'Fable II' an enchanting game

• By MILES THORPE
• 2theadvocate.com staff
• Published: Nov 11, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:41 p.m.

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The follow-up to “Fable” has finally arrived from the folks over at Lionhead Studios, and I’m glad to say that the wait was well worth it. “Fable II” is an imaginative RPG (role-playing game) set in an interesting world filled with magic, mayhem, thievery, and a little love and affection thrown in.

“Fable II” takes place in the world of Albion, 500 years after the original game. There is no requirement to play the first game to understand and enjoy its sequel.

When playing “Fable II” the player will be poised with morale questions on almost every single decision that needs to be made. This is really the highlight feature of the game. Do you help the drunk guy by getting him more beer or instead give the beer to a lady who thinks the drunk has had his fill? Giving the drunk more beer will net your character evil points, while handing the brew over to the lady will net you good points.

The entire game tracks your good and evil actions as well as tracking if people find you fun and outgoing or brutish and fearful. The choice is up to you based on the deeds and actions you perform while playing.

You start the game off by choosing your gender. From here you begin as a child in the great city of Bowerstone. You and your sister are poor and live off the streets, but your sister has higher hopes for the both of you. This first area guides you through many of the game mechanics, much like a tutorial, after which the timeline advances and you are all grown up.

Along for your mighty adventure of being a Hero of Albion, you’ll have a happy little dog as a companion. He (or she) will follow you throughout the game providing companionship as well as hints about where buried treasure might be along the roads you travel. Give your dog one of many collars in the game and you can name him as well.

As you progress through the game, you can spend skill points into three different skill trees: Strength, Skill, and Will.

The abilities under Strength focus on the hand-to-hand melee combat as well as increasing your total hitpoints and body mass. The Skill tree covers your ranged weapon abilities as well as how fast you can attack and dodge. Finally the Will abilities are your basic magic skills. In this area, there are a number of spells from which you can choose, ranging from lightning to fireballs to shockwaves. You can even cast a spell to raise the dead to fight for you.

Focusing your skill points into one specific tree nets stronger results in general than spreading a few points here and there across all three. The character with which I played through the game was highly skilled with ranged weapons, using rifles and pistols, while having one Will ability called Force Push. Think of him as a Marine Jedi.

“Fable II” does a good job of unfolding the story at a steady pace while also allowing you to do your own thing from time to time. As the game progresses more areas of the map are unlocked. Once you’ve discovered a region on the map, you can swiftly travel back to it from anywhere, saving you from having to run way too much.

Lets talk about sex. Yes, the game does allow your character to roll in the hay with almost any other character in the game. One side effect of coming into a crowded street and showing off one of the trophies you acquired while adventuring is, everyone begins to like you -- a lot.

This brings me to one final point about “Fable II” and its gameplay: Marriage. You can get married in the game. Why bother you might ask? Basically to make the world seem even more alive. You certainly can go through the game single, although you will still have the dog regardless of a spouse. To top of the getting hitched, why don’t you have some kids? Yes, you can even have some offspring, should you be clever enough to figure out the right steps.

Graphically the game is wonderful. With a mixture of swords and sorcery combined with a bit of colonialism (wigs and muskets), the game world looks great. There are a wide variety of locations to visit, from ocean beaches to swampy mires, to a snow cottage.