I started playing Fable 2 Friday evening when I returned from a business trip. I'm not even close to finishing the main story, but I have about 25 hours in the game (yeah, I played all night last night and was tired as heck this morning). I can see how someone could play this straight through in about 10-12 hours by just focusing on getting loot by finding treasure, going from one quest to the next, etc., but that almost completely ignores most of the simulation potential of the game. Let me explain.
I spent several hours working for the blacksmith, and as a woodcutter, maxing out my abilities (and how much I can earn) in each of those fields. And there are other occupations available that I haven't even tried, yet. I bought a cottage, wooed a barmaid, got married, but haven't had kids yet. I own two street-vendor stalls for income to support upkeep of my house, but haven't yet gone to the furniture store in the main city to furnish the place (there are rooms full of each kind of item to be purchased). I can buy houses, other businesses, customise my clothes, hair, etc., etc.
I'm just getting started from the simulation point of view.
I'm guessing I can get at least 200 hours out of this, but that wouldn't be the way everyone would play it.
