Fable 2 uses the improbability drive
A few years ago, I was talking a friend who had made the jump from PC-only to Console gaming by buying an XBox. I remember asking her what she thought of Fable, since it had piqued my interest.
“It’s ok,” she replied, “But I’ve gotten used to being able to play a woman in my RPGs, I like it when I can have my character look like me.”
Indeed, even a couple of years ago, a customizable RPG that didn’t let you customize your sex seemed a little … off to me.
When I had first heard of Fable 2’s super-secret feature in last week’s Penny-Arcade, I was imagining it from the perspective of the old game, where you always played a dude. Having done a little follow-up on the matter, it’s nice to know that in Fable 2, the woman you impregnate might be yourself.
So in essence, in one release, the Fable team went from being woefully behind the curve with regards to gendered gameplay, to being on the other friggin’ side of the universe. I would mention that I suspect a sperm whale and a bowl of petunias were somehow involved, but that would be a very bad pun.
Unfortunately, the Team XBox spends more time talking about the dog ownership features of Fable 2 (due out in ‘08) than they do about the parenting features. The good news is that it seems that Peter Molyneux appears to be developing the sense of interconnectedness and love between characters, so I’m not sure that this game is going to have scenarios where you run around, impregnating as many different women as you can like some sort of high-fantasy version of K-Fed. Since GTA and God of War have already introduced the sex minigame to the mainstream videogame, Fable 2 makes what may be the next logical step in the immersive world: the roll failure (critical) on a +1 condom.
We’ll have to stay tuned to see if games start offering full contraceptive services, and how the game shapes up if you do in fact choose to play a pregnant woman (I can’t imagine swollen feet and water retention are the best attributes for adventuring). But there’s not really enough information to go on here to really call this news one way or the other.
I planned to get an XBox360 anyway, so I’ll keep reporting on this and let you know how things shake out.
March 13th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I was appalled when I found the minigame in God of War. It was the second time through the game, and I’d already made squeaky noises about how neat the puzzles in Pandora’s Temple were and the individual kill animations. The tits were kinda gratuitous, but it’s a mature title, don’cha know? I guess that’s what makes it mature.
So I get to the minigame — I’m playing this at my brother’s house — and say, “What the hell?”
“Oh, yeah, didn’t you know about that?”
Uh, no. Okay, so there’s an unpleasant little minigame in there. Does it have to give you so much XP that it’s almost mandatory?
March 13th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
God of War had me sore tempted to get a PS2 — when I heard about the sex minigame, I was a little turned off, but after watching the video of Old Grandma Hardcore playing that sequence, I just giggle a little bit. That and the VGCats comic about the boobs.
March 13th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
It’s the best brawler I’ve played ever. Blood and guts and gore and veins between my teeth! It’s just chock full of splattery goodness. But I wouldn’t get the console just for that game.
(Of course, I’m also a Final Fantasy junkie, so I couldn’t not have a PS2.)
March 16th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Mmm…veins in between teeth.
I remember the hubbub about the GTA: San Andreas sex minigame…and what a fuss that caused. But after having seen it; you really laugh as it’s just so *bad* as to be more humorous than anything else (perhaps not unlike the puppet “sex scene” in Team America: World Police).
I have not seen the one in God of War; but I know the GTA one was just stupid and not worth mention aroudn what was otherwise a decent game.
March 17th, 2007 at 3:27 am
[...] about “the incorporation of love into the design of Fable 2”, and Mighty Ponygirl wonders about the potential of playing a pregnant character. Interesting [...]