A Letter To Lionhead – On Fable: The Journey

by Vaughn Highfield

Dear Lionhead,

After having played Fable: The Journey, my deepest sympathies are with you. It mustn’t have been easy going through development knowing that everything you were creating would be defiled by that three-eyed bar that Microsoft call Kinect. It must have been hard to know that the mass majority of players have discredited the technology and its use as a gaming peripheral. And I can only imagine how relieved you must feel after showing the world that no matter how hard you try, it just isn’t possible to create a non-casual game for Kinect.

[drop]You did well though, I loved how you crafted a personal journey of discovery with Gabriel, who – after losing his caravan convoy – learns how to take responsibility for his actions and grow into the role of the traditional Fable hero.

It was a stroke of genius to give him a name that allowed a bond to form between player and character – even if he can be a whiney pain. You did a great job of making me care about Gabriel’s horse, Seren – so much more than I ever cared about that stupid dog in previous games.

Heck, I even enjoyed that witty dialogue and dark humour that permeates the franchise, even if this time around it was toned down for a wider audience.

It was great to see that traditional Fable flair in almost every inch of your work, from the loading screens to the tutorials; this isn’t some rushed Kinect tie-in affair, this is a considered entry into the series – despite it not being Fable IV (get to work on that, yeah?).

Even the rather wooden dialogue was received warmly when it broke up the monotony of the horse and cart sections that essentially tied this shooting gallery together. Zoe Wannamaker’s return to the role of Teresa was great to see, injecting flair into conversations; but the lack of Stephen Fry as Reaver means it’s not quite up there with the series’ usual flair for characters.

I had been waiting for two years for more hobbe-killing action and you finally gave it to me – and boy did you give it to me in droves. I know it’s been fifty years since the end of Fable III but what has happened to the hobbe population in Albion? I genuinely feel that with my right arm – with a little help of my left – bolted, scorched, stunned and impaled the entire population of these blighters in what can only be considered as genocide.

But I suppose you don’t become a hero without squashing an entire species or two.

My, or more accurately Gabriel’s, gauntleted hands also throttled rockmites, balverines and those bloody wasps; but luckily it’s a little hard to kill off all the hollow men. This isn’t a complaint, it was entertaining after all, but where was all the adventuring? It gets a little tiring seeing balverines and hollow men go for Gabriel’s jugular.

I suppose this is where the problem lies, and where I begin to feel your pain. It’s evident that you wanted to branch out and really create a sprawling adventure that could capture the hearts and minds of those playing and watching. You really wanted to make me feel like the hero of previous Fables – you wanted to empower me, just like Gabriel had been empowered. Unfortunately Kinect just couldn’t let you do that. You can admit it – Microsoft must know it themselves too.

Don’t beat yourself up about it. You gave it a valiant effort. Casting spells is incredibly simple and being able to summon shards or fireballs by just speaking their name – or performing a simple action – means that combat always flows well. Bringing in ‘aftertouch’ also got around most of the inaccuracies Kinect created, and allowed for some experimentation too.

You also never let up with the pace during combat sections, meaning that this can truly be considered as the Kinect game ‘for gamers’. You also made the world largely interactive, allowing me to pluck apples from trees and brush and heal Seren after combat. The entire time though, it pained me to see just how much you wanted to break away from the restraints of Kinect and plunge me deep into a living world in turmoil.

Peppering tales of woe along Gabriel’s path as he journeyed towards the spire was there to provide the back-story that couldn’t be told through gameplay. The cut-scenes were plentiful, again to make up for the shortcomings of Kinect’s storytelling ability. The multiple paths and optional stops provided during the cart sections only provided short, teasing glimpses of Albion, rather than opening it up for traditional Fable-style exploration. It’s fine though, I don’t blame you – I blame Kinect.

[drop2]When it works well Kinect really makes Fable: The Journey shine. However, when Kinect doesn’t work – and that’s far more often than you’d like it to be – it does the unthinkable and turns Fable: The Journey into a steaming pile of balverine turd.

For hours I was wrestling with some illusory force that decided to fire all my shots when my arms were by my sides – somehow thinking that a picture on my wall was indeed my right arm. This isn’t your fault at all, but it’s a crushing reminder that no matter how hard any developer tries, Kinect can’t produce a game that’ll rival the action found in traditional titles.

There is absolutely no pleasure in having to calibrate my aim every time I get up and leave my chair, or after an hour or so when Kinect decides it’s going to just forget where I am. It’s also not very handy to find out that I can only calibrate just after my game has saved, leaving me to battle balverines and tear hollow men’s arms off with my incredibly poor aim.

Ultimately I wanted to love your work on Fable: The Journey, but – because of Kinect’s failings – I can’t help but feel torn between adoring it and wanting to tear Gabriel’s dreadlocked hair right from his head. You’ve packed it full of action, littered it with collectibles and produced an addictive arcade mode in an attempt to bring me back when I’m finished, but I really find myself just wanting to wash my body after playing it. What’s worse is, none of this is because Fable: The Journey is bad – it’s an incredibly fun game to play – it’s just because Kinect maims the enjoyment that could be had.

It’s because of this that my heart goes out to all of you. It’s never nice to see your baby torn apart because the hardware you’ve catered for can’t handle the grand ideas you have to express.

Yours truly,

A disappointed Fable fan.

12 Comments

  1. What a load of toss. Lionhead made their bed and Molyneux fluffed the pillows. They didn’t make a kinect game because MS told them, they made it because they (Molyneux) wanted to. The game doesn’t fail because of the technology, it failure is their own doing as they made a game that the technology they were writing for , clearly wasn’t up to . That is no excuse to go ahead and do it anyway.

    Even Molyneux levels of bollox couldn’t save it and I still have no doubt is partially the reason for him leaving. A workman never blames his tools. They should have worked within the capabilities of the tech and didn’t and as a result the game is disappointing.

    • Lionhead is owned by Microsoft so there may well have been some serious leaning on them to create this. With that in mind, the fault lies with MS but what are Lionhead to do? Hands are tied (which Kinect would ignore anyway) and the technology had such limitations that Lionhead devs tried to make the best of a bad situation. Thing is… MS has put millions of pounds behind Kinect and it’s trying to show how it can be a real game changer.

      Well, it is. Just not for the better when it comes to more serious offerings.

    • My thoughts entirely Psycho,this is Milo the game.

    • Actually I believe that the title was developed because MS wanted a game to showcase Kinect and appeal to core gamers. Even Molyneux isn’t so insane that he’d make a Kinect game of his own accord.

  2. I didn’t realise there were any Fable fans

    • With a franchise that’s sold nearly 12 million units, how can there not be? Sure, I think it’s absolute pants but have a little heart! :-)

  3. Any developer who actually develops for Kinect are either in MS’s pocket or are clearly bonkers, or both. This gen, it is a pile of shit and as usual, the casual players believed the MS bullshit, idiots.

    You need buttons, at least that is the case in the here and now. Fast forward a few years and maybe the tech will work properly or well certainly well enough. Still, MS can laugh at all the stupid people who have lined their pockets.

    Whilst MOVE isn’t a success in reality either, at least the bloody thing actually works.

  4. I really like this piece. Good stuff.

  5. I don’t think anyone at Lionhead will be bothered to read all of that! Still, some interesting points.

    • even if they do, ms are in charge now, and they want kinect pushed, so they’ll push it.

      can’t blame them for that, they’re just doing their job, it sounds, from this article, that they did the best they could with what they had to do, but they can’t work miracles.

  6. That was a good read. Clearly you are a real fan of the Fable series and if anyone should read this letter it’s Mr Molyneaux and co.

  7. You expressed very well however, I think that they should really go all out for the next one where you control alot more than a country. As corny as it sounds my fav. part about fable is Theresa but from what she did in the spire “her time in this world is over” WHAT!!! I believe I herd she was the “link” to all fable games,she cant be done..!!??? Nevertheless this game was a whole in their studios somewhat because of kinect but also because its not the bloodline, but they can absolutely fix it. They should just return to the Xbox controllers as boring as it sounds, but that is how people will re-like the game. As I mentioned before GO ALL OUT and give control give power mix all fable games together and create a marvelous idea!

    Thanks for your time
    -Brian

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