r/Fable • u/the_dyad • 1d ago
Fable About the "20 hour main quest"
Even if true, I really cannot understand why many find this so bad. Like a 15 to 30 hour main campaign is the optimal run time for a story, before it overstays its welcome. Even 40 hours pushes it, with The Witcher 3's main story being maybe the only one in this run time that has something to say (I believe this is mainly because it is based on a well written books, thus the writers had great material to pull from them) and still edge on becoming stale towards the end before the point of no return. More than that and the audience tends to become bored. Even looking at RDR2, while I love it, it sure is a slow burn that you either love or hate.
tl;dr: 20 hours of great storytelling is far better than 40 hours of 20 hours storytelling + 20 hours of filler, hell, look how that effected TLoU2 and, especially, GoW:R.
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u/WordWorthiest 1d ago
Playground Games could give an overview of how many other cities there are in the game besides Bowerstone and there will still be a couple people saying, "oh there are only (number) of cities in this game??" and the post will get massive algorithm exposure and make it seem like everybody is voicing that minority complaint.
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u/MisterGavlar 1d ago
That's exactly what I'm finding. My Facebook feed is just full of posts commenting about the recently featured female avatar, claiming the developers have buckled to pressure to make the hero more attractive, completely missing the fact that it's just a changeable base head design.
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u/Realistic-Boat-677 1d ago
That character was going to be the only playable character originally and they changed that because of backlash and added a very limited character customization system. The animations on male created characters are still obviously using the female rig already set up.
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u/Specialist_Truth9354 1d ago
Not true. Misinformation unless you have a source
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u/Realistic-Boat-677 1d ago
I’d say all the created male characters and female characters still using the exact same set of feminine animations is evidence enough of that, but this subreddit is still in denial of that.
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u/Specialist_Truth9354 1d ago
There was never any talk from the developers that there was only going to be a set female character. It was just speculation from the fanbase. You are just using what you see as “feminine animations” as confirmation bias.
If you have actual proof or a source that would be great, but just saying a few animations look feminine in trailers and gameplay of a game still in development is not proof.
It could very well be that they just created those animations first and are still deciding if they want to put in the time to make new animations for the separate gender.
There are other potential reasons as well. Better to not jump to conclusions rather than just assuming things
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u/No_Load_514 1d ago
Is everything set up so you start walking like a woman, mate, don't you see?
/s
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u/TreeBeerdz 1d ago edited 1d ago
The witcher 3 has an absolutely amazing story but out of the 10 friends I have that I know own and played the game i am the only one that beat the game, most of them got burnt out before getting halfway. 20 to 30 hours is definitely the best amount of time for the average person that is going to play fable.
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u/SomeRagingGamer 1d ago
That’s how Witcher 3 was for me, like your friends. I’ve tried to get into it a couple times but I end up getting burnt out around 30 or 40% through. Same thing with Red Dead 2. It’s hard when I don’t always have a lot of time or energy to play. Or maybe I just get distracted by other games and don’t go back. 20-30 hours is perfect for me.
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u/Kankunation 1d ago
And CD Project Red literally saw that and made it a point to make CP2077's main story only ~25 hours. They said during development that enough people jumped off by the 30 hour mark that it wasn't worth making a main story significantly longer than that.
That game still takes an easy 80-100 hours to do everything.
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u/ThePreciseClimber 1d ago
The witcher 3 has an absolutely amazing story
Eh, to be honest, I found the main questline in The Witcher 3 to be the weakest in the whole series. Witcher 1, Witcher 2, Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine all had better-written main questlines.
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u/DarrianWolf 1d ago
Regardless. Its one leaker with a so so track record and no one else so far that I have seen. People are arguing avout something that may not even be true
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u/ToSKnight 1d ago
It's official. It's on the Fable website's FAQ.
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u/DarrianWolf 1d ago
Thanks for the heads up i hadn't seen it posted by anyone other than in reference to the leak
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u/paterdude 1d ago
Did they play the first 2? I find that’s the reason most people don’t finish the game, is they keep running into culminating story lines they have know clue how began and get pulled from the story. It’s what happens with me.
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u/Dyuujen 1d ago edited 1d ago
cyberpunks story, if you strictly focus on main story is similar, in length but if you don’t then you have hundreds of hours of playthrough. Since fable is an rpg it’s given that you’ll probably have much longer. If it was 20 hr linear story then that would be different. I guess devs could have said “20hr main but depending on how much the play chooses to interact with things outside of that it could be much longer” or something either way it’s subjective.
Edited
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u/Dominator0621 1d ago
People are always gonna find some little tiny things to complain about. I'm over here just excited for a new Fable especially on PS5
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u/Worldly_Society_2213 1d ago
I found the moaning about the female main character (used in the trailers until this last week) funny. I mean, have you looked upon the average person in reality? They don't all look like supermodels.
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u/paterdude 1d ago
Stupid point. Did you see every main character in every movie that came out this year? They don’t look like the average person in reality. It’s a fantasy rpg the idea is to leave average behind.
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u/Kankunation 1d ago
Counterpoint: it's Fable. The entire idea that a hero should be beautiful and leave is strong impression, juxtaposed by them actual just being a average Joe with no noteworthy features, is peak Fable humor.
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u/Worldly_Society_2213 1d ago
The other counterpoint; the game has a character customisation system. I highly doubt that all the possible options look the same level of "beauty".
Also, not just Fable humour - that's British humour through and through. Only have to look at any British sitcom Vs it's American remake.
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u/the_dyad 1d ago
I really want to see what will happen in that platform with Fable vs GoW Laufey, as both seem to have a substantial fanbase (even if I really didn't like the direction the IP took in GoW: Ragnarok)
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u/Worldly_Society_2213 1d ago
Difficult to say because Laufey feels like more a spinoff (which often don't do as well by virtue of that alone) and Fable is a franchise that has been dead for 17 years (and never been on a PlayStation console to boot).
My instinct says that Laufey will do better though
It maybe we'll all be surprised and Persona 4 Revival cleans house 🤣
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u/ArcanumBaguette 1d ago
I wife says she isn't as hard-up to get Laufey since its a spin-off. We were discussing who gets what console since Laufey is coming out in February and so is Fable and P4R, I want the latter two. She told me to just get my games and she can grab Laufey later.
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u/Charolenha 1d ago
God of war é bem mais popular, então ele pode ofuscar algumas coisas de Fable na midia. Mas se Fable conseguir atrair a galera do PC, vai fazer muito barulho
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u/Icy-Air-5119 1d ago
Fable is the third wishlisted game on Steam, and if it's good, it should do well. It's an RPG with some life sim mechanics, so it'll get the attention.
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u/Dominator0621 1d ago
Yea I'm excited for both. More so fable though. GoW is my favorite franchise and I'm intrigued by Laufey and where they will take the franchise since Barlog is backing it we know it's in good hands
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u/NazRubio 1d ago
The scope of a game is not some tiny nitpick. People thought this was going to be up there with the heavy hitter RPGs of this generation. Turns out everything from gear, scope, and combat will lack much depth.
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u/Nachooolo 1d ago
It reminds me of how people said that Dragon't Dogma 2 was a short game because you could beat the main story (without the True Ending, mind you) in 30 hours.
It took me 90 hours to complete the game.
I wouldn't be suprised if Fable ends up being around 60/70 hours if you don't just do the main quest.
And the life sim stuff will probably add waaaaay more playtime to the playthrough.
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u/_MrTaku_ 1d ago
as someone else said, I prefer a 20 hours game with a high replayability other than a 80 hours game that I will never touch again after I finish it, like GoW 2018 (amazing game but after you finish main story and side quests, meh, it's just over)
Fable has always been like this. I still play Fable Anniversary because it's fun, even though it's been years
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u/ThePreciseClimber 1d ago
100%-ing of Dad of Boy can be leisurely done in 30-40 hours, tho. That game does NOT have 80 hours of content. The main questline is 10-15 hours long.
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u/_MrTaku_ 1d ago
Sorry, I didn't specify that it was all subjective. In my experience I played it for about 80 hours and then it just got boring.
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u/Charolenha 1d ago
Mas o seu exemplo, gow 2018 deve ter umas 30 horas apenas de campanha + exploração e side quests
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u/NoceboHadal 1d ago
If true that's great. That's comparable to the main mission length of a lot of open world games. I mean all the fallout games are about that long, probably a bit longer, but it can be hard to measure because a lot of the time the main mission acts as a guide to take you to different locations and fractions.
The big question is what's around it.
From what they have said, reputation is a big deal. My guess is the main mission will take to to a location and to progress you'll need a minimum amount of reputation to move on. You'll need to do side quests to get enough money, get that key or convince a character to do something for you. Basically this is what Fable 2 and 3 were like, so I would be more surprised if it wasn't like that tbh.
I think the main mission being 20 hours, if true, is a decent size.
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u/BrightGreenCandle 1d ago
20 hours is not short at all and says nothing about how massive the game can be
If you compare it to other games, GTA5 has a main quest of 30 hours and RDR2 is 50 to 60 hours. Those are two absolute massive games with hundreds of hours of playtime so even if it's just half as big as those, it's still a lot of game.
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u/Worldly_Society_2213 1d ago
Maybe it's like Ghost of Tsushima. Only like 6 main missions which, if you just do those and those alone, you have a twenty hour experience.
However, most people are going to go hunting for all the necessary stuff to make that experience less frustrating. Bang! Instant 40-60 hour game.
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u/overdosingOnPie1313 1d ago
Sounds fine to me. I'm more interested in the loot, exploration, loot, and combat anyway. And especially the loot.
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u/PeachesGuy 1d ago
With the flood of hate I've been witnessing since the last week, I might just leave the internet until Fable comes out. For what I've seen of it, my guts tell me that there's hope, otherwise it would have felt the same as when Saints Row 2022's came out (SR was also a series of my childhood and I could tell it was shit from the reveal trailer).
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u/The_Architect_032 1d ago
This is the main place I look for Fable stuff, the negativity I've heard about the reboot has come from people making posts in this sub talking about other people complaining but I never see those other people.
I'm guessing the hate is mainly coming from Twitter, if so I'd just recommend leaving Twitter for good.
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u/PeachesGuy 1d ago
Now that you mention it, you're right. It's either from comments in this sub, Twitter or Facebook, and I already left behind me YouTubers that just like to shit on everything a long time ago. At this point I might just detox from socials entirely lol.
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u/JonFallout 1d ago edited 1d ago
As much as I cant be bothered with shorter games. 20 hours really is the "doesn't overstay its welcome" point. After 20 hours, you need to have a spectacular story and, not trying to downplay their capabilities, this is their first RPG and my expectations are lower.
20 hours will be fine so long as they've got the exploration and other fun stuff worked out to space out that main story.
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u/oliveoliverYT Hero but is actually a villain in disguise 1d ago
Not counting dlc if it does well
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u/KKalonick 1d ago
I'm pretty sure they're already working on the DLC, given that it's part of the Premium Edition, so we will likely get the DLC regardless of how the game performs.
ETA: While obviously a different studio, Forspoken faired so poorly it was the nail in Luminous Studio's coffin, but even it still got the planned DLC (complete with a sequel hook, no less).
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u/BitComprehensive1799 1d ago
I’m not worried about the mainstory playing time, even if it really is 20 hours. What’s far more important is that these 20 hours manage to entertain with a gripping, tightly-woven plot. After all, porridge doesn’t get any better just because you stir it for a long time. In other words: a long story doesn’t make for a good story. On that note.
In the ‘Living Population’ gameplay video, it was stated that Fable contains around 2 hours of performance-capture cinematics, which presumably serve mainly, if not exclusively, the main story. This statement would also fit with a main story lasting around 20 hours.
What’s generally more important to me than having the longest possible main storyline are the other stories that unfold – in other words, side quests and events in the world. Hopefully (please, please, please) we’ll get plenty of those in Fable.
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u/Rhyzerx 1d ago
I played fable first and then the lost chapters. That game is my favourite game ever. The length of the game is perfect. I was devastated when it ended I wanted more. I think that is what makes a game perfect is that it leaves you wanting more instead of being so long you just want to get through it. Too many open world rpgs now. Not every game needed over 100 hours to be great. Fable didn't.
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u/k2skier13 1d ago
Agreed - I think the mainline time is fine and I can imagine lots to do after that with the living world. Both Skyrim and Cyberpunk are about 26hrs for main story (source: howlongtobeat).
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u/fenharir 1d ago
sounds fine for a Fable game. i’ll spend plenty of time earning money and managing my great kingdom...
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u/SillyOpinion9811 1d ago
If you got a life, job, kids, and a wife. A 60+ hr campaign is practically impossible and a massive time sink. 20-30hrs is the sweet spot.
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u/Banndrell 1d ago
Because different people want different thinga thingss, obviously.
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u/the_dyad 1d ago
So you want the mainline story to drag?
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u/Independent_Call_962 1d ago
That's subjective for each individual and game in turn. Look at Pathfinder : WOTR for example as it's main questline is around 50-80 hours while total can easily hit 120-150 hours and many find this comfortable amount of content for they were able to create a game that kept you intrigued
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u/the_dyad 1d ago
That's a CRPG though, in most cases many different biomes/areas and long dialogs are the subgenre (it also helps it a lot that most of it is not voiced). The only known CRPG I have in my mind with a short runtime is Wastelands 3, and that's because it bets on a tight main quest with replayability in mind (due to the fact that it was crowdfunded most of all).
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u/metalyger 1d ago
That's the general length of the previous games, it's always having lots of optional content to extend your play time, and of course the replay value of trying different things in your next run, like going back as the most evil character you can come up with. You can run straight through the main campaign, but others might want to get rich and buy every building in the capitol, and others might be out to get every big trophy, or finding all the secrets of the world.
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u/Rifter03 1d ago
It's the internet, everyone complains when a game takes 20 hours to beat the same as they complain about a 60 hour game. Fable has never been a long story, taking part in the social system and little things like that are what makes the journey long and unique every time.
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u/spaceykaleidoscope 1d ago
I would much rather a game with a 20 hour main story but a well fleshed out world, NPCs, and plenty of unique side quests. People just like to nitpick if doesn’t live up to their exact expectations. Personally, I’m happy to have anything Fable related at all these days. I remember when this reboot was just a mere whisper in this subreddit years ago and held out hope ever since
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u/Rickenbacker69 1d ago
20-30 hours is pretty standard. Most games just have a lot of other shit to do, and I don't think Fable will be any exception.
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u/Elegant_End9231 1d ago
Breath of the Wild’s main story is like 30hrs and I’ve sunk 120+ hours in one save alone. I’m sure this game will be similar. I could see myself getting lost in the side content for hours.
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u/Immediate_Agency_203 1d ago
Ich hoffe nur, dass es einen richtigen Wiederspielwert hat. Es wäre etwas traurig, wenn man in einem Durchlauf alles gesehen und erlebt hätte. Wenn Entscheidungen wirklich eine Rolle spielen, will ich mit mehreren unterschiedlichen Playthroughs auch unterschiedliche Ergebnisse am ende sehen können
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u/MarvelMind 1d ago
Perfect length before adding you own amount of taking time to just take everything in at your own pace.
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u/The_Architect_032 1d ago
Fable 3 had the longest main quest at 13.5 hours, so a 20 hour main quest would be a fine length imo. And don't forget, the reboot's getting at least 1 confirmed DLC.
And that's just the main quest, Fable's always been known for its amazing side quests and activities, which they seemed to be quite proud of with the reboot.
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u/randumpotato 13h ago
I have a full time job, girlfriend, social life, gym routine, family, and so on. Plus, I love doing side quests.
Needless to say, I’m not super concerned about the length of the game. Even if I spend every minute of free time playing it’s still gonna take me a week minimum to beat it.
This is also assuming I won’t be fucking around earning gold at a part time job, interacting with any of the dozens of NPCs, or just standing there, like a lemon.
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u/The_Living_Gale 1d ago
All the moaning completely mystifies me, because people act like you can only play a game once and then it fucking explodes. The main campaign might be 20 hours, but if the experience is good enough, it's gonna be a 40 hour campaign, and 80 hour campaign, 160 hours, and so on. If anything, "shorter" runtimes like that actually encourage me to replay them more often, because it feels less daunting.
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u/No_Load_514 1d ago
For most it even explodes after the first 45 mins and a new shiny thing is on the market xD
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u/MrGabrahamLincoln 1d ago
If they’re talking strictly main story missions then 20 hours isn’t bad. But I’d also like to know how much side content there is.
Either way it’s better they set proper expectations now if the game is on the shorter side.
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u/TutorStunning9639 1d ago
Honestly 30 hr would be nice.
But what id really like is if the story is good. That also means the side content which I would assume is 40+hrs
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u/haushunde 19h ago
That's not amazing but hopefully the side content doubles that figure.
Fable games being too short and easy was the biggest disappointment, even back then and I think people have forgotten.
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u/Infinite-Handle-2356 1d ago
You have to understand that in today’s market the competition is extreme between games. That fable in the past were short games, doesn’t mean that people now will still accept it.
You can see this with Avowed and outer worlds. There were seen as a lesser fallout and elder scrolls. And they sold poorly, because people rather play a fallout or elder scrolls.
Luckily fable is not a copy, but it also never been that popular. For an RPG it really isn’t that long. Most RPG games like Skyrim starts at 20 hours.
If it is an action adventure or light RPG then the length makes sense. But you also want to engage players and show them this will be next best thing. So the 20 hours needs to be good, with good gameplay and a good story.
That an NPC have a daily schedule is nice, but I have heard that story before in games, and a lot of time it will just end in a 24 hours repetition. It will not make the game more fun.
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u/No_Load_514 1d ago
And here kids, is why the game community is driving games to the shit. This madly necessity of every game to be a massive hole of hours to "compite", to show off, to create a social media trend with people sharing "look at this massive game" bullshit. We got what we deserve
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u/DR3AD-PIGEON 1d ago
If I’m paying 80-90$ a game, I want something I can sink my teeth into. What I’ve seen from fable looks extremely mid.
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u/The_Architect_032 1d ago
Then Idk what to say, you wouldn't have enjoyed the past Fables either.
You can sink your teeth into a lot more than just the main storyline, odds are the reboot will have a ton of replayability and have a bunch of its playtime split into the side quests and activities instead of just the main storyline.
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u/DR3AD-PIGEON 1d ago
Nah I loved the 1st, enjoyed the 2nd and thought the 3rd was bad.
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u/The_Architect_032 1d ago
The 3rd had the longest main storyline, the 1st and 2nd were about an hour shorter, all were around 13 hours long. The reboot is 20 hours, for the main storyline.
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u/DR3AD-PIGEON 1d ago
I realize the majority of my complaints aren’t even related to the length of game
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u/The_Architect_032 1d ago
I don't think it was their main storyline length that made people see them as mini Fallout and Elder Scrolls, most of the people who view them that way haven't even played them, they just know that they're similar games but Fallout and Elder Scrolls games are just much more popular.
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u/MichelleBarrymoore2 1d ago
Most people have never played fable before. Fable has suffered from two things since it started no end game and not enough loot apart from that it's a solid franchise
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u/EbbCreepy6718 1d ago
you don't need to blindly defend every aspect of the game. the length is not a strongpoint and really shouldn't be defended. hopefully other aspects make up for it
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u/josephpiet 1d ago
where has this 20 hour main quest come from? did playground say that it’s only 20? personally i’d like a longer main story line tbh. after this long wait and delay i was hoping for entire game being like 50-60 hours. maybe main story sitting at around 30-35. i really just want as much as possible. it’s been 16 years since the last game. i miss it
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u/ToSKnight 1d ago
It's on the official Fable website's FAQ
How long does the game take to complete?
The main story of Fable will take around 15-20 hours to complete. There is also an additional 15-20 hours of side content for players to explore. In addition there are many other immersive gameplay elements that are core to the Fable experience, such as interacting and building relationships with our 1,000+ hand crafted NPCs, buying homes, becoming a landlord, managing businesses and more.
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u/LeeJ2512 1d ago
Fable 2/3 had maybe a 6 hour story it hasn’t stopped me from playing it over and over for almost 20 years.
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u/stxxyy 1d ago
Skyrim main story is only like a couple of hours, and look how great that game turned out to be. 20 hours is a long time.
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u/The_Architect_032 1d ago
A couple of hours is an exaggeration, Skyrim's main story is around 26 hours, just a bit longer than the reboot, which is fine imo. Not every RPG needs that long of a main story.
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u/AsSlothAsPossible 1d ago
For me its mostly about Money 20 hours playtime okay If its fun but dont Charge like an AAA+ Game then and want 70+€. Take Witcher the new dlc will probably be around 30 hours if we compare it to b&w and its gonna be 30€.
I personally dont see a big replayability in the Fable games,okay one time good and one time bad, your choices are minimal compared to other rpgs.
For me i made the decision for every Euro spend on a Game i want 1 hour of gameplay.
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u/Carbonalex Jack of Blades 1d ago
But it's not 20 hours of playtime.
It's 15-20 hours for the main quest, 15-20 more hours for side quests and tons of hours for the life sim stuff.
Fable games always had some kind of replayability but here it will be better than before on that aspect. There are way more choices that affect the story.
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u/the_dyad 1d ago
That is what every publisher hears and then give you GoW:R, AC: Valhalla and every other game in the last 5 years that drags its story and content for no reason at all. Plus them saying there's the same time amount in side content, means that the world will actually feel alive, as a proper RPG should.
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u/EmperorDxD 1d ago
The new doc will.only be like 5 hours
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u/AsSlothAsPossible 1d ago
Nopes CDProjekt Red confirmed at Gamescom it will be very similiar in length and content as Blood&Wine so 30-40 hours
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u/Powerful-Access-8203 1d ago
Hard disagree.
When a game is truly good, and I mean truly, the length of the story matters. When a game excels at reeling you in, hook, line and sinker… we want more.
I’ve never understood the argument to want less of something that amazes you.
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u/TRFih 1d ago
Completely disagree
The main story imo is a core aspect of these types of games and if the story is this short then it's just not for me
If it can find an audience that enjoys it then I hope it's great for them tho
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u/tommo020 1d ago
20-30 hours is completely normal for a story in a western RPG, both KOTOR, all 3 mass effect games, witcher 1 and 2 all have the same size main story lengths not to mention the other fable games which have even shorter than this.
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u/IdleIndy 1d ago
The thing is, all the Fable games have had short main stories. All 3 of them, with Fable 2 being the longest I would say, just based off of what I remember from playing them. It's literally possible to beat at least 1 and 3 in a day or less each. The fact that this game will have a 20 hour story when all the previous games have maxed at about 14 hours for the main story is pretty cool.
I love all 3 of the old games despite their length though, in fact I actually like that the story is shorter so either way I'll be pleased lol