As part of our continuing effort to plaster Fable II news all over the front page of Destructoid, we now bring you details on how the downloadable versions of the game -- released this morning, you know -- talk to each other.
This morning we ran through the first downloadable episode in the five-part series. This slice features two key parts of the whole of Fable II: childhood and the Guild Caverns. After completion, the hero is instructed to kill the bandit Thag and move on to Bowerstone Market, another area previously visited, as a child, in this episode. The market, however, is not accessible -- as Lionhead promised, the transactions do take place inside the episode. An invisible wall will prevent entry into the area and a screen pops up, that teases more of the adventure and asks if players want to purchase Episode 2 for 800 MS Points.
Clicking “Purchase Episode 2” (with the "X" button) will bring up a Marketplace blade. Choosing “Return” (the "A" button) will allow players to run around the area immediately outside of Bowerstone called “Bowerstone Lake.” There’s not much to do in this area, other than wish to be somewhere else, which happens to be the goal of the aforementioned purchasing option.
What do you guys think of this? Have you played it? Does this model work for you?
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Contest:
10:20 AM on 09.29.2009
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These seems like an interesting idea, but cutting up an open environment seems to produce up some logistical complications.
I own Fable II, I've got it installed to my HD, I'm drinking the kool-aid, and a card carrying member of the molynuex-aint-so-bad club. Can this episodic dealy work for me in a way that I both don't need a disc to run Fable II, and don't need to re-purchase all episodes to do so?
Pretty sure that isn't going to work, unless you sell your Fable 2 disc and use the money to buy the episodes.
Though that is cool idea.
That's how I'm seeing it. I'm sure you can get a fresh copy for like 30 somewhere.
If there's absolutely nothing new in this, why don't they just put the entire game on the "Games on Demand" service?
I think that's the experiment: If we give you pieces of a good game, will you buy the whole thing eventually?
Tricky though, since its already been bought by a bunch of people
1) If I like it, I might as well buy the whole thing not just part 2.
2) Buying it through MS will be like twice as expensive as buying the actual retail disc.
3) It's HUGE I question if I even have the 1.8GB needed just to download part 1. My problem, I admit.
(a) You own the game or have already made up your mind about not wanting it and you don't matter
(b) You download the first chapter, like it, then buy the rest at a slightly inflated price
(c) You download the first chapter, like it, and figure you'll "outsmart" MS by buying it in the store
or
(d) Try it, don't like it, and probably wouldn't have bought it in the first place.
That seems as win-win as you can get for Microsoft, and you can technically play a notable chunk of the game no-risk, which is waaay more than I can say for most titles. How is this bad again?
It's an alright idea but 'slightly inflated price'? I'd say grossly inflated since it's more expensive than buying the game in-store and that digital distribution is comparatively cheap.
A demo serves well enough in these cases - at least until they sort out fair pricing.
"We're going to sell you a broken game, but, it's okay, because you can fix it for more money. You can't fix it until we come out with all the pieces, though."
I'll just purchase the fixed game from the beginning, thank you very much.
i sign you that!
I hope this flops,
how can people say this is a briliant methode for geting games? This is a experiment from molineux at the behest of M$! They want to test and see how far they can go and milk the consumer even more! If i purchase a game i want the whole thing, right from the start, not paying a shit for more areas, weapons, monsters, cars or abilitys.
If this succeds this could be a real bugging trend.
Its like these free mmos where you can play everything for free but to succed and kill the boss monster you have to pay for the good usefull stuff.
Anyway, why they have to splitt it up in 5 parts? As if 2 parts wouldnt be enough! Is it like 'ok i download part one for free, pay for one to three parts and the last part iam not going to buy because its too expensive/nor want to finish'? Bullshit!!!
Neither is the right approach, IMHO.
For me, the proper approach to an episodic game would involve an open-world environment like Liberty City, a single main character or group of characters, and each "episode" would be a bite-sized collection of missions. Each collection would maybe 1 hour to play and, much like a TV show, could either be a self-contained vignette or be part of a larger story arc. Once the world is set, they could probably produce, test and sell a new episode every two-three weeks.
The idea is to use the open world and main cast to build familiarity much as a TV show does, and then tell your stories within that familiar framework. Without the open-world, you can't build familiarity. In addition, it wouldn't feel like a giant game broken up into chunks, but rather a flowing, ongoing experience that one dips into every couple of weeks.
1) The first part of the game is FREE. I don't think this should be ignored. It's a little more than you'd get in most demos as well. Maybe most importantly, unlike a demo, all of your progress is saved if you actually choose to buy the game. Most games force you to replay the same sections that you already played in the demo. This doesn't. I've already got my dog's treasure hunting skill up to level 3, a good sword, two magic spells (not to mention a number of upgrades), and a nice bit of xp. That's going to be awesome for when I go out and get my copy of the game.
2)You aren't forced to buy it digitally. Microsoft could easily have locked it so that in order to keep your progress you would have to get the rest of the parts at the inflated price. They didn't.
3)Yes, there's a ten dollar premium. I agree that's stupid. But the part model would be really useful for people who don't have enough money to get the whole game in one month. I think this would actually be better for full price new games. Not everyone has sixty dollars to spend on a game. But they might be able to afford it with the cost broken up into ten dollar chunks. They could pay for it as they had the money to pay for it.
In conclusion: It IS stupid that Microsoft is charging more for the parts, BUT no one is being forced to do anything. Anyone capable of doing simple math can decide to go and get a disc if they want to save money. And anyone NOT capable of doing simple math...well, I mean how sympathetic can I feel for them?
So why freak out like this is the worst thing in the history of anything? It's not. If done right it could be a viable alternative for getting games in smaller, more affordable chunks, while at the same time letting people who aren't sure try a good sized chunk of the game for free. No one is losing anything here (except for those who can't add).