Fable III

Fable's magic system involved using a trigger to shift the face buttons into user defined spells, except the Y button which was used to cycle though sets of spells. It also used a mana system among other differences.
Fair enough. I kind of remember that now.

The ability to choose spells is a major aspect of combat design as is the ability to mix those spells though either succession or simultaneous use. The timing of using those abilities also greatly effects combat.
I wouldn't call those differences in the mechanics, per se. But you say potato, I say potato. Wait, that doesn't work without inflection. :yay:

As for reviews, they are value judgments. Value is subjective. Out of curiosity though, what are these objective values by which you think all video games should be judged?
No. Reviews are based on worth. Worth is objective. Actually, value can be objective, too. The two words can be used to define each other, and can act as synonyms, so it probably depends more on which portion of the word's definition we're using.

And this is why I don't argue semantics.
 
I wouldn't call those differences in the mechanics, per se. But you say potato, I say potato. Wait, that doesn't work without inflection. :yay:
Why not?
No. Reviews are based on worth. Worth is objective. Actually, value can be objective, too. The two words can be used to define each other, and can act as synonyms, so it probably depends more on which portion of the word's definition we're using.

And this is why I don't argue semantics.
Seems like you subscribe to Rand, in which case there would be no use in debating reviews. I am still curious as to what you think are the objective values by which you think video games should be judged.
 
Minus Fable I, because the mechanics still work the same way. The flavor is changed, but the core mechanics of the magic and combat in Fable II and Fable III are the same.

Seems like you subscribe to Rand, in which case there would be no use in debating reviews. I am still curious as to what you think are the objective values by which you think video games should be judged.
Rand was cool. Breath of Fire II, right? Yes, I know. Poor joke.

But yes. Simply, reviews are a pursuit of intellectualism, and I don't give a flying **** about how a game or a movie or a book or a comic makes someone feel, because that's not what it's all about. Because that doesn't contribute a single thing. At all.

Objective criteria of video games, a list by an admittedly hard-pressed El Bastardo, being that I am not a reviewer of video games, nor would I likely be one, also because I'm more interested in playing right now and am thus hurrying this along:
- Assuming a game in which narrative occurs and belongs (to be honest, a majority of games in today's market), typical narrative guidelines and factors of assessment work: is the narrative deep or glossed-over? Is the narrative cohesive? Does it make sense? Is it fleshed out? Etc., etc., etc.
- Characterization, as applicable, and see above.
- Graphics, as applicable, and per purpose - that is to say, does the game attempt to push graphic benchmarks? Some games use graphics as its entire point of being. Other games use graphics because it's a graphical medium. This can be open to discussion, and there are different schools of thought. Do all games require perfect, next-gen graphics? Or do perfect, next-gen graphics not matter as much in games not intending to set a new precedent?
- Mechanics: Does the game "work?" Is the game broken in any way? Are points far too hard or far too easy without reason or explanation? This classification could probably go more broad, so as to encompass all of, say, "Difficulty," or what have you. But that risk becoming too vague, when it's already rather vague. Note, I wouldn't consider glitches to be here. They are mechanics gone awry, in some cases, but this should be consideration of the game's mechanics working as intended.
- Replay Value: To be considered and documented.
- Quality Assurance: Though this more accurately rates the developer's QA team, a game that is released full of bugs and glitches, as is becoming more and more par for the course, should be held accordingly.

And whatever else. I don't know. Look at a Game Informer review. Most of them are horribly-written and -considered, but they usually have intelligent criteria categories.

None of these categories lend themselves to the subjective unless the reviewer is being lazy, or else cannot separate the objective from the subjective.
 
Minus Fable I, because the mechanics still work the same way. The flavor is changed, but the core mechanics of the magic and combat in Fable II and Fable III are the same.
Unless you consider the controls (as in what the function of the buttons are) to be the core mechanics of the magic system than I would argue that the removal of spell selection and by consequence all of the strategy and tactics that accompanies it's removal are major change.
None of these categories lend themselves to the subjective unless the reviewer is being lazy, or else cannot separate the objective from the subjective.
Well I disagree, most notably with graphics which I find particularly interesting in regards to how highly stylized Fable is, but as I said not much use in debating that.
 
Well I disagree, most notably with graphics which I find particularly interesting in regards to how highly stylized Fable is, but as I said not much use in debating that.
You're thinking aesthetics. Aesthetics account for personal taste.

Personal taste has nothing to do with whether a game makes use of high-level graphics or looks like it was made out of pixels and came from Super Nintendo technology.
 
So what if it looks like its made of pixels? Scott Pilgrim vs the world was made to look like that. Does that mean it should be scored poorly because of that? How about Madworld? Wind Waker? etc.
 
Try referring back to the criteria I wrote out to answer your earlier question?

Of note: "- Graphics, as applicable, and per purpose - that is to say, does the game attempt to push graphic benchmarks? Some games use graphics as its entire point of being. Other games use graphics because it's a graphical medium. This can be open to discussion, and there are different schools of thought. Do all games require perfect, next-gen graphics? Or do perfect, next-gen graphics not matter as much in games not intending to set a new precedent?"

The majority of it applies, but the bolded portion should be sufficient.
 
Yes I read that but my point was how could you score that? How do you know what the purpose is? How do you know it isn't supposed to look like that? Even when you do know how do you judge something objectively that is trying to accomplish something thats appeals to the subjective?

Like I said though not much point in trying to debate objectivity/subjectivity with an objectivist.

This tangent is getting away from the purpose of my initial post as well. Which was to dispute your statement that all the Fable games have the same combat system. Those that have been following this thread but not the franchise should now have a more informed idea of what the combat systems are. I know I wouldn't be happy if I decided to purchase the prior installments of the series thinking that it was the same only to find out afterwards that they are not.
 
So yeah, anyway, in non-"uppity philosophical debate" news: I made it to Driftwood yesterday. It never actually registered to me that Millfields is where you start Fable 2 after Theresa cuts you loose until I got that quest with the dude wanting to build a bridge to memorialize the old Hero's beginnings. Between that and Bowerstone, I've come to really love how Fable revisits the same areas in different periods to show you how Albion is evolving over time. :up:
 
I'm trying to remember if I've been to Driftwood. Is it something you have to unlock? I couldn't remember where that bridge was after doing the quest. That's one of the downfalls of always following the glowing trail; I never get a sense of where things are in the world.
 
Yeah, it's something you unlock. After you meet the Bowerstone Resistance, a quest opens up to help a guy in the Albion Historical Society (or something like that) by donating gold to build a bridge in Millfields that leads to Driftwood. Once you get that, it starts unlocking other quests where you can help the Dwellers/gypsies who used to live where Millsfield is rebuild. It's pretty strongly implied that they're the same gypsies who raised the Fable 2 Hero, displaced by Reaver's gentrification of the area.
 
Weird. I did that bridge quest, but I haven't seen any of the resulting quests pop up. I'll have to search around for the bridge tonight.
 
It should be right where you met the guy who gave you the bridge quest, up that big rock with the statue of the guy with a telescope. There's a small area after you cross the bridge (which had some enemies lurking around in my game) before you hit the loading screen for Driftwood.
 
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Awesome, thanks!

I finished a second playthrough last night and managed to raise about 6.4 mil before the final battle. I was hoping to get all 6.5 mil, but I guess it didn't matter. Teresa said I saved everyone. I've started a third, this time playing as an evil princess. Time to start farting at people and killing random strangers.
 
I'm not even king yet and I have about 11 million gold. :oldrazz:

I'm gonna play an evil prince after I finish my current good princess play-through. Figured I'd switch it up this time since I usually start with a male character in RPGs.
 
Yep. Only got about 300,000 from that, though. Even rubber-banded, my controller kept switching off--turns out the batteries were on their last legs. :o I used that to start buying the big businesses, though, and I've had more gold than I know what to do with since. I just went back and reset the rents on all of the houses I own to normal because I don't need the money at all and I kind of want people to stop hating me. :csad:
 
I did the same, but only after I raised money for the war. It was neat walking around town before I lowered prices. They were all, "Yeah! The Queen! BOOOOOOOOO!"
 
I left all my prices at the highest. I'm thinking of maybe dropping rents to low and pushing prices back down to normal. I shouldn't really need to accumulate another 10 million+ gold for anything, right?
 
Nah. If you make all "good" choices during the king/queen phase, you'll lose roughly 1.5 million from the treasury (assuming you donate the proceeds you win from kingly quests), meaning you'll need 8 million to save Albion in the end.
 
Cool. I'll still be collecting money from the businesses, too. Not as much, but at the pace I'm playing, I should still be raking in quite a bit of gold. I take things pretty slow and try to do every side quest I can that doesn't conflict with my princess' goody-two-shoes morality.
 
I ended up doing those assassination missions. People hated me, but they got over it once I danced with them a bit and played pat-a-cake. I think our military could learn from this lesson.
 
Is it just me, or does it seem like there are a lot more evil-leaning weapons than good ones? Most of the requirements for the weapons I've gotten involve obtaining guild seals via evil expressions or killing good people or whatever.
 
You're not seeing things. I feel like most of the game is weighted for you to be evil (the ending, especially). At least I know that playing as an evil character will be easy to do. Maybe I can finally show that door a fully-upgraded weapon!
 

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