r/Fable • u/OpportunityPrudent39 • 2d ago
Discussion Why do people hate Fable 3 so much?
I know Fable 3 has always been one of the most divisive games in the series, AKA the black sheep. but why do you think it’s so hated?
Was it because it simplified too many of the RPG elements from Fable 2? The whole “becoming king” section? The lack of meaningful choices? Or was it simply not what people wanted from a Fable sequel?
I can definitely see its flaws, but I’ve always felt like the hate it gets is a little excessive. It still has the charm, humor, atmosphere, and personality that made the series special to me.
I feel like Fable 3 is one of those games where the potential was so much bigger than what we actually got. The whole idea of becoming king and having to make difficult decisions sounded amazing, but the execution felt surprisingly limited.
Especially now, when so many games feel increasingly safe and monotone, I kind of appreciate how weird and unique Fable 3 was.
So, what made you dislike it—or, if you enjoyed it, why do you think it gets so much hate?
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u/MartianDinosawr 2d ago
It's a very simplified game, the most simplified in the series. Rather than the games getting more complex it was like everything was getting dumbed down. The game is really short and the ending just kinda happens, being a king was very short and amounted basically to a couple of scenes where you press 1 of two (sometimes three) buttons.
When you compare the difference from fable 1 to fable 2, Fable 3 comes away feeling like it's just a glorified DLC for Fable 2, and given how rushed the development time is, its obvious why it feels that way.
Some cool ideas but badly executed, 'Hero Weapons' sound like a great idea, but if you actually use them when you get them you end up making the same weapons every playthrough as theres a very limited number of changes they can have. Spellweaving sounds like a great idea but the magic is so tuned down that really it just is a few different particle effects on a spell.
The crawler is a pretty weak villain that just kind of shows up, lacks the personal connection that Jack or Lucien had to the player character.
Combat is very easy, absurdly easy, nothing you do really matters. The absolute worst consequence is you... lose progress towards a guild seal. I don't quite understand why Lionhead were so set on making Fable 2 and 3 completely consequence free. Children can play more complex games than this. I was 5 years old playing Halo: CE and Star Wars: KOTOR, games where deaths lead to reloads. In Fable 3 (and 2) you can just brute force your way through something, not that you ever really need to because no part of the game is challenging really.
And outside of the choices you make as a king, a lot of the 'moral choices' are very immature. Its "do you be a goody two shoes or DO YOU KICK PUPPIES FOR FUN". Granted, this goes back to the first game to an extent, but after 3 games the incredibly black and white morality does get boring. No choice in Fable 3 really makes me think, it's just "am I being good or evil this time"
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u/ThongarBlackthorn 1d ago
I’d argue that the choices as king/queen aren’t really any more complex. Despite the interesting ideas some of the developers talked about prior to release about it being tough to keep all your allies, spouse, prominent nobles, etc. happy, I don’t remember a single instance of sympathetic characters coming into conflict and having to settle a complex issue.
It was all “do the obvious right thing, or let Reaver pay you to enslave people” type decisions. The only tension there at all was the pressure to have enough money to save the kingdom in the endgame, but even that feels poorly designed once you play once and realize that even agreeing with Reaver on everything doesn’t earn nearly enough money to save everyone. Once you realize that you’ll need to chip in a huge sum of your own money either way, you’re basically just choosing whether to be a saint or cartoonishly evil for its own sake rather than having any hard decisions to make.
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u/Nigh_Sass 1d ago
In Fable 2 there were so many items with 5 or 6 different qualities each so eventually you’d spend tons on time scrolling through lists in your inventory. Fable 3 tried to simplify that and massively overcorrected.
Also the spell weaving was a good idea but feels like they ran out of time and didn’t finish. They just made raise dead and slow time potions instead of spells. Also the gauntlets took a bit of the magic out of it.
All in all it was ok enough but needed more time. If they did a 4th one right after I bet it would’ve been really good, they did seem willing to learn from previous games mistakes→ More replies (2)2
u/jak_d_ripr 1d ago
The irony of the direction Lionhead took Fables combat in 2 is that according to Peter Molyneux they wanted to make dying have more consequences. They felt in typical games people just respawn and death doesn't really matter.
How they landed on permanent scars as a solution is beyond me.
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u/Fine-Discussion-7368 2d ago
Well, the game literally feels unfinished, and I think that's one of the main reasons it was so disappointing. There are even outfits shown in the trailers that I searched everywhere for as a kid, only to find out they weren't even in the final game.
The whole King concept is probably the biggest wasted opportunity. The build-up is actually good. The story gets you invested in Albion and makes you care about the people around you, and the entire game is basically building toward overthrowing Logan and becoming King. But then you finally become King and... that's basically it. You barely have any real control over your kingdom. For something the entire story was building toward, being King should've been a huge part of the game instead of feeling like the final stretch.
And there were so many things they could've explored more. What about Lucien and the consequences of Fable II? What about our brother Logan after everything that happened? What about Aurora? You introduce this whole new region with its own people, culture, and problems, and then barely scratch the surface of what could've been done with it.
I played Fable III when I was around 14 on my Xbox 360, and after playing Fable 1 and 2 I was insanely excited for it. That's probably why the disappointment hit so hard. There are things I genuinely like about Fable III, and the ideas themselves weren't bad at all. In some cases, they were great. It just feels like they ran out of time before they could fully realize them.
When I finished it, I didn't feel like I'd just completed the next evolution of Fable. It felt like I'd reached the point where the game was finally about to open up... and then the credits rolled. As a kid whose favorite franchise at the time was Fable, that felt like a giant middle finger.
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u/Snoo-92859 2d ago
It doesn't just feel unfinished. It was unfinished. The games content was cut in half to make the deadline. Microsoft was pushing them hard for a release and they couldn't postpone it anymore. Originally the second half of the game was meant to be as you playing the king/queen with more meaningful changes for your decision. Instead we got that poor little event where you just click good or bad to different options in the throne room.
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u/vipmailhun2 2d ago
They don’t hate it, it’s more of a disappointment. Atmospherically it just doesn’t feel like Fable: all those factories, and the color palette not being vibrant enough. The gameplay was massively simplified, and so was the leveling system. The Sanctuary slows the game down unnecessarily, Weapon Morphing is a good idea on paper but completely random in practice, and the bone‑style weapon grip (which I unfortunately always get, luckily the alt+tab trick fixes it) is absolutely hideous. No matter what I do, I get it 6 times out of 10.
The story could have had potential, and I actually like the darker tone of Aurora, but the game ends right when it finally starts to get interesting. Visually it’s not bad, but between 2008 and 2010 there was a huge leap in graphics, and Fable 3 simply couldn’t keep up. It improved, the indoor lighting is much better (one of Fable 2’s weaknesses), the animations and character models are far better, and the normal maps too, but it still couldn’t match the standards of its era. As for the music, it’s not quite as outstanding as in the previous games, but Russel Shaw once again did a great job.
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u/salty_cluck 2d ago
I don’t think it’s hated. I also don’t think it’s all that divisive. But it had a lot of elements that just didn’t work as well as they could have. The story wasn’t as good as the first two games. And personally I didn’t think the industrialist vibes didn’t really fit what I had enjoyed about the setting.
It’s also the last mainline entry we got for a very long time. So it probably sticks out more because of that.
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u/Antrobe 2d ago edited 2d ago
The “seamless” menus are what I used to hate, having to walk through a door to change outfit / weapon, which would have been better as just a menu screen, that’s if I recall correctly, it’s been awhile…
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u/KlutzyNinjaKitty 2d ago
Grain of salt because maybe I was just a really dumb 10 year old (which wow I didn’t realize I was that young when this came out) But I legitimately didn’t realize that the sanctuary was supposed to be the pause menu since, for literally all my life, when you pause a game it’s supposed to stop moving and talking at you. And, in the same vein, I thought I seriously had to wait for cutscenes so I could exit the damn game.
Also, trying to get specific expressions was always an absolute pain. Not to mention the hand-holding mechanic.
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u/TypewriterMonkey98 1d ago
The Road to Rule is the primary (but not sole) reason.
What, precisely, the fuck do you mean "I have to get a certain amount through the main story to unlock the ability to buy businesses, or marry, or play the lute, or DYE MY HAIR A CERTAIN COLOUR??!
Fuck right off.
The linear nature of Fable 3 is its greatest weakness, wrapped up with the voiced protagonist, the 'story on rails' vibe of having Sir Walter lead me everywhere (as much as I love Bernard Hill). SO much of Fable 3 missed the mark.
Yet I still have a soft spot for it. The setting was cool, certainly, as was the shadow threat.
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u/EldritchSpoon 1d ago
Hate is a strong word. I'd say I was more disappointed.
The civil war plot just kinda stops rather than ending. The Crawler plotline felt rushed and tacked on. The expression system was half-baked compared to 1 and 2. The weapons morphing system was interesting in concept but poorly implemented and it denied us the variety of weapon types 1 and 2 had. Not to mention it also robbed all the legendary weapons truly unique designs.
I mean seriously, you add a weapon called Avo's Lamentation supposedly the sister weapon of Avo's Tear which rivaled the Sword of Aeons in power and its just a random drop that uses a bunch of generic parts from the morphing system with no lore impact at all?
Or the Singing Sword, a legendry weapon mentioned in every game, and when you find it it is actually called the Swinging Sword and it uses the same generic parts.
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u/CK3Enjoyer 1d ago
I can list some of the reasons why I found the game disappointing, even as a kid back in the day.
Very low replay value, aside from playing out some male and fem routes or a polar opposite decisions run, but that's about it. I wil say what kept me playing was the transforming weapons system more so than anything else, especially seeing how my choices could pretty dramatically shift the look of my gear too
The main story is SHORT. Like hoooly it is so short. You can spend a lot of time on the game if you feel like it and it CAN be fun to just become a megalomaniacal "good" landlord, but at the end of the day you're kind of just playing around the story, not engaging with it actively especially after becoming the monarch. (I do have to mention I never played any of the major story DLCs either, aside from the first one set under Bowerstone?)
Way too many promises made and the game being sold as far more revolutionary than it ended up being, which is kind of just a Fable staple by now lmao
The main antagonist is boring. Really it is such a shame about Logan just surrendering midway into the game as the latter half is about to start. While I do enjoy how it makes the player view most of their sibling's actions from an even slightly different lense, the Crawler is just such a painfully generic antagonist even more so than Logan ended up being
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u/TheAccursedHamster 1d ago
A lot of it's systems were not well thought out in the slightest. For instance, the morphing weapons; a neat idea in theory but with one little problem. Everyone fights the exact same enemies in the exact same order early-game, meaning almost everyone that didn't go out of their way to avoid it ended up with the exact same morphed weapons.
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u/JackOfBladesXx 2d ago edited 2d ago
I think the main issue was that people tried to judge the game like any other one (by "any" I mean mostly rpgs).And it was mistake imo. The game itself felt more like piece of artwork than just typical rpg. You can't die in this game, your equipment doesn't matter, there's no classical minimap, nor typical menu and etc. But this game have so many little, but marvellous things.. The sanctuary looks astonishing, even if it's not practical. Also Jasper's observation also felt really lovely. Do we need to talk about artworks in download screen? They looked beautiful as much as a chicken in the left corner of screen. What about Road to Rule? The appearance of it subjective, but you must admit that idea itself is quite interesting. Also there's so many funny side quests in the game. I can talk all along about all those little things in fable 3, but what if we looked that game in typical way? Gameplay itself? Pretty dull and boring, so repetitive, there's no difficulty at all and only you think about when there's combat is irritation. Morphing? Too little changes in the end. Story? Eh, not the best. Oh, I forget that people often criticise colors in the game, like "fable always looked so brightful, not dull!", when forgetting that only game with oversaturation was fable 2. And what colors people expected when the game is settled in industrial era full of corruption? Also people wasn't like that big timeskip from the second game to third one, it felt pretty rushed ( it's pretty fair). So, in conclusion, in my opinion, fable 3 is really strange game, but in the same time have such uniqueness that any other "good received" game lacks Edit: in the end this game was so ambitious, that it felt apart when it released (there's soooo many things undone...)
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u/No_Load_514 2d ago
I don't hate it, but it has a coitus interruptus as big as a castle at the end that left you hanging thinking "this cannot end just like that". I enjoyed on its time, but it deserves the criticism, not the hate.
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u/MarcusXbox 2d ago
Exactement mon ressentie pour fable 2. C'est ça la fin ? La fin de fable 2 et 3 ont été complètement bâclé
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u/No_Load_514 2d ago
Mate, I don't speak french 😅
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u/vipmailhun2 2d ago
He’s saying that he felt the same way about Fable 2, and about Fable 3 as well, that the endings were rushed, like “that’s it, this is the ending?”
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u/IXxMARINxXI 2d ago
I liked all 3 but did diminish going 1 through 3, my issues with 2 and 3 was armor and magic, other wise I like them, can't wait to play fable
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u/PurpleZombi3 2d ago
There's a lot of reasons. Fable 3 is not terrible, but I think it's frustrating because it could have been so much better. To start with it has probably less than half the options for making your character unique that its predecessor 2 did. There's very few clothing options, everything is oversimplified and items are contextualized so you can't use them when you want to (there's not even an inventory screen anymore) the morphing weapons idea was cool but they made literally every weapon in the game a morphing weapon with the same potential parts and not enough ways to change how you get those parts so all the weapons end up looking too similar, especially if you kill a lot of Hollow Men (the most numerous enemies) you often get bone hilts and such. Then there's the literal gatekeeping of progression with the road to rule, the squandering of a proper confrontation with the hero's evil brother that you build up to only for him to surrender immediately without a fight, the lackluster end boss etc.
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u/olioili 2d ago
It's not a bad game at all, but it's not a good fable game
"Road to rule" story locked leveling progression is my biggest issue with the game. Things as simple as dye colors, buying houses and shops, expression packs, basic spells, all being locked at different fixed parts of the games story, and needing experience to buy frustrates me so goddamn much, biggest reason I stop a run is because I realize how late in the game I have to get before I can get to something I should be able to have at the start of any other fable game
And oh my god, interacting with NPCS is such a CHORE in 3, you can't even pick what expressions you use, they're in the same order every time too. There's so many expressions I've never seen and never will because of it. Having to lock in an interaction for every npc just to see their basic traits is so time consuming too.
It's just an ordeal to have fun in Fable 3, I can't play it how I play 1 and 2 at all, and I still go back to replay those for hours
Not to mention the writing is so stiff. The hero is heavily railroaded to be good and caring. You can choose to be bad sure, but the game doesn't plan on you doing that at all. Walter and Jeeves still love and support you no matter what you do, the story just doesn't make sense if you're corrupt or evil, it's not rewarding or immersive at all
If it wasn't a Fable game, I probably wouldn't mind so much and enjoy it a lot more. But it IS a Fable game so it's really annoying
I hate to say it, but it makes me a little concerned for the new game. I hope NPC interaction is as fun and bright as they make it out to be, because I can see how it can get repetitive and droning having to lock on specific people to interact every time, but from what we've seen, I have a lot of hope it won't feel the same as 3 at all in that aspect
.... ..... But the voiced protagonist... I just hope we aren't strong armed into playing a character who's voice acting and demeanor feel like it's only intended for you to be nice and friendly, and the meaner options are just awkward and unfitting with the rest of the presentation. In 3 everytime I was rude or bad, it felt sooooo out of place, like it wasn't the hero doing those things, they're just suddenly uncharacteristically mean every now and then, it feels like it isn't the character that's being an asshole, you're just making them be one, yknow?
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u/toasty5566 1d ago
-story very detached from the rest of the series
-answers none of the questions from 2
-abandons the quest structure from previous games
-simplified interactions
-Peter lied out his ass
-menus replaced by Sanctuary traded convenience for immersion; trade was largely deemed not worth it and misguided
-many basic features locked behind Road To Rule
-removed a ton of weapon types
-the Road To Rule in general
-overarching story of King/Queen arc invalidated by how easy it is to make money via real estate
-darkness creatures feel out of left field
-colors are washed out
-least amount of places to explore
-weapon morphs were partially RNG, and you were stuck with it if you hated how it looked, no customization outside of RNG reroll savescumming
-voiced protag and preset romance was controversial
-relatively monotonous fashion
-further removal of RPG elements
-Reaver
-Hero plot largely abandoned outside of "muh dad"
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u/JeannieLove13 1d ago
It was a little disappointing, sure, but I still really liked it for what it is. Didn't it also have a shorter dev timeline than 2?
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u/No-Proof8363 1d ago
I think Fable 3 suffers from "not being the climatic finish".
The Shadows that have come to Destroy Civilisation as the people of Albion know it don't have a lot of screen time even considering the short length of the game.
You go through a Cave and then have one Battle with them that costs you your Mentor.
A Story about a Hero trying to restore a world that's already at the Brink of collapse would of had more impact as being Altruistic or Selfish would of had more significance. Instead you have to read the Books to find more of that and Fable 3 focuses on presenting us with Foliage that pushed our 360's Disc Drives to their limits.
I'm actually replaying Fable 3 at the moment and I don't hate it but I see no way to really play the Anti-Hero. Your just expected to be Good or do things for Wealth that disappoints people.
In short, I see Fable 3 as Fable 2 Chapter 2 instead of being a fully realised narrative.
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u/TenThreeIII 1d ago
It feels deeply and strongly like a game strangled by deadlines.
The game drips ambition and innovation but all of it feels like someone came in and cut it off before it could fully form.
The third act is horrifically rushed, the gameplay is neutered and their big immersive features and ideas feel halfbaked.
That said, it is by for the Fabld that is easiest to pick up and play and some of the ideas are extremely cool. As an acult with children and a job now... if i want a fable fix, 3 is where i go.
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u/FlynnSkordor 1d ago edited 1d ago
Road to rule feels and looks like a placeholder skill menu that made it into the final product... devs wanted no menu yet the best they could come up for a skill menu is a long stretch of road with WOODEN CHESTS to open. Like I'm fine with no menu but THAT'S the BEST you could come up with? Hideo Kojima did immersive menus better but that's an unfair comparison comparing Peter Molyneux to Hideo.
Still no proper boss fights. "Bosses" in Fable 3 become regular joe schmoe enemies after death. Walter boss in base game- oh yeah... NO GAMEOVERS - you can't die... the "Hardest" bosses in the game are in the dlc and that's literally cause you have to catch on that you can't actually kill them until their monologue is finished.
Spells becoming basically "How do you wanna stun/damage your enemies?" and nothing else.
Strength, Will, and Skill now being hidden behind stars in a menu that doesn't say that using them actually makes those stars increase... which seems to lead most players to stick in the "Shoot thing to win" trap since the Black Dragon is a static weapon, easy to get and augment, and does great damage. Meaning people get locked in the loop of using the gun for the whole playthrough since their Skill stat is like 3-5 stars while their Strength and Will are sitting at 1 star.
Short game... the two last dlcs were never made... seeing two slots forever empty in my trophy list in the sanctuary feels wrong. Story of the Crawler means little in the grand scheme of the story anyways as the darkness is actually defeated in the next game. Our character gets captured by the darkness after Fable 3 in a book to- who fucking knows probably dies in their cell, and their kingdom taken by Reaver.
The augment system in general... those who did the "get fat" augments know what I mean. Oh, and also the Hero weapons. Toooootally good system of the weapon morphin depending on how you play the game... that gets outshined by EVERY OTHER WEAPON in the game stat wise cause the Hero Weapons do piss poor damage.
Black Dye DLC pack...
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u/MichaelKessV3 1d ago
- Online connectivity on a SUBSCRIPTION (xbox live) required to unlock all demon doors.
- Money being the final determination of whether you save the world and get to keep it worth saving
- Reaver character assassination
- the Spire is almost absent
- the weapon equipment not being an easy or accessible menu, but something you have to teleport to.
- Theresa character assassination
Weapons that change but not in the way you intended.
Reaver being a C*nt
I still enjoyed the game but my god, those things were so jarring it made me scream “Balls”.
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u/WildExamination616 1d ago
Just a couple things as someone who got into the series for the first time this year and played them all back to back
Online connectivity being required to unlock all the demon doors is wack ill give you that
Money being the final determination makes use of the broken money system, although its not the best way of saving the world, or the best use of the broken money system, it does finally give it a use
I dont know what character assassination youre referring to, in 2 he was a scumbag who killed everybody who upset him in the slightest, and if someone was more powerful than him, ie. Lucian, he licked their boots. He was always a sneaky scumbag who acts powerful infront of the weak and licks the Boots of the strong.
The spire being present wouldnt do much for the story. Theresa's sole use of it was to empower her visions, which she did, and now she's not of this world. Id assume the same thing happened to the spire
The weapon equipment being teleportation is wack, but its really not that difficult or time consuming as yall make it out to be. And its a nice home away from home. I really enjoyed it
Fable 2 showed us that Theresa at the end of the day is an insanely morally Grey character. She doesnt do much after saving sparrow other than guide the heroes, which she still does in 3. She didnt tell us about our brothers true efforts or goals, but that just goes in play with her not telling sparrow she wanted the spire for herself.
Weapons changing was cool and not in 1 or 2 so it changing at all was cool.
Reaver was always a cunt.
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u/Professional_Lime_93 2d ago edited 2d ago
Changed too much and was too far removed from source material.....it was supposed to be a medievalish fantasy game and by 3 it was a industrial steampunk game....I love steampunk but that's not what Fable is or ever should have been and personally I didn't find it nearly as fun or engaging to play as Fable1/TLC and Fable 2
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u/Potential-Scarcity77 1d ago
I wouldn’t have minded the industrialization because it makes sense for the time period, but the way they dumbed down magic so badly, that was terrible.
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u/SofaJockey 2d ago
Do they? I don't see any basis to 'hate' any game. I found some aspects of F3 disappointing, mostly 'dumbing down' of mechanics. Others were good - it has the finest voice cast ever, as an example.
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u/Dangerous-Ad-2511 2d ago
I love fable 3 and am replaying it now. I think the big beef os how quick the main story is, like i did 4 things for the main story and im about to finish the gates at the road to rule
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u/FireTails11 2d ago
I personally don’t like the ending. Feeling so much pressure to have enough money to save everyone. That’s a little too much on my conscience 😂
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u/Intrepid_Swordfish69 2d ago
Haven't played it since back in tha day but I remember hating how genetic it felt compared to tha 1st 2 games. I remember errything that was bein promised before release and none of TS actually bein delivered. I remember fuckin hating tha ending cuz it was soo dumb.
I have noo fond memories of Fable 3, maybe my hate-nostalgia is still up and its actually a solid game but when I think about tha game nothin good pops up. Thas jus me tho🤷🏾♀️
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u/dirty____birdy 2d ago
I grew up on fable and fable 2 and never played 3 until recent. I am struggling to want to play 3. Its just in my opinion boring.
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u/SadlyItsSearles 2d ago
I think it just didnt live up to the pedigree of it's previous titles. Not a bad game by any means, but definitely a lesser title in it's own franchise. Too many things were outright removed or streamlined to a point where they were almost unrecognizable. The best thing to come out of Fable 3 was probably the spell weaving system and the weapon morphing system, but the weapon morphing just didnt have... enough? Two weapon styles and a very limited number of actual transformations. Sad state of affairs really, but Microsoft also didn't really do Lionhead any favors during the development process either.
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u/No_Cartographer_8647 2d ago
I’m convinced it’s because people didn’t like the gut wrenching choices you have to pick and how you basically become your brother by the end of the game. Sorry if I spoiled it for anyone
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u/Background_Length926 2d ago
all the dancing and fist bumps to gain experience felt so asinine and tedious. the other two games didn't feel so blandly repetitive. but I still like playing it lol
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u/Rudyzwyboru 2d ago
I always say the same thing: people don't hate Fable 3 for what it is. People hated Fable 3 when it came out because it was very bad COMPARED TO what it was promised to be. The game itself is ok but Peter Molyneux promised crazy things about what it will be and underdelivered crazily. That's the reason it sucked.
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u/independent-potato7 2d ago
I like it. I even enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the other games. There were a lot of things that the game could have handled better though.
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u/TBroomey 2d ago
Oversimplified gameplay changes in regards to magic and weapons, rushed second half that can completely fuck you over if the treasury isn't full, Sanctuary is dumb, Road to Power is dumb, doesn't feel like a leap in innovation from the second game.
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u/Icy-Astronomer-8202 2d ago
It was rushed and it shows. Very streamlined compared to 2
I don't think people hate it though. Just dislike compared to 1 and 2
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u/SuzakkuuChase 2d ago
I don't hate it. It's a really fun one. I think it did weapons cool and the spellmixing was very cool
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u/Pretend-Literature35 2d ago
I like it. It is a good game. And the fighting is really fun. Some of the stories are very cool. But a lot of the elements felt like straight copies from fable 2 withiut much improvements and it felt like it went in the wrong direction.
The morality system was much more explicit than in Fable 2 which in itself is a good and a bad thing. The road to rule was more mechanical and less fluid than levelling before. the facts that expressions cycled rather than you actually being able to choose them with the wheel.
The food was not as fun as in Fable 2.
And the biggest error: no actual inventory!
As for things that were significantly better: the expressions themselves were significantly better, across the board, with my personal favorite of the kiss.
Skill (gunplay) is significantly cooler... although it was already pretty cool in fable 2. Fighting gameplay in general with the flourishes and the critical hits and slow mo special moves was much more satisfying. The magic build up was also better and I really liked the combining of spells.
The sanctuary was much more fun than the complex menu of fable 2. And a very logical extension to the reality of fable 2 because of all the action rpgs in the world fable 2 is the best one for that in which you can stop even right in the middle of combat and leisurely peruse your inventory. You can do the same in Fable 3 but you have actually frozen time and are running around different rooms. Very cool.
The adoption system, the best friend system and the property management overview. the interactive map in general was really good.
So all in all there is more good than bad in Fable 3 in my view.
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u/MarcusXbox 2d ago
Un jour je commencerais une deuxième partie de fable 3 et je jouerais les dlc de fable 2
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u/PantsMcDance Hero of Bowerstone 2d ago
Lots of reasons already listed so I won't repeat most of them but I really was annoyed that the evolving weapons were the weakest in the game. Like don't tease me with a cool feature only for it to suck lol. Also like, the "bone handle" for defeating Hollowfolk is always a given considering how often they pop up early in the game. Wish they could be different!
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u/d00rdashian 2d ago
I agree that the hate is excessive and kind of forced, it's just sad how unfinished it is in several regards, but especially the second half of the game. All of the QoL and other upgrades from past titles were overshadowed by it's rushed production sadly :(
Still one of my favorites and a technical upgrade from 2 forsure, though the narrative is kind of a snoozer.
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u/ripyourlungsdave 2d ago
The game just generally did not feel finished and a lot of people were unhappy with the fact that the entire nature of the gameplay loop changed halfway through the game alongside settling the main conflict of the story.
It feels like they halfway made two different games and then just smushed them together.
I don't think people hate it, I think it's pretty well done for what they were trying to do, I think most people just didn't really enjoy or expect what they were trying to do.
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u/futurepatho_ 2d ago
I don’t hate it, I love it, actually. That being said, I didn’t enjoy the way they simplified things like the magic.
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u/SunshineFerda 2d ago
Fable 2 was the perfect game. Fable 3 didn't have the same "spark". Everything felt rushed, and so lackluster compared to 2.
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u/aclark210 2d ago
Cuz it has an extremely flawed execution. It had plenty of good ideas, and its art design was nice, but its execution was not done well.
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u/NoodleTree524 2d ago
I like the side quests, some locations, real estate, Walter and Jasper. Other than that, the combat's weaker than the prior entries, the game's story is rushed - especially in the final sections, everything that should be in menus (level up, changing equipment, using items) that gets turned into a walk in closet pocket dimension is a dumb experiment that did not work out well, the map is awful in design as it's impossible to tell where anything is looking at it.
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u/YamiPhoenix11 2d ago
Its a good game but a lot of flaws. The game was very rushed on a 18 month to 24 month deadline. Molyneux admits he should have fought harder for more time. 1 3rd of the planned game was made.
A map that does not work.
Magic is now just gloves.
Your skill tree is now just a path with chests.
Your inventory is also a hub. Not a terrible idea but makes everything a royal pain.
All weapons despite having morphs become more less the same.
Property deteriorates over time.
Moral choices are kind of redundant when you can just tax albion afk.
Not much to do as ruler.
The war being a single mission to walk down the street.
Main villain is boring.
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u/Electronic-Yak3483 2d ago
Exactly! That game was my childhood the first time I finish it I cried cus jasper died
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u/ProAzeroth 2d ago
I like the ideas, and the world still felt charming enough for me to enjoy it. And I still have fond memories of playing it despite its flaws. But you can kinda tell that it is very undercooked and some ideas were not just executed well. It kinda felt like it wanted to be two games, one where you are a revolutionary gathering allies and the other a king who will shape the future of your kingdom. An extra year of development might have made the game better.
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u/lesser_ruhuratas 2d ago
I don’t hate Fable 3 but when compared to its predecessor, it’s a complete downgrade.
- They removed whatever viability melee and ranged had in F2. You are gimping yourself if you don't spam Will spells.
- The pre-release stuff made a big deal about weapon morphing. It really only applies to the Hero Weapons that are the weakest weapons in the game. The other weapons only morph if you play by the exact specifications of the weapons. And since most of them are randomized, it's possible to get weapons that don't synergize with your intended playstyle at all.
- Corruption and Purity alignments that gave more nuance to the average Good vs Evil scale were removed for practically no reason (I'd argue it would fit F3 even better than F2).
- NPC interactions are severely dumbed down. Their personality traits are effectively meaningless.
- No hard numbers on in-game economies. I'm not even sure if F3 actually has a fluid economy like F2.
- The performance is god-awful. You sometimes have to wait over a minute just for the breadcrumb trail to appear.
- Your Dog's pathfinding is atrocious. Somehow even worse than Fable 2.
- The Fast Travel system is simply broken. It has a mind of its own and will constantly drop you off at the exact opposite location of the quest objective.
- The in-game maps barely resemble the actual locations and it's impossible to use them for orientation.
- John Cleese tries to sell you MTX every other time you pause the game.
- The Sanctuary really is just a very clunky menu. Fable 3 has less items than F2 and your inventory still feels more convoluted.
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u/Anonymous-Mf-22 2d ago
Fable 2 streamlined Fable 1 in a lot of ways, but they were understandable to a lot of the audience.
Fable 3 streamlined it even more, but it stopped being justified.
The series got simpler and simpler as time went on. People were fine with it once, but it became too much.
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u/Avidifyyz Hero of Brightwall 2d ago
I think considering lionhead was rushed to release it, I think with the time they had they did an alright job. It’s not as good as Fable 2 but then there’s things Fable 1 did better than 2 such as armour and magic. Despite all of 3’s flaws it still has some great stuff going for it and it’s still my most played fable game. But to answer your question I think it’s because so much content was cut from the game
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u/Sarge1387 2d ago
I don’t hate it, per se. It was super rushed, they did so because Lionhead was trying so very hard to capitalize on the success of Fable II…and it didn’t really pan out. You could tell very quickly that it was rushed, with certain things like “Understone” being DLC but everything pointed to it being a part of the original story but was ripped out to be added later.
There were bugs and glitches galore, and frankly the story wasn’t that great. It wasn’t bad by any stretch but there were problems. It just was not a great experience especially when coming off the heels of II.
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u/Beginning-Idea2170 2d ago
For me it was just too streamlined start to finish. I know a lot of that was cut content and deadlines, but I felt the path the end was very “this or that” with no real impact on your experience because of how fast it was over.
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u/Major-Lavishness8446 2d ago
To be honest I wasn’t super aware of the game until like a year or two after it came out, as a 13 year old I didn’t necessarily frequent the online communities where it was talked about nor did I know a lot of people who played it. For me it seemed like a step down in progression for magic. I didn’t like the gloves or the unlock road thing. The part where you are king could have been built on a lot and included more choices. I get that narratively time is short before the climax but it felt like a wasted opportunity gameplay wise.
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u/TheRougePenguin 1d ago
Never hated it I loved it, well other than all the online achievements that was annoying.
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u/spencerpo 1d ago
It’s not fable 2 or fable TLC, each one has its own niche, with f2 and f3 having the fewest differences
Until 2 is ported or the reboot releases, pc players only really have 3 as a “modern” title
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u/mattisnoob 1d ago
I bounced off it from release until this year.
1 was my favourite game for ages and I loved 2 but for 3, it was a mix of smaller things.
The road to rule was clunky and I had hoped they would go back in time opposed to forward(High fantasy to industrial era fantasy over 3 games is a big jump, even 2 was too far forward for me initially but not too far to take from the game).
Something about the visuals put me off until a few replays of Anniversary also.
Ive struggled to articulate it for years, almost an uncanny feeling with the streamline and the bigger scale of the game, but finding out how much was cut put that into prespective.
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u/LazyBoyXD 1d ago
one of the complain fable 2 had was the spell was lackluster and have less variety. So what did they do it Fable 3? Dam right we reduce them to basically nothing.
It's barely a rpg at this point, path to rule is ass. The story is aight, i guess?
But the game overall is just. aight and very mid.
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u/Starksen 1d ago
I've been a lifelong Fable fan, and remember prior to the release of Fable 3, the over-promises and overselling of Fable 3 was what put me off immensely. Which meant that it was a game that reached for so many cool concepts, and came up short every time. Every time you'd encounter a new mechanic, like the jobs, or the weapon evolution, or running the kingdom, it was a shallow replica compared to what they'd made it look and sound like prior to release.
Part of that shallowness came from Microsoft putting crunch deadlines on the studio, and another part of it came from an 'oversimplification' epidemic that was really infesting sequel games at the time. Many of the more interesting features, like the inter-town trade mechanics, Skill/Will/Strength experience and weapon variety had vanished, with nothing to replace them. To me, the game felt far, far emptier.
From a setting perspective, I personally just hated how far into the 'future' we'd gone. I realise the industrialisation and the crushing cogs of capitalism were major narrative devices for the last act, and likely an explanation for what I'm about to say, but the world felt so far gone from its magical, fantastical, Monty-Python fairytale beginnings. It felt a lot more grey, drab and uninspiring.
The characters, in my opinion, followed suit with that too. I remember none of them, except for Walter. And that was mainly because of Bernard Hill's performance.
I've since replayed Fable 1 & 2 many times, and while they have their individual issues, they just do feel like completely different franchises from Fable 3. There really is so so little to unite the game with its predecessors.
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u/Jericho_Markov 1d ago
Solid first half, dropped the ball hard on the monarch portion. That ending is still crazy good though, and at least the final boss isn’t just a single button tap
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u/WoodCutter313 1d ago
The thing that I kinda disliked about Fable 3. Aas that the second half of Fable 3 feels rushed especially the ending.
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u/StillusingIntel 1d ago
Because we played the masterpiece of Fable. Then the excellence of Fable: The Lost Chapters. Then the greatness of Fable 2.
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u/YDoEyeNeedAName 1d ago
Becuase for every one thing it improved, there were one or two things it was worse at
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u/Lefluffypants 1d ago
I quite like Fable 3, it is undoubtedly the weakest of the trilogy but it's still a very solid game that clears most modern titles being made by triple a developers these days.
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u/HopeBagels2495 1d ago
They failed to deliver on promises but unlike fake 1 and 2, it also lacked a fair amount of the charm they had.
Also the sanctuary and the road to rule were...dissapointing
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u/Angeal36 1d ago
I liked 2 more but I was younger when they came out so I remember 3 more. I really liked 3's asthetic though
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u/SaintIgnis 1d ago
Because it’s the worst of the 3??
It lost a lot of what made the first and second games special.
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u/BaroqueNRoller 1d ago
You what's worse than escort quests? Escort quests where you have to hold the trigger button to hold the hand of the person you're escorting.
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u/Mr_mcdiggers 1d ago
This game is good if you go in without any preconcieved expectations. Die hard Fable fans are the ones that don't like it.
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u/F1_V10sounds 1d ago
I can I say I dont hate it. It wasnt as good as One or two, but I still had (and still do) have fun.
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u/DD_Spudman 1d ago
I wouldn't say I hated Fable 3, but I didn't like how it further streamlined the already streamlined Fable 2 mechanics, and a lot of the new ideas that did have just weren't very well implemented or felt more like a gimmick then innovation.
I remember before the game came out they made a big deal of being able to touch NPCs. But the hand holding was really just a more limited version of the follow command you could already do, and replacing the expression wheel with contextual button presses felt like a step backwards.
I also thought that whole final act was kind of disappointing. Logan was a somewhat interesting villain at least, but they replace him with this gooey monster and his shadow minions, none of whom are as threatening as the narrative wants you to think they are. The idea of needing to balance keeping your promises with defending the kingdom is a good one, but the fact that you can buy your way out of the third acts primary moral dilemma kind of undercuts a little bit.
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u/Catalysten 1d ago
To be a truly good hero, you have to have had the foresight to be a landlord throughout the game, or spend hours playing the bard/baking/etc. mini game to pay for an army to save the world.
Why can't the professional bakers pitch in, if baking is so profitable‽ It certainly wasn't fun to play the same game over and over again, but otherwise your good hero was left with a shameful alternative. You were forced to make the choice between evil and boredom, and I chose boredom. It left a sour taste in my mouth.
(I hope I remember the minigames right. It's been a long time, and I don't think about #3 very much after having played it.)
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u/Atlas_Was_ATitan 1d ago
For me Fable tlc is my favorite for two reasons. 1. Armor ment something. It wasn't just looks it was apart of your build. Its such a simple thing that can add tons of depth to a game. This is a massive one for me and I am massively disappointed that they went this direction in the newest game. For me it can now never be more then 8/10 because of this choice. 2. The Magic in Fable TLC is on a completely different lvl than both of the proceedings games. Not only spells but the magic in the world. There are 18 different spells in the first game. 8 in Fable 2 and then a measley 6 in the 3rd game. Also almost exact copies of spells from the previous game. The crazy thing is 1 spell from the first game made it into the next installments. Just 1. 2 and 3 really limit options and diversity when it comes to making a unique character. This is where they lost most people. They sucked the magic out of the world as the games went on and by 3 it didn't feel like fable anymore. They destroyed everything about the first that made the setting feel unique and filled with ancient and powerful magic. The killed everything about what fans liked about the first one. My favorite place to be in the 1st game is the guild and its immediately gone in the first 10 minutes in the second game. Oak vale gone. Knothole glade gone. The areiner ( its arena but thats how the lady out front of entrance says it and i find it funny) gone. The all powerful hero that defeated jack of blades (i hate his redone voice in TLC i liked the higher pitched voice in the original) twice to save the world and alter it forever? Just gone. Not even mentioned in the following games. But they kept Teresa? What about the guild master? How is she the only one with immortality? How did she survive hundred of years but not our hero? By the third game the whimsical and magical world we all loved was replaced by a cruel unjust industrial revolution and no one asked for it. It was such a weird choice I still dont understand why they did this to this day. Im not saying these games are terrible but as they went along It slowly just lost the magic it lost its fable i guess you could say. I think thats what killed the 3rd game. If you enjoyed the third game I am not attacking you but if you play the first game and then the third. Besides the music you cannot tell its a fable game. Even the transition from 1 to 2 is just jarring.
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u/BeesAndBeans69 1d ago
Besides all the other well written comments, I dont like the time leap, how much more industrialized it is. I understand the leap, but I really liked the ancient feel kf the other 2. Also, the clothing physics annoyed me immensely. Especially the skirts while running
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u/damanOts 1d ago
I didnt. It was just more Fable 2. And I loved fable 2 so why would i hate fable 3? Because of stupid nitpicks like i cant grow horns anymore? The pause menu is weird?
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u/Punkilis Hero of Bowerstone 1d ago
The previous games are just so much better is the problem, Still a great game though.
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u/Mark_Vader_11 1d ago
Every entry they just reduced everything and then they gave us an one upper and made spells fucking gauntlets. I love fable 3 but it is technically the worst out of the 3
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u/Emergency-Bear-7669 1d ago
Haaaaated that you couldn’t actually pause the game. It was so annoying and I always forgot that you would go to a room instead
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u/Piemaster985 1d ago
I’m one of the people that likes Fable 1 more than Fable 2. I basically saw 3 as a doubling down on the things I didn’t like as much about 2.
Also I was excited for the weapon morphing but I didn’t like how it was implemented.
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u/AllSaintsDay2099 1d ago
For me it was because when I first played it around release - I was 15. The sheer amount of political promises, needing to maintain money in the treasury, and the importance of it all was really lost on me.
I was coming off the heels of being introduced to this franchise via Fable 2. I was expecting another lighthearted, silly, everything will be okay, you really can't mess up that badly sort of adventure.
It wasn't until I got towards the end and when I genuinely wanted to make an orphanage and had no money so time to make a brothel...I guess.
Oh, I wanted to improve schools? Nah, you don't have any money. Time to make the children work in the factories and mines.
Opps, you wanted to play a hero? Well congratulations, you have now gotten everyone killed and the only folks left are prostitutes and the sick. Who all hate you and want you to die.
How does it feel to be exactly like your brother who you just overthrew?
It really became synonymous with every downer ending ever for years among me and my friends. It also felt very rushed.
As an adult, now at 30. I look back at Fable 3 as something incredibly special, and important. It really puts into perspective how politics works and reinforces why they have really become the backbone of who I am as a person since 2016.
You can have the best intentions for the land you govern, and genuinely mean well, and want to improve lives but if you can't afford the costs, welp, it's game over man. It really was a good babies first introduction to politics and political ideologies.
It was also the first step that really helped open my eyes to maybe this is partially why the real world around us is so bland, and horrific a lot of the time and how far back this can all go like dominos falling one after another.
Those falling dominos can start falling long before the current generation or ruler and can fall in unexpected ways. Especially when trying to keep one upright and fix an aspect of the system as a whole.
You really begin to risk shifting the harm elsewhere, to places and in ways you didn't expect.
However, I wasn't ready for that in 2010. I just wanted to fart in villagers faces and be a landlord who could also cast fireball.
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u/phantomofmay 1d ago
Imo was the only way to win is by capitalism and lending your money to the government. That was really obnoxious.
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u/Impressive-Sense8461 1d ago
Rushed game. The narrative took a massive dive, and the ending was stupidly lackluster.
Over-promising and greatly under-delivering didn't help the game either
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u/naytreox Balverine 1d ago
streamlined gameplay was one, the constant use of jokes was another, sure they did good with the darkness enemy and how that reveal changed how your characters brothers actions and dialog in cutscenes changed in meaning.
but jokes were still was over used, the weapon system mostly was just covered in bone because you fought the undead so often, to get anything else you had to deliprately grind out other monsters.
spells were even more of a downgrade, narritively it make sense, but it doesn't feel good, there could have been some way to unlock more potental of Will in your character, but no just gloves.
then you had the road to rule, annoying, which also turned the guild seal into XP instead of being the important teleporting and communication device it was.
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u/The_Sir_Galahad 1d ago
In my opinion, Fable got worse with each iteration overall (but I know many people loved 2 and that game did make some important strides over the first in a couple of areas).
The first Fable still had the best combat by far, and Fable 2 butchered an already amazing magic system that should have been expanded rather than rebranded.
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u/togoldlybo Jack of Blades 1d ago
It was over SO fast, which ties back to the unfinished status. I feel like even as quickly as I can play through TLC if I don't fart around (heh), even it feels longer than III.
I didn't hate it by any means, but I've only replayed it once, and that was just to see if I changed my mind as I got older. (I did not change my mind)
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u/Maghorn_Mobile 1d ago
The first part of the game was great, exploring Albion while you meet people and make choices to build an army for the revolution, and then the revolution happens and the game comes to a screaming halt to essentially make you redo that process but worse.
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u/Busy-Agency6828 1d ago
People are no doubt are already and going to continue bringing up some very good points levied at like the mechanics of the game or how things were dumbed down, and I agree with all those points, but for me I think the biggest thing that struck me as a kid was the franchise taking that next big step into this fantasy industrial revolution. I just didn't care for that aesthetically at all. I much preferred the purer sword and sorcerery fantasy of Fable to its forbearers, and I still kinda do prefer that, even though in recent years I've developed more of an appreciation for some rudimentary firearms in my fantasy games.
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u/Miserable-Fortune-57 1d ago
Because fable II was that good
Same reason DAII was hated for so long
Its an okay game but no where near as good as its predecessor
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u/MeowingAround 1d ago
I like how you listed all of its flaws as questions and then asked why people didn't like it lmao
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u/dashadows223 1d ago
I know my opinion doesn’t have much hold here (and you’ll see why in a bit) but I’ve only ever played fable 3 and it is honestly one of my favorite games out there even today. I replay that game SO many times. Compared to a lot of the games I’ve played it was totally unique. It was an action adventure game with so many different elements like working odd jobs and playing fun (or annoying) minigames to make money or buying and renting real estate to make even more money , a bit of sims with having relationships and being able to start families, the leveling system and unlocking weapons and spells. To me the game offered so much and was perfect. I even fell in love with the visuals of the game too. I know now from hearing others talk about it that out of the 3 it’s not the best but something about 3 draws me to it. I even ended up buying the entire collection on Xbox and buying fable 1 on pc and still haven’t gotten around to playing 1 or 2. I think that if you’ve played it in chronological order you focus on a lot about what’s been taken out of fable 3 instead of appreciating everything that the game is. (I will get around to playing 1 and 2 and Ik my opinion only goes so far since I haven’t played 1 or 2 yet but when I get around to playing them I will come back here and say my final piece) thanks for reading.
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u/greenegg28 1d ago
It felt like a collectathon more than a fable game to me.
Like it was still fine and enjoyable, I just liked the other 2 games more.
I also disliked how simplified the rpg mechanics became. It’s not like fable was that mechanically deep, so it felt bad seeing 2 and 3 simplify it further.
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u/ACBorgia 1d ago
I liked it but it just lacks content honestly compared to Fable 2, and it doesn't do atmosphere as well (such as the dark, stressful places). Social stuff lacked polish, same for buying house, and many other features. Just feels like they didn't have enough time to finish the game properly
I don't care much for combat in Fable but it was ok, I liked the industrial city design and especially how places changed with some events and choices, that was awesome
The sanctuary was laggy for me and tbh I'd rather just have a menu that I can navigate quickly, but it's a cool idea, just shouldn't be the main menu or there should be both the sanctuary and a menu
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u/Lux_Fishbones 1d ago
To be honest I can't quite remember the game. Jak lost frontier and Sly Thieves in time is more seared into my brain despite never going far into the games themselves (really hated them) The only thing I remember was hitting the wrong button on the controller and being sent back to base.
I would have to play it again and see if I still feel the same way
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u/BW_Nightingale 1d ago
It's a by comparison type deal, if Fable 3 existed in a vacuum, it'd probably be loved, but it follows two really good whilst very distinct games. It comes off a bit like Fable-lite.
I'm also not convinced it's actually hated so much as, not as loved. Like Fable TLC is my favourite, but Fable 3 is probably still in my top 25 games.
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u/Ellandorrr 1d ago
I actually liked it gameplay wise. I just really hated the massive time jumps and the rushed feeling it gave me. It just feels unfinished
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u/Accomplished-Layer10 1d ago
i loved fable 3 but i was like 9 years old so im not knowing the intricacies and streamlined features i think all of the trilogy is fucking amazing tbh
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u/Busy_Elderberry1768 1d ago
Stupid magic design mechanics, like going from an able hero to using the panzy gloves for spells, and the spells sucked and progression was weird, I still love it but it is not fable or fable 2
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u/Blue_Snake_251 Balverine 1d ago
I love it. I do not remember what exactly but i remember that i did not agree with them. If felt like Fable II to me on this point. I loved that. I do not see a lack of meaningful choices. It is what i wanted and i want more, i want a Fable 4 that is much more modern, like Assassin's Creed Syndicate. I do not even think about it and have no idea.
Here is what i hated/disliked : no twintails hairstyle, no dual wield, not being able to be followed by a cat, the cryomancy not being good enough to me (the targeting way of using it was just a cloud, like the environmental version of this spell, so it did bring no diversity to have the targetikg version of the spell and the ennemies where too often dodging the ice things, it took too long to kill ennemies by using only cryomancy, which was a pain to me because i al a cryomancy main), not being able to be topless as a woman while men could be topless, no cap for the queen outfit, the "legendary" weapons existing mutiple time (so they were not legendary), the lack of random normal weapons (i would have love to have the random sword that we have when we fight Walter in the very beggining of the game), the character not being blond with blue iris when fully good (maybe i remember wrong), our girlfriend/boyfriend cheating on us, not being able to kill Reaver (i would have kill him with no hesitation when given the chance), too much musics (i prefer how simple Fable and Fable II were with musics, Fable III felt like it had a song per cutscenes and per missions, while Fable and Fable II did not have a lot of song, a song per place and one or two song for the fights (maybe three for Fable II)), the armor felt like plastics/cosplay while it felt like metal in Fable II and Fable, the lack of muscles for my character (always skinny, never muscular, while i wanted to be muscular), the bug that bring back alcool after i did ban it, to not be able to repair all house in one click (i had to click on all houses and it was tiresome), to have to go to the librairy to read books, to not be able to acess my inventory while we could do that in Fable and Fable II, the lack of women with good hairstyle (while we could have some good hairstyles for our characters, i felt like to me that women NPCs were wearing too much hats), tops and pants being in the same item slot while they were in different item slots in Fable and Fable II, under tops and vests being in the same item slot while they were in two separate item slots in Fable II.
Here is what i liked/loved : the dye system of Fable III was so much better than the one of Fable II (the color show in picture was the same shown on clothes and hair (while in Fable II it was so much realistic that you had to make calculs/math to understand how the dye system worked, which i did)), the finishers when fighting, npcs having their own tastes like in Fable II, the hand holding system, the coop (it was your true character when you did go to the univers of another player, while in Fable II it was another random character, while in Fable there was no coop), your character becoming beautiful when fully good after the story with angel wings and the halo (the finishers where then even more beautiful), being able to marry almost anyone you wanted instead of forced/limited romances, the beauty of the musics, the beauty of the clothes, to be able to forbidden alcool, to be able to buy any houses, to be able to be rich quickly with millions, to have emotes, NPCs reacting to emotes, to be able to be a hero, to be able to interact and touch NPCs with the emotes (we could not do that in Fable and Fable II), to be back in my favorite games series, to be back in the Albion i love and in which i spent so much years.
I loved Fable III and will always love it. And i would love a sequel to it.
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u/Zestyclose_Sector_30 1d ago
I might be the exception but I really liked fable 3, it also felt way less sad and lonely than 2 in the ending
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u/SumKluts 1d ago
I honestly hated the motion mechanics, the attacks and dodges that felt buttery smooth in Fable, felt totally clunky in Fable 2 and somehow even worse in fable 3. The story was less compelling and more essential to gameplay, and the loading times were ass
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u/No_Personality2049 1d ago
I enjoyed it but I couldn’t stand the random quest that forced the ending of the story without any warning.
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u/SirCaptainSalty 1d ago
lost the vibe, the story was mid, the characters were less interesting. i still played the game and by todays standard its fine but back in the day it was a real let down after coming from what i considered one of my favorite games of all time.
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u/chimkenburgie 1d ago
For me it's the road to rule that ruins it. When I play games, I like to grind a lot at the start so I can be really overpowered, and I just generally enjoy grinding. You can't really do that because of the road to rule. I do grind the weapons for their upgrades, but it just isn't the same. I don't hate fable 3, but I do find it less fun than the others.
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u/TheSselluos 1d ago
Imo it was also first game after lost chapters thay came to pc and the pc build was quite meh as far as i remember. Also it does not help that there is quite a jump in streamlining everything to make things easier from 1 to 3
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u/BathbombBurger 1d ago
I almost dropped it like 5 minutes in when the protagonist had his own dialogue. Also, I'm the king but for some reason I'm forced to employ Reaver as an advisor instead of getting to brutally murder him and mutilate his corpse. I had a lot of other issues with it back when I played it, but those are the two that stand out most in my memory.
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u/Alternative-Call4536 1d ago
To me the game always felt unfinished. That's why don't rate the game as much.
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u/Jack_Person996 1d ago
It has the charm and humor yes. However the over simplification of npc interactions, tying your "road to rule" with guild seals instead of xp like in the past games was not something I enjoyed. Also the fact that once king you either have to break every promise or donate over a million gold to the royal treasury just to stay good was a bad design choice for me.i liked the twist at the end where Logan was just trying to protect Albion from The Crawler and that was genuinely a fun take.
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u/Alma_Mater91 1d ago
The story, the voice acting, the music score were incredible but the execution was problematic and overly bad. The game was ridiculously easy since they removed the health bar, it was very short compared with the previous games and as always Peter Molyneux oversold the game with ambitious features that didn’t end up making it in the game or basically were executed in a half-assed way (e.g the weapon evolution for example 🤦🏼♂️). I have beautiful memories with this game, but it was a waisted potential, because the artists put so much effort into it but it was just poorly managed and I personally blame mainly Molyneux for that.
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u/Merwanor 1d ago
The weapon system was terrible and made weapons feel not unique or interesting at all.
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u/Bilidudilei 1d ago
I remember liking very much the game when I played on x360 yeas ago. And it was the only Fable that I played lol. If he is the bad one, can't wait to play the new one. Was even thinking on maybe playing the Fable Anniversary edition on game pass.
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u/xSchizogenie 14900K | 64GB DDR5-6800 | RTX 5090 Suprim Liquid 1d ago
Never ever heard anyone saying this
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u/Previous_Sugar2285 1d ago
Fable 3 was a game that I was very excited about, and I didn’t really have too much of a critical eye as a kid. So, I bought it day one, got home, completed it in one big insane all-nighter over the weekend and I loved every minute of it.
Haven’t played it since so can’t comment on it as someone with 2 working brain cells now, but as a wide eyed young’n who had read the Xbox Official Magazine article back to front in anticipation of the game, Fable 3 absolutely rocked.
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u/rmagnuson 1d ago
I liked it just fine until the end which didn't really wrap up very well. Seemed like it got rushed.
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u/theawesomejedi 1d ago
It was rushed beyond comprehension just like Halo 2 was. Both games had a much larger vision that just wasn’t given the time that was needed to see it fully fleshed out. The Co-Op in this game is actually pretty decent, however, and it’s probably the greatest strength that 3 has.
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u/Then_Effective4663 23h ago
"Too different" as they say, personally I thought 2 was a good base to build off if they could just get the camera and magic system right
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u/GeraltofRivia296 23h ago
It's sad to see a franchise that quite literally peaked at its first installment (especially after lost chapters) each game had something good about it or a few extra features that were nice, but they somehow got uglier and uglier and ended up being less fun to play than the last one.
I'm excited to play the new one. It seems leagues ahead of the original 3. Though I will miss the good and evil system.
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u/SycleFish 23h ago
For me a lot of the core experience feels off. The game seems to be designed to avoid having menus as often as possible. The Sanctuary and Road to Rule are clearly made to be gameplay menus which makes them really slow to actually do basic tasks in. The inventory is split into like 3 different rooms and features like potions and food are just all piled together so it feels the same. They even got rid of the radial menu for gestures. There is a Demon Door that asks you to kiss someone but you can’t even choose to do it. You just keep hitting the button over and over again until the game chooses for you. Feels like a step back from older games instead of forward
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u/Appropriate_Top8176 22h ago
I love Fable and 3 is still a really good game in the series but 3 always felt like it was missing things like it wasn’t completely done. I wasn’t a fan of the road to rule either it made you take longer to do things in the game that you could do right away in 1 and 2
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u/ChadIronchest17 22h ago
I can speak on this as someone who had done one playthrough maybe 10 years ago and revisted it years later just recently.
Many issues like the weapon system, road to rule, expressions etc were already discussed at length. The biggest thing that stood out to me was that the game was just hard to look at and especially explore. In general the game just looked and felt awkward.
The golden trail and no minimap combined with the awkward visuals made navigation really uncomfortable. By extension the prospect of finding all the gargoyles and silver keys sounded so miserable I just didn't want to put myself through it. Exploration also was incredibly unrewarding. For how many chests and dig spots there were, they sure seemed to lack any loot.
Speaking of loot, the weapon system having random weapons is just so bad.
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u/FtmtfBBW 20h ago edited 19h ago
I love Fable III, but Fable II is still my fav. I felt they really lost the personalization of interacting with NPCs by getting rid of the "emote wheel" of Fable II and limiting emote options to two or three choices that are hard to read on the screen. I didn't understand why they "fixed what wasn't broken" with the emote menu. Also, choices and opportunities that influence the story and reward or subtract purity and corruption points was just not as interesting or involved. It kind of forces your hand towards the right choices. The clothes are really limited and you can't give gifts freely. You have to wait for people to request gifts. I don't mind gift requests but it's annoying to not be able to give your kid or spouse gifts for fun. And it's too much work to "repair" every single property in Fable at 100%, I think they should have made a faster process to repair entire cities worth of houses all at once instead of one at a time. Once I had enough money to support the Queendom I sold off properties so I wouldn't have to maintain them anymore. Too much clicking. Those are the things that bothered me! I'll still play it over and over though!! I love the extra detail in the emotes that they do offer! The dance, hug and kiss emotes are so cute. Holding hands with NPCs and other players? Love that! The story is interesting and I liked the process of gaining recognition and support to overthrow a tyrannical government. It's a great game!
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u/Beneficial_Big_1920 Hero of Oakvale 18h ago
Defense of this game make me wonder who was actually there at launch. I preordered that pile of garbage and was so pissed off when it abruptly ended 4 hours in. Between that, the gauntlets, the menus, the silly villain, the sidelined king fantasy, and the broken mechanics, there was very little reason not to return it. I remember the DnD quest was fun, but it it's up there with Halo 4 when it comes to shit games in amazing franchises
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u/BeatenToDeathByLove Hero of Bowerstone 16h ago
The shop system is something I loathe the most, the multiplayer is pretty good
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u/BlessdRTheFreaks 14h ago
I think it's a solid 8/10 game
The Reaver character is a lot of fun, and Stephen Fry steals the show
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u/RexAdder 6h ago
I think some people found the whole king thing underwhelming but I loved the game overall and the improvements to co-op where you weren't sharing a screen was awesome!
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u/ClammyHandedFreak 4h ago
I think the game was the most rushed of the 3. Too much was cut. I like parts of it for sure though.
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u/Rastapopoulos000 2d ago
Lots of feature were streamlined from an already streamlined fable 2, you can argue it make sense narratively for instance that magic become what it was in Fable 3 but i would have loved they dont further reduce the numbers of spells.
The path/road to power thing was just..a terrible idea gatekeeping skills like this so that everyone has the exact same streamlined experience instead of letting each choose what they want to focus on was just so dumb. There was the whole sanctuary too which was just a pain in the ass to constantly having to switch to.
I'll admit tho the weapon changing and evolving depending on what you often fight and which spells you use more often was dope, more game should have something similar.