» Sat Nov 20, 2010 1:44 am
Oblivion and Fable are in two completely different leagues. Fable is one of those games that it is impossible for me to take seriously Fable was never better than The Elder Scrolls, it was the brainchild of someone who wanted to do just as much as Bethesda but does not have the same amount of talent that allows Bethesda to get away with what they do. Peter Molyneux is a man who, to paraphrase Yahtzee: "has an annoying tendency to promise the world and then fall flat on his face trying to deliver it." Almost half the content in the original Fable got cut, so much that Lionhead actually re-released the entire game with some of the promised features that got cut shoehorned back in.
The main problem with Fable, though, is that it is impossible to take the game seriously when it clearly wants to be. Fable and Oblivion may share a lot of technical faults, but Oblivion simply does a much better job of keeping you in the game. Oh, and Fable will never be able to have as much replay value as Oblivion. This is something that so many modern game designers still struggle with all the time. Bethesda designs its games to keep you playing them for the longest possible time, whereas the rest of the industry designs them to entertain you just long enough to make you want to purchase the next title full-price expansion pack they put out in in the next year.