Piemaster's Progress

I've been writing for Xbox.com in one capacity or another for two and a half years, and in that time, I've had the opportunity to see some pretty amazing things—and usually long before the general public (of which I was once a part) get to see them. I've attended E3 in 2003 and 2004; was playing MechAssault™ weeks before Xbox LIVE® was even online, and faced Murai long before Ninja Gaiden® was ever in stores. I write this not to boast of these things, but to lend a little weight to what else I'm about to write—that playing Fable® for the last couple of weeks has blown all other such experiences clear out of the water. I've been bustin' at the seams to talk about it. And, now that the game has finally reached the rest of the hungry gaming masses, I'd like to share with you the legend of my hero, the Piemaster.

He really really likes pies.

Piemaster triumphant!

Lost in Albion
I don't know about you, but in my first time playing any roleplaying game (RPG) that offers moral choices, I try to go the heroic route. You have to figure that, since the RPG genre draws so much from epic tales of heroism and battles between good and evil, the "good" path is the way you're "supposed" to play. With Fable, however, I learned that good and evil are so incremental that I tended to keep ending up in a gray area. I guess I just can't resist wandering into someone's house and stealing all their stuff, even if I'm an otherwise upstanding citizen. That's the kind of game Fable is—no matter what your presupposition, you'll find it rarely survives engagement with the game. Of course, later I went all-out evil.

What Two Weeks of Fable Taught Me
So, out I went into the great big world—no manual to guide me, just the game. As it turned out, a manual is almost completely unnecessary for the game. Just hit the back button and poke around the menus a bit, and you'll see that every aspect of the game and Albion is already explained in excruciating detail. Here are a few other crucial Fable life lessons I learned along the way. Perhaps they'll be of some help to you in your own journey…

Don't say "Yes" until you're sure …

Some scallywags earn gold trading between shops!
Seriously, every shopkeeper in the game will find it necessary to let you know that you can earn cash by buying low and selling high. Ignore this advice, and you're just being a dolt, since the transaction screen already tells you whether you're going to make a profit on what you're selling and whether what you're buying is available for less elsewhere in the world.

Fist Fighting has a time and place.
The time is generally night, and the place is the given town's designated Fist Fight arena. If you want to avoid gaining evil points, but can't contain your urge to pummel, just head to the ring, and you'll come out with cash money.

What's in a name?
Plenty. You're going to hear people calling you by your nickname all over Albion, so it had better give the impression you want it to give. For example, I went through almost a quarter of the game with the default moniker, "Chicken Chaser," which was at least more polite than what I originally thought they were saying. Finally, I purchased a new nickname, Piemaster. Sure, it might not sound imposing to you, but when my hero wanders into Knothole Glade, buys up all the pies in town, then stands in the town square eating them up in public, you'll understand.

Piemaster's romance stats say it all.

Quests don't wait.
There comes a point in Fable when you will have to choose between taking any more side quests and focusing all your attention on the main story. If you choose to play only story quests, you're missing a lot of what Fable is all about. Go ahead and rescue a bandit, find the lost grandson, and escort a few traders to Orchard Farm before you devote everything to the final fight. This is also true early in the game, when you are offered the choice of leaving childhood for training or training for adulthood. Each time the Guildmaster offers you this choice, there are almost certainly still little side missions available, and you're just passing up the chance to earn extra experience and loot.

Tattoos are cool.
Collect them all! I did, and eventually you could barely see my skin. Now that's classy. It's also a perfect way to add a little extra oomph to your attractiveness and scariness ratings. You never know where you'll find a tattoo card, so check every bookcase and scarecrow you encounter.

Article by Cory Herndon