Fable 2

The opening and introductory section is really good.  Once you become an adult and get turned loose on the world, the game felt a little rough.  The world is pretty wide open which I like.  But the interface doesn’t give me enough feedback and is not intuitive enough.

The quest log interface is a pain, though I like the glowing trails that show up.  The trails are especially nice, since there’s no on-screen minimap (which I miss).  The map that comes up in the pause menus is ok, but there’s no way to distinguish what store is where just where stores are located.  I’m afraid I’m going to have to find maps online or make my own, because I’m constantly getting lost in towns.

The +/- purity and weight messages seem to disappear too quickly.  I haven’t looked yet, but I’m hoping there’s a way to increase the amount of time the on-screen status messages display.

Now let’s talk about the d-pad icons.  Can anyone else tell what’s what?  Beyond the thumbs up and down, I really can’t distinguish which icon is doing what.  Often the icons switch pretty quickly as well.  I spend most of my time just using the menu that pops up.

All of these feedback issues were highlighted when I got married.  I was able to bring the woman back to the gypsy camp and setup a marital house at my starting wagon.  Then I got some dialog about having sex and my wife keeps making suggestive comments, but I can’t find anything either on the D-pad or the popup menu.  Did I get married too early (which I can’t type without chuckling)?  Is there a social action I’m missing?  There’s nothing in the in-game help to address this.  Once married can I get a divorce?  How do I go about getting a divorce?

These kinds of questions illustrate the pitfalls of having such an open game without a more comprehensive and detailed interface (which are at least partly due to the platform).

So at this point I’m really early in the game and I already feel like I’ve messed up enough that I should start over.  I’ve packed on some weight (doing some taste testing in a bar) and married before I was ready.  Before I restart I’m considering going little nuts.  What would happen if I take a girlfriend (someone ready to marry me) back to the gypsy camp and see my wife?  What happens if I flip out and kill everyone in the camp?  If I kill my wife, what kind of reputation impact does that have on my character and on my girlfriend (would she still marry me after)?  While it sucks that I feel like I need to restart my current game, these kinds of questions are a good result of having such an open world in a game.

Overall, I like the game, its fun.  But I’m not loving it.  Yet.  I’m not thinking about the game when I’m at work.  We’ll see once I restart how things go.  I think I’ll do less exploring initially and stay a bit more focused on the primary quest line.