Fable 2 Development : On the topic of Hero Titles

On the topic of Hero Titles

Published Thursday, December 06, 2007 2:25 PM by Sam

You will probably remember our community call from a couple of weeks ago, where we asked you all politely to Insult our Hero. After having read well over 8,000 suggestions we really had a lot to work with... and then a couple of months ago we posted our other community call, which was the Hero Title Competition.

One of the biggest questions that came up is actually about how you as a player can achieve these titles. After having wandered upstairs and talked to a designer on the team I got it pretty much nailed down. It seems like the Hero Title system in Fable 2 is going to be subtly different from the system in the original Fable. You will still have to pay for your title but instead of visiting the Hero Vendor NPC, this time it's the Town Crier who can help you with this. But instead of having pretty much any title available at any given time, it depends completely on how you play the game. Some titles will be available from the beginning but these are the basic ones. The more obscure titles (like Lionheart to give one example) will need to be unlocked, either by doing a (series of) quest(s) or by doing other things that I can't elaborate on (as it would spoil too many game features we haven't mentioned yet). In the original Fable there were around 19 titles available (if my memory serves me right), in Fable 2 we will have more than 20 titles.

Just as a reminder, the winning Hero Title (as voted for by the public) was Lionheart - as submitted by Kate Morris.

Next week I'll be spending most of my time in London, because the first voice recording sessions are taking place! Just the Artificial Intelligence lines alone are already standing at 35,000 lines. To compare, Fable 1 'only' had 12,000 AI lines! There are going to be more villager voices and as I said, next week we'll be recording the first 4,000 AI lines. Plus, we have got some top talent doing the voice acting for key characters in Fable 2, sadly enough (for you) the powers-that-be won't allow me to mention their names (goes to show just how big they are). But I'm sure I can get some footage next week, to be included in a future Lionhead Video Diary... Wink [;)]

PS: My Gamespot name is Sam1981

Comments

	tokie said: Breath well and truly baited here. And from the concept it looks like muscly women heroes too. Hooray. December 6, 2007 11:34 AM
	Fable445 said: Wow nice one Sam. I've got all hyped up! I cannot wait until F2! and 35,000 AI lines! wow! Also, nice concept art! ~Chazza~ December 6, 2007 1:49 PM
	Ulqiorra said: Nice, it sound great;P so you can choose sex?(just a random thinking of the picture) December 6, 2007 3:00 PM
	mcpaddyb said: Please please please leave really broad British acsents in like the Yorkshire lads or the gordies. It'll be a nice change from the same American voice in every other game in the world. Secondly you've got toough compatition when it come to celebraties, Oblivion did have Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean in. Big British names with Sharp and that guy from Star Trek. But hey Fable 1 was better than Oblivion if you ask me so Fable 2 will be soooooo much better. December 6, 2007 4:11 PM
	Jontis_Pyro said: SIZE ON THE HAMMER IN THE CONCEPT ART!!!1 HAXC!!!1 Sounds sweet, i'm so gonna be a girl, i'm a ald in real life, but i'm on the lasses side, lasses are superior to lads XD so lasses with huge breasts and weilding just as large hammers sounds my type of thing XD December 6, 2007 4:23 PM
	stomp224 said: Nooo! Take me with you! or at least film enough of it to use in that music/audio-centric diary I know is coming at some point... I really wanna know about game audio techniques, as surely they must differ from cartoons or film VA! Make a note of what mics the used, how many, what format it was recorded to........I'll shut up now... December 6, 2007 6:20 PM
	jawnsixteen said: thank you for updating the blog, i've been checking every day lol December 6, 2007 9:22 PM
	jokeinjester06 said: wait..... does the pic mean something special this is just speculaion, but it looks like you can duel wield weapons!! did anyone notice?? it looks kinda weird though because ur supposed to use 2 hands for a huge hammer like that....hmmm December 6, 2007 11:12 PM
	VitasV said: I just hope they ask us to give some ideas to put in the game cause I have a few ideas like when you have a kid you can also choose to leave him at an orthanage or sell him on the streets which would give you alignment. December 7, 2007 2:27 AM
	greenghost5 said: Thanks for the update. I am really looking forward to finding out who these actors are.35,000 lines is Pretty impressive, I'll be looking forward to hearing them. This game is becoming more and more like a huge christmas present, and I feel more and more like a kid who is awaiting ever so anxiously to open it and see what's inside. December 7, 2007 4:23 AM
	ProfYaffel said: Please let Samual "MF" Jackson be one of them... December 7, 2007 4:58 AM
	GARAGEFLOWER said: I hope we'll see(or hear) the return of Simon Greenall in Fable2, if so, make him do the Geordie accent from 'I'm Alan Partridge', that would be both fantastic and great. December 7, 2007 9:54 AM
	Gothnak said: Hard life eh Sam? While you are swanning about in London meeting our voice actors for the sole purpose of videoing it, we are slogging away at work doing late nights to get the game ready for Peter to play :-( Still, at least i was in charge of choosing the Hero Titles and how they unlock :-) December 7, 2007 1:00 PM
	icekold213 said: Is that a hint of the use of capes? December 8, 2007 6:10 AM
	esseffem said: That's exciting news! I'm hoping madly that there's an actor and actress for a possible hero voice set--that is, actual lines, as opposed to the maybe 8 words or so he utters in Fable. Will there be similar treatment for the soundtrack? A big name, I mean--I think just about everyone loved the theme by Danny Elfman in the original. Not to downplay Russell Shaw's work--he expanded and made some great music from the theme, but of course Danny's piece was pretty vital as a basic framework. December 9, 2007 3:47 AM
	mcpaddyb said: I like the mystery of you characters voice. Same applies to Oblivion and Saint's Row. If your character has a set voice then you kind lose you attachment to him/her because then its not you in the game its some random guy you've never met. Saying that i was stupidly attached to my Morrowind character and though he was my child or something ridiculous, but i did ot really feel that in oblivion which was a shame because to me thats what makes an RPG. with out attachment you might as well play a format level game or a shoot em up. Sorry about the extended sentences and rambling but them again you'll probably just see the length of this and not both reading it. P.S I felt the attachment in Fable 1 and i also felt obliged to protect the NPC's, how odd. December 9, 2007 5:18 PM
	esseffem said: You make an excellent point. I would agree to no voice at all provided one thing--character customization! The thing in Fable was that your character generally looked the same facially, forgetting the hair, beard, and physical build qualities which were more like Mr. Potato Head accessories to apply to one dummy as disguise rather than identity. That's why I desired a more clear cut voice--I liked my hero, no doubt, but I wasn't super connected anyway, he was someone I knew rather than me so wanted a voice in that case. If I were able to customize my character more extensively in Fable 2, then a voice wouldn't be necessary in my mind. December 9, 2007 5:55 PM
	JasonRdz said: yea that sounds cool but STAVES would be cooler for will users sorry if im mentioning STAVES too much but i jsut want them in the game so badly! and um they making women Hero's ? (awsome) December 9, 2007 6:46 PM
	Chemical O said: Awesome picture, and great news about titles. I love that you have to unlock the better ones through quest and not just pay for them. You should get Ian McKellen to do voice work. Screw Professor X(Patrick Stewart), I want Magneto. December 10, 2007 1:47 AM
	JavaJive said: i would prefer sean conery (srry 4 spllng) voice that would be sick December 11, 2007 11:24 AM
	JavaJive said: also i would like if maverik or valkrie were names December 11, 2007 11:25 AM
	mcpaddyb said: Ian Mckellen and Paddy Stewart are both cool. The dude who plays Snape would be cool as well. I cant remeber the name but you know who i mean. and yeh Sean Connery would be mint! P.S JavaJive, is the Xiahuo Dun of Dynasty Warriors? Coz he cool, but he aint got nout on Dan wei and Gan yu December 11, 2007 3:15 PM
	SurgeryDocDavid said: He only said 20 Hero titles available. There were 19 in fable 1, shouldn't it of been 200 in fable 2, and not 20? December 11, 2007 5:02 PM
	mcpaddyb said: 200, i think, would be far too hard and arduous to trall through them all to find the one you want, i thought chickenchaer and arseface were fine. while im here i might as well say that i think your face shape should change due to your skills/attributes, alignment, and even perhaps experiences eg if you marry or get killed to many times. but of course htis will have come in far to late as Peter Molyneux is testing over the christmas hols which is now. December 11, 2007 5:31 PM
	Fealiks said: NO AMERICAN ACCENTS. AT ALL. PLZ. December 12, 2007 3:54 PM
	SfK-Pyro said: Fealiks, what's worng with american accents?! whatever, just put some australian in there to cover up the enormous amount of British... and only 20 titles!? seriously?! why not just take a new thread and say "we are looking for 40 new titles, and you can make em!" seriously I can think of 50 great titles as I am sure plenty of other people can, you could have 100+ titles on your hands, although it would be hard to work into the game unless you use the old buy a title system- which didn't make that much sense December 12, 2007 5:28 PM
	humanite said: they said there was going more than 20 titles so people wouldn't know exactly how much December 13, 2007 8:52 PM
	keyblademaster07 said: 1 tital people could earn would be stalker you would earn it following the same NPC for a certain time December 15, 2007 12:35 AM
	keyblademaster07 said: I'v got the BEST idea EVER!!!!!! when your Pure you should get angel wings and when your pure you should get those Demon wings the ones that look like redish black dragon wings with holes in them you would not even have to be able to fly because it would still look cool December 15, 2007 12:43 AM
	wolfmaster said: i think this is quite nonsense.. hero titles in fable 1 were cool. but i think that the best idea could be don't be able to choose yours.. i Think statistics could let the people choose your title, or special mission like beat every enemy in the arena..or by killing hundred of balverines and go around showing their head, or paying a bard to sing some special stories..i think the idea of the town crier is great. sorry for my english December 16, 2007 2:07 PM
	Makey2007 said: make a variety of titles and specific what i mean is even though fable1 titles had no revelance stalkers , ckicken chaser worked also if you enjoy killing a certain animal i always wanted to be called the balverine-slayer Because of thier importance it was fun to have that reputation December 16, 2007 2:29 PM
	Makey2007 said: hey just thought add a feature of admirers it would work seriously Also different types of lovers: gold-diggers i'll-be-there-4-u-when-ur-down childhood sweathearts stalkers Think about its better than pink hrt red hrt gold hrt and ring December 16, 2007 3:16 PM
	Makey2007 said: love that you can have children always wanted it can you put a feature that we can interact with chairs and stuff December 17, 2007 7:25 AM
	Fealiks said: SfK-Pyro, I loved all of the english accents in fable, they made it special. That's my view. And I'm a selfish ***. But I do agree that we should DO A COMMUNITY CALL FOR TITLES Also, I agree with wolfmaster that titles should be decided by statistics, not the player (unless it's both; as in it's based on statistics but you can buy too...). COMMUNITY CALL FOR HERO TITLES COMMUNITY CALL FOR HERO TITLES COMMUNITY CALL FOR HERO TITLES SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES MAKE ME COOL COMMUNITY CALL FOR HERO TITLES COMMUNITY CALL FOR HERO TITLES December 17, 2007 12:53 PM
	Sam said: Ehm Fealiks you do know that we've already done two community calls for hero titles and that we can't add anymore at this stage, really! It's not so much how many there are (we can all think of a 1001 titles) but more about making sure we have something that fits the game perfectly. And think about how many lines of dialogue need to be recorded.... December 17, 2007 2:55 PM
	SfK-Pyro said: just get those freeloadin testers to do the diaolauge for names, haha... and the insult the hero was for only one title, as was the other community call (lionheart) why not just have a top twenty, and everything that is submittited has a chance to be voted for! And then you guys could choose about 5 or 10 of them and we are happy! I really think 20+ titles isn't that much, even though that is generall, putting plus to something means not that much after it, so like 21-27? or I hope you are being very secretive and are just saying that so we won't know how much titles there are and we are to be kept in the dark and are you guys using the old, buy a title, system? or are you going to do it like the Paladin hero title, and make us have to unlock it? December 18, 2007 12:31 AM
	Dakana said: I realy liked the titles of Fable 1. And am sure you'll have great titles for Fable 2, I just cant wait. December 18, 2007 5:44 AM
	guitarscout said: OMG!! That's a lot of lines. luck with it December 18, 2007 8:32 AM
	Shisou said: Can't wait! My 2 cents about titles... Use the Microsoft pronunciator robot! You can type in your phonetic name and have it be whatever you want! Just in a robot voice. "Oh my gods, you saved my life! I am forever in your debt and will never forget you, [robotvoice] Taco Paul the Delicious [/robotvoice]! Will you allow me to name my first born after you?!" December 18, 2007 10:29 PM
	scotland101 said: Lemon lord The power of Lemons shall set you free January 7, 2008 6:35 AM
	ScorpionT7 said: sam's right, having a lot of titles would call for a ridiculous amount of lines, just for people saying your title. if there were more than 100, i would think that title dialogues would take up about 10% or more of all dialogue. January 16, 2008 6:02 PM
	koijo said: you can tell sam jackson will be in it hes in everything . and he always saying stuff like playa mf and working are always in his lines lol yay sam jackson.......way to go playa January 23, 2008 9:46 AM
	Galacticdude said: This goes to Sfk Pyro, why should they have australian it's a british company, so why should they, american stuff have rarely british people and australian have rarely any british, so why should this, look as british we have rarely any really big world wide things let us have this ONE GREAT think PLEASE lol February 26, 2008 1:46 PM

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About Sam

Well...a boy was born back in 1981 and it all went crazy from there...Joined the Lionhead Community in 1998 and am here to look after everyone. If you need help, feel free to give me a shout. I'm not "technical support"!