It looks like Lionshead Studio is planning to unveil Fable III more properly sometime next month. At this point, we’ve gotten just a rather bland teaser trailer and some bits of, admittedly, neat concept art. Industrial era, here we come. I rather enjoyed my time in Albion in Fable II, but there’s some aspects of the game (and of the RPG genre itself) that could change or stay in Fable III, or get dropped completely. My ultimate wishlist is as follows…

Stuff to keep

• The humor. If there’s one thing this series nails, it’s humor. Everything oozes laughs, from the tombstone engravings to the description on the back of every item. Plus, a lot of the character designs are goofy, but in a good way.
• Relationships. I like the idea that you can make anyone fall in love with you and choose to have a child with them (or not). It’ll be great fun picking the king or queen to rule beside me.
• Pigments. Customization is never frowned upon, especially in the RPG genre, and allowing us to dye our robes and courtly garments is a definite must. Losing this option would be three giant steps back.
• Fast-travel. Some people hate it; those people are not me.

Stuff to drop

• Co-op play. Kind of wasted space, I’m afraid.
• The dog. It’s what a lot of people associated Fable II with so it should stay there. Plus, if you’re going to be the ruler of Albion, you might not have too much time to play fetch with Beethoven.
• Can’t die death system. Makes for lame battles, especially when the DLC added potions to remove scars, the supposedly hardcore punishment for not fighting well. As I’ve mentioned before, dying is a great way to learn how to play a game. Let us die, I say!
• Ridiculous achievements. That one where you have to collect dolls, but there’s only one in your game and then you have to go online to find others who have the dolls you don’t have and then convince them to give it to you…that’s bullshit.

Stuff to tweak

• Game economy. Earning money in Fable II was surprisingly easy, especially if you were an evildoer. Steal and raise the monthly rent on buildings you buy. Easy peasy. Add in the fact that you continue to earn ka-ching ka-ching when you’re not even playing and well…it’s a bit lame.
• Consequence from actions. Shoot someone in the face “by accident”? Well, it’s okay. You can make everyone else laugh by doing the fart expression and they’ll love you all the same. This needs to be revamped tremendously. I want to be ostracized from society for doing something horrible. Or more likely…de-throned.
• The fighting system. I understand where Lionhead was coming from in developing a fighting system linked to only three buttons. I do, really. One for melee, one for ranged, and one for magic, which you can hop back and forth from to switch things up. Alas, it didn’t really make for a good time. You could totally button mash melee and call it a day. The spells, while effective, could’ve used some more…I dunno, pizazz.
• Menus. At this point, a game shouldn’t lag just to get into its menu hub. And even then, navigating them wasn’t the most simple task. I felt like I deserved a renown reward afterwards. Please make them more streamlined. I beg you.

I’m sure there’s more to want and not want for Fable III. Feel free to shout off in the comments below.