[HN Gopher] Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a co...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a complex legacy
        
       Author : n1b0m
       Score  : 200 points
       Date   : 2024-09-18 10:17 UTC (4 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theguardian.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
        
       | Aeolun wrote:
       | Huh, what this whole article actually led me to find is that the
       | winner of Curiosity never actually got any price. The price they
       | were supposed to get was never even developed. I guess that's
       | some way to get out of your contractual agreements. Wonder how
       | that would have gone for them if the winner wasn't a clueless 18
       | year old.
        
         | amatecha wrote:
         | (for context:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity%3A_What's_Inside_the...
         | )
        
           | rahkiin wrote:
           | Ugh the wiki says '1% of all revenue of Godus' and then Peter
           | remarks it 'never made a profit'. Bait and switch there
        
             | stavros wrote:
             | Well, maybe it didn't make a profit, but it still had
             | revenues...
        
         | Meganet wrote:
         | Yeah i lost all faith when he did this shit. But he made it
         | even lower with his NFT game
        
         | greazy wrote:
         | Peter Molyneux is the king of bullshit. He's back again with
         | another God game.
         | 
         | https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/08/peter-molyneux-is-bac...
         | 
         | He's a dreamer who won't shut up. Nearly everything that comes
         | out of his mouth is bullshit hype.
        
           | slater wrote:
           | So would you say you're a fan of Peter?
        
           | keyringlight wrote:
           | I think Peter put into the right environment and restraints
           | could still be a great thing. I really dislike the cancelling
           | that's in a lot of gaming discussions for any personality
           | that doesn't tell people what they want to hear, or fucks up
           | so they can be cast as a villain (OTOH, I think many gamers
           | just like drama, they love a redemption story too).
           | 
           | To my mind games should encourage the interesting,
           | fantastical and weird "What if you could..." elements, and
           | that's what Molyneux/Bullfrog/Lionhead have introduced
           | repeatedly over the years. Developers like him should be
           | prolific and encouraged as I'd really hate to see the breadth
           | of gaming reduced and more focus on safe derivatives of a few
           | genres. I'd love to hear him shoot the breeze on games and
           | what others have produced, but he could only ever do it under
           | a false name as his own carries too much baggage.
        
             | daghamm wrote:
             | No thank you.
             | 
             | I still remember the disappointment I felt 30 mins into
             | Fable. Same story with bunch of other of his games.
        
               | Kiro wrote:
               | Can't relate. I've enjoyed every single one of his games.
        
             | wongarsu wrote:
             | I couldn't agree more. Just like Chris Roberts, Peter
             | Molyneux is someone you absolutely want as an influential
             | part of the design team, but never in charge of the
             | project.
        
             | greazy wrote:
             | I agree 100%. My comment was extremely harsh but to my
             | defence he has even apologies for his over zealous
             | comments.
             | 
             | https://www.pcgamesn.com/masters-of-albion/peter-molyneux-
             | ne...
             | 
             | My comment was not about his games though. It was a a
             | strong suggestion to ignroe all his bullshit and wait for
             | the game.
             | 
             | Fable is great if you ignore all his antics. All his games
             | are ground breaking in one way or another. Just don't
             | listen to his bs.
        
           | oldstrangers wrote:
           | Looks kinda fun. Basically Dungeon Keeper / Populous with
           | better graphics.
        
           | trustno2 wrote:
           | At least this time there is no kickstarter/presale/NFT
        
             | ddtaylor wrote:
             | Only because last time there was.
        
         | MisterBiggs wrote:
         | I'm a huge fan of the games he has been a part of so I was
         | familiar enough with his antics to know that Curiosity would
         | end up being nothing, but he really outdid himself here, Peak
         | Peter Molyneux behavior.
        
         | jamesgeck0 wrote:
         | One of my favorite things in game journalism is still Rock
         | Paper Shotgun kicking off an interview with Peter Molyneux by
         | asking him if he's a pathological liar.
         | 
         | https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/peter-molyneux-interview-go...
        
       | underlipton wrote:
       | IIRC, II was considered superior, where a lot of the ideas were
       | supposed to have matured and gelled to create a compelling
       | experience. I didn't own a 360, so I never got to see for myself,
       | but I did get to watch a few hours of gameplay while hanging out
       | with my boyfriend at the time.
       | 
       | A notable moment: he'd unlocked a Demon Door and was
       | enthusiastically laying out how the game's real estate system
       | worked, and his plans for the idyllic winter lodge he'd just
       | found, when he walked his character inside and... well, I won't
       | spoil the surprise. Suffice it to say, someone on the design team
       | had a _very_ good handle on what they were doing. It 's always
       | stuck out to me as an excellent example of how deeply game
       | designers understand their systems, how those systems influence
       | gamer behavior and expectations, and how to play on those
       | expectations for emotional impact.
        
         | hibikir wrote:
         | In that era of gaming, just waiting a few years meant sequels
         | were better just due to extra computing power, so yes, Fable II
         | was better in most ways (although I'd argue the main story was
         | worse). It was still trying to define many gameplay mechanics
         | that are just standard fare for western made action RPGs. One
         | can play Fable and Morrowind, then look at Skyrim, and see how
         | it owes about as much to Fable as to Morrowind.
         | 
         | It's harder now, because so much of the genre seems to have
         | frozen. The graphics are many times more realistic, and
         | animation blending has come a long way. But ultimately making
         | changes is now so much more expensive, that significant novelty
         | is difficult to find in games that also push what could be
         | done, the way it was back when the first two Fable games could
         | try to push ahead in all direction at once
        
           | Loughla wrote:
           | I'm disappointed in rpg's now. Once oblivion came out, they
           | all seemed to stagnate and just be clones of that model.
           | 
           | The problem is the market for a deep, deep rpg with skills
           | based on time spent using them is probably pretty small.
           | Because it's people like me who don't actually have the time
           | needed to play them due to life nonsense.
           | 
           | I desperately want the mechanics of Morrowind, but with
           | modern graphics. The original is almost unplayable because of
           | how crappy the graphics are.
        
             | blackeyeblitzar wrote:
             | Oblivion and Skyrim were good games but I miss the amount
             | of grit and world building of the old Black Isle Studios
             | games.
        
             | t-3 wrote:
             | > I desperately want the mechanics of Morrowind, but with
             | modern graphics. The original is almost unplayable because
             | of how crappy the graphics are.
             | 
             | OpenMW exists: https://openmw.org/
        
               | Loughla wrote:
               | Awesome. Thank you.
        
             | have_faith wrote:
             | Check out the Skywind project. It's a shame it's not a new
             | game but will hopefully fill that void for a bit (when it
             | gets released...)
        
               | Loughla wrote:
               | I've watched skywind with anticipation for quite a while
               | now.
        
           | thom wrote:
           | I think Baldur's Gate is as much to blame for this - that was
           | really the origin of these high-touch, narrative-driven,
           | asset-heavy games, especially with voice acting. It
           | completely demolished the keyword based interactions of the
           | Ultima and Wizardry games, almost completely removed
           | wilderness exploration as an option in RPGs, and turned them
           | into very curated experiences. As much fun as Morrowind was,
           | it was still a disappointment to me coming after the vast
           | sandboxes of Arena and Daggerfall.
        
             | mrob wrote:
             | It's more Baldur's Gate 2 that's to blame. The original
             | still has plenty of wilderness exploration, and while the
             | main quest is linear, there's no real urgency to following
             | it. You need to pay attention to figure out what to do
             | next, and it's possible to go the wrong way and wander into
             | encounters much too difficult for your character. The NPCs
             | are lightly characterized archetypes with minimal dialogue
             | and no romances. I think the original Baldur's Gate still
             | retains the spirit of the older style of RPG.
        
               | jakubmazanec wrote:
               | But BG2 is actually a bigger game IMO - yes, in BG1 there
               | are a lot of areas where you can just wander and explore,
               | enjoy the game atmosphere; there are only enemies,
               | sometimes a simple quest, or a cave, etc. - but in BG2
               | while there are fewer areas, there usually have a lot of
               | content, so you spend more game time in them.
        
         | gwern wrote:
         | (You should probably spoil the surprise, because few of the
         | readers of your comment are going to track down & buy a
         | 16-year-old RPG, and spend the necessary 10 or 40 hours to
         | reach that point and learn what the surprise is and how it
         | illustrates anything of interest about the Fable games.)
        
           | narism wrote:
           | This goes into what happens:
           | https://fable.fandom.com/wiki/Winter_Lodge
        
             | Terr_ wrote:
             | Found a video, it's a minor jump-scare when the player
             | enters the front door.
             | 
             | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IdL49GA3-Dk
        
               | underlipton wrote:
               | I feel like that's a bit reductive. The jump-scare is
               | only effective because of the expectations set by
               | previous experience. As the wiki article mentions, it at
               | first seems like a winter version of
               | https://fable.fandom.com/wiki/Serenity_Farm. Once the
               | illusion is broken and you begin to leave the area,
               | you're forced to pass by and see how all of the cozy
               | elements that built your initial impression were
               | transformed. And then, of course, nothing is explained;
               | you're just left to ponder what happened. Describing it,
               | or even seeing it divorced from some amount of
               | contextualizing gameplay, doesn't quite convey the quale
               | of the moment. It sobered us up in a way that I can best
               | compare to the feeling of walking out of the atomic bomb
               | museum in Nagasaki.
               | 
               | I appreciate when games are confident enough to play
               | these sorts of tricks with players. I'm also reminded of
               | the Pitioss Ruins in Final Fantasy XV, a secret dungeon
               | that also messes with player expectations and emotions by
               | using your understanding of the game's mechanics against
               | you, while also using the environment as a monumental
               | storytelling device (in this case, your journey through
               | the ruins serving as a metaphor for the game world's
               | lore).
        
         | bigstrat2003 wrote:
         | I liked Fable 2 well enough, but I think that the first game
         | was far superior. The story is pretty interesting in the first
         | game (if basic), whereas in 2 I felt it was kind of a mess.
        
       | mmastrac wrote:
       | I vaguely recall playing Fable on the Xbox and being satisfied,
       | though not blown away by it. It was certainly one of the most
       | fleshed-out house-buying/marriage-allowing games I recall playing
       | (not the first, though) and probably paved the way for more
       | complete systems.
       | 
       | I love Peter Molyneux and he's built amazing things, but he is
       | certainly a hype factory.
        
         | Loughla wrote:
         | I absolutely loved that game on Xbox. It's the only reason I
         | own an original Xbox.
         | 
         | It came out when I was just branching out into the world
         | without my family around, and seeing a game where my choices
         | _changed my appearance_ was kind blowing to me.
         | 
         | I still love this game, though the replayability was definitely
         | overhyped. It's pretty much the same every time.
        
           | amatecha wrote:
           | Yeah, I got the Xbox for Halo 2, but Fable was an absolute
           | top highlight as well. Those two games and Morrowind made up
           | the vast vast majority of my hours on that console. Great
           | times :)
        
         | QuiDortDine wrote:
         | As an early teen I didn't understand enough to be impressed,
         | but I was certainly fascinated for a good few weeks.
        
         | AmericanChopper wrote:
         | I remember the house buying as being very basic. You could buy
         | a house, fill it with items, sell the house, steal all the
         | items from it, and buy it back for less, as many times as you
         | like. I also remember being rather frustrated I couldn't pull
         | the sword out of the stone by becoming max good, to I gave up
         | and became max evil, much to the disappointment of my
         | character's wife.
        
           | BigParm wrote:
           | That was based on strength, nothing to do with good/evil lol.
        
             | AmericanChopper wrote:
             | Yeah I just googled it when I posted that comment. How
             | disappointingly stupid.
        
           | BeFlatXIII wrote:
           | I maxed out the fireball spell, then targeted it at the stone
           | walls of a building to let the splash damage murder the
           | residents without alerting the guards or accumulating evil
           | points. Great way to open new properties on the rental
           | market.
        
       | debo_ wrote:
       | Related: One of the main designers of Fable recently released a
       | free, highly imaginative Ultima-4-inspired game called Moonring.
       | Check it out!
       | 
       | https://store.steampowered.com/app/2373630/Moonring/
        
         | amatecha wrote:
         | nice, I saw this game somewhere recently but didn't realize it
         | was free. "Verified" on Deck , too! thanks for recommending,
         | will give it a shot!
        
         | thom wrote:
         | And if you like this sort of tasteful take on retro RPGs, you
         | might enjoy SKALD:
         | 
         | https://store.steampowered.com/app/1069160/SKALD_Against_the...
        
         | MikeTheGreat wrote:
         | You had me a "Ultima-4 inspired game" :)
         | 
         | It's free, it plays like Ultima 4 but modern (nice colors,
         | animations, more than 26 possible actions :) ). I think I'm in
         | love.
         | 
         | Thank you for posting this!
        
       | darknavi wrote:
       | Molyneux is obviously infamous for over promises and under
       | delivering, but Fable (Fable, Fable The Lost Chapters, etc.) had
       | such a special place in my heart.
       | 
       | An amazing game with raunchy wit, moving story, and great fantasy
       | world building. The music still rattles through my brain and I
       | still occasionally say, "Do you chase chickens, Chicken Chaser?".
       | 
       | I really enjoyed the games, but especially Fable and Fable TLC
       | (which was an extended chapter at the end which changes the
       | ending and takes you to a talked about continent that the base
       | game did not).
        
         | sakjur wrote:
         | Lionhead made amazing games, and it's annoying that Molyneux
         | had to hype them until they were certain disappointments.
         | 
         | I liked Fable, and while Black and White committed the sin of
         | being two RTS games without multiplayer it remained really
         | interesting and just a fun experience. But the game that really
         | had me was The Movies. Its story mode was fun, but the movie
         | maker within the game was really something different for a
         | young teenager's imagination. That is a game I'd really want to
         | see rebuilt with modern tooling and hardware.
        
           | tetris11 wrote:
           | I loved The Movies, putting together weird campy films that I
           | was proud of and received poor reviews from the in-game
           | critics, heh.
           | 
           | I can still hear the excellent soundtrack in my head.
        
           | Drakim wrote:
           | Black & White 1 does have multiplayer, only the sequel lacked
           | it.
        
             | NikkiA wrote:
             | You had to beat level 1 and start level 2, and most people
             | didn't because the anti-piracy was utterly brutal and would
             | kick in at the transition from level 1 to 2, locking out
             | even people who had legal copies.
             | 
             | (It would count any CD burning software being installed as
             | meaning it was pirated, it also couldn't work properly on
             | Windows 2000, and almost always detected as pirated on ANY
             | NT kernel, most of the cracks didn't work either, since
             | again you had to actually beat level 1 to find out if it
             | thought you were a pirate, and a lot of crack teams didn't
             | test that far)
        
         | orthoxerox wrote:
         | "Your health is low. Do you have any potions? Or food?"
        
         | youngtaff wrote:
         | The Guardian story misses out Louise Murray's role in rescuing
         | Fable
         | 
         | https://www.eurogamer.net/lionhead-the-inside-story
        
       | dancemethis wrote:
       | ... It always felt more French to me.
        
       | chuckadams wrote:
       | I still remember chowing down on crunchy chicks to qualify for
       | the evil quest lines >:)
        
         | wheybags wrote:
         | It's the bones that make them crunchy
        
           | goles wrote:
           | Chicken chaser, do you chase chickens?
        
       | joe91 wrote:
       | Sudeki was better. Long live SOL :)
        
       | xarope wrote:
       | I assume by python-esque they meant monty python-esque (comedy-
       | esque, versus python the programming language-esque), so remember
       | to context switch, especially if you went to read the article
       | from HN!
        
         | bcraven wrote:
         | Indeed, paragraph 4:
         | 
         | >It was a bit like if Monty Python were to reimagine the world
         | of Robin Hood.
        
           | dudinax wrote:
           | Which they kinda did in time bandits
        
         | icepat wrote:
         | Yes, the title there really confused me for a moment.
        
       | blackeyeblitzar wrote:
       | Fable was a game that was hyped up far beyond what it delivered
       | or even what was possible at the time. It was entertaining but
       | sort of just an above average game. Not an amazing game, not a
       | legendary game. For some reason there was a lot of games
       | journalism at the time that propped up the image of people like
       | Peter Molyneux, maybe because of Black and White. In the end
       | gamers didn't get what they expected.
        
       | giancarlostoro wrote:
       | One of my favorite franchises, and although I would love to see a
       | new Fable game come out, I fear I'd wind up with a Saints game.
       | Completely disconnected from the original game. Ridiculous.
       | 
       | Just looked up Saints Row reboot again, it flopped so hard that
       | they shutdown the studio behind it, making the game literal
       | abandon-ware. Yikes.
        
         | ianbutler wrote:
         | There is a new Fable coming out in 2025.
         | 
         | https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/fable
        
           | dazzawazza wrote:
           | Which is exactly why this fluff article has appeared in the
           | Guardian.
        
         | Meganet wrote:
         | I bought an xbox only for fable 3. But that one disillusioned
         | me complelty :|
         | 
         | I really hope they take the feeling of Fable (that what made me
         | like it in the first place) and roll with it.
         | 
         | And if they make it great, It was Peter Molyneux fault...
        
       | dash2 wrote:
       | Boo to associating Britain with heroic failure. We do this too
       | much to ourselves! Actually, British game development industry is
       | a notable success and has turned Leamington Spa from a byword for
       | chintziness to an exciting place to work.
        
         | dualogy wrote:
         | True enough, way beyond my old-school favs of Goldeneye 007,
         | Perfect Dark, and GTA:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_game_companies_...
        
         | madaxe_again wrote:
         | I mean, GTA is one of the biggest game franchises on the
         | planet, which is hard to see as anything other than a success.
         | Gouranga!
        
         | ksec wrote:
         | >Boo to associating Britain with heroic failure
         | 
         | Not sure which part of it is a failure. Even the articles said
         | > it was successful enough that Lionhead was bought by
         | Microsoft in 2006, and its two sequels also sold well.
        
         | tetris11 wrote:
         | Bullfrog, Rockstar North, Climax, 4J, Rocksteady
        
           | delta_p_delta_x wrote:
           | Some more to add--
           | 
           | - Revolution Software ( _Broken Sword_ series)
           | 
           | - Fireproof Games ( _The Room_ series)
           | 
           | - Jagex ( _RuneScape_ )
           | 
           | - Core Design ( _Tomb Raider_ )
           | 
           | - Dovetail Games ( _Rail_ and Train Simulator*)
        
             | stavros wrote:
             | The Elite: Dangerous studio?
        
           | wishfish wrote:
           | Hello Games - No Man's Sky
           | 
           | And one that probably few here have heard of: Lapioware -
           | Diesel Railcar Simulator
           | 
           | Mentioning that one because it's a one man show. Made by a
           | man who felt nostalgic for the diesel railcars & landscapes
           | of 1960s Britain. So he ended up making one of the most
           | realistic train sims.
        
       | sethammons wrote:
       | I enjoyed Fable so much that, yes, I will buy what ever game
       | platform they release the 4th installment on just for that game
        
       | moomin wrote:
       | Since we've brought up the question as to whether Molyneux is
       | overly enthusiastic or just dishonest, I invite you to rewatch
       | this 2009 demo and make up your own mind:
       | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CPIbGnBQcJY&pp=ygUMUHJvamVjdCB...
        
         | nkrisc wrote:
         | Wow, I can't believe I missed this at the time. I knew he had a
         | tendency to exaggerate but this makes me think he's either
         | delusional or a pathological liar.
        
         | bagels wrote:
         | Yes, this clinched it. He lied about features in all of the
         | previous games (some of which were good, and I enjoyed), but
         | the whole demo looks fake.
        
       | Jiocus wrote:
       | In the Swedish game magazine Super Play (now defunct) they
       | covered Fable development and the release, but IIRC they advised
       | the reader to take Molyneux's claims with a grain of salt. The
       | final review still made it to 9, or 10 out of 10 I think, but I'd
       | have to check the issue to confirm.
       | 
       | I want to thank my father for giving in and purchasing Fable for
       | me when it hit the shelves. Fable II was my favourite, a
       | fantastic game.
        
       | pmarreck wrote:
       | My favorite aspect of Fable and one that few other games have
       | touched for some reason is the fact that many quests asked you to
       | choose between a moral solution and a moneymaking solution, which
       | meant basically that only wealthy people could afford to be good.
       | At the same time it let you invest in businesses and collect
       | profits while you played the rest of the game, so that you could
       | make some passive income basically. Rarely have I seen such a
       | positive-capitalist-forward take on a game world, but the real
       | lesson was the "need to be wealthy enough to be good" aspect
        
         | Frummy wrote:
         | And also if I recall correctly you could raise the rent past
         | all reasonable limits and collect evil points and degrade the
         | health of the cities. But that was probably Fable 3 and/or 2.
         | In 3, you also got to play as king in the court, after usurping
         | the evil brother, and had to make evil decisions if you were
         | poor enough, to prepare for that darkness thing in the desert.
         | Contrasting with the authoritarian rule of the brother who was
         | sort of just preparing for the bigger threat no one knew about.
         | 
         | That's a pretty funny progression, from quests and arbitrage
         | between traders in Fable 1, to a bigger focus on being a
         | landlord than earlier in fable 2, then just straight up being a
         | king in fable 3. Industralism progressing in the background of
         | the three as well to full on childworker factories in fable 3
         | with Reaver if i recall correctly being the tycoon.
        
       | hombre_fatal wrote:
       | I'm amazed when I see positive coverage of / nostalgia for Fable
       | 1 for Xbox.
       | 
       | I was 15 at the time at the peak of Xbox vs Playstation vs
       | Gamecube message board arguments on forums like NeoGAF.
       | 
       | And Molyneux's bullshit wasn't making it easy for us online Xbox
       | crusaders. He made crazy claims like how it was an open world
       | game with an advanced social system where you build relationships
       | with people and can plant a seed and watch the tree grow if you
       | were to wait next to it for many ingame hours. The lead up and
       | hype made it part of gaming forum discourse for years!
       | 
       | Finally, Fable comes out and it's this short, easy, linear,
       | arcadey, simplistic game. The super complicated reputation system
       | was just a basic "you got +10 good/bad points" alignment system.
       | "People remember your actions" just meant `if player.didThingX
       | then cheer()`.
       | 
       | After all that, it was a weekend rental at best. I think I beat
       | it in 8 hours. It was so disappointing.
       | 
       | After having not thought of Fable in 20 years, it's kinda funny
       | to see it covered without the "gravity" of the waves it made in
       | the Great Online Message Board Console Faction Wars. Not that the
       | context was worth preserving nor that nobody should be allowed to
       | enjoy it. It's funny because it was such a big deal to many of us
       | forum crusaders.
       | 
       | But I guess that's part of getting old.
        
         | tracerbulletx wrote:
         | Eh, the fact it didn't live up to the promises was certaintly a
         | massive part of the narrative, but I have a different memory. I
         | remember most people finding it to be a masterpiece
         | immediately. It got a 9.3 from IGN back when that still meant
         | something after all. A lot of people don't care about length if
         | what you get is as densely charming, well written, and well art
         | designed as Fable.
        
       | lloydatkinson wrote:
       | I am excited and optimistic for the new game, but very aware of
       | what an absolute train wreck the modern game industry (read: the
       | execs and shareholders) is. I really, really, really want the new
       | one to be good.
        
       | VoodooJuJu wrote:
       | I'm so glad I didn't hang around in video game forums & news
       | sites and got to experience Fable in its pristine form.
       | 
       | It's a beautiful game with a great environmental quality to it,
       | much like classic World of Warcraft and Skyrim. Simply roaming
       | around, taking in the visuals, the music, and the ambience was an
       | enjoyable experience in itself, without even doing the quests or
       | progressing the story.
       | 
       | Whenever I read about it now, it's just a bunch of people
       | complaining about how overhyped it was and how their own
       | expectations prevented them from enjoying the game. Sad!
        
       | oldstrangers wrote:
       | I have such fond memories of Dungeon Keeper, Dungeon Keeper 2,
       | Fable, Black & White, Populous.
       | 
       | I think the biggest take away from Molyneux's work is regardless
       | of how seriously he talked the games up, the games themselves
       | never once took themselves too seriously. There was a level of
       | playful whimsy that just didn't exist back then (and probably
       | still doesn't today). You could tell he wanted to say more and do
       | more, but was always limited by the technology available at the
       | time. It felt like he was searching for something in the games he
       | developed, and I was always happy to go searching with him.
        
         | stonethrowaway wrote:
         | I've never understood the people who took him at face value but
         | I've also never understood people who didn't like the guy.
         | 
         | He made some of the most interesting and original and fun games
         | out there. What, he can't puff up his chest once in awhile? If
         | anything I want more games from him.
        
           | bagels wrote:
           | I don't like people that lie to me.
        
             | sheepdestroyer wrote:
             | When it's vicious and cunning, sure. But the guy's
             | pathological, and still extremely endearing despite that.
             | 
             | I had a high school friend who was lying all the time. His
             | father had access to unheard of cpu prototypes and whatever
             | else. We nicknamed him "C. The Mythomaniac" and called out
             | his bullshit everyday.
             | 
             | He was a really great friend.
        
               | ryanmcbride wrote:
               | was your friend selling videogames to millions of people
               | on the back of these lies?
        
               | sheepdestroyer wrote:
               | 1) Most of these games are really great
               | 
               | 2) As with us and our friend, many gamers knew Molyneux
               | for exactly who he is, and thus moderated their
               | expectations accordingly.
        
               | tommica wrote:
               | #2 is a weak argument, a lot more gamers didn't know him
               | and moderated their expectations based on the marketing
        
               | sheepdestroyer wrote:
               | Of course, I am not exactly excusing him. But as customer
               | you should also not trust advertisement blindly,
               | especially when it is pie in the sky too good to be true.
               | Most reviews of the time would not miss the opportunity
               | to joke about Molyneux's serial overpromising. It was a
               | running gag before long.
        
               | squeaky-clean wrote:
               | I don't think people started really disliking him until
               | Curiosity and Godus. And IMO neither of those are good
               | games.
               | 
               | He also promised the winner of Curiosity 1% of all
               | revenue from Godus, then retconned the deal to be 1% of
               | profit after the game failed to become profitable.
        
             | mastercheph wrote:
             | Video games are lies, zeroes and ones masquerading as
             | worlds and people; imbued with meaning by the power of
             | dreams and dreamers
        
               | ryanmcbride wrote:
               | this is intentionally missing the point
        
               | chris_pie wrote:
               | That's like saying sound is a lie, because it's just a
               | vibration propagating a wave.
        
               | TeaBrain wrote:
               | Video games are simply artistic creations meant to
               | entertain, as are other forms of entertainment media.
               | Were you formerly under the impression that video games
               | were a portal to another reality?
        
         | caseysoftware wrote:
         | Populous! That's a name I haven't heard for a long time. It was
         | so much fun building out the land, smiting people, and then
         | saving the day after earthquakes, etc. Good times.
         | 
         | I have yet to see a modern version that was half as
         | interesting.
        
       | spywaregorilla wrote:
       | I remember playing one of these a decade or so after it came out.
       | Found out there were hookers and a prompt on whether or not to
       | have safe sex. Despite my attempts, I was unable to receive any
       | penalties for ignoring the prompt.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2024-09-22 23:01 UTC)