Fable 2: pride and button mashing prejudice

Peter Molyneux wants to do something new with the sequel to their smash hit Fable: instead of having to do everything over when the character dies, players will get to choose whether to lose experience points to get up again, fists out and fighting, or to just take it all and, when they are finally able to get up again, wear the mark of defeat. In other words, you’re gonna look like you were beaten up real bad.

“You will feel violated,” says Molyneux. He relies on gamer’s pride to kick in and refuse to see their characters look like they were on the losing side of a fight. This provides the kind of tension he wants infused in the game instead of the kind you get when just avoiding having to start all over again when you die.

The new death mechanics probably comes from Molyneux’s own dislike of repetition. He relates in an interview with Gamasutra:

I hate repetition, sitting through the same cutscenes. […] At the moment, we […] only have tension in combat because players know they’ll have to play the game over again if they die. We’ve been trying to think up a better way of having tension. Everyone is going to die sometime in the game. Death is part of drama but in Fable 2, it won’t be a frustrating thing. That’s our golden nugget.

Molyneux also relates how the game’s button mashing gameplay will reward hardcore gamers more than the carefree button masher. Button mashing will produce cool effects, but proper use of combos will garner more experience points. The more experience points, the more cooler combos you get.

Via Gamasutra

Peter Molyneux wants to do something new with the sequel to their smash hit Fable: instead of having to do everything over when the character dies, players will get to choose whether to lose experience points to get up again, fists out and fighting, or to just take it all and, when they are finally able to get up again, wear the mark of defeat. In other words, you’re gonna look like you were beaten up real bad.

“You will feel violated,” says Molyneux. He relies on gamer’s pride to kick in and refuse to see their characters look like they were on the losing side of a fight. This provides the kind of tension he wants infused in the game instead of the kind you get when just avoiding having to start all over again when you die.

The new death mechanics probably comes from Molyneux’s own dislike of repetition. He relates in an interview with Gamasutra:

I hate repetition, sitting through the same cutscenes. […] At the moment, we […] only have tension in combat because players know they’ll have to play the game over again if they die. We’ve been trying to think up a better way of having tension. Everyone is going to die sometime in the game. Death is part of drama but in Fable 2, it won’t be a frustrating thing. That’s our golden nugget.

Molyneux also relates how the game’s button mashing gameplay will reward hardcore gamers more than the carefree button masher. Button mashing will produce cool effects, but proper use of combos will garner more experience points. The more experience points, the more cooler combos you get.

Via Gamasutra