The story of the Fable series. Part 1.

Closer to the fire, my children. Today I will tell you about a great game that was able to stock up in the heart of an immense number of players. This game is so great that legends are still composed of it, and the world Albion stores hundreds or even thousands of unsolved secrets and mysteries. Well, are you ready to plunge into the abysses of my story about valiant heroes and vile villains or are you still scared? In any case, I present to you our guest today – Fable.

Fable is a video game in the Action/RPG genre, developed by Lionhead Studios and published Microsoft Game Studios. The game was favorably greeted by criticism, approvingly responding about gameplay and general quality of the game.

Lionhead was founded in 1997 by Peter Molinjo, Mark Webla, Tim Rans and Steve Jackson, but conceived even earlier when Molinjo still worked in Bullfrog, an amazing developer of PC games as Populous, Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper. Molnieu sold EA Bullfrog and earned millions on the transaction.

Fable is known as the game Lionhead under the direction of Peter Molinjo, but she was the creation of Dina and Simon Carters, who worked in Bullfrog, and then founded their own studio Big Blue Box, County Surrey. After signing the contract for participation in the Lionhead studios scheme, Big Blue Box spent four years, almost completely independently working on the fact that Fable was gradually becoming. At that time, Microsoft, which itself planned to release a video game console called Xbox, fell in love with this game.

Microsoft decided to support Fable and publish the game. The company concluded a deal on standard phased financing. All: Lionhead, Peter’s fans, even the leadership of Microsoft were waiting for this game, but shortly before the release of Fable there were a couple of events that forever changed the fate of the Big Blue Box and Lionhead. Lionhead hoped to enter the securities market and spent a lot of money on it. To implement this plan, Lionhead wanted to purchase as much “property” as possible, so I bought Big Blue Box and Intrepid. The plan ended in failure after the collapse of the securities market September 11, 2001. Lionhead, desperately in need of money to maintain the development of five more games for different publishers, has achieved investment from venture capitalists.

The Lionhead Studios team
Meanwhile, Fable became more ambitious than anyone could imagine. Therefore, it was decided to merge the Fable Core from the Big Blue Box with part Lionhead to complete the game. The mysterious Project Dimitri, to the creation of which the core of the Black & White development team has been canceled. Fable came to his place.

After the Big Blue Box moved to Lionhead Microsoft sent a first -class team of engineers and a couple of producers to help in development. Technical specialists worked on the quality work of Fable for Xbox. Lionhead created a game on powerful PC, but she had problems with a high frequency of frames on the console. Microsoft recommended Lionhead to hire producers to order chaos. Many consider Louise Murray the most important for the release of Fable by a person. Without her production, Fable would die with a terrible death. And so, in 2004, Fable saw the light.

Cover
Fable has a simple plot, poorly developed branch of secondary quests, which are completely unrelated to the main storyline. In addition, the game turned out to be very short, about 10 hours of playing time to pass the main quest. But still the advantages of the game Fable more. Let us dwell on the storyline.

The plot of the game is very interesting, and the game is arranged in such a way that it is simply impossible to get lost, the pointer constantly indicates the current goal. So there should not be any problems with the passage. The plot of the game is formally nonlinear, there is a “good” and “evil version of the passage”, the definition on this issue is made in some key points.

Attention, spoilers! Warned, it means armed.
The plot is described by the “good” line of passage

Childhood
In this part of the game, we are introduced to the basic principles of the game and basic management. Our task is to buy a gift for our own sister. After we buy sweets and give their sister, bandits attack the village and kill everyone. We themselves are saved by a certain MAZ and transfers to the guild of heroes, where our hero will be trained.

The main character

Youth
In the guilds, they begin to teach us advanced management and the battle management system. Will teach to shoot on onions and use magic. If you achieve the highest indicators in each of the disciplines, then we are guaranteed gifts. A katana will be presented for hand -to -hand combat, for firing from onions – a crossbow, for magic – a couple of bottles. Then you can go to the main part of the game.

Guild of Heroes

The main part of the game
Guild exams

We have a very simple task – to pass the guild exams. To do this, you need to defeat Meis. After the victory, the guild master will talk about the system of issuing quests in the game and will teach to waste your experience points.

After entering the open world, we are faced with the urgent problems of Albion. First you need to defeat the OS, led by their queen. Then the defining task awaits – the protection of the farm from the bandits. We help in protecting the farm, after which we have a battle with Visper, our former guild partner. We defeat her, for this it is not necessary to kill her, the battle will not happen to death, in any case not to her death.

Search for the soothsayer

MAZ gives us the hope that our sister survived after the bandit attacks on the village, and in this matter the soothsayer who lives in the camp of the bandits of Twinblade can help us. Without thinking long, we go there. There is a fight with Twinblade itself. Further, it turns out that the same soothsayer is our sister, and the bandits who attacked our native village deprived her eyes. And Twinblade helped her. In the camp, we learn that our family is special related to an unknown artifact. Sister along the way gives us a special force and promises to better study ancient texts.

Twinblade
White Balverin

Our task, this time, is the salvation of the village from the invasion of werewolves. All salt lies in the fact that the werewolves are caused by the white werewolf, which must be killed. The headman of the village advises talking to the wife of a hunter who hunted werewolves, but recently disappeared. The hunter’s wife will tell that this Balverin is her husband. Then we need to finally put an end to the white werewolf, which hid on the lake, which is located near the village.

White werewolf
Arena

Now our hero has become famous enough to take part in the battle of the arena. Shortly after the first rounds, the Visper will join our company, they have not yet forgotten who it is? With her, we destroy all enemies. After that, the guest of the competition Jack Blade will hint that the prize in the arena is one and the winner will be one. Visper will agree with this statement and invite us to arrange a demonstration duel, but it will not forget to mention that the battle is not going to death. After the victory over Vissper, the same old Jack will say that if we kill the Visper, we will get a special prize, the VISPA itself from this proposal will clearly not be delighted. But we choose the way of light and just leave the arena, because still we have become the winner of the arena, and we won’t kill an old friend. After winning the arena, Jack Blade will tell us about his mother. She was not a simple peasant, but a famous heroine, a thunderstorm of werewolf. She was also the winner of the arena, but after the raid on the village died. In fact, she is alive, but we will know about this much later.

Arena
Archaeologist
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We learn that the archaeologist, a friend of Maze, found something and now his life is in danger, which is confirmed by the fact that he disappeared. The archaeologist is hiding behind the demon door. It is necessary to name the name of the demon to open the door. To do this, you need to knock out the name on magic stones. We open the door, find an archaeologist there, he tells us that our mother is alive and then runs away.

Archaeologist
Salvation of the mother

We learn that our mother is alive, and is in prison, the same archaeologist who had already thundered to the city prison knows about the hidden entrance, on suspicion of schizophrenia. We run there, and he was stolen by Jack Blade’s assistants. We need to save him in a certain time, which is easy to make. From him we learn that the entrance to prison lies through the Lychwood cemetery. We are there. The passage lies through the demon door, but it stubbornly does not want to open, go to the caretaker of the cemetery and see that he is talking with the buyer of the stolen. From their conversation, we learn that he plundered the crypt of Nestor and his armor scattered throughout the cemetery. Then we ask him to open the gate, then we examine the cemetery and find the crypt of Nestor. It is necessary to collect all the parts of the armor of Nestor and bring them to him in a crypt. For helping Nestor, the demon door opens. In the catacombs we find the hero’s mother and head for the exit, but then we are caught by the henchmen of Jack Blade with him at the head. Total, we find ourselves in the cell, from which we later run away with the mother of the protagonist.

Mother of the main character nicknamed “Scarlet Mantia”
The sword of centuries and the first battle with Jack Blade

The most interesting begins here. The whole thing was started because of the sword of centuries. And our whole family is connected with this sword with a special connection and Jack Blade wants to get a sword. In the basement of the guild, we are waiting for the battle with Blade. He kills our mother and gets a sword. After the battle, a choice appears in front of us: we can kill my sister and take possession of the sword or throw it into the abyss. After that, the cartoon tells that we have become a great hero, our glory knows no borders, we fixed the guild and everything in the world is now good, but this is only visibility ..

Jack Blade
Tears of AVO

Heroes Guild receives a message from his agent on an abandoned shore. He reports that dark forces begin to gather there, which causes the need to go there. Send the strongest hero, that is, us. But to travel to an abandoned island, it is necessary to use the ship’s ship, which is called up using a lighthouse, but for this you need to use a fiery heart. But for starters we need a good sword, because not to beat enemies with your bare hands. The guild master mentions that Maz was looking for a famous sword in the guild – a tear of AVO, but could not find. Since Maze is already killed as a traitor, you can safely go to his room. There in the closet we learn that to obtain a sword, it is enough to read the manuscript next to the Hero’s empty grave in the courtyard of the guild. Maz himself did this procedure, but he did not get a sword, since the sword will be given only to the heroes with a good heart. We are just such. We go to an empty grave and read the scroll grabbed from the Maze room. Now in our hands the sword is a tear of AVO. With such weapons you can safely move on, not paying special attention to enemies, because their days have already been numbered. Now we need to get a fiery heart – a sacred artifact.

Tears of AVO
Abandoned shore and fiery heart

The fiery heart is behind the demon door in the courtyard of the guild. But he is protected by the keepers – small gnomes. To obtain a heart, you need to either kill all the dwarves or save. Well, we, of course, will save them. To do this, you need to win 5 logical parties, where in a short time you need to paint all the cubes or signs of the sun (salvation of the keepers), or signs of the moon (murder of the keepers). We get a fiery heart, coupled with the gratitude of the keepers for salvation. We direct our stupas to the lighthouse on the shore. The city is clearly restless – perfumes and such undead want to interfere with us. Install the heart on the lighthouse and protect it from the callers who are trying to destroy the heart. Then we go to the abandoned shore on the ship of ghosts.

Prophets of the fiery heart
Oracle

Having reached the snowy shores, we go to the local city, where the guild agent awaits us. From the agent we learn that he guarded the oracle from Blade, but now we need the help of the oracle, for this we go to the necropolis.
We return to the city and find out that Blade has planned something bad, because his soul remained alive. And its mask is used to catch souls.

Oracle
Bronze gates and souls of heroes

It turns out that Blade was reborn and wants to lead the Army of the undead, but we must interfere with him, that is, to kill him. He is behind magic bronze gates, for the opening of which you need to collect 3 souls.
After collecting three souls, the gates of bronze are open. Jack laughs angrily, for we helped him free himself, but he laughs in vain.

Bronze gates
Battle with Blade

Blade in the last fight appears in the form of a black dragon … called up creatures will help him, but this obviously does not save him. And then the enemy is defeated, but the game is not finished. Blade’s power was a mask. And then the guild master advises us to destroy it, the mask on the contrary strongly advises it to put on it. Without succumbing to evil languages, we destroy the mask, and the game ends on this.

Battle with Jack Blade

Gameplay
In the game, we manage the main character from the third person. The hero can interact with objects and other characters. During the battles, he can use weapons of both neighboring and long -range combat, as well as magical spells. There is also a combat multiplier in the game. With an increase in the multiplier, the amount of experience is increased. Upon receipt of damage, the combat multiplier is significantly reduced.

In addition to performing heroic exploits, the hero can start searching for treasures or sit on the lake and make fish. The process of catching fish is presented in the form of a mini-game. The player also seems to be the opportunity to participate in the fishing championship, where you can win a championship fishing rod. In addition to fish, in places where water is bubbled, money, potions and silver keys are caught. You can try yourself in fist battles and, winning the fights in the same city after another, win the championship title.

Fishing
Also, the keys in different regions are hidden throughout Albion. With their help, you can open special chests in which there are valuable things. The more keys you need to open a chest, the more valuable thing is in it. There are thirty such keys in total. After the opening of the chest, they remain, they can be used for other chests.

Box
The movement between locations occurs by teleportation either using a portal from the guild of heroes, or with the help of a medallion, which the hero always carries with him.

Features of the game
Choosing a dark or bright side

During the game, the hero falls in a situation where you need to take a moral choice. The commitment of one of the parties affects the pumping of abilities, the appearance of the hero and has minor consequences in the future.

The hero’s actions bring him glasses for bad and good deeds. The murder of monsters or the salvation of peasants will add points in a good way. Committing atrocities, killing innocent sacrifices, divorce with your wife will add to you evil glasses. This affects not only interaction with other characters, but also on the appearance of the hero. The hero with a high point of glasses towards good gradually appears a halo above his head, butterflies fly around it and hair brightens. The evil hero grows horns, red smoke comes from the legs, flies are circling around, red eyes glow, the hair line also moves.

The choice of the party
Personalization and customization

Also, a very important feature of the game is the complete personalization of the character – almost everything that he does affects him to a certain extent. For example, gluttony leads to obesity;Scars appear from damage in battle;Excessive drunkenness leads to marine illness and nausea. The battle method also affects the skills of the hero: a warrior using heavy weapons increases muscles and physique, the shooter becomes thin and tall, the magician shines the palms and blue patterns may appear.

Any clothing that the character acquires will affect game indicators. It can be additionally personalized through various cards of hairstyles, beards and tattoos, which give a wide range of external changes. Clothing, hairstyle and character tattoos affect the attitude of non -game characters to him.

As I wrote above, the choice of the party also affects the appearance of the character: if you are kind, you will glow all, and there will be a halo above your head;And if you are bad, then the horn is hellish and the skin is dark.

The main character

The world of the game
The world itself is not as big as it might seem. Let it have 79 locations, however, the linearity of the game itself does not create an atmosphere of a living and huge world. Because of his modest square, the game cannot boast of fascinating landscapes and densely populated cities.

Albion
The fact of the presence of a small number of creatures that inhabit only 14: Arakhins, werewolves, bandits, banshees, undead, wasps, nymphs, ice werewolfs, scorpions, cracked, calling, minions, hobbes and trolls also sorrow. Yes, for some monsters you need their own “special approach”, but this is expressed only from the position from which you need to strike.

Hobbies
But what the game for glory managed is demonic doors. They are one of the most mysterious phenomena in the world of Albion. It is not clear how they formed, and what happens to them after the opening. Is it a creature or the objects endowed with reason. They can feel, have memory, and most importantly, protect the entrances to locations with any valuable items. In order for the door to miss you, you must fulfill one condition that this door puts in front of you. There are only 15 doors in the game, each of them requires a special approach. This can be a banal presence of a certain object with you, or maybe something unusual. For example, in order for one of the doors to open, you need extensive experience in intimate relationships, namely, 10 times have sex with women.

Demonic door

Characters
The main character

The hero of Oukwale, as well known as the Kurochup (the nickname can be replaced at the discretion of the player), is the main character Fable. He is the only playable character in these games. His real name is never directly mentioned in games, he is often mentioned as a “hero” or just “guy”.

The hero was born in a small village of Oukwale in a lumberjack family. His mother was a heroine nicknamed the “scarlet mantle”, however, after a heavy battle with the werewolves, the lumberjack Brom found her wounded in the forest, went out and married her, and she left her former life. At the time of the start of the game, neither the hero nor his sister Teresa know the truth about their mother.

The main character
Mentor

Old and wise, mentor – one of the oldest inhabitants of Albion, the master of the guild is known, rather, as an official than an adventurer. However, this was not always. In his youth, when he bore the name weaver, as the oracle says, he organized an uprising against the new guild regime. This regime implied training exclusively good qualities. After this short but bloody uprising, the reaper offered the weaver to the post of guild master. It was the reaper, in spite of everything, that he saw in him calm and impartiality. Having become a master, the weaver earned the respect of students and heroes, as well as Maze himself.

Mentor
Mise

Mise is an old powerful magician who rightfully wearing the title of the head of the guild. It is Mise that becomes the first of the heroes whom the hero of Oukwale recognizes in the game. It is he who saves the little hero from the bandits during the raid on Oukwil and takes him to study the guild. Maze helps the hero all the time and even replaces his father. It is Mise that all the time pushes the hero in search of the remaining members of the family and talks about their fate. However, the reason for all this was not at all the attachment of Maze to the hero, but his service to Jack Blade, the man who burned Oukwil and killed the father of the hero.

Mise
Jack Blade

More than worthy of the gods and demons, such as Skorm and AVO, Jack could easily destroy anyone who stood in his way. He is widely known as the oldest and most powerful of the heroes, as well as the most evil and terrible. The hero ultimately learns that it was Jack who destroyed his native village Okwil and killed his father. Jack is looking for the power of a sword of centuries, which can only be activated by the heir to the archon, with whom the main character is. As soon as he uses Mise to get the key, thanks to which it will be possible to unlock the sword, Jack besieges the guild, sets it on fire and almost kills the mentor. After Jack is the sword of centuries, he kills the hero’s mother and participates in an epic battle, where he almost defeats the hero, but ultimately loses, despite his divine and demonic power, thus ending the game.

Life after

In 2014, Remaster Fable came out-first on Xbox 360, and then on PC. In essence, it did not add anything new to the 2005 game, except for improved graphics and updated interface. In other words, the HD-interpretation coped with its task: it provided the old game with a new wrapper, preserving, as usual, and an clumsy animation, and an uncomfortable character menu, and limited locations.
But what was really pleasant to look at in the remasted version, it is at the completely redesigned environment. Clear high resolution textures and improved lights made Albion truly excellent! Apparently, the authors from the very beginning thought of him.

Twinblade
Unfortunately, excessive realism did not benefit Fable. From a fairy tale with cartoon characters and staged decorations, it turned outwardly into a mediocre role action, let it with a rather pretty picture.

Conclusion
Whatever you say, but Fable captivated her fabulous atmosphere. Personal game, which constantly transforms under your influence – in itself entertainment for more than one hour. But when an interesting setting is combined with boring tasks and classic English humor, it turns out not just a good, but one of a kind game.
And even if the trees never began to grow in real time-the first Fable brought something of its own into the roan action genre.

Thank you all for reading (I hope this). This is my first large -scale work, so criticism in any volume is welcome.