Fable 2

Release Date: 2008 (Xbox 360)
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Publisher: Microsoft

Fable is rather famous among gamers, either being the greatest thing ever or a sad attempt at an action RPG. But gameplay is not what I'm reviewing, so I'm leaving it out of this.

Story Rating: 4/5
Character Rating: 3/5
Mission Writing: 5/5

Warning: Spoilers Ahead. Please skip the rest of this post if you plan on playing the game!

Story
The basic story of Fable 2 is that you play as an orphan boy/girl who buys a music box that is supposed to grant one wish. You and your sister end up in a huge castle where a dude named Lucian flips out and shoots you and your sister. You fall out a window to be saved by a blind gypsy who raises you to stop Lucian from destroying the world. To do this, you must find the other 3 Heroes that are needed to defeat Lucian.

Pros:
--> The dialogue is written wonderfully, giving personality and individuality to each character.
-->I like the idea of actually searching for a few particular people, instead of most RPG games in which you just “run into” people that just decide to tag along for no real reason other than “Hey, I'm going that way too. Let's go together! Tee-hee!”

Cons:
-->A dog that seems to have no real point in the story besides taking a bullet for you at the end
-->Another bad guy that wants to rule the world sort of deal

Characters

Main (Rating: 0/5)
Yes, you play as a speechless character. I understand that this is a sandbox game, but so is Grand Theft Auto 4 and the main character in that game speaks. At least let me have some dialogue to choose from...

Improvements: I don't know...maybe... a personality?

Hammer (4.5/5)
I rather like this character. A buffed-out lady monk who wants to smash in some faces but has to hold back since she's sworn an oath. But once she loses her father, all oaths go out the window and she swears to get revenge on Lucian for his men killing her father. She's witty, chatty, and has fun when smashing things.

Improvements: She didn't seem to have enough faults. Other than being incredibly chatty, there was nothing about her that struck me unpleasant. All characters should have things that you love and hate about them. Not just love.

Garth (2/5)
Garth is a James Earl Jones reincarnate that follows me around telling me to use my magical powers. Sorry guys, but this character is way too Star Wars for me. He has some great moments of wit, but when it comes down to it, all he does is boss me around while sitting in a corner glowing.

Improvements: Needs to be a little more rounded out. Garth didn't say much and when he did, it was barely anything original. I barely know anything about him other than he was in Lucian's hands and I had to break him out of them.

Reaver (4/5)
I hate this character. And I don't mean because he's poorly developed, I just mean that I hated him so much that when I beat the game I wanted to go back, track him down, and shoot him in the face. Reaver is a very arrogant and rich thief, who tricked me into selling my youth to save himself, and then turned around and called Lucian to come pick me up just for his own personal gain.

Improvements: The opposite of Hammer: there was nothing about him I liked. He could shoot a gun pretty well, but that's not reason for me to like him. I almost killed him myself and he's supposed to be a Hero?

Theresa (3/5)
Why are mystical people always able to speak in my head? It's creepy. Theresa is an interesting character, and one that I kept trying to figure out if she was using me for her own plans or if she was actually on my side. She gets the spire and ditches you, which makes you think that the spire was her main objective all along, not to protect the peace. She has no real show of emotions and usually just tells me what to do.

Improvements: How about a mystical character that doesn't state the obvious? Theresa needs a little more depth to her. If I'm supposed to be confused about what side she's on, really confuse me about it. I want to be on the edge of my seat wondering if she's going to betray me or support me. Also, her dialogue sounds more like a narrator than a character.

Lucian (3.5/5)
Lucian wants to create a new and better world. Or an old one... something like that. Someone mentions in the game that he wishes to revive his family from the dead, but that's not really looked into and it doesn't seem like a valid excuse try to change the world into what he wanted. This guy is pretty bad, considering the fact that he shot me in the face twice. And once in awhile you see some sort of heart in him, but it's quickly eaten by his insane mind. With the way he gathered and killed people that didn't fit his view of a perfect world, I'm sure him and Hitler would have a lot of common interests.

Improvements: His motives confuse me at points. I understand that he wants to get rid of the Heroes so he can get the spire to bring his family back. But what's with the recruits for “a better world?” I'd like a little more background on the character that I'm spending the entire game trying to defeat.

Side Quests 5/5
My rating on side quests have to do with these things:

-->Does it fit in with the game world
-->Are the characters in the side quests well developed enough for me to believe that they REALLY need my help
-->Is it something really pointless

Fable has pretty good side quests for the most part. I'm not going to go into each one obviously... I assume you people have lives. (Emphasis on the word “assume.”) Overall, Fable 2 did side quests that immersed you into the world, giving me some memorable characters along the way. How can I forget the heart-warming quest of where a transvestite guy tried to trap me in his house and stab me in the neck after setting fire to all his pets. Good, family-oriented times.

FINAL SAY
Fable 2 has a pretty simple storyline, with good side quest writing. Lionhead Studio said they wanted to focus on the emotion of the game, which I can't say didn't work for the main fact that I got pissed off at half the story because it seemed so unfair. However, there was no part in the game where I was so emotionally distraught that I shed a tear. That didn't happen. And I'm pretty sappy.

I recommend playing it not for the storyline, but for the characters. If you want to study some interesting and insane characters, definitely play.

Other Notes:
Why did I look like a she-man half way through? That was really irritating...

Writing Assignment #2-- Bad Guy

There are many types of antagonists. Some of them are really boring, others I find a delightful twist in. Have you ever noticed how much creativity goes into antagonists meant for kid shows? I’ve seen more originality in comic book characters than in video game bad guys.

All right, so here’s your assignment:

Give me the background to an awesomely evil dude. Where he grew up, what he likes and dislikes, who his family is, what morals does he stand by, what things does he fight for, why does he oppose the protagonist....

Remember that bad guys have strengths, the same way that good guys have faults.

Writing Exercise #1-- Your First Mission

I thought I'd start a new regular article on my blog. I'm going to post some writing exercises in which you can work on some writing elements.

Your first writing exercise is going to be a first mission. There are a few types of writers in the industry: a technical writer, a dialogue writer, plot writers, and mission writers. I'm going to start you out with a mission writing exercise.


Background: Rhet is a dark elf that lives in a secluded forest village. He only has one weak spell: Lightning.

Task: Give Rhet a task to do in the village or forest involving his lightning spell. Remember that this will be the first mission within the game, so do not make it too difficult or long. Write a basic overview of what the mission is, what tasks are involved for Rhet to complete his task, and if you wish throw in some dialogue that will be exchanged in this mission.

Feel free to post them up here!

Poll #3--Elements of Writing

What element of gameplay do you think needs the most work?

Choice #1-- Dialogue
Some characters are all kinds of dull. They tend to fall into a speech pattern cliche that drives me crazy. Or worse, to better "immerse" yourself into the game, they take out the speech of the main character entirely. I really don't see the cleverness to this. If you want to make it more like the player, why don't you let the player choose traits for the main character and base speech patterns off that? It would take some work, I realize, but it would give the game tons of replay value.

Choice #2-- Character Development
This is my vote. Two dimensional characters piss me off. If your character is going to be cold and quiet give him a REASON to be so. Not just cause you saw Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children and thought "Omgz Cloud is awesome!!!! My entire life will be based off his totally cool example!!! I love youz!!!!"
...Sad.

I have nothing against Cloud, but the clones I see throughout RPG games is to say the lamest thing I've ever come across in game writing. If you're going to have the strong, silent type don't make him the main character.

And another thing, what is with the stereotypes? I haven't found a black character that wasn't all "Bust a cap" with an insane gun and ready to pop someone the face whenever they said something remotely suggestive. Way to profile, jerks. There seems to be only seems to be 4 or 5 types of characters in games anymore; few with any real depth.


Choice #3-- Plot
We get it. The bad guy is the main guy's father. Someone is always magically royalty. The bad guys want to rule the world for no real reason other than to mark it off their checklist of "Things to Do Before You Die." How many times are you guys going to use these lame plot devices?

Now I'm not saying not to use what has been used before. That would be nearly impossible. But at least put a spin or an angle on it. In Final Fantasy 10, they had Sin (the main bad guy) as Tidus's father. But they didn't tell you that at the end, where it would have been retarded and not that great of a surprise. They told you directly after they set up the fact that Tidus hates his father with a passion. So during the game, you watch as Tidus gets ready to destroy his own father, but starts to become torn between his hatred and his compassion. It has some dorky parts, but at least it put some sort of depth into it.


Choice #4-- Romantic Chemistry
Anyone who knows me well knows that I can't stand the fact that Tidus and Yuna get together in Final Fantasy 10. Not to piss off you Yuna fans, but Tidus and Yuna had the worst romantic chemistry of any two game characters I've seen. They were entirely fake. Remember that forced laughter scene? Look it up on youtube if you've never seen it. It's ridiculous. It is my personal opinion that Rikku was much better for Tidus. Not only did they work well in battle situations together, but the first thing she does when meeting him is knocks him out. It's funny and it works.

If you want two characters to be romantically involved, you have to have them bring out the best and the worst in each other. A romantic interest should bring out all of the characters colors and just lay them out on the table whether they like it or not. It's even more fun if they hate it! And by the way, if you have two well developed characters, the chemistry should speak for itself. You won't even have to put much effort into the chemestry because the characters will do it for you.


So what do you guys think? Leave some comments!

Character Development Type 1: Astrology

Whether or not you believe that the stars can tell you your future is irrelevant. The use of astrology in order to create a character is a great way to create someone with depth.

There are two types of astrology: Chinese and Sun Signs. (I do hope that if you create a character, s/he is real enough to you that you would give him/her a birthday. ) Chinese Astrology is the type that has to do with the years. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “Year of the Rat” or “Year of the Dragon.” Sun Signs have to do with monthly readings, such as Aries, Virgo, Cancer, etc.

The point of using these is to make sure that your character is a complete person. Often we fall in love with our characters so much that we refuse to give them weaknesses and bad traits. This is ridiculous. Can you think of anyone you adore that doesn’t have at least one trait that bothers you? Big or small, weaknesses and bad habits are important to a character.

Another good use for this strategy is for character compatibility. A lot of astrology sites can show you compatibility with two people regarding work, romance and friendship. People can’t agree on everything, and what they do and don’t agree on you can use to your advantage.

I’m going to do two sample characters to give you an idea of how useful it is: Marc and Dhara.

Marc’s birthday is going to be February 3rd, 1984. This is going to make him an Aquarius, Year of the Rat. Now, I don’t have to use ALL the traits mentioned in one of these sites. None of us meet all of these, and some of us barely meet any of them whatsoever. The point isn’t to have as many traits as possible, its to have depth and dimension to the character.

Here are Marc’s traits using Sun Signs: Original, independent, and honest. He also has a dry sense of humor, doesn’t forgive easily, and has a tendency to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing just for the heck of it. Some traits from the Year of the Rat that I can use for Marc are that he has his own agenda and is quite persuasive.

With these traits working together, I’m sure Marc will end up getting on my nerves frequently, but wondering what he’ll do next will keep me interested.

Next is Dhara. I’m going to make her birthday November 22, 1982. This makes her Year of the Dog and a Scorpio.

Here are some traits of Scorpio: Forceful, intuitive, emotional, and passionate. However, she’s also going to end up being secretive, compulsive, and is almost never satisfied with the results of something. Traits of the Dog that I will add in for Dhara are a firm code of personal ethics and a love of physical activity.

Now, I just made up birthdays before creating these characters. I had nothing pictured in my head for either one of them. But I can all ready tell that no matter the plot, these two are going to have some interesting chemistry. I don’t have to use a guide to tell me that Dhara won’t take any crap from Marc, but if Marc wants what he wants badly enough, he’s eventually going to stick around and use Dhara’s traits against her to get it for him.

If I want these two to be romantic, I’m going to have to use some of their traits in order to create reasons why these two would even fall for each other. Whether or not the compatibility tools on a site agree or disagree means nothing. They’re just helpers if you can’t think of something yourself.

For Dhara, I’m going to make her slightly impressed by Marc’s honesty. Even if he’s persuasive and tricky, he’s not going to be dishonest. She’ll also end up being intrigued by his original and inventive mind.

Marc is going to be excited by the challenge Dhara presents for him. Putting his mind to work in order to get her to help him for his tasks may frustrate him at times, but ultimately he’s going to love the mental exercise. And sooner or later, whatever emotional reasons Dhara reveals for passionately perusing what she’s doing is going to get him to think a little more about himself and get him to understand and empathize with her.

As work partners, I can tell these two will be quite competitive; as friends, they’re going to try to outshine the other with quick wit and personal accomplishments.

The story can almost be seen through the personalities of these two characters. That’s the point. The characters are the most important part of the story. Stories are character driven: not plot driven. A great plot is awesome, but without characters that drive the circumstances, these plots end up weak and typically cliche. Make sure that you have characters that people love or love to hate, because those characters are what keeps people interested in what happens next!

Here are some good Astrology sites:
http://www.astrology-online.com/persn.htm
http://www.usbridalguide.com/special/chinesehoroscopes/dog.htm
http://www.theholidayspot.com/chinese_new_year/zodiacs.htm
http://horoscopes.aol.com/astrology/zodiac-central/aquarius
http://www.astrologycom.com/zodiac.html
http://horoscopes.astrology.com/index/dailychineseindex.html

Poll #2

New poll has been posted.

What Character Stereotype Are You Most Sick Of?

#1-- Cool and Heartless Jackass.
This one is personally my pet peeve. These characters are in mass production. They're usually quiet, with this annoying view that they can't/should not be loved. They normally have really cool weapons and sometimes some humorous sarcasm, but overall they're pretty boring to me.

#2-- Peppy and Bubbly Misfit
Usually a girl character, which is fine because I'd be really creeped out if a guy was like one of these characters. This person usually yells "We can do it!" some time during the game. No one really cares whether she's there or not.

#3-- Sweet and Soft Princess
My 2nd worst pet peeve. She's too damn sweet to do her own fighting and she's usually spouting off some garbage about saving the rainforest or something. She never raises her voice. She's like a robot with a plastered on smile. It hurts me.

#4-- I Want to Rule All Bad Guy
See #2 on my Avalon Code post. This guy has been DONE.

Avalon Code

Platform: DS
Release Date: TBA

Have you noticed that more and more games are refusing to give release dates? Just pointing it out.

The game I'd like to bring attention to in this particular blog is Avalon Code. Not too much has been released about the game, but the concept is what I’d like to bring attention to.
I could go on about the gameplay features and cool graphics, but this is a writing blog so I’ll save that to your own research. (But on a side note, the battle system looks awesome!)

So, here’s the story: You play a character that has just been informed that the end of the world is coming. You cannot save it. Instead, you pick out the stuff you want to take with you to the new world that will be created after this one is destroyed.

Reasons why this concept rocks:

1) You get to choose how the story plays out. There are a lot of games out there in which you get to choose your own events, but it doesn’t really have anything to do with the actual storyline. It seems to be totally just for giggles. I am a total The Sims fanatic, but if I set Suzy on fire, the only thing that happens is Billy stops and cries every once in awhile. (The Sims was not made for storylines really, but I’m just using it as an example.)

2) There’s no evil dude trying to take over the universe. (As far as I know.) I’m really sick of this scenario. WHY do bad guys want to rule things for NO real reason? Half of them are so anti-social, it really doesn’t make sense that they’d want to rule and deal with people day in and day out. Most of them seem to want this “world as my slave” deal, which is an interesting goal, but I’m pretty sure that if there was someone trying to do that well placed TNT would do the trick. Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7 passes, mainly because it makes sense that he would think there’s a universe that belongs to him, because he’s bloody crazy. It’s a low grade, but a C- is still passing.

3) Personalization. Play as a boy or girl. Destroy things you hate. Keep things you like. Mess with the universe. I hate it when a game either goes half in or half out on the immersion. Take Dragon Quest 8. I’m a huge fan of the series, but removing the main character of dialogue to make you feel like you’re part of the game is lame. I’m not a mute. Why am I playing one? How am I supposed to identify to someone who doesn’t say anything?

I think Avalon Code has a cool new angle for a storyline and I’m excited to see whether or not it turns out to be a good game. Check out IGN for more info and screenshots!

Poll #1

I've only had 4 votes on my poll off to the side here. I hope all of you who visit my site vote and vote honestly. No suck ups!

Just for the record, if you put "really hot characters" I won't judge you. Why do you think I bought Kingdom Hearts? Hehehe.

Quick Tip: Portfolio Articles

At the recent E For All, I tracked down the editor of GamePro Magazine and asked him a simple question: What do you do when you want to put articles in your portfolio, but you can’t afford any of the new games?

His advice was to write about games that have been released in the last year. Don’t go too far back, but the articles in your portfolio don’t always have to be the new hot games coming out. Just show that you can write.

Introduction

My reason behind this particular blog was to write about my passion of games without doing another site that squeals, "PRINCE OF PERSIA 2008!" (Not that I"m not incredibly excited about the new one!) So I tried to think of the main reason I play games.

It's an interactive story.

It's obvious with the release of games for the PS3 that graphics have breath-taking realism to them. However, I think the industry is far too focused on graphics and not enough on the story of the game. What keeps me most interested in playing a game is the "what happens next" factor. And I have plenty who agree with me.

What my plans are for this blog are to write about the elements of game writing. I would like to bring attention to how dialogue has been written, the storylines, and character development. I would also like to touch upon writing within the industry, such as technical writing, story writing, samples for a portfolio, and journalism. I don't have a lot of info on the industry side subjects yet, but I will work hard for you guys to find out!

As much as I'd like to throw myself into the blog and write my first article, the first thing I have to do is work on this layout because right now it hurts my soul. I'll try to have an article for you guys next week!