Fable III Interview

Lionhead Studios senior design director Josh Atkins took some time out of his day to chat with CVG about the role-playing elements, ranged combat, cooperative gameplay, spell system, and more in Fable III. The usual snippet:

Have you toned down the RPG elements in Fable III’s combat? Is it even an RPG anymore?

As a franchise Fable has always been an action RPG and while we may have moved further toward Action in Fable 3 we still have kept some of the core fun found in an RPG. For example, the character levelling and open world aspects seen in an RPG is still in Fable 3 which provides a nice balanced experience for players.

Character progression and levelling is a fun aspect of the game and it wasn’t something we would completely remove but it is an area of the game we wanted to innovate in order to give players a new experience and a new way to think about Fable. As we continue to evolve our industry I do think strict genre guidelines will continue to blur further. You see RPG mechanics in a racing game like Forza, while Fable 3 has more traditional action game elements blended with strong character progression and customization mechanics.

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What can you tell us about the new magic system?

Much like every other section of the game, the spell casting system has had a complete overhaul. From the moment the player receives their first spell, they are able to cast the maximum spell level, albeit very very slowly. As the hero levels up their spell ability, they will find that progressive spell levels will cast much more quickly, meaning that at maximum spell ability level, the highest level of the spell will almost insta-cast.

This means magic for all levels is much less about standing about waiting to charge up to useful levels and is more immediate and fun. The main addition to the spell system, however, is the new Spellweaving. Once unlocked, this ability allows the player to take any two spell gauntlets they have and wear them at once. This will weave the two spells together into a completely new spell.

For example, if the player choose Vortex on one hand and Fireball on the other then they will cast a Fire Vortex which sucks people off the ground and sets them on fire, especially good against those annoying Hobbes! There are over 20 spell combinations to experiment with in Fable III.