Which one do you think is the best, and why?

Fable 1. Imho it's the only one that mattered. The others failed to build around its promise. I had been saying since I joined this site that the franchise would fall apart due to bad direction despite it's sales. 

One.

Two was really, really good. Three was a significant step down because of the horrible 'second half.'

But one remains one of the greatest Western RPG's ever made.

Fable 2. Co-op and better mechanics.

Fable 2. One of the lacking features in this game was the lack of proper boss battles. However, the story was engaging and the gameplay was definitely an improvement from the first title. I remember playing it with my friends and us both laughing at knocking Hobbes off the cliff and other such over-the-top ways to kill your enemies. The British humour was on point and the game had a good length if you chose to do all the sidequests.

I found that going back to the first Fable, the engine is very outdated and the game mechanics feel very clunky. It is still a good game, but a lot of my enjoyment of it is primarily based on nostalgia. That being said, I could understand why some people might prefer the first Fable. Having actual armour mechanics was good and never should have been removed from latter Fable titles.

Anyone who votes Fable 3 is wrong. No argument needs to be made here. I enjoyed Fable 3, however, that is only because I was such a fan of the franchise. If I wasn't a fan, I would not view it as fondly, and over time, my thoughts on the game diminish more.

Anyone who votes

Fable 2 is easily the best of the franchise, it took everything that was great about Fable 1 and improved upon it, scope is bigger, new gameplay mechanics introduced, lots more to do.

Fable 3 had better characterization, but it's gameplay mechanics and story did let it down. - You start getting into the swing of things and then... BAM. It's over. Done. Finished.

They *all* failed to build around their various promises. Lets not kid ourselves here. That is Peter Moleneux fault.

The franchise is still fantastic, it's full of character and charm, it's certainly not a no mans sky kind of game where the game was released and none of the promises were met leaving you with a boring shell of what "could have". They were still bundles of fun.

The games themselves did have direction, but the management and poor execution truly dragged the entire package down.
I mean mis-management is still dragging it down.
Microsoft for instance hasn't even provided Steam with more keys for Fable 3 after the game sold out, it's like Microsoft is allergic to money. - Would it cost them a crap ton of money to generate more keys? Doubtful.

They did remaster the first Fable in Unreal Engine 3. - It actually does bring it up a notch in terms of visuals and makes it less of an eyesore to play.
But considering what console generation the first fable is coming from, IMHO it has aged better than most games of that era.

Still waiting for a PC version of Fable 2...

I remember playing and enjoying the first Fable back in the day, but I never got around to playing 2 and 3.

However, I recently I picked up number 2 on the cheap, and am planning to give a whirl once I get done with Rise of the Tomb Raider.

The first one. It had perfect pacing, I played it through twice, loved it all the way. It looked great for its time.

Fable 2 was still fun but not as good. I also did a second play through for the evil path yet can't remember if I finished it. Maybe I switched to evil during my first playthrough. I mostly remember getting bored of it and trying to get rid of the dog, then starting it up again to see my bank account had gone through the roof making further gathering of money pointless.

I skipped 3, didn't look appealing.

First one and it's not even a question.