I have some ideas, and I think they could work.
Character* Name: Thank you
Fable 2, because giving us the name Sparrow let the canon refer to the new Hero as a Sparrow for all time. This in my opinion was very wise. However, take a note from BioWare's
Mass Effect, give the Hero a last name that in unisex, can be referenced in canon while allowing the player to have the majority of the control over the name.
* Gender: Huzzah for gender equality! However, in all fairness, this is computer game and we all know how women should behave and look in it, like complete goddesses. That sounds harsh, but how about when making a character, when I level up a female character, let's make it so her strength doesn't turn her into She-Hulk.
* Face: Why not offer a couple of facial shapes to choose from right from the begining. Also skin-colour, eye colour and so on and so forth, because then, when a unique face changes according to actions in game you have a truly unique look.
* Family: Ok, this was cool with the kids thing and all. However, along with making the children of the hero LOOK like the hero (using above features would be cool) lets give the game a feature, say clicking on the Hero's Wardrobe in the house, give the hero the option of changing the clothing not only of his own clothing, but the clothing of his family. Also, really, there's not much to do with your family in
Fable 2, is there? I mean, shag and make babies and keep them happy, right? Ok, lets make the wife/husband part of the plot, give the family more quests, make them invulnerable (but relatively weak) NPC henchmen.
* Clothing: God damn it, make my clothes change with me, will you!
*
(Edit) Will-Lines: Come on, let's have some fun with this, if you're
![G o o d [Good]](/emoticons/g_o_o_d.gif)
, make them light blue/white, if you're
![E v i l [Evil]](/emoticons/e_v_i_l.gif)
then make them red.
HousingOne of my favorite features from
Fable and
Fable 2 was owning everything, because, let's face it, who doesn't want to own the world? However, Lionhead hit the mark with the
Black and White games, making the buildings morph. Let's make it so that when you buy a building it reflects the owner, if buy a castle and you're
![G o o d [Good]](/emoticons/g_o_o_d.gif)
, something from a fairytale, if you're
![E v i l [Evil]](/emoticons/e_v_i_l.gif)
, something from a nightmare. This is purely graphical (although some
![G o o d [Good]](/emoticons/g_o_o_d.gif)
quests could be thrown in) but would make the game much more immersive and give the feeling that the character is having a drastic change in the world. Also, if you buy a shop, make the shop reflect you! If I'm
![E v i l [Evil]](/emoticons/e_v_i_l.gif)
and buy a clothes store, I want my clothes from there to LOOK
![E v i l [Evil]](/emoticons/e_v_i_l.gif)
. If I'm
![G o o d [Good]](/emoticons/g_o_o_d.gif)
, I should be buying fancy clothes. Also, rented houses should have people who reflect my alignment!
EmpireOk, we've hit a new issue, fun. In
Fable we knew all the cities were basically independent. In the sequel we saw Bowerstone forming as a capital and the rest kind of being reliant on it. Let's give Albion what it deserves for the next game: an empire. Lets make more cities. All ruled by either one or two (even three) different empires (hell, you've got yourself a plot right there, who does the hero align with and eventually rule). Also, we need a new Guild. I think it's obvious now to the people of Albion that a standing army is going to be needed or hire a guild (or maybe three, one each attribute, another plot, right there, which could work with the three empire thing). Not the Old/New Kingdom, I'm talking something different.
AgingFirst of all, put your hands up if you hate having an ageing hero?
Thought so. Can we turn this feature off? Or give us a final quest to do that. Or something. However, it would be interesting to spend the first half of the game using one Hero, only to have him die AFTER having at least one child who you spend the rest of the game as (using same stats).
NPCsFirst of all, WHAT THE HELL IS THERESA DOING BACK!? I killed her! I slit her pretty throat! I don't care if I had the option not to, because now I have to assume I was a
![G o o d [Good]](/emoticons/g_o_o_d.gif)
boy and didn't. What's the point in that? Any character that can be killed in a game should never be brought back for a sequel, that is why you make UNKILLABLE NPCs. Unless you are LucasArts and give both endings while giving an explicit canon stating that the Light Side always wins, you have no right to bring back a presumably dead character without explanation. If she wasn't quite dead in the Vortex or whatever and somehow achieved divinity, fair point, I'll cop that, just tell me so IN-GAME.
Moving on.
Some NPCs
Fable 3 could use:
* Theresa: Ok, I'm being hypocritical, I know. But in the next game, let's flesh her out a lot, like explaining how the hell she survived my sword turning her into a PEZ dispenser. She's now got potential, lets use it.
* The Hero: From the first game, let's make more references to him.
* Scythe: Bring back the old codger. Yes, he's important, we get that. Now bring him back, either against Theresa or with her.
* The Spire: Not an NPC, but now definitely needed. Make it a city.
* Jack of Blades: Hmmm, when I think about this, probably not. He's dead, mask in lava. He be Jack of Ash now. However, weren't there three of these demonic beings?
* Thunder/Whisper/Briar Rose/Guildmaster: Ok, if we use the "Light Side is canon" thing, we can bring these back. Let's actually go where they came from, explore the world of Albion.
* The Sword of Aeons: BRING IT BACK!
* Rose: Ok, at the end of
Fable 2 Rose is either a spirit or whatever, how about we make use of that.
* The Animal: We had a dog, that was cool, and was useful in removing a now redundant mini-map. Shall we go one step further? Let's not only make them reflect our alignment (white labradour for
![G o o d [Good]](/emoticons/g_o_o_d.gif)
dog, black wolf for
![E v i l [Evil]](/emoticons/e_v_i_l.gif)
) but say, lets give them more than one animal to choose from (cats, birds, rabbits, giant spiders, badgers, the list goes on and truly makes for a more interesting character, and this can be done easily, make a freaking Pet Shop where you exchange pets).
Jobs/Quests
How the *** did we end up with this god-damn weak excuse for way to earn money in the sequel? What genius thought up that? I think the only jobs in
Fable 3 should be quests. Just make more of them. I mean, how come I can do more quests in the first game than the second? Come on, that's just being lazy!
To quote Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, "it's f****ng boring!"
Let's scrap the earning money crap, we're supposed to be a freaking hero! Our jobs should be guarding caravans, hunting criminals, raiding caravans, robbing the rich, enslaving and so forth!
And give us more quests! LOTS more quests. That's why the Guild in
Fable was so useful, because while other quests were around, you could at least find more at the Guild.
EndingsFable did it right. Could have used a few more quests afterwards, but the main quest had two possible real outcomes:
![G o o d [Good]](/emoticons/g_o_o_d.gif)
/
![E v i l [Evil]](/emoticons/e_v_i_l.gif)
(
TLC did the same thing).
Fable 2 epically failed in this. Here are your possible endings:
* Raise the Dead: Everyone likes you, but hey, if you've been playing
![G o o d [Good]](/emoticons/g_o_o_d.gif)
, they already do, and if you're
![E v i l [Evil]](/emoticons/e_v_i_l.gif)
, who gives a crap if they love you? In essence, this ending was only useful for the Xbox Achievement.
* Raise the Family: Raise from the dead a wife and children (if you had either) who you never had much affection for no matter what alignment you were because there wasn't much point to having them, nor could you do anything but piss them off, kill them, please them or shag them. Also "raise" Rose, but for such an important character to be raised, why the hell do you never see her again after, I mean what's the point? However, raising the Dog, well that is needed, because the dog is you damn map, dig spot locator and so forth. The fact you lose a NEEDED FEATURE TO COMPLETE THE f****ng GAME FULLY means you have to choose this choice if you've got any brain at all.
* Get Some Money: Considering how far in the game you've gotten, why bother with this choice? I mean, *** it, you already own half of Albion and back, you could just sleep for 5 days and get the $1000000, even if you're
![G o o d [Good]](/emoticons/g_o_o_d.gif)
and have set the rent to dirt cheap. There is no reason at all to choose this.
Basically, give us endings that mean something, and make the other endings JUST as fun (basically, don't kill the god next time and make Rose reappear).
I fully apologise for the amount of swearing in this rant, but I use them to stress my points.