h, the world of Fable is truly a magical and engrossing place. The temptation to be good or evil is one that has taken hold of us and won't let go. To give you a better idea of what to expect in this highly anticipated Xbox action RPG, read our diary below. Keep in mind, the first few paragraphs do give away a few background plot details, so if you don't want to be spoiled you may want to skip them over.
The Village
Life is good in the village. Everyone here is friendly and is always willing to give me small chores to earn a piece of gold here and there. My sister’s birthday is coming up and I’d like to buy her a present, but I don’t seem to have any money. Father said that if I perform enough good deeds, he’ll give me enough gold to buy her a box of chocolates. While good deeds are fun, I prefer being a bit naughty and earning my money in different ways. A local man has been cheating on his wife and offered me a gold piece if I didn’t tell her about his amorous ways. A local bully also gave me a gold piece for stealing a teddy bear from a little boy. While it feels a bit wrong to do such bad deeds, they make me feel powerful and mighty. Just to keep everyone in line I usually give them a wallop on the head, even the adults. It seems that every single action that I do has some sort of effect on everyone around me. After I punched the cheating husband a town guard came and warned me that bad behavior isn’t tolerated and that my bad deeds will one day catch up to me. What does he know? I gave him a punch to the head, too, just to be a stinker. Despite all my mischief, I did manage to scrounge up the gold to buy the box of chocolates, which made my sister very happy. When we were talking in the field I noticed a townsperson come screaming through the road. Oh no, bandits are invading! They’re killing everyone!
The Heroes’ Guild
Everyone in my village has been killed or escaped. I found father lying in front of our house, mortally wounded. I can’t find mother or sister and I fear the worst for them. A mysterious man saved my life just as a bandit was about to strike me down. His name is Maze and he’s covered in strange markings and icons all about his face. He’s taken me to a place called the Heroes’ Guild, a training ground for people to excel in combat. Once they’ve trained enough they’re set out in the world to help people and do good deeds. They can also go out and be bad, too, which has me interested. My new home is a strange one and I’m not too sure if I like it. I have a roommate named Whisper who will also train alongside me as I try to become a hero. She’s a bit snotty so I gave her a smack in the mouth. Maze didn’t like this and threatened to throw me out of the Guild. He’s all talk, though, since I gave him a smack, too, after his lecture. Tomorrow should prove to be better since I start my training.
Combat Training
Today I began my combat training to become a hero. Pressing the Left trigger and the X button makes me perform attacks and by repeatedly pressing the X button I can execute combos. The Left trigger serves as a lock-on sort of mechanism, so when I press it my target is highlighted in red. Unfortunately, all I got to practice with was a stupid stick, but it was fun chasing Whisper around and whacking her with it. Later in the day I took part in archery training. Pressing the Black button will make me unsheathe my bow and by pressing and holding down the X button I can pull it back and fire an arrow. I tried to shoot a poor trainee in the bum, but once again I was called to Maze who scolded me severely.
Adolescence
I’ve been at the Heroes’ Guild for a few years now and I’ve grown into a strapping young lad. Since I’m now older I’ve been granted the permission to train with a real sword, which is fun and deadly. The dumb training dummies are usually a pile of straw by the time I get done with them. Whisper is also coming along with her training, although lately she’s been way too preachy about doing good deeds and being a virtuous hero. I want to strike fear in the hearts of my enemies. I want to make townspeople cower at my feet and offer me gold and other treasures just to leave them alive. I can’t wait until I get out of here.
Growing Up
With my training almost complete, I was given the Final Test. Maze himself tested my combat skills although it seems like the old man need s a refresher course himself. After no time I got his seal of approval and attained the official rank of being a hero. Now I’m free to travel the world as I want and accept Quests from various villagers and townspeople. When I’m wandering about I can always travel back to the Guild to see if any new Quest Cards are available. Each Quest Card details a particular mission I can accept as well as what sort of rewards I’ll get if I fulfill it. As a goodbye present I ran about the Guild a bit, striking down a few folks with my trust sword. The guards didn’t really like this much and chased me around for awhile until I got sick of running and killed them, too. With each innocent life I ended I felt a strange power welling up in my body. In fact, for each kill I performed a small icon on-screen appeared with a point total. The more evil points I get the more I will be feared by townspeople and the more my physical appearance will change. Even now I can feel a difference in my body and it feels like I have two tiny little horns sprouting out of my forehead. Granted I could do good deeds which would give me some positive points. But where’s the fun in that?
On My Own
Life on my own is a mix of freedom and fun. People everywhere know of my hero status and offer me kind words of encouragement or ask me for help. Too bad most of these people fall by the blade of my sword. Three merchants I ran across in the woods were being attacked by bandits, so I decided to help them out. After the bandits were defeated the merchants let out an uproarious applause, at which point I turned on them earning more experience and gold. Each fallen enemy (or friend) yields green experience orbs and by continuously landing multiple attacks I can build up my Combat Multiplier. Essentially this helps to significantly increase the amount of experience I can get from one fallen foe, so I’ve made it a habit to try and take on as many enemies as possible. When I travel back to the Guild I can use this experience to enhance my abilities, including things like increasing my strength, toughness, and the ability to use special magic-like Will powers. I can also increase my speed, agility, and accuracy so that my melee and ranged attacks are more effective. I’m mainly interested in increasing my Will powers, since they’re the most fun to use. Pressing the Right trigger brings up a special on-screen menu that shows what sort of Will powers I have available. Since the menu is tied to the four face buttons on the controller, using a particular power is easy and intuitive. Right now I just have a Lightning power, although it’s pretty powerful and lets me shock an enemy into submission. Just for fun I like to run around and shock merchants, too. That is, until I run them through.
Towns
During my short travels I’ve run into a few towns filled with people. Towns are interesting places since they’re mostly about being peaceful and getting along with each other. They are filled with all sorts of helpful people, however, such as folks who buy and sell items, weapons, clothing, and other items. Items comes in all shapes and forms, from health replenishing potions to special concoctions that refill my Will meter. Weapons, too, come in a number of varieties and each one has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. My latest weapon, the Obsidian Pickaxe, has special slots on it that let me augment it with neat abilities. I just happened to have a Flame Augmentation item from my last quest, which when applied to my Pickaxe caused its blade to be engulfed in fire. Needless to say this little upgrade made my weapon quite a bit more effective.
I can also buy clothing in town which not only helps to protect me while I’m engaged in combat but can also directly affect how people react to me. I ran across an evil looking outfit and once I put it on, all the townspeople that I ran across cowered and begged for their lives.
Being in town has also given me the opportunity to polish my social graces. Thanks to my training at the Guild, I’ve been able to use special Expressions when I’m dealing with people. While I started off with some mundane actions like Giggle and Belch, the experience that I’ve gained has actually given rise to a number of Expressions centered on my renown amongst the population. Now I can do things like Flirt, Sneer, let out a scary laugh, and even pump my arm in manly bravado. And thanks to my particularly evil deeds, I have Expressions that show off just how evil I really am. I can Insult someone, do a vulgar pelvic thrust, and even flip someone the bird! Ah, it’s good to be bad. If I manage to ply my social graces enough I can even get people to fall in love with me. It probably doesn’t hurt that I can also ply them with gifts and other trinkets before I pull out a wedding ring and ask some fair lass to be my wife. Heck, I can even buy a house in a town for my wife to live in.
Since towns are nice little hamlets filled with peace-loving weaklings, many of them have strict rules about drawing weapons or assaulting innocent people. If I walk into the town and starting hacking away at everyone in sight, I’ll get the town guards set on me who will either fine me a hefty amount of gold or attack me until I leave town. If I make an ass out of myself in a town and return to it later, the people will boo my presence and yell at me to leave. To bad I’ve got a hefty amount of gold and don’t mind paying out fines for my deeds. With each swing of my blade my evil renown grows more and more. The horns on my head have even gotten bigger lately and my skin glows with a whitish hue. To make room for the horns most of my hair has also fallen out, although I don’t really mind. The flies that are circling around my head, however, are getting a bit annoying.
Quests
To help gain experience and increase my renown I’ve taken on a number of quests, some of which are even geared towards being a good hero or an evil one. One quest had me clearing out a forest out gigantic insects while another had me aiding some ruthless bandits as they tried to pilfer the goods from a local farm. Unfortunately Whisper showed up on the side of the “good guys” and I had to show her a thing or two about being a strong fighter. She vowed that our meeting won’t be the last, but I’m just happy to walk away with all the gold that I did. With each Quest that I do complete a new one appears at the Guild. Although some of them require that I reach a certain level of renown before I can accept them, there seems to be no shortage of other Quests that I can participate in. One fun Quest had me protecting a bunch of merchants through a dangerous marsh as evil Hobbes, these odd dwarfish trolls, attacked. Once I guided them to their merchant camp I was awarded with a hefty amount of gold, although I rounded out my fee by cutting down the merchants and their comrades. To make accepting Quests easier my world is full of magical transports that allow me to instantaneously travel back to the Guild. As I come across new towns and locations, they’re added to the list of available spots that I can transport to.
How My World Looks And Sounds
With all the killing I’ve been doing lately, I often forget to actually take a step back and get a bearing of my surroundings. All around me are lush forests, dark caves, and boisterous towns, most of which are usually filled with all manner of evil creature or friendly townsfolk. For the most part enemies and allies look pretty good and feature a high degree of detail. While some characters seem to suffer from a bit of rigidity in their movements, they’re animated well enough and really give off the idea that they’re living, breathing things. To make things even better everyone features their own unique voice work, which ranges from serious to outright hilarious. The quips I hear from some people nearly make me want to stop striking them with my sword, but not quite.
My Adventure Continue
With so much to do and see, my adventures are far from over. With my horns now growing to a magnificent length and the local townspeople fearing my presence, I’ve made quite a name for myself. The Guild should be proud that such a fine and evil specimen sprouted from their tutelage, although it’s too bad that they usually just want to kick me out when I go back to visit them. The depth of my adventure is truly staggering. With so much to see, learn, and experience, the journeys that I have before me are seemingly unheard of on a home console. And, the choice to be good or evil makes that journey that much more enjoyable. Well, until we meet again, here’s hoping that you don’t run across me in the woods. I may be a hero but that doesn’t mean I’m good.