TR1GG3R MAN's Blog

Fable 2 Studio Visit facts

The following summarized answers to those community questions not included in the video interviews are based on my personal understanding of the demo and are neither direct quotations nor verbatim answers provided by Lionhead Studios. Therefore, any of the following answers may be incorrect, incomplete, or both.

• Will weather conditions change randomly and autonomously throughout gameplay?
• Yes, as well as time. For example, during night time and as days pass, you will notice progression in the different lunar stages.
• Will Fable 2 storyline be completely independent from the first one?
• Yes, but there are traces of the original story. For example, while passing through a village, camp, or city you may bump into groups of children who reenact the original Fable story.
• Other interesting facts?
• To find your way around, in the original Fable you had a small 2-Dimensional minimap in the upper right corner. Peter didn’t like this because the player might have an idea of the upcoming location's layout. Therefore, they completely removed the minimap in Fable 2. Now you have more screen to yourself and the idea of finding your way around has been replaced by the “breadcrumb trail”.
• What is the “breadcrumb trail”?
• The “breadcrumb trail”, which you can see in the following screenshot, indicates the way to the next main storyline quest. Therefore, you (the player) are free to roam, explore, take part in side-quests, and whatever else you may feel like doing without worrying about getting lost. All you must do, once you feel like continuing the story, is follow the “breadcrumb trail”

• Other interesting facts?
• The sparrow, a bird in Fable 2’s opening scene, plays an important role in the game...
• During gameplay or quests you will frequently have a companion. At the beginning of the game your companion is your sister Rose who dreams about living in the Castle...
• Albion is 10 to 20 times bigger than in the original Fable.
• You can interact during cut scenes; for example by chuckling, doing a thumbs up or thumbs down, etc. This way you can change what’s happening and feel part of the scene.
• You can press and hold A to skip talking.
• The player and the dog can both swim; so you can dive into rivers to cross them.
• Fishing no longer exists in Fable 2.
• Anytime during gameplay you can hold the LT and the screen will lock onto something amazing. These amazing things can be the sunset, a castle, a beautiful view, and so on.
• The Hero starts as a Bowerstone street boy/girl at the age of ten. Once he/she reaches the age of 18, approximately 40 minutes into game, they pass into adulthood and are free to explore the world.
• The choices you make as a child will affect the game later on. For example helping the guards will transform the city into a market district, but helping the crooks will transform it into a high-crime area. As for childhood, even in adulthood every choice you make in the game has consequences in the future.
• They tried reducing loadings to a minimum, but since the world is so big and the game is filled with caves and under-regions to explore, some loadings are still present.
• Each controller button (X,Y,B) masters respectively Swords, Firearms, Magic. By holding the button and by using the “stack functionality” you can specialize and customize your attacks and special moves.
• Two Fable 2 achievements are: “Kick a chicken” (10G); “The blood brothers” (25G).
• They spent a lot of time perfecting details such as the sunlight effect through clouds, the shading of leaves, the moon’s glow, and much more to reproduce real-life effects.
• Each item, including vegetation, trees, flowers, leaves, etc. was uniquely drawn for Fable 2.
• There are different types of prostitutes, each one has a different price range.
• You can have protected or unprotected sex (to you the choice).
• The dog reflects the Hero’s behavior. Thus there are good and evil looking dogs.
• The dog will eventually bark. Follow him and he may lead you to hidden treasures...
  
• Completing quests does not earn you money. You may even be able to finish the game but still be poor.