Fable III -- Final Opinion.

I have completed the main game of Fable III with all but two achievements. Those achievements are from trading weapons and clothing with other players online. I'll be working on those two, but essentially the game is done. Fable III is an overall success in spite of itself. The game is fun, and funny. The Fable games have always had a great sense of grand ambition tethered to a company in Lionhead Games that just can't ever seem to get it all the way done. The Fable series is full of great ideas poorly realized and Fable III is no exception. You sort of get the sense that they had a million ideas and set about trying to do them all and then it comes down to the wire and they just dump what they have onto a disc and call it a game. It's a testament to the core concepts at work in Fable that the game remains fun in spite of all the technical crap going on. Fable III seems to have more bugs than the previous two games. Everyone I know playing the game has encountered the bug where Jasper no longer speaks to you. Which is a shame, as John Cleese is fabulous as the character and his dry British wit is delivered with perfect comic timing. The gameplay in Fable has always been on the easy side, but with the new overall streamlining approach to every aspect of the game the combat has become even simpler. To the point where it's starting to become a detriment. It's too easy. There is no challenge. I'm not really a big fan of the one-on-one interaction within the game. It's just time consuming. I prefer the previous game's showing off for a crowd approach. I did enjoy the concept of the second half of the game wherein you'll become the king or queen and have to make decisions and try to keep your promises. Most of those promises are represented by financial costs to the kingdom. The problem is it's too easy to make money and by the time I got there I had so much money that it broke the second half of the game. I never faced the moral dilemma the game so wants you to experience. Graphically Fable III looks about the same as Fable II with some improved lighting effects that really work well. I really like the colorful approach to Fable's world. It would be great to see more western RPGs take this approach. Musically Fable III is as strong as ever. The whimsical fantasy scoring is reminiscent of Danny Elfman. The voice work is superb, and very British. The aforementioned Cleese and Stephen Fry as Reaver highlight a great cast of voice actors. The best part of the Fable series, the British charm and humor are in full effect for Fable III. For Fable IV, I'd love to see Lionhead focus on the technical side as much as they seem to focus on the story and character and acting of the series. If they could just get the tech on par with the other aspects of the series and maybe focus on a few things to the point of being polished instead of going halfway with every idea under the sun then they'd likely come up with a truly amazing game. As I stated previously, I enjoyed the game in spite of itself. I am docking a full point based purely on the technical side of things. Games shouldn't be this glitchy in 2010. Another point and a half for having too little focus. I'm giving Fable III a 7.5.