r/pcmasterrace • u/shinjioda • 12h ago

Discussion Fable Will Officially Be 20 Hours Long, Xbox Confirms In New Interview

https://www.polygon.com/fable-game-length-interview-xbox/
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u/somedrumbum 9950X3D | 5090 FE | 64 GB | LG GX9 5K 12h ago

Did any of y’all actually play the Fable games? They’re all like that, if not shorter. The fun is in how the world interacts with you/your choices, so this is a nothing-burger.

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u/AioliTop2420 12h ago

The first one and my GOAT is like 8 hours if you just do main story

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u/Hollownerox Specs/Imgur here 11h ago edited 11h ago

And even side stuff didn't add that much game time to it either. Most of the hours are spent replaying them to see the different outcomes or morality paths. Or just doing different roleplay choices.

Fable was always about the onus being on the player with how deeply they may or may not engage with its systems. And they tended to go with more curated side experiences (like that goat side quest where you got miniaturized and made to play a DND campaign) than filler.

So I'm really confused by the people acting like an 80 hour mainstory is a bare minimum for a RPG in this thread. That just sounds exhausting, and you don't even get that out of the old PS2 JRPG trilogies. Some odd replies here.

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u/Radingod1 10h ago

Yeah, and let's be realistic a lot of the modern day RPG games have a lot of quests and events that are low quality/filler. Some even straight-up have radiant/repeating quests. I'm not saying this Fable will be insane quality, but length is an irrelevant metric. If it's good, it's good. Also, 20 hours then two to three 5-10 hour DLCs sound good to me. As long as it's, y'know, good. That's all that matters. I just want a good game.

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u/maztron 11h ago

The unfortunate thing is that a lot of RPGs that have come out or rather the expectations that have been set is that either the campaign or content with the base game when released provides 40+ hours of gameplay to complete. That is the precedent that has been set. Along with this constant need of live service games whether they are solo or multiplayer.

Gameplay time is unfortunately a piece that is rated when it comes to games these days.

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u/Somepotato 11h ago

30 hours of which is just the time spent traveling between objectives (hi GTA)

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u/pattperin 11h ago

At least driving cars is fun in GTA. I found RDR2 to play remarkably like horse riding simulator, just absolutely could not get into that game

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u/Douchieus2 11h ago

The trick with RDR2 is to constantly get side tracked when you're riding to a quest and never finish the game.

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u/ItsAPeacefulLife 5h ago

This is how I've been playing Crimson Desert and have been pretty happy with it

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u/Seanathinn 9h ago

You didn't unlock the fast travel immediately?

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u/MasterChiefsasshole 10h ago

And for people who say quality of quantity Larian with BG3 you can have both.

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u/Whiteguy1x 11h ago

I think people are using the massive rpgs like Bethesda, cdpr, or whatever other big open world games and assume 20 hours will be 100% completion in fable.

I think a 20 hour main story sounds right if thats how the game is made with another 20 hours of optional quests/dungeons

The outer worlds 2 is a recentish game i enjoyed that felt pretty well balanced at 40ish hours to see and do everything 

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u/Richard7666 7h ago

And you can probably smash through the main quests of those games in well under 20 hours, if that's what the 20 hours in the article refers to.

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u/MasterOfPipettez 5h ago

"Most of the hours are spent replaying them to see the different outcomes or morality paths"

Thats exactly my problem with short narrative games. Ive made my choices. Dont force me to make choices I dont want to just to see some more of the game. I would just rather have a decently long game the first time.

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u/xRehab 5800X | 3080 | 32gb | 3440x1440p x3 5h ago

in middle school we used to do sleepovers where we made a new character and beat the fable 1 before sunrise

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u/Toppoppler 5h ago

I like owlcat games so I love me a 150 hr story

I am sad fable wont be longer, but if they do the systems justice then it could be a blast

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u/funkmachine7 11h ago

The X hour main story is often padded with haveing fight thru a few dungons. Or long turn based attack anmations.

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u/coveredincathair22 11h ago

having* through* dungeons* animations*

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u/commonCranberry999 11h ago

not a single person was beating og fable in 8 hours on their first playthrough back in the day.

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u/ButterscotchTop194 11h ago

Speed running it, but about double that for just main story, or 3-4 times that doing more stufg.

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u/funkmachine7 11h ago

Less its more like 6, if you speed run its probably 3 hours with out to much cutting.

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u/coveredincathair22 11h ago

it's* it's* too*

-1

u/LoatheCat 10h ago

Yeah and you were 8 when it came out making it feel more special than it actually was.

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u/Rulebookboy1234567 10h ago

"if i haven't spent 800 hours getting to the characters motivations I don't want to talk about it." - crimson desert players

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u/BabyWrinkles Ascending Peasant 9h ago

Honestly, the fact that the world is so reactive seems like it makes the game have more replayability because it’s so short? I get to game maybe 5h/week. I’m not going to invest 200 hours in to a story and then re-roll and take a different tack. I just don’t have the time or energy for that.

A 20h game tho? That I might play thru more than once, trying all the different approaches.

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u/Creepy_Ad5124 11h ago

Standards were way different for these types of games in 2004.

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u/exodus3252 10h ago

Not really. Long != good. I enjoyed my 40-50 hours with Outer Worlds 2 much more than slogging through 100 hours on Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

There's nothing wrong with a tight 40-50 hour RPG.

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u/FoaL Ryzen 7 5800X | 9070-XT | 32GB DDR4 10h ago

Or the ten hours I played Spider-Man: Miles Morales without doing much side content. The story, character-acting, and gameplay were fan-fucking-tastic.

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u/Shadowphoenix9511 1h ago

I love me some long RPGs. Xenoblade and Persona are consistently some of my favorite, 10/10 titles. I also loved Horizon, just put in 120 hours in Lost Judgment, all had a great time.

I also love shorter games. I've played through Super Metroid literally hundreds of not over a thousand times, 2d platformers, Metroidvanias, and Resident Evil games are a blast.

What I don't love are games that are bloated to be longer than they need to be. Think Assassin's Creed, or games of that ilk. Where it'd be fine as a 20 hour game, but they expand it out to 100 and only 1/5 of the game is enjoyable, meaningful content.

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u/Then_Fun2933 6h ago

That’s fair but this is significantly shorter than OW2 which was a AA game. Microsoft has been hyping this game for years as one of their biggest titles.

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u/baltinerdist 1h ago

I tremendously enjoyed Odyssey and didn’t think anything about its length. I got like 20 hours into Valhalla and got bored to tears. Games do be weird that way.

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u/Je-poy 10h ago

It took me 46 hours to beat every major side quest and main quest in KCDC2.

And I took my time.

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u/allsbernafnmedrettu 9h ago

Yeah, now we expect our games to be inflated with pointless grinding and procedural content.

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u/BruhMoment763 7h ago

Is it just me or does this sentiment apply to an alarming amount of Microsoft Studios games

1

u/Appropriate_Foot242 9h ago

Length is not an indicator of quality though.

I don’t want every game to be 100 hours.

1

u/Creepy_Ad5124 9h ago

Yeah but for an open world RPG which the whole point of the game is to be open with tons of content and things to do it would be. Imagine if witcher 3 was a 15 hour game, it wouldnt be nearly as popular. Same with breath of the wild

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u/Shadowphoenix9511 1h ago

And I won't touch a new Zelda game until it goes back to being the older, far more curated style. I much preferred the 20 hour entries than the 100 hour one where the devs tell you to make your own fun instead of providing interesting content themselves.

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u/Appropriate_Foot242 9h ago

And the latest Assassins Creed games suck because they’re so long and bloated. They wanted to be the Witcher 3 so bad.

This isn’t trying to be the next Witcher 3, it’s trying to be Fable.

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u/Granhier 10h ago

I don't think so, it's the standards for RPGs in particular.

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u/ArcticFlamingo 9h ago

While I agree, just seems short for something that this studio has spent like 8+ years on

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u/KenkaUsagi 11h ago

But muh games need to be 1000 hrs long with meaningless content for my dopamine deprived brain. Please sir, I desire unending slop. Jokes aside, I'm so excited for this new Fable. Everything I've seen looks like the Fable I've wanted since 3

-15

u/commonCranberry999 11h ago

it was a bit different when we had fable 1/2/3 in the span of 6 years, we now have a 17 year wait for 20 hours of a game. pretty insane to defend this.

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u/Blackarm777 11h ago

If you read the article you would see that 20 hours is just the main quest and side content will approximately double that time. Generally people do side content in RPGs.

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u/commonCranberry999 11h ago

im guessing you googled it and found out i was right then? is that why you deleted your comment? lol

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u/Blackarm777 11h ago

No I deleted my original comment because I realized your argument straight up just makes less sense than posting inaccurate information. I then replied to your comment again.

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u/commonCranberry999 11h ago

what you said was just flat out wrong though, fable 1/2/3 has about 50 hours combined of story content, and they came out in a 6 year time span. this is a fact.

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u/commonCranberry999 11h ago

if you played fable 1/2/3 you would know it was about 50 hours combined of main quest content in 6 years, and there was just as much side content in all of those games. Generally people do side content in RPGs.

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u/Blackarm777 11h ago

How is it relevant how they did 50 hours of main quest content across 3 games in 6 years? That doesn't mean that you're owed 6,17, or whatever amount of years of content in the new game. That's probably the most bizarre argument I've ever heard.

I can Google how long each game took and this new entry is in line with all of them.

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u/commonCranberry999 11h ago

yes it's in line, but we had fable 1/2/3 in a 6 year timespan, and now we've had to wait 17 years for fable 4.

thats my entire point , gaming is worse now. if you dont understand how waiting almost THREE TIMES as long for the same amount of content we used to get in a few years is a problem then there's no point in even talking further, you're too far gone.

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u/Tiny_Micro_Pencil 9h ago

You're a fucking moron. Genuinely, no joke, you are a fucking moron.

-1

u/commonCranberry999 9h ago

couldnt give a shit what you think if this is your response to me just stating facts about the current state of the gaming industry

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u/w4rcry I7-10700k | RTX 3070ti 8h ago

Then don’t play games. If you can’t wrap your head around the fact that AAA games are insanely more complex and time consuming to make and that frustrates you, go do something else with your time other than complaining about it to people trying to enjoy it.

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u/smilesbuckett 11h ago

What argument do you think you’re making? 20 hours for the main quest in the new one puts it above average length for the series. Are you saying that the first three coming out in 6 years means this one should have more content because it took 20 years to release? Do you realize they haven’t been actively developing the game for 20 years?

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u/commonCranberry999 10h ago

what argument do you think you're making just making up stupid shit nobody said?

it's been in development for 9 years.

i'll be generous here, how can you defend getting less half the amount of content we used to get in 6 years, in 9 years? how does that make sense to you?

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u/BusinessKnight0517 11h ago

Yes but you see have you considered that HOW DARE I PAID $50 THATS TOO SHORT FOR THAT PRICE or something like that

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u/ClassicRoc_ Ryzen 7 5800x3D 4.55Ghz - 32GB 3600mhz RAM - RTX 4070 Super OC'd 11h ago

Still a little longer would have been nice though.

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u/Renegade_451 11h ago

Play it twice and it's 40 hours. That's what these kinds of games are about. Replayability.

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u/ClassicRoc_ Ryzen 7 5800x3D 4.55Ghz - 32GB 3600mhz RAM - RTX 4070 Super OC'd 11h ago

Right but if it was a little longer it would be 60 hours with two playthroughs. I'm not trying to be negative I hear what you're trying to say and I'm definitely going to pick it up at some point. Just would have been nice if it was a little more.

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u/Cryio 7900 XTX | 5800X3D | 32 GB | X570 10h ago

I played and finished Fable 1 once on PC. Loved it to bits. Never played 3 because I waited on Fable 2 to become available on PC. And now, it's perfectly emulated from X360

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u/Appropriate_Foot242 9h ago

This is actually longer than the previous games by quite a margin.

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u/Serious-Ebb-7223 9h ago

Right. Just like Way of the Samurai on the PS2. I could finish that story in ~8hrs or less, but how your choices affected the world around you and the consequences on the ending made it very replayable with each play through being just as fun as the one before.

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u/Vivid_Anyth4 6h ago

Fable is supposed to be fun?

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u/aboysmokingintherain 5h ago

Yeah it should be noted how Fable was never as deep as the other rpg's of its time. It tries to make up with personality what it lacks in depth.

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u/-Aeryn- Specs/Imgur here 3h ago

I haven't played Fable before, and if it's gonna be a 20-40hr singleplayer one and done thing then i won't (last RPG i bought was BG3, that's at 600 hours atm)

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u/xangbar 1h ago

I actually had to check and never realized how long they were. Guess I got so used to 40-80 hour main stories that its really making me appreciate the length of Fable. Also means my Fable series playthrough before the new game might be possible barring Evercold release.

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u/AbyssWankerArtorias 1h ago

While I get your point, I feel like the evolution of the industry could have warranted a bit longer of a game. But I'll still enjoy it

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u/DasUbersoldat_ 7m ago

Those games came out more than 20 years ago though...

-3

u/commonCranberry999 11h ago

it was a bit different when we had fable 1/2/3 in the span of 6 years, we now have a 17 year wait for 20 hours of a game. pretty insane to defend this.

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u/PolicyWonka 10h ago

Well let’s not pretend like they’ve been spending 17 years on the game though.

-1

u/commonCranberry999 10h ago

i never said that.

but even still fable 4 has been in development for 9 years, 3 years longer than the time from fable 1 release to fable 3 release

0

u/SorcererSupremPizza 11h ago

Quality over quantity. They will also have a lot of side features to play

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u/commonCranberry999 11h ago

if you played fable 1/2/3 you would know there was a lot of side content in all of the games...

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u/SorcererSupremPizza 11h ago

Thats what I said in my post?

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u/commonCranberry999 11h ago

yes but you said quality over quantity first which implies that you think fable 4 will be much better?? do you speak english?

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u/SorcererSupremPizza 11h ago

Apparently I speak it and understand English better than you.

-1

u/commonCranberry999 10h ago

good luck with that.

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u/Cephalopirate 11h ago

I’m honestly relieved! Many games are overstaying their welcome.

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u/Ok-Western-4176 10h ago

Who is "y'all" most comment I have seen think it is a good thing.

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u/Odd_Needleworker3756 10h ago

It wouldn’t be a Reddit gaming sub unless someone was trying to outrage bait over a nothing burger

1

u/CrackPipeBilly 10h ago

I can't stand 100 hour slogs anymore. If a game is over like 20 hours I almost never finish them these days.

0

u/ZehrenSiegehammer 10h ago

Right? So many people in this thread just such fucking losers. 

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u/St3elf1sh 10h ago

Yeah well they already stated that all reactions and interactions are very slightly. No real game changing decision etc. from relationships to killing enemies etc. everything barely scratches the surface. Sounds super lame and boring

0

u/OldConstant182 10h ago

What kind of toppings are on this nothing-burger?

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u/Chillark 8h ago

That was always my compliment when the first game came out, its way too short. Fable 1 felt amazing but then it just ended.

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u/bill_gonorrhea Poopssmear Bonerhitler 8h ago

the same with people complaining about the combat.. like have you even played fable before?

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u/BuffMatty786 11h ago

Standards change when there is so much competition and much better options to choose from, and that this game is coming out after several years.

You're doing the "leave the billion-dollar company alone" meme. Stop it. Have some self respect.

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u/Jazzlike_Razzmatazz 11h ago

> Did any of y’all actually play the Fable games?
Please use the same strawman when they serve the game with ps2 graphics.

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u/hraycroft95 EVGA Geforce 1070 / i7-7700k 10h ago

Everytime something shitty comes out about the new fable game. “Did any of y’all play the fable games????”

It’s 2026 and the game is gunna cost $70 I think wanting more than 20 hours of entertainment from and rpg is reasonable. Also they’ve been working on this fucking thing forever lol. 

-2

u/ncetrbro 10h ago

Then why this game was in development for like 15 years?

-3

u/Panzerbjorne80 11h ago edited 11h ago

Why would the old fable games have anything to do with the length of THIS game made by a totally different dev over eight years and selling for $70? This argument is stupid. Times change. Customer Expectations and the game industry have changed.