I. love. Fable. I recently began playing Fable 3 after an almost 8-month hiatus from the Fable games. I finished the second over the past summer and haven't felt the timing was right to begin the next and final game in the fantasy series. (It should be noted that I have not yet had the opportunity to play the original game in the saga, but I am looking to purchase it for the Xbox 360 very soon.)
Playing the next game in a video game series is an interesting experience, regardless of the game you're currently working at. Speaking from my own knowledge, there are four stages of starting the next game:
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1. Your heart leaps with glee looking at the title screen.
Oh. my. god. When I started up Fable 3, just the sight of the art and seeing "Fable" on my television made me so happy. The butterflies in my stomach started fluttering and I became giggly. This is really happening! I thought. I'm so excited! And when I pressed the start button and heard my guide's voice once again, I was sold. This is going to be awesome.
2. You get picky about the subtle, and not so subtle, differences between the previous game in the series and the one you're now playing.
"The design and the animation looks too clean," I said to my partner. "It's not as rugged. I don't like it."
Although I was excited about starting the next chapter in my Fable series, I kept finding ways to compare the present game to Fable 2, finding seemingly insignificant reasons to throw the third game some shade while reminiscing about Fable 2. "I don't like the new menu setup. It's not the same!" But it could be even better. I'm just biased because Fable 2 was the first game I ever played on my own.
3. You find yourself, despite the imperfections you've tried to find in it, falling in love all over again.
The design may have been "too clean" for me at first, but it's actually really nice to see just how much the animation and writing for the next game in a series improves. In fact, I started to become really excited about the changes they had made to the format of the game! Sure, the Sanctuary being used in place of a more systematic menu was frustrating at first, but it started to grow on me. It's more interactive this way. Sure, they took away being able to select the expressions you want to use with people, but they also made it easier to interact with others and make friends (who give you give you can sell for money every time they see you).
4. If it's the last game of the series, you don't want it to end.
I only just started playing Fable 3 and have put in 10 hours of gameplay, but I know that every hour I play is one hour closer to the end of not only this game in particular but of the entire series. Yes, I haven't been afforded the opportunity to play the first game, but I'm so attached to the series already that I keep denying that this will be the end of the Fable storyline. I know when I finally reach the finale, I'll probably be so overcome with emotion that I'll cry, but it'll be worth it.
With all that being said, I'm gonna go log some more hours in Fable 3. Happy gaming!
