyneux told the 4Guys 1UP podcast: "I heard you all about co-op. You want to have your own hero come into the world. Okay, fine, you can have that definitely."

Detailing the system further, he admits that the player's dog and weapons will also be available in co-op. "When you come into my world, you come in as your hero, with your dog, with all your unique weapons, self-crafted weapons. I heard you -- you don't wanna be tied to my camera, you wanna go off and do your own thing in my world. Fine, fair enough." That said, he warns about "consequences" from bringing in said friends to your own version of Albion. "It means careful who you invite in, 'cause they can screw the whole thing up, man!" And then, when the possibility of using the new "touch" functionality comes up, things take a turn for the weird. "Yes you can use touch with your co-op partner. Yes you can walk down the street hand-in-hand. Yes you can drag your co-op partner to your dungeon and see what happens. Absolutely." Keep in mind, folks -- what happens in the dungeon stays in the dungeon. Rawr!

Ready to see a few seconds of Fable III in action? Ready to see Peter Molyneux and other Lionhead staff tell you how awesome it is? Check out the first developer diary of the game above.

Molyneux introduces the "extreme morph" system, which allows players to show their alignments in dramatic ways at the press of a button. His example? "You're walking along and someone upsets you.You can press this expression, and out of your back appears these huge angel wings. A shaft of light comes down and shines on you. Everyone around you steps back, and, 'Oh, my goodness!' You're showing your true character."

The Fable III peak also briefly introduces the weapon morphing system and the "touch" system, and it features several shots of people being stabbed, sometimes with interesting-looking weapons. Good stuff.

Microsoft has just sent off a handful of screens for the upcoming Lionhead adventure, Fable III. Featured in the images is a gruff-looking anti-hero, who has clearly lost more than a few followers from a slew of evil decisions. The pirate-hat wearing character isn't all bad, though; one image shows the gun-toting maniac playing with his son. We presume, that is. Unless of course kidnapping is a brand new Fable III feature.

Receiving a live demo of Fable 3 from Lionhead, er ... head and Microsoft Games Studio boss Peter Molyneux during today's X10 event, we learned that it, in his words, "is all about power and uniqueness." Well, that and Charles Dickens. (More on that in a sec.) Yes, the game is up, running and actually looking pretty far along at this point. But Molyneux was much more keen to talk about some of its new gameplay mechanics than anything involving graphics, sound or other trimmings.

First up, he revisited the premise of the game. It's set in Albion, which -- as we noticed right away -- has become heavily industrialized. You play as the son or daughter of the hero from Fable 2, with Molyneux confirming that you can import your saved game from that title, but that it "will make minor, not major, changes to the story." The game's structure will have you starting out as a "nobody," getting people to believe in you and eventually starting a revolution. About half-way through, you'll be the king or queen of Albion.

The Albion in the demo could certainly stand a change in ownership. It's smoggy, grimy and the streets are full of the homeless, poor and starving. The factories are full of everyone else, including children as young as five-years-old. Molyneux says that all of this is inspired by the works of Charles Dickens; in particular, Oliver Twist. As bad as it is, he promises you'll eventually have the power to change it all, should you choose.

Can gamers expect a tie-in product similar to Fable II: Pub Games for Lionhead's upcoming Fable III? Microsoft's Peter Molyneux told attendees at X10 that something was in the works.

Molyneux wouldn't detail the tie-in, only teasing that the product is "a really cute, very very cute 'outside of Fable III' experience that I'm not talking about." Molyneux, who felt a need to reiterate how adorable the "experience" will be, proclaimed: "It's really, really cute. It's not Pub Games." Sadly, whether the "really cute" experience would be a Xbox Live Arcade release wasn't confirmed. What is confirmed, however, is that this thing should be pretty ugly. No. Wait, forgive us. We're pretty sure he said cute.

The king is dead, long live the king.

What big Fable III announcement could have Molyneux worried about fan reaction?

Molyneux to talk about changing tradition in the name of accessibility.

First look at Peter Molyneux's latest.

Lionhead community manager Sam Van Tilburgh recently teased his Twitter followers with a pair of less-than-140-character missives. Tilburgh spent this past weekend "writing storyboard summaries for two new Fable 3 videos," which will apparently "come out when we show Fable 3 for the 1st time at an event next month in SF." Of course, for that second Tweet, we're assuming "SF" stands for San Francisco, and not a much smaller venue, such as "Sam's Foyer." We're not certain what event Tilburgh is talking about -- it's possible that Lionhead might be planning its own event to introduce the world to the flatulence-simulating technology its discovered over the past year. Regardless, we're not too far off from seeing more of Fable 3, and that fills us with joy. [Via Eurogamer]

Limited Collectors' Edition planned?

Five things Lionhead needs to do to create the greatest RPG of all time.

A new look at Bowerstone.

Molyneux confirms third game will make use of Microsoft's motion camera.

Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux isn't just pushing the curve on Xbox 360 with now-confirmed Project Natal support in Fable 3; during his speech at the annual BAFTA gathering, the legendary designer revealed his intent to integrate a "in-game shop" within the game world, enabling players to purchase premium items without disrupting the game experience. In its report on the presentation, That VideoGame Blog noted that Molyneux had suggested special weapons, for example, could be sold for about £1 ($1.70).Also mentioned were plans to offer "travel" to new areas of the game world (think Fable 2's DLC destinations) for a fee. Molyneux thankfully didn't suggest that such things as tattoos, hair dye and the like -- which were purchased using the in-game currency of Fable 2 -- would be for-pay in its sequel. We imagine that getting the town crier to announce you as "Supreme Ruler of the Universe Who's Better Than Anyone Else at Fable 3 Ever" will carry a modest fee.[Thanks, Rain!]

A forgotten crown sets the tone for Lionhead's third excursion into Albion.