that is part of the image for the box art

guns....wtf

yeah its been announced you dont get bows but you get guns and still crossbows

yeah, it's moving more towards the renaissance era and industrial era, etc..

Peter Molyneux said it was based arond 500 years after fable and fable:tlc and that it was the time of highwaymen

Ok, Fable 2 is due for release this month.. So a quick update on the goings on in the Fable universe, and what to expect:

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The World of Fable 2:
The game is still based in the world of Albion, however 500 years after the first fable.

Quote:in a colonial era resembling the time of highwaymen or the Enlightenment; guns are still primitive, and large castles and cities have developed in the place of towns.

General Gameplay:
First things first. In Fable 2, you can choose to play as either a male or female, allowing the female gaming committee to pretty up their Hero and go window shopping etc.. (You know I'm just joking around ladies)

Anyway, one thing that caught my eye whilst reading up on this game, was that you no longer have the radar.. Instead you have your dog, who points you in what direction you need to go in, it also shows if there are enemies nearby, and not to mention that the dog also fights with you, but as to whether your dog can become incapacitated, I'm not so sure.

Now, as the first Fable allowed, you can go find yourself a partner. And also as the first Fable allowed, you can have sex with 'em. But this time, with a little additives.. You can choose to have either protected or unprotected sex, and as thus, if you choose unprotected, your wife or you (if you're a female Hero) will fall pregnant. Now, I'm unsure as to whether you're running around with a pregnant belly if you choose to have a baby as a female Hero, or whether it just happens straight away.. Anyway, you're alignment plays a factor in your family, if you're evil, your child will apparently be a devilish little sh*t, but if you're good, they'll be a goody-goody suck up, who'll probably live with you until the age of 40. Oh, and no you can't take your kid out on adventures...

Also, apart from just Good or Evil, there will now be sets of conflicting alignments:
* Purity and Corruption
* Cruelty and Kindness
* Mind and Body
* Wealthy and Poor

During gameplay, a sort of "crumb trail" appears, a glowing trail that points towards the main quest, however this function can be turned off, to allow you a full RPG experience without a nagging reminder of the main quest.

Combat & Weapons:
It seems there's going to be no real change in the available melee weapons, still having available your swords, axes, hammers, and maces.. However, I guess as it's based in more of a Pirates and Patriots age, there will most likely be weapons such as sabers and rapiers, etc.
Ranged weapons will consist mainly of firearms, with no longbows whatsoever. However, it hasn't been confirmed whether or not the crossbows will be included, however a slight slip from a developer in one of their video diaries suggests that there probably will be.

The combat itself is focused primarily around the X button for melee, the Y button for range, and the B button for magic.. However, it hasn't really been explained HOW you're going to choose what spell you want to use, whether you hold B and use your d-pad to choose a spell, or what...
I'm not sure as to how flourishes will work, as I haven't really found much information on them..
It's been said that the finishing moves will be in slow motion, and will also be affected by what situation you are in.

Quote:For example, if a player is on top of a tower, pressing the X button may cause the player to throw a certain enemy off of the tower rather than attack with a weapon.

Also, the dog, it's been said that the dog has an advanced AI system, and with that system is the ability to help the Hero in the best way that it sees fit, and that's fighting the bad guys that you can't handle at the time.. If you're taking care of the melee bad guys, your faithful companion will go over and maul one of the ranged enemies, or perhaps a magical enemie, etc.

Co-Op
I know GaMeR will be thrilled with the co-op concept, as he's always commenting on how it's got good multiplayer, or needs a multiplayer, etc.
Anyway, Fable 2 will have a co-op. I think it's only a limit of two people in the one world however.. But I may be wrong. Anyhow, here's how it works:

Quote:The mode of co-op is somewhat similar to that of Lego Star Wars: The Video Game; in that players will be able to drop in and out of other player's games at will. The host player can set certain rules; eg. how loot gained is split between the players and if friendly fire is active or not.

Offline While on the same console, a second player with their own account can drop in and out as a "henchman" to the first player. If the second player on the same console does not have an account of their own, the henchman is made in a brief create screen that pauses the game. Henchmen created this way are not saved into the main player's game. The first player also decides how much bounty the henchman will obtain, e.g. gold and renown. The second player will also be able to port any experience, renown and gold to their own Fable II game via a memory card if they have imported their character and not created the henchmen from scratch.

It's also written that the player who JOINS will not have their dog accompanying them.

Dynamic World
Fable 2 will take place over the Hero's lifetime, and will also include seasons (winter, summer, spring, autumn) and apparently is completely free-roaming, and interactive.
For example, if you were to go to a small camp, and constantly trade there, that place might eventually flourish, and the beginnings of a small town may start. Or you could constantly pillage the camp, and let it get abandoned.
Also, EVERY building and property is ownable. And depending on how much land you own, you gain titles.. Apparently, you could be a mayor of a town, or a King of a city, or the Emperor of Albion. And as such, you get gold for every property you own, every 5 minutes. And apparently you get gold when your xbox is turned off as well.. I originally thought that that may be the internal clock on the console, but some people actually switch the console off at the power source, so once again, I'm unsure.
Also, apparently every tree and every leaf in Fable 2 is animated individually with it's own sense of physics. With each tree having approximately 120,000 leaves. And there is about 15 MILLION poppies in Albion.

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Ok, there's a couple things there that I'm unsure about, this is either because it hasn't been stated/confirmed, or I was not able to find the information (or I was too lazy)... So sorry. If there's any questions, feel free to ask, or try looking it up on the following websites.

Source:
http://fable.wikia.com/wiki/Fable_II
Official Website:
http://www.lionhead.com/fable2/Default.aspx
Trailer:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/splash/f...efault.htm


EDIT: Well that took up a good 45 minutes of my afternoon typing all that up... XD

Awesome stuff. I can't wait for it to come out. I loved the first one.

I think I'll add this to my list of stuff to get...

Co-op sounds awesome, apparently it's going to have offline co-op as well.

One thing that did seem rather realistic was the family system though. According to Wikipedia you'll be able to get married, have the option of having kids or not, the risk of STDs, divorce, and some other stuff. Unfortunately, I have yet to play the first one. I might buy that in the mean time and then get part II when my wallet gets a refill.

I loved the video at E308, where they revealed that your friends can join and affect your world, like in the video someone SHOT Molyneux's Husband(he was playing as a girl)
And it sticks, he dies and won't come back, his kids are bastards, and he has to figure out how to deal with it.
I like that, except that some time in the future, people WILL join your games and kill your Spouse, Kid, Dog, Friends, and probably rape innocent townspeople to spite you.
I am pretty careful about my friends list, but I don't know ALL of them enough to trust them that way, this could work out bad.

Good point..Isn't there an option to kick them out though?

Alternatively if things get real ugly, you could always play the game offline and just log on XBL when you want your score to be updated and play another game.