Influence next Fable in Lionhead survey

By Robert Purchese Published 10 February, 2011

How important is Live co-op? The dog?

You can influence future Fable projects at Lionhead by filling out a survey.

The developer wants to know which of the series features you like most. To measure that, Lionhead has set down 13 pivotal parts of a Fable experience and asked you to rate them from one - least important, to 13 - most important.

The categories are accessibility; be special and be a hero; charm and humour; emotional connections through drama; freedom; hero customisation; hero morphing; Live co-op; local co-op; player choices that affect the world; simulation; and, finally, the dog.

Simulation covers the sandbox elements of Fable such as buying a house, doing jobs, trading, having sex with a condom, having sex without a condom - that sort of thing. Accessibility encompasses the one button to shoot, one button to hit, one button to cast spells controls, among other things.

Would Lionhead bother with such a survey if a new Fable project wasn't in development? The last Fable game to arrive was Fable III; beyond that we know nothing of Lionhead's plans.

Fable III provided a hearty, endearing tale of a hero overthrowing an evil monarch to rule a kingdom. The Eurogamer score of 8/10 may seem unremarkable next to the 10/10 commanded by Fable II, but make no mistake, there are joyful advancements here by a game that arguably had to work harder for its praise.

Fable III.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (60) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • sfp_noodle #1 1 year ago

    Is there an option stating "Release without game-breaking bugs?"

    If so, I'll tick that option a million fucking times.

  • scottycam #2 1 year ago

    Stop making Fable and concentrate your resources on making a brand new franchise?

  • kalinichenko #3 1 year ago

    Just release the PC Version already.

  • Gaiduku #4 1 year ago

    How about the option to just stop making Fable games. I still have no idea how Fable 2 got 10/10. Sure it was a somewhat fun time sink but it was so simple and basic. The combat was nothing to shout home about and the economy was effectively broken.

    Plus i'm forever fed up of Molenux going on and on about how attached you feel to the characters of Fable - with all the getting married and the having kids and watching them grow up. Sounds like an interesting idea until you realise getting a wife basically involves running into a crowd of women and farting a few time whilst making sure you don't shit yourself. Then when all the women love you propose to the least chubby one and rush them back home to make some babies.

    I tried this in a nightclub a few weeks ago.....It doesnt work Moleneux. Stop warping my understanding of the dating scene please.

  • Peew971 #5 1 year ago

    I believe it's time Fable jumps off the same cliff Guitar Hero did.

  • Tricky_Rich #6 1 year ago

    Throw the whole bloody lot out and start again!

    Maybe Lionhead should have a look at the competition to find out what goes into competing products. Dragon Knight Saga craps on the Fable series from a very great height, but was made with a fraction of the budget and man-power!
    Edited by Tricky_Rich at 10/02/11 @ 14:49

  • midnight_walker #7 1 year ago

    Fable was awesome, Fable II was better, Fable III was the worst of the three.

    End survey.

  • YobRenoops #8 1 year ago

    Accessibility - 1

  • bikmate #9 1 year ago

    There is only one thing I would like, release it to PC/360/PS3 at least.

    edit: also that survey is being stupid, rating goes from 1-13 and two different things can't have the same rating. What if I find two/three things equally important.
    Edited by bikmate at 10/02/11 @ 14:53

  • beatwolf #10 1 year ago

    just stop making these semi-rpg The Sims games. We've had enough farting, gay marriages and so on. STOP IT!

  • sfp_noodle #11 1 year ago

    @Gaiduku

    ROFLMFAO! Class mate! :D

  • JetSetWilly #12 1 year ago

    I like the "If it compiles we can release it" feature. Great fun.

  • butler` #13 1 year ago

    You know everything that was good about Fable 2 that you took out for Fable 3?

    Yeah, we want that back.

  • Eraysor #14 1 year ago

    Is it bad that my first reaction was: "Not another one..."?

  • deadmonkeyuk #15 1 year ago

    Will prob not be buying the next Fable game, Fable 3 was the biggest disappointment of last year.

  • darc #16 1 year ago

    "player choices that affect the world"

    Make mine a vote for "player choices that affect anything".

    But I could be more specific: character customization that impacts gameplay (versus merely appearances), weapons that make the slightest difference, armour of any kind, a magic system that isn't so very dumb it can be mashed out on one button.

    Forget it - make my mine a vote for "3 Fables was more than sufficient; please move on."

    P.S. Between a TDU2 review and then being reminded of Fable 3 the very next day, I come to the conclusion that the Sims was the worst thing that ever happened to video games.
    Edited by darc at 10/02/11 @ 15:08

  • kinky_mong #17 1 year ago

    The Dog: Most important

    Everything else from this broken, over-rated PoS: not important

    Summary: Stop making these awful games.

  • kingcrowbar #18 1 year ago

    Fable III is out now on Xbox 360, and PC. Got a news tip? Email news@eurogamer.net

    Here's a tip. PC version does not exist.

  • Quint2020 #19 1 year ago

    Does "Don't make another one" count?

  • Entity #20 1 year ago

    That survey was unfriendly.

    I had to keep scrolling to see what numbers I had picked.
    Edited by Entity at 10/02/11 @ 15:19

  • Nanakai #21 1 year ago

    I managed to fill it out in a way which suggested I'm not happy with Fable III lol. I gave accessibility a 1, seems as that's what stopped me buying that game. Ruining all the RPG elements that I loved from the originals, just to make it a simple game. FU for that Molyneux

  • darleysam #22 1 year ago

    Something about Fable 3 just felt flat and lifeless and too pared down, it had been oversimplified. I need to go and play through all three games again and write a detailed argument about what's missing and what should be done. Not least, I think moving away from the olde worlde setting to a more industrial age is a shame. At first I thought it would be brilliant, but it just reduced Reaver to a typical sneering tyrant, rather than the magnificent, self-centred hedonist that he was, and it put too much distance between the fantasy and wonder that gave the previous games such a good atmosphere.

  • Physically_Insane #23 1 year ago

    Get rid of the fucking dog.

  • jbrollse #24 1 year ago

    @Gaidaku

    Clearly you've never been to Liverpool. Works everytime.

  • MattEdWithCheese #25 1 year ago

    hmm the survey doesn't contain a more strategic battle system with tighter controls or real puzzles ie. not flitswitches

  • squeakyg #26 1 year ago

    The dog: Good gimmick for Fable 2, but bemused why it carried over into Fable 3. By half way through the game I didn't want to dig for trinkets, and I *always* saw treasure chests before the dog did. He was an annoyance.

    Player morphing: Glad they toned it down, just because I'm good doesn't mean I want a halo and glowing skin. Oh, but why did I have the skin complexion of a corpse in Fable 3?

    Do you want a simulation (jobs etc): Perhaps if the jobs were skillful and addictive minigames. But they are not.

  • beckyh #27 1 year ago

    The survey is crap, you can only vote one column once. Typical Lionhead, show up lots of options and sequences but actually you can only tick a numbered box once. Therefore I cannot rate two or more things as equally important or unimportant. I am not going to bother filling in the survey when there is a tight limitation on how you can score. I used to work in customer research, this is the worst way to gauge public feeling as it is going halfway towards fixing the results.
    Lionhead, you cannot get your game right and you certainly cannot get your survey about the game right. No wonder people get pissed off with you.

  • TheTingler #28 1 year ago

    There are three Fables, and that's more than enough. Please get back to making original games Lionhead, you're a developer spawned from Bullfrog, arguably the greatest and most creative games development studio that ever existed.

    You all left Bullfrog because a big publisher took it over and stifled the life out of it, but even in its dying days they still were releasing gems like Dungeon Keeper 2 and Populous: The Beginning. You cancelled your last original title (BC), screwed up Black & White 2, and now are getting stifled by another big publisher.

    Get back to make grandiose original titles, or at the very least Black & White 3. Please?

  • Gaiduku #29 1 year ago

    @jbrollse
    Surely in Liverpool actually shitting yourself is even better? :p

  • metalangel #30 1 year ago

    Keep customizing your hero, but get rid of it changing through your actions such as becoming fat, growing horns and glowing with a halo.

    Hire some better writers or stop trying to be funny... it's not Python, it's not Blackadder, it's sub-My Family drivel.

    Give me a dog, but give me the option to kill it at the beginning. Likewise my children, and indeed any NPC, including that fucking butler.

    It's quite telling that they want to know what people liked and didn't like, because Fable 3 hasn't exactly gone down well, has it?

  • Negotiator #31 1 year ago

    Needs a complete overhaul new engine, new gameplay ideas, new AI, new everything.

  • Markitron #32 1 year ago

    Its nice that online co-op is there but I really dont need it. I dont like sharing my single player story with other people

  • sanctusmortis #33 1 year ago

    Is there a voting option for "go back to Fable 2's systems, and forget Fable 3 ever happened"? I'll have that, thanks.

  • SFG_Clan #34 1 year ago

    Seriously stop bringing out Fable games
    Thats all Peter Molyneux can do make Fable games and over exaggerate the content of Fable games.

    I liked Fable 3 but no this is the line I am not buying another... I think... okay I might.
    Edited by SFG_Clan at 10/02/11 @ 18:01

  • ronuds #35 1 year ago

    Why do people feel the need to comment here if they don't care about or like Fable in the first place? How hilarious that your first reaction was "don't make another Fable." Oh man, I didn't see that one coming from a thousand miles away. How absolutely hilarious and creative a comment.

    Some of us actually want to see more Fables and would like to add our feedback to improve the series. If you're not interested in either of those things, just gtfo because nobody gives a crap about your opinion.

    I mean, people complaining about Fable being too easy and blah, blah, blah, whine, whine, whine. THAT'S FABLE, YOU DOPES! Maybe Street Fighter should stop being a fighting game, or FIFA shouldn't be a footy game. I've never read such idiocy.

    It's getting so completely tiring reading a bunch of comments from people who are nothing but miserable about everything.
    Edited by ronuds at 10/02/11 @ 18:06

  • Yuroko #36 1 year ago

    Yeah. Call it a day at 3 and make a new game. Maybe a new The Movies. Or better still a Black and White 3 with full kinect support.

  • dagas #37 1 year ago

    Fable have never lived up to the hype IMO. I've only played the first, and half of the second game. They need to look more at Bioware and how they make characters and story. Fable seems to be made for kids, it reminds me more of a kids cartoon in story, characters and humor than a serious book or movie.

  • Gastrian #38 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • man.the.king #39 1 year ago

    @ronuds

    "Why do people feel the need to comment here if they don't care about or like Fable in the first place?"

    Do you mean a comment is worth something only if it offers unabashed praise and flattery? If somebody doesn't care about Fable at all and haven't played it, perhaps they shouldn't be commenting. But if they have paid good money for the game and happened to not like it, they have every right to comment on it.

    But you seem to think a person who didn't like it has no right to comment at all. So much for meaningful and opposing views.

    Maybe Lionhead should just take your view "Fable was teh awesome, more of the same please" and be done with the survey eh?

  • ronuds #40 1 year ago

    @Gastrian

    If you rate something a 1, 2, or 3 - that's basically saying you didn't like it. It would have been nice to actually leave an opinion, but what are they going to do with a billion of those?

  • ronuds #41 1 year ago

    @man.the.king

    Did I say constructive criticism would be frowned upon? I've criticised Fable III as much as the next guy - there's nothing wrong with that. That's not what these comments are, though, and you know it. Most of the comments I'm talking about are probably from people who never even saw Fable - they just don't like Molyneaux because they have some odd view of what a developer is supposed to be like.

    Learn to read what's actually written and not some distorted version of it.
    Edited by ronuds at 10/02/11 @ 19:39

  • Syrette #42 1 year ago

    Oh no no no.

    Not another Fable - as good as they are. Without a major and complete overhaul I wouldn't be too excited about a Fable 4.

    Something new would be nice, and I don't mean a Kinect game.

  • man.the.king #43 1 year ago

    @ronuds

    "Learn to read what's actually written and not some distorted version of it."

    What, like this: Why do people feel the need to comment here if they don't care about or like Fable in the first place?

    Maybe you should remember what you actually posted in the first place?
    Edited by man.the.king at 10/02/11 @ 19:52

  • ronuds #44 1 year ago

    @man.the.king

    Right, if you've never liked Fable, why would you read an article about it and then contribute in the comments section? You've never liked it and you're never going to like it, so you're just trolling and it's old.

    I don't care for Need for Speed. Do I go into the comments section and say, "MAKE A DIFFERENT GAME, EA!" No, because that would be idiotic and it would only be getting in the way of people who actually want to say something constructive. They're not going to stop making Need for Speed just because of some dumbass like me.

  • metalangel #45 1 year ago

    @ronuds: Developers probably want to hear what you don't like about their games as much as what you do like, so they know what to change and what to keep. Maybe with the changes on board they'll get you to buy their next game!

    Besides, you don't like people complaining? You're complaining about complaining. Stop it before you cause a singularity that destroys the universe.

  • man.the.king #46 1 year ago

    @ronuds

    "so you're just trolling and it's old."

    Trolling? Me? Go through my comments history please.

    You, on the other hand...

    According to you, somebody who felt their money was wasted because they happened to buy it and weren't satisfied is trolling? But maybe you just resorted to accusations because you cannot stand to see any negative opinions about the game?

    BTW, Doubting Thomas, I have the Collector's Ed of Fable 2 (had pre-ordered it a month before it came out), complete with the Halo armor and everything.

  • arremelle #47 1 year ago

    the survey was painful to go through, need a survey on the survey itself. I wanted to rate quite a few things as 1, however as that wasn't possible the results are entirely true.

    They really should have added a free text field as well, they may get some abuse but also get some really good ideas and constructive feedback from the playing community.

    Getting rid of the energy bar and GUI should have been in there, that is a bad design for me.

    Besides all this, great games designers should know what works already and make it for our delight and wonder, without having to gauge our reaction with a survey.

    I for one would like to see a final Fable, one that lets the series go out on a bang. It would be a shame to end on III with a lesser performance.

  • ronuds #48 1 year ago

    @man.the.king

    I didn't mean YOU were trolling! AARRGGGGHHHH!!!! We are not on the same page, sir.

    Thank you - I have now derailed the thread in the same fashion I was asking others not to!!! :p

    Anyhow, if I were to give my constructive criticism of the game - I want the main questt to last more than 5 hours. Make something epic, Lionhead, damn you! I don't want extended gameplay through finding keys and gnomes. While that's fun, it isn't really gameplay. I want more quests and towns and such.

    Also, money and marriage still didn't really mean or lead to anything. To solve the issue of money being meaningless in Fable II, they just make you earn some arbitrary amount so you can spend it all on one thing? Tacky!

    See, that's how you give constructive criticism. Not, "MAKE A DIFFERENT GAME BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE STUFF!" You have spectacularly missed my point, but that's ok - because life goes on. :D

    Edited by ronuds at 10/02/11 @ 21:27

  • SvennoJ #49 1 year ago

    I liked fable 1, fable 2 was ok although the story and the ending were pretty weak. I didn't buy Fable 3 based on the reviews and the way it looks.
    My suggestions, bring the RPG elements back, remove the dog, and write a good story.

  • metalangel #50 1 year ago

    To be fair, ronuds, your first comment was a lot more inflammatory than your latest one (which would have been a far better one to start with!)

    Anyone who just says a game is amazing or shitty without giving a good reason or two why is best ignored anyway, and I'd trust even Molyneux to do so.

  • Kerome #51 1 year ago

    What amazes me is that game mechanics is not on the list. I couldn't care two grotty pfennigs about the body morphing, but it's always bothered me a lot that the game mechanics were not tight. You could play through all of Fable II using only the area-of-effect lightning zap, there was zero need to build up a repertoire of powers and master a playstyle, and once you got to a certain point money was so plentiful it became worthless...

  • ronuds #52 1 year ago

    @metalangel

    Well, I probably got a little angry. When you open the comments section to something you'd really like to discuss like an adult with other adults, and the first 10 replies are nothing but stupidity that have all been "plussed" it got under my skin a little. I should know better and I regretted the comment almost immediately - because I knew it'd probably be taken the wrong way and misunderstood and everything else. We've all done it, I'm sure!

    I forget sometimes that there is no age or IQ requirement in the EG comments sections. :D
    Edited by ronuds at 10/02/11 @ 21:42

  • man.the.king #53 1 year ago

    @ronuds

    "You have spectacularly missed my point, but that's ok - because life goes on"

    Primarily because you completely failed to make said point in your first posts.

    As metalangel said, it was mostly inflammatory and apparently seemed to lash out at people for giving opinions contradictory to yours.

    But now, since you seem to be giving a somewhat more reasonable opinion in a comparatively moderate tone, sure I can agree with parts of what you say, even though I still think that if someone has spent good money, they have every right to voice their dissatisfaction in the manner they so choose.

    I think I should make it clear though - I'm not among the ones who was completely turned off by the game, as my rating of Fable 2 here should indicate. I just wasn't too impressed by it, which was why I chose to avoid Fable 3 once I read the reviews and people's views of III.
    Edited by man.the.king at 10/02/11 @ 22:06

  • ronuds #54 1 year ago

    I'm sorry that I wasn't clear in my original comment. In my head I knew what I was saying.

  • man.the.king #55 1 year ago

    @ronuds

    "I'm sorry that I wasn't clear in my original comment. In my head I knew what I was saying."

    No worries - it's not always easy to get your point across via the written/typed word. I guess I got irked when I saw your first post and was too hasty to reply.

    For my part, I shouldn't have been too quick to condemn either.

    ON-TOPIC: While taking a look at the survey kind of gave me an impression that PM wasn't too interested in actual criticisms of his baby (column-based radio-button in the survey limits your responses), I hope that something good does come out of this.
    Edited by man.the.king at 10/02/11 @ 22:19

  • ronuds #56 1 year ago

    Well, like I said above, giving something a 1 or similarly low score seems to be the way to criticize that feature. Like, if enough people say they don't care about the game being accessible, maybe that'll force them to take it in another direction.

    It just seems to me like Lionhead somewhat missed the point of the criticisms from Fable II and they had some missteps in III because of that. I felt when you looked beyond all of the little things like the Sanctuary and all that, there was still a very fun and entertaining game to be found. I just think they need to have more focus for IV, though.

  • man.the.king #57 1 year ago

    @ronuds

    "Well, like I said above, giving something a 1 or similarly low score seems to be the way to criticize that feature."

    Except that you can only give one topic a rating of 1. After that, you have to choose between 2 and 13 for the others i.e. you CANNOT have two topics with a low rating of 1. Then say you select 2 for something, after that, the only choices you have is 3-13, and so on. That's what I meant by column-based radio-button, i.e. between a list of radio-buttons, you can only select one instance. So, if in the column of rating '1', you can only select ONE button with that value among ALL 13 topics.

    This guarantees that even if someone liked very few aspects of the game, e.g. only 4 topics, you HAVE to rate at least half of them above average. So it's not really true feedback - more like "order these topics from least appealing to most appealing, without repetition of value".

  • Gastrian #58 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • Kerome #59 1 year ago

    Perhaps a survey asking which of a number of things was people's most-annoying feature might have worked better...

  • Sunyavadin #60 1 year ago

    LET ME KILL THE BLOODY DOG, LIKE IN FABLE 2. I hate those things. Give me a cat. That goes off and does its own thing and never bothers me, just shows up at my house to sleep in front of the fire.

    And OMG fix the horrendously broken interaction system of Fable 3. That was an utter joke. Yes... The monarch of the land is soley capable of communicating by DANCING... BECAUSE THAT MAKES SENSE.