E3 2010’s Most Interesting RPGs

1UP’s RPG Blog provides us with a handful of quick blurbs for the “most interesting” role-playing games they checked out during last week’s E3. Among them are Star Wars: The Old Republic, Yakuza 4, Fable III, Deux Ex: Human Revolution, and Dungeon Siege III:

Peter Molyneux has done his best to downplay Fable III’s RPG elements, but I’m throwing this one in here anyway. Having never been a huge fan of the franchise, I wasn’t expecting much from the demo. I really enjoyed what I played though, which makes me wonder if there isn’t something to Peter Molyneux’s new ideas after all.

The section I played took place in a dark cave on an island where the hero and his mentor — the amiable blowhard Sir Walter Beck — had been shipwrecked. What followed was a simple but rather frightening dungeon crawl in which shadowy creatures resembling the Nobodies from Kingdom Hearts attacked from every angle. Adding to the atmosphere was a demonic, disembodied voice that taunted me as I fought, and the disappearance of Beck.

The combat is much like Fable II, though the enemies seem better balanced, requiring a healthy dose of ranged, melee and magical attacks to defeat. More interesting was the sequence following my rescue of Beck, which required me to lead him by the hand to the cave exit. It was striking how much of an emotional connection I felt to Walter at that moment, leading me to think that Molyneux might be on to something when he says that he was inspired by similar elements in Ico.