Member Fable? > 자유게시판

• 목록
• 답변
• 글쓰기
• 게시판 리스트 옵션
  • 수정
  • 삭제

There’s something odd about an HD port built for a console which itself has games that are being ported to a superior console. Let’s reflect on Fable Anniversary for a second: it’s a 2014 Xbox 360 remake of an Xbox game from 2004. We’re in an age where people are demanding for spectacular looking games like Grand Theft Auto V and The Last of Us to be ported to Xbox One and PS4, and this is an Xbox 360 port of an original Xbox game. As such, judging it is fairly hard to do after spending countless hours over the past few months scrutinizing next-gen ports like Tomb Raider, Madden 25 and Call of Duty: Ghosts, when Fable Anniversary would be a resounding success if it matched the 360 quality of any of them. Still, while a remake of Fable might have been better suited for release before Fable II or as a three-pack with its sequels on Xbox One before Fable IV (please?), the sheer fact that Lionhead and Microsoft care to do it at all is great fan service for players who have had to deal with an antiquated game — classic as it may be.

While Molyneux has certainly made this attitude a recurring (and expected) one, many of the creative ideas from him are the ones that never saw the light of day. Personally, I’m of the small camp who believe the Kinect/Natal demo Milo was an interesting idea that deserved to be investigated upon further ; maybe not with Kinect, but with the idea of simply talking to a person and developing a social relationship with them over time, similar to how you build the foundation of a city into a giant metropolis. Molyneux’s Milo project became one of the most iconic figures of the early years of Kinect, but the project was never realized, Kinect functionality or not. And quite frankly, Milo remained one of the more interesting Kinect projects. Considering the widespread disapproval of Kinect, one of the few good things to come out of it was the potential of a game like Milo . Molyneux was trying to make something cool out of something massively disliked: Milo out of Kinect.

The combat mechanics played a big part in creating an enjoyable game, but a lot of the fun came from just exploring the world and seeing what sort of trouble one could get into. The goal of the hero was to gain fame, which was measured by their renown which was acquired by completing quests and the reaction of the NPCs was determined by the character's alignment, which was also influenced by their actions. Good characters would seem to develop a bright aura around them and a halo, while evil characters would grow horns and attract pestilence. The NPC behaviors weren't quite as unique as early claims from Project Ego days would have you believe, but they did react based on those factors, though just about everyone gave the same reaction based on the hero's current renown and alignment.

And really, Peter Molyneux, for all his broken promises and enormous aspirations, is an innovator. He’s proven his enchantment with taking well-tread ideas and making them into something unexpected. Populous remains one of the most important games of all time, and that couldn’t have happened without some desire to step beyond the established setting. Fable to a lesser extent and certainly with the Milo demo, Peter Molyneux hasn’t made anything flat-out terrible in decades. But his tendency to get excited about his new ideas so much has led to a negative perception of who he is: many in the gaming community consider him a dreamer, not a doer. Quite frankly, I think that’s unfair to say. Some companies are perfectly content with what they’re doing in gaming, but Molyneux has proven time and again that he’s never satisfied with his creations. He’s always reaching further, even if his eagerness to progress has made him despise the past and ignore the present in awkwardly narrow-sighted ways.

Of course, it’s no secret that Fable is a great Adventure game walkthrough, so the most important aspects of this release is if it's aged well (read above) and the quality of the port. Simply put, the result is leaps and bounds above the original. Fidelity, special effects and lighting have all improved and it’s clear to see the differences in almost every area. Upgrades to characters and building exteriors are the most noticeable, with faces seeming more realistic and less pixelated and buildings revealing never-before-seen nuances. Even trees in the backgrounds and leaves on the pathways of villages are more detailed. Everything has a smooth look which gives it a nice overall aesthetic comparable to other Xbox 360 games. The only flaw in the new look is that sometimes things can be a bit too smoothed over and come across a little smeary. Sometimes the sharp edges of the original helped to keep objects separated, something that can sometimes be a problem here. The other continually noticeable boost is the lighting, with plenty of new shadow effects and nuances between different lighting situations, where as before things were basically light or dark. Overall, while it’s not perfect and hampered by the fact that practically every Xbox 360 game now looks long in the tooth, it’s certainly the preferable way to experience the game — nostalgia or not.