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Fable
Developer	Lionhead Studios
Publisher	Microsoft Game Studios
Designer	Peter Molyneux
Released	September 14, 2004
Genre	Action RPG
Mode(s)	Single player
Ratings	ESRB: Mature (M) OLFC M15+
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Xbox
Media	DVD

Fable is a video game for Xbox and PC. It was developed by Big Blue Box, a satellite of Lionhead Studios, and was published by Microsoft. Shipped to retail on September 14, 2004, Fable was well-received by critics for the quality of its gameplay and execution, even as they lamented its failure to include many of the features promised by creator Peter Molyneux.^[1] The game's music was composed by Russell Shaw, and the opening title theme was composed by Danny Elfman.

An extended version of the game, Fable: The Lost Chapters, was released for Windows and Xbox in September 2005.

A sequel, Fable 2, is set for release on June 15, 2008.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Character customization 1.2 Property development 1.3 Experience and leveling-up 1.4 Clothing 2 Plot 2.1 Characters 3 Development 4 Reception 5 On Xbox 360 6 Fable: The Lost Chapters 6.1 The Northern Wastes 7 References/Notes 8 External links

In the game, the player controls the main character from a third person perspective. The character can be made to interact with people and objects, and in battle can be made to attack and execute skills through button presses or by utilizing user-defined keyboard shortcuts in the PC version.

Fable features a character customization system based on the concept that everything the character does affects him to a certain extent. If he eats too much, he will gain weight. if he doesn't block in battle, he will have scars, and if he stands in the sun too long, he will tan, having the character drink too much beer will make him sick and throw up.

The method of combat affects the hero's appearance, a warrior who uses heavy weapons will find his musculature and size increase, an archer will be lean and sleek, a mage will have glowing hands and can gain access to blue tattoos.

Every article of clothing the character acquires will change his in-game appearance. He can be further customized through a variety of haircuts, facial hair, and tattoo cards which allow for a range of body modification options. The clothing, hairstyle, and tattoos the character wears will affect the way he is seen by the non-player characters.

The actions that the character makes will award either good or evil points. Killing monsters or saving villagers will result in achieving good points. Committing a crime, killing an innocent person, or getting a spouse to divorce you will accumulate evil points. These affect not only the responses of the non-player characters, but also the appearance of the character. A hero with an abundance of good points will soon find a halo surrounding his head, butterflies swarming around him and his hair will turn blond. An evil character will sprout horns, emit a red haze from around his legs, draw flies, and have glowing red eyes, in addition to getting a receding hairline. As he grows older, whether he is good or evil, his hair will start to turn white. The apparent age of the hero is related to the core skills he acquires. The higher he raises his level, the older his appearance becomes.

The player is able to buy property, and then either rent it out or live there. In each of the larger towns, there is a marital house that the player can buy. The player can also kill citizens of the town, and the deceased person's house or shop will appear for sale. When bought, the player can decorate the house and place trophies on trophy mounts to increase the value of the house. This value increase is especially beneficial if the house is being rented out. For houses, each day results in rent amounting to 5% of the value of the house, with shops and taverns having a lower percentage. You can mount a trophy, sell the house, then break the door down to get you trophy back. Do this for thousands of gold pieces.

Throughout the game, a player has to earn experience points in order to purchase or upgrade abilities and statistics. Points earned have four categories: General, Strength, Skill, and Will. General points are gained through completion of quests and killing enemies and creatures. How the player goes about killing those creatures will affect in which of the other three categories they will gain points. Making the Hero use melee weapons to attack an enemy or making him eat healthy food earns Strength points. Firing the bow or engaging in trade earns Skill points. Using magic often earns Will points. The experience the character gains can be multiplied during combat through the combat multiplier. As the character successfully hits an enemy (melee, ranged or will attack), his combat multiplier increases. If the character is hit by the enemy, the combat multiplier drops down to the next multiple of five, or zero if below five. For example, if twelve experience points are earned and the combat multiplier is ten, the actual experience awarded is 120. Leveling up also ages the Hero.

The primary method of defense in the game comes from the types of clothing that the Hero acquires and wears. In addition to providing defensive properties, clothes also affect the way the Hero is perceived by the various NPCs throughout the game.

Light-coloured clothing makes the Hero look more noble to the townspeople, and thus cause them to praise and respect him. Dark-coloured clothing causes the Hero to seem evil or threatening to townspeople, and cause them to fear him.

The game centers on the only playable character, a male referred to by his title or only as the hero. Players start with the title "Chicken Chaser" and are able to buy new titles throughout the game such as "Ranger", "Arseface", and others including ones that can only be earned via completing a special accomplishment. The Hero lives in a land known as Albion.^[2] The period wherein the story is set is similar to the Middle Ages, but the history behind it - the land being ruled by one king (who is unnamed and does not appear) through an ancient bloodline which leads directly into the current chaos - is clearly not. As a child, the Hero's village, Oakvale, was raided and destroyed by bandits. During which, his father was slain and his mother and sister were kidnapped and severely abused (this included the removal of his sister's eyes). An older Hero named Maze arrives on the scene, saves him, and convinces him to join the Heroes' Guild to be trained to become a Hero; despite the Guildmaster's opinion, Maze sees great potential in the boy. He then embarks on a journey to discover the reason behind his village's destruction, discovering his destiny and the true fate of his family along the way. After numerous small quests, and Maze's discovery of a blind seeress living among the bandit camp near Oakvale, the Hero proceeds to infiltrate the bandit camp. To the Hero's surprise, the blind seeress is actually his older sister who was taken in by Twinblade, former hero and present Bandit King. The Hero is given the choice of killing bandit king Twinblade, or sparing him. Later, after more smaller quests, the Hero is invited to fight in the Witchwood arena, where he meets the legendary Hero, Jack of Blades, and is given the choice of killing his old ally and rival Whisper. However, it soon becomes clear that it was Jack of Blades himself who was responsible for the destruction of the Hero's home. Aided by his blind sister, the Hero makes it his mission to defeat Jack of Blades and restore order to the land of Albion, or to take on an evil side and lead the land into terror and death.

The Hero

The main character of the game, whose birth name is never mentioned during the game. His appearance is customizable, and thus depends on the players' preferences. But is usually shown to be bald, not having a shirt on and not showing any signs of evilness or goodness. The Hero is to become the strongest Hero in Albion because of his ancient bloodline connected to Archon, the royal bloodline of the Old Kingdom.

The Guildmaster

The Guildmaster is one of the oldest Heroes alive. He operates the Heroes' Guild and is in charge of training Hero apprentices. The Guildmaster watches over every step of the Hero's journey through the Hero's Guild Seal, often offering advice and issuing orders along the way. In Fable: The Lost Chapters, the Snowspire Oracle reveals that the Guildmaster's true name is Weaver, and that along with Maze, he led a bloody revolt against the previous Guild due to his belief that the Guild should not force its Heroes to walk the path of good, but rather should give them the freedom to choose their own destiny.

Maze

An old wizard and head of the Heroes' Guild. Maze rescues the young Hero from bandits during the Oakvale raid, and takes him to the Heroes' Guild to be trained as an apprentice. He becomes a father figure to the Hero and helps to guide the Hero on his search for his missing family. However, the Hero eventually learns that Maze is in league with Jack of Blades, the being who destroyed Oakvale and killed the Hero's father. He in fact was part of Jack's raid and was left behind to kill the Hero. Upon seeing the boy, Maze had a change of heart and took the boy in, thinking that he could kill Jack. His hope wavered eventually and fear brought him back to Jack. The Hero then proceeds to kill Maze in battle, and before he dies Maze reveals that he helped Jack because he didn't want to die. In Fable: The Lost Chapters, the Snowspire Oracle reveals that as a young boy, Maze's parents were killed by Balverines, but Maze was saved from certain death by Jack of Blades and two Heroes (Jack killed the Balverines that were about to kill Maze, and then killed the Heroes). Maze was never able to escape from Jack's shadow.

Whisper

The Hero's friend and sometimes his rival, an acrobat who fights with a pole staff. Whisper and her older brother, Thunder, were stranded on Albion after a storm wrecked their ship, and subsequently were raised in the Heroes' Guild. She trains with the Hero when he is a boy, and the two quickly develop a strong rivalry. Whisper and the Hero battle against each other during a few quests. Ultimately, the two cooperate in a battle against monsters in the gladiatorial Arena, only to be pitted against each other in a fight to the death thanks to the interference of Jack of Blades. The player can choose to kill Whisper or not, earning 10,000 gold for doing so.

Thunder

Thunder is Whisper's brother, and Champion of the Arena, being one of the two Heroes to win without a break. He is initially disdainful of the Hero, and continues to look down on him throughout the game. Thunder is in love with Lady Grey and obsessively courts her, and thus develops a grudge against the Hero when Lady Grey becomes interested in him instead, as well as Whisper's death if the Hero chooses to kill her. Thunder makes a brief appearance near the end of the main story to aid the Hero in fighting off some of Jack of Blades' monsters.

Briar Rose

A very powerful and intelligent female Hero. She is from a noble background, but her family fell into hard times when she was a child, so she ended up joining the Heroes' Guild. She is more of a scholar than a fighter, and relies more on intelligence and magic rather than physical strength. Although she initially vilifies the Hero, Briar Rose slowly begins to respect him after the two fight together in quests against Jack of Blades' forces.

The Archeologist

One of the only men to examine the ruins of the Old Kingdom of the era. His study of the Focus Sites and Old Kingdom passages put him at odds with Jack of Blades, and as a result he has become rather reclusive, hiding wherever he can. The Hero first meets him on a mission for Maze, who claimed he was an old friend of his, which is unlikely since he was working for Jack at this point. The Hero later saves him from Jack's minions, only for him to continue hiding. He runs off to the Cities of the West disguised as a glove trader. He then never stepped near a ruin or opened a book since.

Lady Elvira Grey

The seductive but villainous Mayor of Bowerstone. In her youth, Lady Grey was convinced by Jack of Blades to murder her older sister, Amanda, so that she could inherit the position of Mayor. In the original game, the Hero is given the option of marrying or not. In Fable: The Lost Chapters, the Hero may also expose her villainous deeds and take her place as Mayor. Although the parts of the quest that involve exposing her as a murderer are in the original Fable, the player cannot act on it even when finding proof.

Scarlet Robe

The Hero's mother. She was once a famous Slayer of Balverines, and was respected as Champion of the Arena and the greatest female Hero. When she was severely injured by Balverines during a particular battle, Scarlet Robe was found and nursed back to health by Brom, and the two of them fell in love, got married, and raised a family. She is eventually killed by Jack of Blades to activate the Sword of Aeons.

Brom

The Hero's father. He is a woodcutter form Oakvale and married Scarlet Robe after he nursed her back to health when she was injured after an attack against a pack of balverines in the arena. After they had two children, Theresa and The Hero. He was killed in the bandit raid of Oakvale while fighting to protect his family. His statue is in the Oakvale memorial graveyard and his tombstone can be found on the Lychfield graveyard.

Theresa

The Hero's older sister who has prophetic powers due to their ancient bloodline. During the Oakvale raid, Jack of Blades blinded her, and she was found by Twinblade and raised by bandits, eventually becoming Twinblade's second-in-command due to her prophetic powers. Despite her blindness, Theresa possesses extrasensory perception due to her exceptional Will abilities, and is thus more than capable of killing all those who oppose her. However, she leaves Twinblade's service after he is defeated by the Hero. Searching for their mother on her own, Theresa is eventually captured by Jack of Blades. After the battle with Jack of Blades, she tells her brother that he has a choice: "Strike me down now with the Sword of Aeons and gain the power Jack dreamed of, or cast it into the vortex and rid the world of it's evil forever." Whichever choice the Hero makes, Theresa is never seen again. After the battle with Jack of Blades, she headed off to the mountains and is taken in by a nomad who later tried to steal her prophetic powers. Theresa killed him and moved off to live in the east.

Twinblade

A gigantic ex-Hero who left the Guild to unite a dozen bandit factions and become the King of Bandits. When Maze alludes to him being responsible for the raid on Oakvale the main character then enters into his camp and defeats him personally. Before finishing the duel, the Hero is interrupted by his sister, who reveals that it was Twinblade who found her after the raid, and saved her from the eventual death Jack of Blades (the real commander of the raid) left her for after cutting her eyes out. Teresa then leaves, and the Hero is given the choice of eliminating or sparing him. Either way, Twinblade or his followers later hire a band of assassins to try to kill the Hero.

Scythe

Scythe is an ancient Hero and one of the oldest beings in Albion. Scythe is obsessed with cheating death, and he has only managed to live for so long due to supernatural means. He is a withered shell of a man, resembling a tall, mummified corpse. At the beginning of the game, he leaves for the distant Northern Wastes to guard the Oracle of Snowspire. He returns after the defeat of Jack of Blades to seek the Guild's help in battling a new threat to the Northern Wastes.

Nostro

A deceased hero, once known as "The Gatekeeper". When he was alive, Nostro founded the Heroes' Guild, but was only happy with a blade in his hand. It is revealed that he had not died the way he wished to, as he had died at the hands of his assistant, who had poisoned him. Because of his manner of death, his soul wanders Lychfield in perpetual torment, until the hero defeats him in battle.

Jack of Blades

Jack is widely known as the oldest and strongest of Heroes, as well as the most evil and feared, Jack of Blades is the primary antagonist of the game. After travelling the world in search of knowledge and power, Jack has become the unofficial ruler of Albion. His face is perpetually concealed by a white mask with a strange pattern. His study of the Old Kingdom, despite his despise for it, has allowed him to control Minions and his influence and wealth (some of which is gathered from his own Arena winnings) allows him to hire bandits and bend Maze to his will, giving him an impressive army. He rules over Bargate Prison, which he uses to imprison his more important enemies. This power, however, is not enough, with his ultimate sadistic desire to make the world 'burn'. To that end he seeks the Sword of Aeons, uncovered the bloodline that could unlock its power and led bandits and Maze to Oakvale to find the Hero's family, killing the Hero's father himself. Once he gain the Key for the sword, Jack unleashed his Minion army and activates the Focus Sites. His army lays siege to the Heroes' Guild and Jack nearly kills the Guildmaster. He kills Scarlet Robe to free the Sword, but is defeated and slain by the Hero, as in the original game. In Fable: The Lost Chapters, it is stated that Jack was never a hero or even a mortal man, but a malevolent being who predates the age of gods and demons by millennia. Jack's spirit lives inside the mask, which he forged of pure evil to gain immortality, and has used countless host bodies to influence Albion from century to century. After his initial defeat, Jack's soul escapes and takes the form of a large dragon sealed behind the Bronze Gate near Archon's Shrine. The Hero uses Jack's mask to gather three Hero souls and open the Bronze Gate, then proceeds to slay Jack's new form. The player is then given the final task of casting the mask into the vortex and destroying it, thus banishing Jack from the living world forever. The Hero can also choose to wear Jack's mask and take over the latter's identity and reign of terror.

While the game was still in development in 2002, it was called Project Ego.^[3] The game took roughly four years to create, with a team of around 70 developers working on it.^[4] The main ideas that constituted the entire development of Fable were that "the hero must visually reflect his experiences", and that "the world and its residents must react in a manner appropriate to the player's actions".^[5]

One of the complaints that arose upon the release of Fable was the fact that it failed to include features that Peter Molyneux had mentioned while the game was still in development.^[1] One of the features that were not included in the game's release was the Hero's ability to have children^[6] despite the fact that Molyneux had previously mentioned that the Hero's own children would be "significant" in the game.^[7] Molyneux reacted to these complaints by means of a public apology posted on the official Lionhead forums in which he said, "If I have mentioned any feature in the past which, for whatever reason, didn't make it as I described into Fable, I apologise."^[1]

Despite this, the game was generally well-received; retaining an outstanding rating (9.3) at IGN, and winning several awards.^[8] Though pointing out several flaws in the game such as "bland" character designs, Marc Saltzman of USAToday.com states that the game "should satisfy you with its incredible depth, open-ended game play and a solid story that gets even better about half-way through the adventure."^[4] Fable has been praised for its concept of free will and having consequences for the Hero's actions,^[9] the game has been criticized for its violence^[10] and for "promoting male violence against women".^[11]

Fable has been released on the marketplace of the Xbox 360 gaming system on 4th December 2007 after a fall update of the gaming system's marketplace. To commemorate Xbox Live's 5th year anniversary, Microsoft has released Xbox Originals, which are playable on the Xbox 360 gaming system. The full game can be downloaded for 1200 Microsoft Points. The Extras link has remained on the menu screen but the Demos that were available in the original were removed, and when choosing the Extra option the game will crash.

Fable : The Lost Chapters
Developer	Lionhead Studios
Publisher	Microsoft Game Studios
Designer	Peter Molyneux
Released	September 20, 2005
Genre	Action RPG
Mode(s)	Single player
Ratings	ESRB: Mature (M) OLFC M15+
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Xbox
Media	DVD
Input methods	Keyboard, Mouse

Fable: The Lost Chapters is a remake of the 2004 Xbox RPG Fable, developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Windows and Xbox in September 2005. The game is currently being ported to Mac OS X by Feral Interactive.^{[citation needed]} The Windows version had only a few minor differences from the Xbox version.

Fable: The Lost Chapters features all the content found in the original Fable, as well as additional new content such as new monsters, weapons, items, armor, towns, buildings and expressions. The story receives further augmentation in the form of nine new areas and sixteen additional quests. Characters such as Briar Rose and Scythe (Scythe was not even mentioned, and Briar Rose only appeared once), who were unimportant in the original game, are now given more importance and are included in certain quests and side quests. Using the in-game menu systems, the player can examine their characters basic details such as romance information (which includes: sexuality, number of spouses, number of weddings, number of divorces, etc.), or other details such as their title. In Fable The Lost Chapters Jack's voice also changed into a slyer, more monster-like voice, despite the original voice apparently being the more popular.

A new area of land called "The Northern Wastes" is unlocked shortly after the game continues, following the first defeat of Jack of Blades. The land is a frozen area, with only one settlement; Snowspire Village. The northern wastes also houses some more unusual areas, including:

• The Necropolis - a mass graveyard occupied by many ghosts, undead, and frost balverines
• The Oracle - located at the peak of Snowspire village, can reveal a lot of background information regarding Albion and current characters.
• Archon's Shrine - a mysterious structure outside Snowspire village, it is central to unlocking the Bronze Gate
• The Bronze Gate - built in the time of the last Archon, it is said to have trapped a terrible evil. It is through here that the hero will face his ultimate battle with Jack of Blades.

• Official Fable site
• Official Lionhead Fable site
• Fable: The Lost Chapters Official Website
• Microsoft's Fable: The Lost Chapters Web site

v • d • e Fable video games
Games	Fable · Fable 2
Soundtrack	Fable Original Soundtrack
Other	Albion