Fable III Preview and Further Details

Peter Molyneux has been busy demonstrating Fable III at this year’s Develop conference, so we now have further details about how the game will be “streamlined”, how the new leveling system will work, and what we should expect from the game’s storyline. Additionally, IGN UK has slapped up a preview based on what was shown of “The Sanctuary” interface:

“In Fable II, when you pressed [the start] button up came this horrible, horrible list that you had to scroll through,” gripes Molyneux, “Now, if you press the pause button, you instantly go to this place called The Sanctuary.”

It’s a seamless transition that takes the player to a chamber; at its centre is the world map, and at its extremities doorways to other, smaller rooms, each one hosting a different aspect of the inventory. So one room, for example, hosts the clothing, and equipping a new item to wear is a simple case of walking up to it and selecting it.

“Each one of these rooms has all the stuff you found- all your clothes go here and all your treasures go here,” Molyneux tells us, “I really love the idea that all the stuff you have is actually useful it’s not just some artificial thing.”

There’s some neat things within this new interface too; first up there’s the living map, a top-down view of Albion and new continent Aurora that’s fully interactive. Zoom in on a town and you’ll be able to see the inhabitants and it’s even possible to use merchants and do your shopping this way, as it is also possible to accept quests via the living map.