I will still forever prefer the combined Blades/Vortex in F3, but the spells here are not bad. I didn't try everything, but I used a shitton of Lightning and Enflame. Cycling through them is kind of annoying, but at least you have a decent selection available to you all the time. I could be fighting some shitty bandit that I could kill with one shot from my crossbow, but I'd decide to fight with a sword, and, even at max strength, they're parrying fifteen swings before I hit them. There's almost no point in putting experience into it in this game because it's absolutely atrocious, though I did max all of the Strength skills in order to get Huw's sword (and of course health and defense are important). I think it's probably best in F3, but regardless of entry in the series, the amount of times your swings are blocked is just stupid.
With F2/F3, though, I always stick to Will and Skill (magic and ranged weapons). Melee has always been a downside to Fable combat for me, which is kind of funny considering I'm usually more inclined to run in and just hack away at stuff in games. I think it's probably best in F3, but regardless of entry in … More The game also looks really, really good for its age. Experiencing the Hero of Oakvale's journey, learning about Theresa and Jack of Blades, and seeing the land of Albion before it grows into what we see in the sequels was really great. I did quite enjoy seeing the characters and story that I only had some familiarity with from the sequels. I would maybe have rated this higher if I'd played it first and had nothing to compare it to, but having played the sequels first, I know what little tweaks to the gameplay have been made to improve the experience.
I don't have the nostalgia of playing it first, of course, but it's a matter of mechanics/gameplay.
I will put it this way: the game is solid, and I appreciate it for being the start of a series that I've really enjoyed for a long time, but it is easily the least enjoyable at this point.
I never got around to playing the original until the past two weeks when I finally got GamePass (other than a brief stint on PC a year ago, during which time I barely scratched the surface, so I don't really count it). I really enjoyed it, and enjoyed III even more. My start with the Fable series was with Fable II in high school.