capt-dan reviews Fable: The Lost Chapters (PC)

too short? The Lost Chapters is a pretty long game with all the extra lost chapters content. I loved it because of the combat system and the story, both of which are infinitely better than anything elder scrolls. I know a lot of people like the Elder Scrolls games though, i just don't get why. IMO fable is so so so much better!

The Elder Scrolls games are a long-running series in the proud tradition of old-school RPGs, which draw inspiration from tabletop RPGs. Tabletop RPGs grew out of board games and miniatures games where two players fought each other, and became games where a group of players worked together against the Game or Dungeon Master. If you were the players, the monsters were your enemy; if you were the DM, the players were your enemy.

That is the school of thought and craftsmanship that birthed Arena, the first Elder Scrolls game, and, to an extent, that tradition continues through Oblivion; Bethesda seeks to destroy you, by monsters that scale in difficulty to test your skill, by breadth of content that tests your fortitude, a system of character advancement that presses you into time-consuming levelling schemes to max out everything (or a careful balance of attribute points to beat the game without maxing everything out), and a stream of expansions and DLC that shake you down for your lunch money.


In comparison, Fable is a light, breezy, linear game that gives you "extra life potions," no dialogue choices (or consequences), and a mana-shield power that prevents you from even getting an unsightly scar. The worst character-balancing you have to do in Fable is decide how many XPs to spend so your character doesn't look like he's a geezer.


I like both games, but they shouldn't be compared. It's like comparing the tone, complexity, or length of Madden online play to that of elf bowling.