Today’s time in Fable 2 was just more preparation for the attack on the Spire. I explored some areas more throughly, finding more chests, dig spots, and gargoyles, and did some grinding for cash by doing bounties and freeing slaves and such.

I also saved the Temple of Light and donated a bunch of gold to it, which got me a gold axe that was better than my previous weapon. And then I finally got married and had a kid. I picked a rather plain, straightforward woman, but it seems like she’s a secret nympho, as I’m getting alerts every couple of days that she wants me back home for sex…

And then at the last second I found a Master Katana weapon that I could afford. It only has two augment slots instead of three, but those seem to be extremely rare and there was a 50% off sale on this one, so it could be ages before I see a better deal. I just need to get a decent ranged weapon upgrade, and I think I’ll have done pretty much what I need to before taking on the Spire.

Resuming the main story in Fable 2, I headed off to rescue Garth, the second hero, which involved winning an arena fight in order to infiltrate my way into the enemy’s camp. Just like in the first game…

Along the way I encountered balverines for the first time in this one, and oddly enough they seem to be a bit easier than the bandits I’ve usually been running into, perhaps because they don’t usually attack in big groups. I also finally realized that I could shoot the mouthy gargoyle heads I’ve noticed in various spots. There’s apparently 50 of them scattered around the world, though I’m not sure what the reward for smashing all of them is yet.

I made it to the Crucible and accidentally triggered it by being too close to the door, and it automatically saved at that point so I couldn’t just reload, so I was pretty much forced through it unprepared. Fortunately it wasn’t too bad, though I had to use a handful of healing potions. I put Force Push to good use as an AE attack and wound up upgrading it to level 4 since it was so useful.

Next up I’ll be off to the Spire to rescue Garth, but Theresa and Hammer are strongly hinting that this will be a point of no return for a while, so I’d better do all the other sidequests I can first. I need more money anyway, since I need a good 40k+ gold for the master weapons, and I have nowhere near that. I bought some really nice augments, but I need a good master-level weapon to put them in as well. My dog is also up to level 5 treasure hunting, so I should revisit all the old areas anyway.

I continued my policy of ignoring the main quest in Fable 2 in order to wander around Bowerstone some more, buying a few more shops, and getting some books that taught me more expressions and the dog how to find treasure and fight better. I also bought a set of better weapons, so I’m not using the Halo energy sword anymore. Armour doesn’t really do anything though, so I can still stick with the Master Chief suit a while yet.

Then it was off to Oakfield, where I saw the first real combat along the way, and it’s pretty easy so far. A lot of button mashing, making sure to switch between targets so they don’t block or gang up on me too much. Once I got there I helped out with a few quests until I could escort the first hero, a rather stout young woman named Hammer, and recruited her afterward.

A bunch of new areas had been discovered, so I wandered around and did side quests in them for a while, and now I’m out to rescue the second hero, who has been captured by Lucien and is being kept in some floating spire thing.

Well, just after complaining about it I suddenly got my Limited Edition code email for Fable 2, so I guess I can squeeze it in after all. I really do want to get to Fallout 3, but this should be a relatively quick one as well.

So far it’s a lot like the original Fable, just with a dog that helps you find treasure. They’ve also gone for a much gritter, realistic feel to the world, whereas the original was very cartoony. You start out losing your sister, growing up, discovering your destiny, etc… Some woman named Teresa is acting as my mentor, and now I have to find these three other Heroes in order to stop this Lucien guy from resurrecting an ancient power. The usual.

So far I’m mostly just exploring, as there’s a fair bit of treasure to find in the nooks and crannies of the maps. I’m in a town called Bowerstone, and some bard is following me around and trying to find inspiration. Two new features in this one are the ability to own your own businesses that generate money for you, and to work at a job like blacksmithing to make money that way as well, by playing a little minigame.

I took advantage of the blacksmithing job to get up to a four-star rating in it and used the money earned there to buy up a handful of stalls around the town market. They give me 81 gold every five minutes, even when the game isn’t playing, so when I start it up again tomorrow I should have earned a fair bit…

And with the bonus equipment from the LE code, I’m now dressed up in the Halo-ish armour, carrying the energy sword weapon, and have the title of Master Chief.

I kind of liked the original Fable, even if the first half or so of it was fairly generic, so I decided to take a chance on Fable 2 after some decent previews. In fact I even preordered the Collector’s Edition of it from Amazon. But then they cut back on the Collector’s Edition, removing the Hobbe figure and some cards. That wasn’t too big a deal, and they reduced the price to compensate.

I just received it today though, and upon opening it I discovered that the DLC code card necessary for the in-game Collector’s Edition extras is missing. Apparently this is happening to quite a few people, and nobody’s sure how it’s going to be fixed, since they haven’t really acknowledged the problem yet and it’s hard to prove you didn’t get something you should have.

So, in the end, all I really have is a regular Fable 2 game that I paid $13 more than I should have for, with a bonus DVD of stuff that’s already on the web. Yay.

Update: Looks like there’s a resolution, though it’ll take a while to get the codes out. Fortunately I’m not in a hurry at the moment.