For every gamer there are those spur of the moment purchases of games that may prove amazing, or incredibly horrible. Then there are the games that you anticipate for years, even just for an announcement that development has started. The inevitable waiting during the design and production of the game, and finally – the release. We have probably all had one of those few games that you just have to buy, forgiving shortcomings and disappointments purely because it is a favourite.
That is kind of what I’m going to be talking about this issue, as well as some other things (I’ll probably come back and make that list more specific after I’ve actually figured out what I’m writing about – or maybe not – it adds mystery to the article.
Anyway, that favourite series for me is Fable – I know that it is an Xbox exclusive title, but it still highlights more point. I initially found the first Fable at a game store at a discount – having never heard of it at all and judging it purely by the cover. I loved the story, the combination of melee, ranged and magic in combat, as well as the combat itself being real time rather than turn-based. I think I have mentioned before how much I hate turn-based combat systems – If I aim the gun and get a perfect headshot I want to see the enemy drop in one shot. Not enter into a stupid battle mode and rely on chance to win – Fire the gun, “You miss”, “You take 50 damage”, Fire the gun, “You miss”, You take 50 damage” and on and on until you lose. I did NOT miss, I hit him perfectly. Anyway – no more ranting about that. Back to the point of the article, which I haven’t determined yet. The creators of Fable – Lionhead studios in the UK – was purchased by Microsoft, making any new games first party instead of third, and giving them a better budget as well.
When Fable 2 was announced I was ecstatic, having finished the first game and wanting to have more adventures in the world of Albion. The second game saw the addition of new mechanics to the game, a slightly different combat system (still real-time , thank you) as well as guns replacing the bow and arrow or crossbow from the first game – for the record cross bows are very unsporting – a good bow is much better for silent kills – while a rifle will draw every enemy in the entire area to come and attack you. The biggest implementation was a travelling companion – your loyal dog, who would lead you to items and warn you of enemies. The dog was a really great way of adding to the existing game, improving some flawed elements from the first game while keeping to the spirit of the series.
Enough about a specific game, though it will still be the source of examples. A process that is becoming more common in the industry is the use of video diaries, or development diaries as they are often called, short videos from the developers discussing things like the story, characters, weapons, and stuff like that. Also the diaries are often the source of information about new features, instead of the standard boring press release. The Fable series has used video diaries during the development of the second and third games in the series. For the third game, for example, it was revealed that the menu system of the first two games was going to be replaced with a kind of personal lobby style room, where you can walk around and select different items, all guided by your faithful butler. It was also announced that the butler would be voiced by John Cleese, of Monty Python fame.
These kinds of announcements, as well as the regular use of the video diary format, gives gamers a look into the development of their favourite games, as well as making the years of waiting a little more bearable.
Now, onto the release of the game, and the seemingly mandatory ‘Special Collectors Limited Edition’ version of the game. Of course due to the nature of the development process it really isn’t possible to change the game too drastically for a special edition; otherwise they are effectively producing two distinct games. As a result special editions always seem to end up giving you an extra in game weapon, or a different character skin, or some other minor change. The other option is to include different packaging and include little baubles like fake coins, prop replicas, or statues to clutter up your gaming area. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Special Editions – I bought the special edition of Fable 2 – and it was totally pointless. I was going to pre-order the Collector’s Edition of Fable 3 – though that didn’t work out since I waited until the week before the game came out and all of them were spoken for. Anyway that was my mistake – I just got the regular one because I realized I didn’t really care about the ‘collectible’ deck of cards and the fake coin. So that is all I’m going to say about special edition versions of games – make sure you actually care about the extras before you shell out the extra money.
Speaking of pre-orders, that is another issue in gaming, one that can leave you really disappointed. When the Xbox 360 was released back in 2005 I had one pre-ordered through Future Shop (they gave you a toque as a gift – we are in Canada after all). I would have preferred to pre-order at Best Buy because they gave you a baseball cap instead, but it paid off in the end. When release day came there were lineups down the front of stores – people with tents who had been there all night and even longer in some cases – to get one of the limited number of systems available. And that is where the problems started. In most cases stores sold all of their systems in a matter of minutes to those waiting in line, even the ones that had been promised to others from a pre-order. Disappointed customers were informed that they were still required to wait in line, despite pre-ordering the system months in advance. Future Shop was the only store in the area that did not sell the pre-ordered systems; we were able to pick up my system later in the day from the stack set aside for pre-orders. So maybe the toque was worth it after all.
So, that is the end for this issue. Looking back I’m not sure if there really was an overall theme, unless it was the process from development through creation to the final product, as well as the positives and negative elements throughout. So, until next time, Keep on Gaming.
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