Fable III - Xbox 360

I picked up Fable 3 all those years ago shortly after it released and spent hundreds of hours playing it on my 360. It was my first Fable game. The RPG elements, the combat, the story, the humor, and the beautiful and engaging world really charmed me. I can't tell you how glad I am that you can play it on the Series X as it's backwards compatible. It looks SO good! The colors and detail are pushed to their limits and look absolutely incredible. It also plays much more smoothly now too. It really makes you appreciate both the Series X for being able to beautifully upscale graphics, and the game itself as you can really see all the work and effort put into Fable 3. I was genuinely surprised at how bad people thought of this game at launch. I don't see as much hate for it nowadays but I can sort of see their reasoning. The ending especially was a little... lackluster.. but the journey leading up to it was one of the most fun experiences I ever had in a game. I definitely recommend playing it before Fable 4 to get a feel of the series.

My wife bought this game for me as a Christmas gift. I've played through the main quest once already and started a new character. Playing through it again has been even more enjoyable the second time around because I've figured out how to make money a little better. Replayability is great thus far. Making different choices in the game opens up different paths to explore. It can be a real time suck, still worth it in my opinion. Learning the new "leveling" system is easy. I was a little disappointed at first, but I got over it quickly. It allows for just as much customization, It's just presented in a different way.Pros:Easy to jump in and play.Combat allows for more strategy than is initially apparent.Just as fun as previous iterations of Fable.No disappointing final "battle" (I'm looking at you Fable II)Your stats are compared during loading screens to your friends on Xbox Live (this has pushed me to try to beat my friends chicken kicks, etc.)The story is much more dynamic than I expected. The commercials hardly gave it credit. (Still no Hollywood production, but a decent story)Cons:The main quest feels short, it's a little easy to just blast through, but you'll want to play it again.Playing a "bad" character really limits the experience compared to a "good" character.On my original Xbox 360 Pro (Circa February 2006) the graphics will chug a little sometimes, it could be my box specifically, I'm not sure, but it's irritating as hell.I rather miss having a health bar. (You could argue that the display is much cleaner and leaner though.)It's a great game. If you're already a Fable fan it's a great entry and you'll find nods to previous games scattered throughout Albion. If you're not already a fan, but you like console RPGs then this is a good entry for your collection.

Fable 3 seemed more linear than its predecessors. I felt very rushed in getting to the final quest before becoming ruler, and once ruler the main story quests seemed to fly by until the "end" of the game. Thankfully there are plenty of additional things to do, such as hunt down all the keys and chests in the game, unlock all upgrades in the Road to Rule, own each legendary weapon, etc. The enemies are also tougher in this one, because they actually dodge you and have more life. The mixing of magics via the two gauntlets was a nice touch.One of the things I enjoyed most, though, was the "pause menu." When you press the start button you go to your Sanctuary, where they've managed to turn a traditional menu system into a more engaging experience. The main room contains the map, where you can fast travel and look at quests. Then there is a room for weapons, a room for clothing, a room for your money, and a room for online stuff like matchmaking and DLC. The various rooms loaded up very quickly and having a non-traditional menu system actually kept me in the game experience a lot better. And it was far less boring to navigate the sanctuary than it is to navigate traditional list menus.Although the main quest felt rushed, the rest of the game was very enjoyable. If you don't want a game that's going to get the main part completed in a couple days, don't get this. If you like going on all the side quests and exploring for all the little things, this game will keep you occupied for a good while.

First off I want to say I have played all the Fables, I loved Fable 1, Fable 2 was Ok (I was disappointed with it overall) And Fable 3 blows away them all. People complain about the whole "menu" thing with the sanctuary...It didn't bother me one bit. The progression of the game mixes very well and once I got started it was hard to turn off the game. Once you become King, I think is when the fun really starts. Every promise you made to build allies now has to be approved (but it costs money from the treasury). So really if you want to be the all perfect Angel King you approve everything but you bankrupt the State. If you deny everything and Side with Reaver (Who plays the greedy Industrialist/Capitalist to the T) You fill the treasury with gold that you need to build the Army. I saw alot of reviews here that criticized this aspect but there is ways around it. BEFORE you become King if you owned businesses and Rented houses you Can TRANSFER funds from personal funds to the Treasury and Vice Versa. I didn't approve of every "Good" thing when I was King Because I needed the money to buy more businesses and then Transfered it to the Treasury. I approved most of the promises and I got a successful ending that I don't want to spoil for anyone. Also these "game Ending" bugs everyone keeps talking about were non existent for me And never had a single problem. I'll close this by saying there should be more games like this...Action/Adventure RPG That turns you into a Monarch that micro manages a Kingdom.