Fable II (Xbox 360)

In Fable 2, you could own this.

Last week Peter Molyneux gave us a lesson in sex education and taught us the many benefits of owning a dog. This week we're going to touch on the topic of wealth and how the world of Fable 2 has evolved since its introduction 500 gaming years ago.

During his presentation to a handful of journalists behind closed doors, Molyneux showed a brief video of Albion with the camera swooping in through a much larger, impressive looking Bowerstone and into the woods beyond. We were told that although the Albion we'll see in Fable 2 will be much different from the world we've explored before, locales such as Bowerstone, good and evil temples similar to the Chapel of Skorm and the Temple of Avo, will all return in one form or another.

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The video, which lasted mere minutes, also gave us a glance at Bowerstone Castle, at which point Molyneux reminded us that along with purchasing general merchant stores littered throughout the city's streets (some of which looked like carts, others fully-realized stores), you can also spend your hard-earned money on houses, taverns, catacombs, and yes, even castles. What's interesting about this element is not the fact that you can purchase real estate - something we could all do in the original - but that purchasing property opens the doors to additional quests that you may not have access to otherwise. Molyneux used the example of purchasing Bowerstone Castle over say, the town's chapel. Both will house their own quests, but each will be significantly different to the other.

As for acquiring the amount of money needed to make these purchases, Molyneux warned us that currency will be scarce in Albion. This means you may actually have to work for your money this time around instead of simply purchasing a home, hanging up some trophies and selling it for a large profit repeatedly like in the original.

Own enough towns, (each of which you can become the mayor of), taverns, catacombs, castles and the like, and by the end of the game you could earn the coveted title of Emperor of Albion. Women will throw themselves at you in the streets (and in the bedroom), your children will live their own lives and create their own legacies, and those tiny shops you invested in early on will monopolize the market.

Adding to the idea of change, Molyneux briefly discussed one of the game's other fruitful features: the effects your decisions can physically have on the world. We've heard tidbits about this feature before but, nevertheless, the idea of dynamically changing the landscape based on our actions had me salivating with anticipation. The example given was when the hero runs into a merchant in the middle of the woods who is being attacked ferociously by bandits. Save the merchant, return in a dozen or so years, and his shop may have expanded into a prosperous city. Side with the bandits, though, and only remnants of the shop keeper's store will be visible through the thick foliage years later.

How you interact with NPCs can shape the future of the game world

If all of these promises sound a little 'Molyneux-ish,' to you, then join the club. As great as all of these features sound, we've been down this road before and it wasn't a pretty one. Then again, within minutes of the presentation, Molyneux exclaimed that he had learned his lesson the first time around and that every feature on display, or discussed, during the presentation, would be in the finished retail copy.

We can only hope so.

As for the game's story, Molyneux joked with his audience about the complaints he received about Fable's rushed narrative and game length (though I was ok with the 12 hours it took to beat the original) and that he did in fact want to find a balance between the two. Molyneux said that, without truly exploring Fable 2's sandbox world, the average gamer could reach the end credits at around the 12-hour mark. If you plan on becoming Emperor, finish every last side-quest and complete the game a second time (be it as a hero or villain), it will naturally take much, much longer.

As it stands, the story begins with your character making his or her way out of the sewers, meeting up his or her trusty dog and ultimately fulfilling his or her destiny. In the process, the cruel Lucien has to fulfill his very own destiny: To build a five-mile high tower called the Spire - a tower which is shaped by your actions throughout the course of the game. When asked about how the tower is linked with our hero and how its features can be manipulated based on your actions, Molyneux sadly declined to comment.

Other than that, your guess is as good as ours, but Molyneux did slip us a hint saying that the original Fable's story holds a few hints of its own as to the direction Fable 2's narrative is heading. Whether or not that hint is found through some of the game's lore, or from your character's actions, is unknown at this time.

Either way, from the look (and sound) of it, Fable 2 is shaping up to be a title to keep your eyes on and is currently scheduled for a 2008 release, though we can only hope it hits store shelves before the year's end.