I'm REALLY interested in this game after reading the Eurogamer review - and I was entirely indifferent to this game after being severely underwhelmed by the first Fable.
Some quotes:
"Fable II explores what happens when a game does away with most forms of punishment, and does nothing but reward its players from start to finish. The results are astonishing."
"The biggest surprise is that the game's inherent generosity never feels gratuitous, even when it's overturning many games' most fundamental design principles."
"[T]he game's controversial pathfinding system really comes into its own when you realise you can ignore it as much as you want, and what was initially patronising becomes empowering."
"...Lionhead has largely delivered on its promises along the way..."
"Fable II's generous and forgiving template isn't one that many games choose to follow, but it proves convincingly that if you're clever enough, you can create a consistent challenge without resorting to mindless punishment, and you can craft a sharply told story that still has room for the player to express themselves within."
What I thought would be a fairly standard action-RPG (like the first Fable was) looks to be a revolution in role-playing game design, if the early reviews are any indication. This is now way high up on my "wanted games" list.
"'Casual games' are something the 'Game Industry' invented to explain away the Wii success instead of actually listening or looking at what Nintendo did. There is no 'casual strategy' from Nintendo. 'Accessible strategy', yes, but ‘casual gamers’ is just the 'Game Industry''s polite way of saying what they feel: 'retarded gamers'."
-Sean Malstrom
