Mike West (Gothnak) excellent blog already answered one of the questions on my last entry– the extension of the base Concrete Editor used on Fable is called “FablEd”.  Geddit?  Fable Editor… Fable Ed.  … Fabled?  Ah… nevermind

Anyway I had some other work stuff to say, but Sam thought it best to wait until after the diaries come out – and looking back at what I originally wrote I have to agree… sorry! 

Blogs are a personal voice though, so I would like to talk a little bit about my own opinions on a game I’ve been playing recently called “Blue Dragon”.  It is a game a few of us here at Lionhead are playing… and keep playing… and we are not all quite certain WHY.  It is a very old school style of RPG, but the graphics are quite stunning.  The game reminds me of certain cartoons from the 80s… the characterisations and script; the loud impetuous lead, smart and soft side-kick, love interest with tragic back story, another loud sidekick that gobbles down food and falls over now and again over-dramatically… etc.  Perhaps that is part of its charm.  I think it is tapping in to those quite dusty parts of my brain.

Parts of the game are very rewarding – most of the cut-scenes are very well done.  If things like the “Deevee Dance of Joy” make you smile rather then vomit candy hearts and rainbows at the high sugar content, then you will love the cut-scenes.  The fight soundtracks can be quite funny; the singing reminds me of that South Park episode that is/was up on Xbox Video Marketplace in some regions for free – “ Times With Weapons “.

My main problem with Blue Dragon is what it caused me to do the other night.  Being a developer often means that some part of you is stubborn and tenacious… and it tapped in to that side of me… in a negative way. 

The Wagon Trail is an escort mission, where a pattern of creatures come out and attack the wagons you are escorting triggered by things you do in the field.  The action is scripted, and ignores your field skills like attract, or character status such as stink… the creatures attack the wagons anyway breaking rules that have already been established.  You have to guide the Wagons through the section without getting any damage at all.  Even if you repair the carts back to 100%, that still does not count. 

The Wagon Trail achievement had me saving and reloading many times over the evening and I still did achieve it.   After that experience I felt rather negatively towards the game, and even considered not playing it anymore.  Instead I made the decision that I won’t go for any of the Blue Dragon achievements and just play the game through instead - rather then wasting vast amounts of my precious free time trying to extract miserly gamerscore from Blue Dragon.  After all there are 3 dvds… not sure how likely it is I’m going to plough through all that anyway, without the saving and reloading!

Despite what I said above though Blue Dragon is worth trying out if you like RPGs.  Try the demo… it does not quite do the game justice because you have no idea of the characters stories – but you’ll get the idea of the voice acting and production quality.  If you want achievements attainable without a lot of blood, sweat and tears though look elsewhere.

The designers have assured me that our achievements for Fable 2 are not going to be anything like that… so you can relax there