Fable 2 managed to grab me because of its world, and that kept me interested in the story, which got me involved with the characters, namely, my fellow Heroes. Or, at least I tried to get involved with them. Since the support characters are very sparse, and exist only within the story based missions, you would think that they’d take this opportunity to flesh them out and give them a greater place in the world. I found myself gaining no attachment to the other heroes in the story, even when they were in jeopardy. The only one I felt I really knew was Hammer, only because she was around the longest, and the most vocal. Even Theresa only seemed to serve the role of a quest-giver. This is really a disappointment, because I felt like I knew more about the final villain than my teammates, and there we were fighting his troops together.
However, the one character I really gained some feelings for was my dog. Since I was good, my dog was a blonde color, so he was aptly named Luke. Not as in Duke, but as in Skywalker. He ran when I ran. He fought when I fought. When he got hurt, I healed him. We played fetch together. He aided me in my expressions (and covered his head with his paws for others). Overall, though, I felt as if this in-game dog really captured the spirit of a real dog. Unlike Fallout 3’s Dogmeat, who instead had the spirit of a party member. I found myself spending more time healing Dogmeat than I did caring for him. The plus side to Fable 2’s dog is that you don’t have to tell him anything. He automatically finds his treasures and barks for my attention. Dogmeat just attacked anything that was near, and getting him to find ammo or health was more of a chore than anything (and because of this, I rarely used him for this purpose). The fact that Luke waited by my side as my hero grew, and that he ran to greet me at the docks as I returned from a quest showed me that he cared for me before I even began to care for him. I applaud Peter Molyneux and his crew for creating the most inspired character in this year of gaming, and possibly one of the most emotionally realistic support characters of all time.
Until I am able to venture forth to Knothole Island, this is all I’ve got on Fable 2 for now. Coming up soon: My thoughts on 2008.
