Fable III
Encyclopedia
Fable III is the third video game in the Fable
series of action role-playing game
s (RPG). The game was developed by Lionhead Studios
and published by Microsoft Game Studios
for Microsoft Windows
and Xbox 360
. The story focuses on the player character's struggle to overthrow the King of Albion by forming alliances and building support for a revolution
. After a successful revolt, the player becomes the monarch and is tasked with attempting to defend Albion from a great evil. The game was released on 26 October 2010 for Xbox 360 and on May 17 2011 for PC via both Games for Windows
and Steam. The PC version includes a Hardcore mode and 3D
. functionality not found in the Xbox 360 version.
), the player's older brother. Some NPCs allude to how Logan has "changed" in the four years of his rule, becoming excessively tyrannical. The player begins the game investigating rumours that Logan had a citizen of Albion executed, causing a group of citizens to protest. After the player character intervenes, Logan presents the player with the first of the game's numerous moral choices. The player is tasked with deciding whether the group of protesters are executed, or whether the player's love-interest is executed instead. Following the decision, the player escapes Logan's castle along with their mentor, Sir Walter Beck (voiced by Bernard Hill
) and their butler
, Jasper (voiced by John Cleese
).
The player then, at the behest of Theresa (voiced by Zoe Wanamaker
), the enigmatic Seeress of the Spire, starts to gather allies to aid in a revolution against Logan. The allies they gain include Sabine (voiced by Ben Kingsley
), the leader of the "Dwellers," a nomadic community that lives in the mountains; Major Swift and Ben Finn (voiced by Simon Pegg
) from the Royal Army in command of a remote fort; Page (voiced by Naomie Harris
), the leader of the "Bowerstone Resistance"; and Kalin, the leader of Aurora, a desert land across the ocean. When attempting to gain the support of Kalin, the hero learns that a creature called the "Crawler, ruler of the Darkness," the forces of the Darkness which have already devastated Aurora, intends to exterminate all life in the Kingdom of Albion. It is revealed that Logan's reason for treating his people so harshly is to raise money for an army to defend against the Crawler.
The player then leads a coup d'état
and becomes the King/Queen, at which point the player is given the choice to keep the promises made to those who aided in the revolution at great expense to the treasury, or betray those promises in order to raise money for the defense of Albion through industrialization and using natural resources. The player can also utilize the treasury money for personal purposes, or transfer personal money from the player's own supply to the treasury.
If the player chooses to be a "great" ruler, the treasury will be vastly drained and the only way the player can offset this is by transferring several million gold from their personal funds to the treasury. With 6,500,000 gold in the treasury at the time of the Crawler attack, the player will be able to fully fund an army that can successfully defend the entire kingdom. With no money in the treasury and thus no army to defend Albion, the civilian casualties inflicted by the Crawler's attack amount to 6,500,000. If this happens, the world will be largely absent of civilians upon completion of the main quest. If the player passes lots of time by sleeping, working and increasing the royal treasure income significantly, plebeians will start to return. If the player was a benevolent leader but lost large sums of civilians, many citizens who return will still praise the player. However if the player raises money to fund the army through exploitation or tom-foolery, then they will be hated regardless of whether the kingdom was saved. The player can also take on the extreme evil morph. Also, it is possible to both raise funds for an army and be a benevolent ruler(in this case the player must donate his/her personal gold to the treasury until the debt is paid and the amount of 6,500,000 gold is put together), this results in the player monarch being loved by the entire kingdom and no civilian casualties.
In an interview with OXM UK
, he (Molyneux) spoke about how Fable was at risk of becoming a generic game where the player started off underpowered and weak but slowly got more powerful after they met the bad guy. After the player killed the bad guy, the credits would roll. Believing that is the formula that applies to many games, he asked why games "end at potentially the most exciting bit?" It was this that formed the basis of Fable III, where the player can overthrow the tyrant before becoming ruler themselves. He stated that it was when the player was ruler that the consequences of "who you are going to be, are you going to be good or evil, cruel or kind" stopped applying only to the player, but affected the entire country.
Molyneux hinted that there may be drawbacks to leaving your castle too often to investigate crimes or fight wars, asking "Are you going to be a king that is the equivalent to Picard
in Star Trek
? Quite honestly, if the captain of the ship was going down to planets and getting involved in battles I'd be worried because I think he should stay in his chair. But if he chooses to go down and get involved, that's the freedom we give you as a king."
Talking about the inspiration for Fable III, Molyneux said "if in Fable I
the inspiration was folklore and in Fable II the inspiration was King Arthur
and Robin Hood
, then Fable III is definitely the rebels and monarchs – both modern-day and historic."
There are also new takes on traditional Fable concepts such as morphing, where the player's weapon change depending on what they do, and their alignment. If the Hero kills large numbers of skeletons his/her weapon will appear to be made of bones, whereas if they go around killing innocent people their weapon will begin to drip with blood. The weapon will also level throughout the game, making it sharper and more deadly. Another example is the "Extreme Emote" system. For example, if someone angers the Hero, they can show them their true nature, with either demonic or angelic wings sprouting out of their back.
Lionhead
associate sound producer Georg Backer announced at the Develop conference in Brighton that Fable III would contain over 47 hours of recorded speech. This rises from 36 hours of recorded speech in Fable II. Backer said that the AI is the "biggest chunk of dialogue." Backer also said that the over 47 hours include "gossip lines" in which the "AI talk to you about what is happening in the game." The "30 or 40" different types of AI characters each have "about 2,000 lines." Three writers wrote the 460,000 recorded words in the game and it took more than 80 actors to voice them. Many lines are ones that previously appeared in Fable II, so how many hours of vocal track are original recordings is unknown. Voice actors used included John Cleese
, Stephen Fry
, Simon Pegg
and Michael Fassbender
.
The PC version will have all the Limited Collector's Edition content and 9/14 DLC content released on the Xbox 360
version included for free. The last five items are not included and must be purchased.
s, in close conjunction with Lionhead, was released for Windows Phone 7
on 30 March 2011. Played from an overhead perspective, your quest is to rid the land of evil and conquer each area by getting your Hero Puck into the Pillar of Light in as few shots as possible. Gold earned on the phone can be transferred to your Fable III game on Xbox 360 or PC and completion of each of the 3 chapters unlocks a unique weapon in Fable III.
2009, images of famous revolutionaries and quotations appeared on Lionhead's website, causing discussion about what the next game Lionhead was developing. During the press conference of Gamescom, where Fable 3 was announced by Peter Molyneux, Lionhead had
decorated the walls with medieval shields and banners.
Lionhead announced in August 2010 that there would be a companion game to Fable 3. Peter Molyneux was quick to say that it would not be like Pub Games for Fable 2 and hinted that it would utilise a mobile-phone. The official reveal was made on September 28, 2010 for a smart-phone application titled "Kingmaker" The game consists of players marking real-world locations for the two factions in the game, the Royals or the Rebels. The game earns players power-ups and gold to use in Fable 3. The game was announced for use in the United Kingdom and Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden.
was released in North America and Europe in October 2010. The book came with a code for a unique weapon called the Shardborne sword for Fable 3.
gave the game a 7.5/10.
The PC version of Fable III received mixed to positive reviews. IGN
gave Fable III (PC) a 6/10, calling it "a royal disappointment" with "interface not well tailored to the PC platform", "uneven story and pacing", "dull combat" and "repetitive quests". Gamespot
gave it a score of 7/10 while Ausgamers awarded it a 7.2/10.
gave the Fable 3 PC DLC a 2/10, stating "The two questlines both show promise, but neither maximizes on its potential. Fable III wasn’t great, but it deserves far better than this. Unless you think you’ll enjoy several hours of extremely repetitive combat, these are two DLCs to avoid."
Fable (video game series)
Fable is a series of action role-playing video games for Xbox, Xbox 360, Windows, and Mac OS X platforms. The series is developed by Lionhead Studios and is published by Microsoft Studios.-Setting:...
series of action role-playing game
Action role-playing game
Action role-playing games form a loosely defined sub-genre of role-playing video games that incorporate elements of action or action-adventure games, emphasizing real-time action where the player has direct control over characters, instead of turn-based or menu-based combat...
s (RPG). The game was developed by Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios is a British computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. Lionhead started as a breakaway from the developer Bullfrog, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a...
and published by Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Studios is the video game production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the development and publishing of games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Windows Phone platforms. They were established in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios to coincide with the release of the Xbox, before...
for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. The story focuses on the player character's struggle to overthrow the King of Albion by forming alliances and building support for a revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
. After a successful revolt, the player becomes the monarch and is tasked with attempting to defend Albion from a great evil. The game was released on 26 October 2010 for Xbox 360 and on May 17 2011 for PC via both Games for Windows
Games for Windows
Games for Windows is a brand owned by Microsoft and introduced in 2006 to coincide with the release of Windows Vista. The brand represents a standardized technical certification program and online service for Windows games, bringing a measure of regulation to the PC game market in much the same way...
and Steam. The PC version includes a Hardcore mode and 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
. functionality not found in the Xbox 360 version.
Plot
Fable III is set 50 years after the events of Fable II. The game is set on the fictional continent of Albion, which is entering the age of industry. The King, the hero/player character of Fable II, has died and left the Kingdom of Albion to his son, Logan (voiced by Michael FassbenderMichael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender is an Irish-German actor. He is best known for playing Lt. Archie Hicox in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and Magneto in the superhero blockbuster X-Men: First Class...
), the player's older brother. Some NPCs allude to how Logan has "changed" in the four years of his rule, becoming excessively tyrannical. The player begins the game investigating rumours that Logan had a citizen of Albion executed, causing a group of citizens to protest. After the player character intervenes, Logan presents the player with the first of the game's numerous moral choices. The player is tasked with deciding whether the group of protesters are executed, or whether the player's love-interest is executed instead. Following the decision, the player escapes Logan's castle along with their mentor, Sir Walter Beck (voiced by Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
) and their butler
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
, Jasper (voiced by John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
).
The player then, at the behest of Theresa (voiced by Zoe Wanamaker
Zoe Wanamaker
Zoë Wanamaker, CBE is an American-British actress. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; in films, including the Harry Potter series; and in a number of television productions, including a long-time role as Susan Harper in the sitcom My Family.-Early life and family:Wanamaker was...
), the enigmatic Seeress of the Spire, starts to gather allies to aid in a revolution against Logan. The allies they gain include Sabine (voiced by Ben Kingsley
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
), the leader of the "Dwellers," a nomadic community that lives in the mountains; Major Swift and Ben Finn (voiced by Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
) from the Royal Army in command of a remote fort; Page (voiced by Naomie Harris
Naomie Harris
Naomie Melanie Harris is an English screen actress. She is best known for her starring role as Selena in 28 Days Later, as well as her supporting turn as Tia Dalma/Calypso in the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films...
), the leader of the "Bowerstone Resistance"; and Kalin, the leader of Aurora, a desert land across the ocean. When attempting to gain the support of Kalin, the hero learns that a creature called the "Crawler, ruler of the Darkness," the forces of the Darkness which have already devastated Aurora, intends to exterminate all life in the Kingdom of Albion. It is revealed that Logan's reason for treating his people so harshly is to raise money for an army to defend against the Crawler.
The player then leads a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
and becomes the King/Queen, at which point the player is given the choice to keep the promises made to those who aided in the revolution at great expense to the treasury, or betray those promises in order to raise money for the defense of Albion through industrialization and using natural resources. The player can also utilize the treasury money for personal purposes, or transfer personal money from the player's own supply to the treasury.
If the player chooses to be a "great" ruler, the treasury will be vastly drained and the only way the player can offset this is by transferring several million gold from their personal funds to the treasury. With 6,500,000 gold in the treasury at the time of the Crawler attack, the player will be able to fully fund an army that can successfully defend the entire kingdom. With no money in the treasury and thus no army to defend Albion, the civilian casualties inflicted by the Crawler's attack amount to 6,500,000. If this happens, the world will be largely absent of civilians upon completion of the main quest. If the player passes lots of time by sleeping, working and increasing the royal treasure income significantly, plebeians will start to return. If the player was a benevolent leader but lost large sums of civilians, many citizens who return will still praise the player. However if the player raises money to fund the army through exploitation or tom-foolery, then they will be hated regardless of whether the kingdom was saved. The player can also take on the extreme evil morph. Also, it is possible to both raise funds for an army and be a benevolent ruler(in this case the player must donate his/her personal gold to the treasury until the debt is paid and the amount of 6,500,000 gold is put together), this results in the player monarch being loved by the entire kingdom and no civilian casualties.
Development
At the beginning of the Gamescon announcement of Fable III, Molyneux stated that the game was taking a different theme compared to the others as he believes the third game in a series to be hard to do correctly. "If all the rules have been established and all you offer is a new story and a handful of locations, people will start to lose interest."In an interview with OXM UK
Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine is a monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released for E3 2001, with another preview issue for November 2001. The magazine is bundled with a disc that includes game demos, preview videos and...
, he (Molyneux) spoke about how Fable was at risk of becoming a generic game where the player started off underpowered and weak but slowly got more powerful after they met the bad guy. After the player killed the bad guy, the credits would roll. Believing that is the formula that applies to many games, he asked why games "end at potentially the most exciting bit?" It was this that formed the basis of Fable III, where the player can overthrow the tyrant before becoming ruler themselves. He stated that it was when the player was ruler that the consequences of "who you are going to be, are you going to be good or evil, cruel or kind" stopped applying only to the player, but affected the entire country.
Molyneux hinted that there may be drawbacks to leaving your castle too often to investigate crimes or fight wars, asking "Are you going to be a king that is the equivalent to Picard
Jean-Luc Picard
Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a Star Trek character portrayed by Patrick Stewart. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis...
in Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
? Quite honestly, if the captain of the ship was going down to planets and getting involved in battles I'd be worried because I think he should stay in his chair. But if he chooses to go down and get involved, that's the freedom we give you as a king."
Talking about the inspiration for Fable III, Molyneux said "if in Fable I
Fable (video game)
Fable is an action role-playing video game in the Fable series. It was developed for Xbox, Mac OS X, and Windows platforms, by Big Blue Box, a satellite developer of Lionhead Studios, and was published by Microsoft. The game shipped for Xbox on October 14, 2003...
the inspiration was folklore and in Fable II the inspiration was King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
and Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
, then Fable III is definitely the rebels and monarchs – both modern-day and historic."
There are also new takes on traditional Fable concepts such as morphing, where the player's weapon change depending on what they do, and their alignment. If the Hero kills large numbers of skeletons his/her weapon will appear to be made of bones, whereas if they go around killing innocent people their weapon will begin to drip with blood. The weapon will also level throughout the game, making it sharper and more deadly. Another example is the "Extreme Emote" system. For example, if someone angers the Hero, they can show them their true nature, with either demonic or angelic wings sprouting out of their back.
Lionhead
Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios is a British computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. Lionhead started as a breakaway from the developer Bullfrog, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a...
associate sound producer Georg Backer announced at the Develop conference in Brighton that Fable III would contain over 47 hours of recorded speech. This rises from 36 hours of recorded speech in Fable II. Backer said that the AI is the "biggest chunk of dialogue." Backer also said that the over 47 hours include "gossip lines" in which the "AI talk to you about what is happening in the game." The "30 or 40" different types of AI characters each have "about 2,000 lines." Three writers wrote the 460,000 recorded words in the game and it took more than 80 actors to voice them. Many lines are ones that previously appeared in Fable II, so how many hours of vocal track are original recordings is unknown. Voice actors used included John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
, Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
, Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
and Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender is an Irish-German actor. He is best known for playing Lt. Archie Hicox in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and Magneto in the superhero blockbuster X-Men: First Class...
.
Downloadable content
Various downloadable content has been announced by Microsoft for release on November 23, ranging from dyes and extra hairstyles to new quests, much of which is actually just locked content that is already included on the game disk but requires players to pay for it separately to unlock it.- Free Weapon Pack adds the hammer 'Bloodstone Bludgeon' and 'Gusket's Musket' rifle, which will be added to your gift queue in the Sanctuary; and then become available when you unlock weapons in the storyline.
- Understone Quest Pack will allow players to venture into Understone, a "mysterious town built beneath the streets of Bowerstone," to find a new quest with moral decisions to make. The DLC also adds a replayable shooting range at the Mercenary Camp and arena challenges in Reaver's Mansion. Players will receive prizes for beating high scores.
- Traitor's Keep Quest Pack continues the story after the end of Fable III, after the ruler is nearly assassinated, he or she must investigate a disturbance at a prison and uncover the ones responsible for the attempt on his or her life. Three new regions, 10 new achievements, and a new robotic dog breed.
- Exclusive Hair Pack features corn rows, afro and asymmetrical bob styles
- Reaver Industries Hero Outfit
- 5 Star Dog Potion and Dye Pack
- Free Yule hat
- Dog Breed Set allows the player to change the breed of their dog, transforming it into either a PoodlePoodleThe Poodle is a breed of dog. The poodle breed is found officially in toy, miniature, and standard sizes, with many coat colors. Originally bred as a type of water dog, the poodle is highly intelligent and skillful in many dog sports, including agility, obedience, tracking, and even herding...
, a Doberman Pinscher, or a German Shepherd DogGerman Shepherd DogThe German Shepherd Dog , also known as an Alsatian or just the German Shepherd, is a breed of large-sized dog that originated in Germany. The German Shepherd is a relatively new breed of dog, with its origin dating to 1899. As part of the Herding Group, the German Shepherd is a working dog...
. Contains one potion per breed. - Red Setter Dog Potion allows the player to change the breed of their dog, transforming it into an Irish SetterIrish SetterThe Irish Setter , is a setter, a breed of gundog and family dog. The term Irish Setter is commonly used to encompass the show-bred dog recognized by the American Kennel Club as well as the field-bred Red Setter recognised by the Field Dog Stud Book....
. - Male and Female Highlander Outfits and Highlander Tattoo Set can be obtained for free by using a download code found inside the Standard Edition of the game, but are still available to purchase without the code.
- Dog Outfit
The PC version will have all the Limited Collector's Edition content and 9/14 DLC content released on the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
version included for free. The last five items are not included and must be purchased.
Fable: Coin Golf
An exclusive mini-game called Fable Coin Golf developed by Ideaworks Game StudioIdeaworks Game Studio
Ideaworks Game Studio is a video game developer based in London, UK. Founded in 1998, originally trading as Ideaworks3D the studio has a heritage of developing high-end native cross platform technology and games for the iPhone and Smartphone markets...
s, in close conjunction with Lionhead, was released for Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
on 30 March 2011. Played from an overhead perspective, your quest is to rid the land of evil and conquer each area by getting your Hero Puck into the Pillar of Light in as few shots as possible. Gold earned on the phone can be transferred to your Fable III game on Xbox 360 or PC and completion of each of the 3 chapters unlocks a unique weapon in Fable III.
Marketing
Shortly before GamescomGamescom
gamescom is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is organised by the Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware...
2009, images of famous revolutionaries and quotations appeared on Lionhead's website, causing discussion about what the next game Lionhead was developing. During the press conference of Gamescom, where Fable 3 was announced by Peter Molyneux, Lionhead had
decorated the walls with medieval shields and banners.
Lionhead announced in August 2010 that there would be a companion game to Fable 3. Peter Molyneux was quick to say that it would not be like Pub Games for Fable 2 and hinted that it would utilise a mobile-phone. The official reveal was made on September 28, 2010 for a smart-phone application titled "Kingmaker" The game consists of players marking real-world locations for the two factions in the game, the Royals or the Rebels. The game earns players power-ups and gold to use in Fable 3. The game was announced for use in the United Kingdom and Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden.
Retail editions
The Xbox 360 standard and limited edition was released on the October 26, 2010, with the PC version was released in May 2011. Xbox games that were preordered (both standard and limited editions) in participating stores, were given a code for a special weapon, a code for tattoos, and a code to transfer the villager created from the Villager Maker to the game on the release date.Standard Edition
- Xbox 360 The Standard Edition available on Xbox 360 contains the standard game disk, a game manual and standard plastic casing. Lionhead Studios' Peter Molyneux announced as well, that Fable III will also (like Fable II) be released in episodes on Xbox Live Marketplace, some time after the retail version will hit the market. The first episode will be available free of charge.
- PC Both a retail version and a Games for Windows – LIVE exclusive downloadable release will be available.
Limited Collector's Edition
- Xbox 360 The "Limited Collector's Edition" contains a standard game disk, a game manual, a new in-game quest, limited edition Fable 3 playing cards, a "Guild Seal Coin" with good and evil sides to aid the player in making moral decisions, a new "BoxerBoxer (dog)Developed in Germany, the Boxer is a breed of stocky, medium-sized, short-haired dog. The coat is smooth and fawn or brindled, with or without white markings. Boxers are brachycephalic , and have a square muzzle, mandibular prognathism , very strong jaws and a powerful bite ideal for hanging on to...
" dog breed and two new outfits; one for male, one female, a faux book and a new region with a family and a new weapon. - PC All Standard Editions of Fable III on PC have contents of the Limited Collector's Edition included for free in the game.
Controller
Lionhead has also announced they will release a Fable 3 limited edition wireless controller for Xbox 360 on October 5, 2010. The controller will come with a code to unlock a unique tattoo for the game. There is currently no other way to unlock this unique tattoo as of yet.Book
A book titled Fable: The Balverine OrderFable: The Balverine Order
Fable: The Balverine Order is a fantasy novel by Peter David. It is the first book from the Fable video game series, and takes place sometime after Fable III. The release date in North America and Europe was October 2010. Lionhead confirmed the book released with an exclusive code to unlock a...
was released in North America and Europe in October 2010. The book came with a code for a unique weapon called the Shardborne sword for Fable 3.
Reception
Upon release, Fable III was met with mixed to positive reception. GameRankings indicated an average score of 80.49%. IGN gave the Xbox 360 version an 8.5/10, praising the final segment of the game involving your role as king or queen, but criticizing its slow beginning and a lack of innovation. GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
gave the game a 7.5/10.
The PC version of Fable III received mixed to positive reviews. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave Fable III (PC) a 6/10, calling it "a royal disappointment" with "interface not well tailored to the PC platform", "uneven story and pacing", "dull combat" and "repetitive quests". Gamespot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
gave it a score of 7/10 while Ausgamers awarded it a 7.2/10.
Downloadable Content Reception
GameZoneGameZone
GameZone is an American multiplatform video game website. GameZone's daily coverage includes reviews, previews, news, hints & cheats, and editorials. Additionally, GameZone offers downloads, a child-targeted website and in association with GameStop, hosts GZGameShop, an online retailer...
gave the Fable 3 PC DLC a 2/10, stating "The two questlines both show promise, but neither maximizes on its potential. Fable III wasn’t great, but it deserves far better than this. Unless you think you’ll enjoy several hours of extremely repetitive combat, these are two DLCs to avoid."