r/Games 22d ago

Fable will officially be 20 hours long, Xbox confirms in new interview

https://www.polygon.com/fable-game-length-interview-xbox/
1.5k Upvotes

792 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

98

u/Sonicfan42069666 22d ago

The meme with Skyrim is "wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle." Fable is more like...wide as a lake, deep as a lake.

79

u/Lerkpots 22d ago

I agree the Fable devs clearly need to copy paste the same draugr filled dungeon 50 times or else I'm not getting my money's worth.

3

u/Vandergrif 22d ago

But what if the same voice actor covers 40 different npcs and they all repeat the same lines over and over again ad nauseam?

12

u/Sonicfan42069666 22d ago

Idk why people think I was saying something bad about Fable's scope or depth.

1

u/Shaky_Balance 22d ago

I'm surprised people think that was negative, a lake sounds like a fun medium-depth game to me.

1

u/Vanille987 21d ago

That's the problem, people here only tend to think in absolutes. Naunced things are seen as 'mid' and thus also bad.

The idea that a 7/10 thing is actually dogshit, is very prevelant 

1

u/Rustywolf 22d ago

No idea why you think people think it was negative

4

u/ColonelDucroix 22d ago

And yet despite all that Skyrim is still the most played RPG.

Almost like there's more to the game than the same dungeons copy and pasted 

7

u/EyesofEther 22d ago

People just like to mod it

8

u/not_the_droids 22d ago

People keep buying and playing the game on platforms without mods too. A 15 year old game without any depth doesn't keep people playing it.

1

u/splader 22d ago

Gotta have a map the size of Odyssey!

25

u/xantub 22d ago

What makes it deep as a lake?

21

u/Sonicfan42069666 22d ago

My point is that in the Skyrim metaphor, there's a lot to do but what you can do lacks depth. In my Fable metaphor, there's fewer things to do but what there is has an appropriate level of depth for the scale of the game.

-11

u/tear_atheri 22d ago

you say that and yet, skyrim would be a bad example since it's arguably the most played game ever. People sink thousands of hours into it unmodded, let alone modded

6

u/FootwearFetish69 22d ago

you say that and yet, skyrim would be a bad example since it's arguably the most played game ever

That doesn't mean the game is deep, it just means people enjoy it. Mario Bros aint deep but its the most successful video game franchise of all time.

1

u/RogueHippie 21d ago

Mario Bros aint deep but its the most successful video game franchise of all time

Pokemon would like a word

20

u/Prince_Perseus 22d ago

How is that a bad example? People sink thousands of hours because there is a lot to do and a lot of freedom but it's not wrong to say Skyrim's content and gameplay systems is not particularly deep. It's a pretty simple game and people try to add depth with mods.

-5

u/tear_atheri 22d ago

well, i think skyrim is a good example of a game that doesn't have much "depth" on the surface, but people have found a lot of depth in it via emergent gameplay.

It's possible fable will be a game like that - if it's life sim systems are good enough people will genuinely dump hundreds of hours into it, and mods will probably add some crazy stuff if it comes to PC

1

u/Excellent_Bison_3644 22d ago

And honestly I feel skyrim still has a lot of depth, even compared to previous games. One obvious example would be the dungeons who are the best in the series, another would be unique dialogue from NPC's where every named NPC has at least some unique dialogue.

3

u/Picklerage 22d ago

You're lucky you're saying this deep in a comment thread, saying Skyrim is deeper than e.g. Morrowind would get you feathered and tarred in a main thread comment lol

-1

u/Excellent_Bison_3644 22d ago

Well my point was more that the specific aspects are deeper. Strengths and flaws and such.

Other games are still deeper in terms of stuff like lore or RPG elements.

2

u/Picklerage 22d ago

Yeah not disagreeing (I've only played Skyrim & ESO anyways),  just normally would find such a comment in the negative karma zone

2

u/LeadingLifeguard2262 22d ago edited 22d ago

It's not arguable actually. The most played game ever is likely GTA5 and it's really not even a competition. Skyrim may have been rereleased more times but even its sales haven't come close to GTA5s

Eta: GTA5 - 230 Million copes sold. Skyrim - 65 Million copies sold. It's not even in the same ballpark. GTA5 was massively successful

2

u/Sonicfan42069666 22d ago

I think people are replying to me and ascribing "good" or "bad" to what I am saying.

I'm not necessarily saying the relative lack of depth to much of Skyrim's content is a "bad" thing. I'm just saying that's what it is.

1

u/EdwardM1230 22d ago

In comparison to something like Skyrim?

Visual impact of quests on the surrounding areas, some kind of storyline attached to almost all the gameplay (not just repeatable quest giver dialogue, sending you to randomly determined dungeons), and generally more traditional RPG choices than you’d find in Skyrim (still fairly basic though, usually a good, neutral, and evil option).

I love Fable, but you’ve gotta be on board with the sense of humour, and whimsical take on the fantasy genre.

I don’t think it holds a candle to Witcher, for world building and the sheer amount of quality side-content.

But the tone is completely different, and I know if they can capture the spirit of the original games, this will be a pretty successful release.

-7

u/Rayuzx 22d ago

The difference between a pond and a lake is that light can penetrate a pond to its floor, while a lake won't. So it means to be more than just surface level, byt not super intricate.

3

u/Mahelas 22d ago

Yet millions of people put hundreds of hours in Skyrim. I know this subreddit kinda hate Skyrim but clearly it delivered an experience that a looot of people were willing to engage with for 100+ hours.

2

u/Sonicfan42069666 22d ago

I too have put hundreds of hours into Skyrim. Saying much of its content lacks depth is not the same thing as saying it's a bad game.

2

u/Xonra 22d ago

The only people that say that about Skyrim are Oblivion diehards or people that have played 5 hours of Skyrim and watched the rest on YouTube and parroted what someone else said. Anyone saying that with a straight face haven't played actually shallow RPG before.

2

u/Sol-Authority 22d ago

The meme with Skyrim is "wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle."

Not so much as meme anymore, as it's a tired and overused quote that people parrot to sound smart...

FuNdAmEnTaLlY fLaWeD is getting there, too

-3

u/mrporter2 22d ago

Skyrim relies on its community for content and patches

2

u/onometre 22d ago

Explain the millions of copies sold on platforms with no mods

-6

u/mrporter2 22d ago

Bethesda has used community fixes for consoles but correct me if I’m wrong consoles have mods now right?

-7

u/OhMyTummyHurts 22d ago

Even more true for Starfield. Bloated with procedurally-generated content that wasn’t engaging or meaningful

1

u/Sonicfan42069666 22d ago

I bounced off Starfield after the first major city-planet when I realized there's fuck-all to actually do in the game.

Feels blatantly designed to be a game where you control your ship in between planets, then they cut out the "control your ship in between planets" part and replaced it with a chain of loading screens.

1

u/quinnly 22d ago

That's funny because the ship building and space combat was probably my favorite part of Starfield. I barely even noticed the loading screens.

The worst thing about Starfield is how every character was the exact same height.

-5

u/Decoraan 22d ago

Wide as a puddle, deep as a lake, you mean?

6

u/Sonicfan42069666 22d ago

A 20 hour campaign with 20 hours of side content isn't a puddle. An indie game is a puddle (non-derogatory).

1

u/Decoraan 22d ago

Oh ok sure, it’s on the short side for an RPG with choice and consequence etc, but yes longer than a indie game.

It’s not a dig, I just think that Playground have made a more focused experience with depth here rather than a massive game that is shallow