Fable 2 to not use map and HUD

[Akileese]

but instead use..a FUCKING DOG?

But the big thing, one of the biggest parts of Fable 2, will be the introduction of a dog to the game. Not just any dog, but your dog. The dog will be faithful to you and will have a deeply nuanced artificial intelligence so you won't actually control your dog at all. Instead your dog will act as a sort of living HUD. The game has no map, no other user interface on screen. Instead you will have to rely on the dog and what he sees and does.
Fable 2's Big Thing: A Pet Dog - Kotaku

Take that for what you will. My friend thought it was a joke, I'm pretty sure it's a joke, but who the fuck knows.

[Duppin]

Man, even if this ends up sucking, I'm glad that someone's trying innovative things rather than just using the same regurgitated "health bar mana bar exp bar hotkey buttons" UI that's been in every RPG game for a decade or more.

[RiskyChris]

Originally Posted by Duppin

Man, even if this ends up sucking, I'm glad that someone's trying innovative things rather than just using the same regurgitated "health bar mana bar exp bar hotkey buttons" UI that's been in every RPG game for a decade or more.

Funny. This is almost the exact thought I had reading this earlier. Immediately "ugh, Molyneux again?" sprung to mind, but then I had to calm myself... at least he is trying to explore creative visions. I applaud his work, however pompous, pretentious, overambitious it may be.

[Akileese]

Originally Posted by Duppin

Man, even if this ends up sucking, I'm glad that someone's trying innovative things rather than just using the same regurgitated "health bar mana bar exp bar hotkey buttons" UI that's been in every RPG game for a decade or more.

Yeah, that was my initial reaction. I mean, it's so far out there that if you told someone about this, they would naturally assume it's a joke. It could bomb, but he has balls for trying something like this. I commend him.

[Don Won]

I'll agree with Duppin here. At least he's attempting to be innovative. It would be awesome if it turned out to be very well implemented and fun.

If you read some of the comments past the article, I think a couple of the commentors have the right idea.

Microsoft Game Studios will probably disallow him the schedule or budget he wants/needs to make the game he wants to make.

It's a shame really, since supporting innovation rarely makes sense on a spreadsheet.

I loved the first Fable, btw, even though it didn't live up to all the hype.

[Thorpe]

Originally Posted by Don Won

I loved the first Fable, btw, even though it didn't live up to all the hype.

Same, so I have big hopes for Fable 2.

[Vorph]

I found Fable to be one of the most overhyped and disappointing games I've ever played. I wouldn't even have minded it being so utterly linear if that didn't go completely against everything I'd heard about the game while it was in development.

I just played through Jade Empire last weekend and even though it had some of the same issues as Fable--namely in the good/evil system which boils down to naive chump/rude megalomaniac--I thought it was one of the best games I've played in years. The difference is that Bioware didn't promise JE would be anything other than what it was. Lasting 21 hours instead of 8.5 helped a bit too.

Molyneux needs to take a more active role in game design again instead of just being a PR/hype machine that doesn't have the slightest clue whether his team can actually deliver on what he promises. Maybe he should sit down and play through a bunch of his old Bullfrog titles again, he might re-learn something about what makes a great game. I hope he did learn his lesson from Fable, but I'm still going to take everything he says with a grain ton of salt.

[Duppin]

Originally Posted by Vorph

namely in the good/evil system which boils down to naive chump/rude megalomaniac

I couldn't get past this long enough to really enjoy Jade Empire, back when I played it on Xbox. It was just too irritating to have all of the NPCs saying "choose wisely and consider your actions!" when all of the "dilemmas" were horrifyingly obvious to anyone with a third grade reading level.

That, and you could entirely trivialize all of the content in the game except for the arena with a sufficiently high level of Paralyzing Palm.

[Malakie Torsade]

Fable 1 was underwhelming, but not bad. If a game is giving you a choice to be evil, don't throw in idiotic mechanics just to fuck with the player; ie, never ending guard spawns. Fallout 1 is the only game that comes to mind that did it correctly, though FO2 did a good job as well.

[Eomer]

Maybe he should sit down and play through a bunch of his old Bullfrog titles again, he might re-learn something about what makes a great game.

My kingdom for a modern sequel of Syndicate.

[dub]

Fable had some sweet ass spells though.

[Tripamang]

Fable suffered heavily from unbalanced game mechanics. The one skill that put you behind your opponent was ridiculously overpowered, I cheesed my way through this title. I did like the story, it definitely wasn't as advertised but it did have fun game play and I enjoyed it.

I hope this is a continuation from the original into something more along the lines what they were going for in the first title, who knows though. I can hope, and I'll probably just pick it up as long as they do as well as they did in the first one in terms of plot.

[Szlia]

Marketing guy: So I hear people buy millions of this dog thing on that japanese handheld thingy... add a dog please. Now.

Or maybe it's Molyneux himself, seems he is better at communication than at making games these days (or he always has?).

[Zehn - Vhex]

It seems the article was pulled.

Anyways..

I hate using the term 'innovative' simply because it's scope is too wide. You can consider FF7 innovative because it was the first final fantasy to use a health bar and HP numbers instead of just the numbers. Spasim was also innovative for being one of if not the first 3d FPS. Being innovative doesn't really mean jack shit. I guess I'm an innovator because as a kid I used to eat applesauce with a straw instead of a spoon like all the other kids.

Innovate has pretty much lost all meaning.

If all you do is run around and chop people down while doing quests, a change in the interface doesn't necessarily make your game any more innovative then the last person to change the interface.

Not saying it can't be fun of course.

As simple as it was I did sorta enjoy Fable. I enjoyed the whole "hard mode quests for more reward/fame" deal. If it had been released for the PC with the same modding tools that Morrowind did, it would have been much more entertaining.

[prescient63]

Originally Posted by Zehn - Vhex

As simple as it was I did sorta enjoy Fable. I enjoyed the whole "hard mode quests for more reward/fame" deal. If it had been released for the PC with the same modding tools that Morrowind did, it would have been much more entertaining.

I had the exact same thought while playing fable. I got to the end and was thought, "damn this is way too short." They should really have some modding tools. I just got my sword of riduculously kick ass proportions and want some hard shit to fight. But alas there was none =/