I've heard about this game series forever, but never played it... and never had a close gaming friend who played it. Someone here had to have played the game or series, yes? If so, what did you think -- is it worth playing?

If you go into it with lowered expectations, you might come out the other side liking it quite a bit. The reason being that it was never what Peter Molyneux hyped it to be and as a result of that, I think a lot of people wrote it off too quickly because what the mouthpiece promised didn't make it to the end consumer. Essentially don't expect a Dragon Age/Elder Scrolls level of polish and you should have an enjoyable time.

Imagine Fable like you would watch the Game of Thrones television serious but if Game of Thrones would've been acted almost entirely by the brittish ensamble of Little Britain. Its way more of a homage of oldschool action RPGs rather than a RPG itself. Besides that, it has a pretty good story progression, there isn't any part of the game that doesn't really drag on. Its way shorter than your usual action oriented RPG even. Think of it as comedy based game that stands on its own feet just by its silly quirks and british toilet humor. The gameplay and the story itself is rather good for action RPG standards and for its time.

You can complete the game is about a day if you're spending most of your day with it. I'd say if you play in two hour sittings you're through the game in less than a week. Its a short game but it certainly got its charme, I still remember some of the sillyness back when I played it about 14 years ago. I say go for it but don't expect a memoriable experience if the humor doesn't click for you.

First game is really good. Never played the second one because of console exclusivity. And the third was SO boring for me that I had to stop playing it, but specially for you here is a good (kinda) review of it by AngryJoe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSaw85bliyQ

The first game has its charms, if British charm is your thing, but it is nothing truly groundbreaking. Game is advertised with "for every choice, a consequence", you can be good or evil, but all that is complete BS, nothing you do really matters, you just get different cutscene or armor/weapon with different texture, then the game moves on in same direction, it is very shallow. I can't give example without spoiling it.

To add on Dray2K length comment, it took me 29 hours to complete on first "good" run where I did all the side-quests and stuff, 23 hours on "evil" where I might have skipped some of it that is the same as on the first run, like the minigames and stuff. But I am a type of player who plays games slowly, I take my time and explore every corner. It did feel like a short game overall, the world is not big.

I didn't like the Anniversary Edition, people look like melting wax figures, the game uses blurry AA and some areas have slightly different atmosphere than original. I think the original more cartoony look fits the game better. The new version is slightly more difficult if you play on highest difficulty, but after a few hours when your character advances it will again feel the same as original which is a relatively easy game. The interface is also different in new version. If you have a 1440p or 4K monitor the interface might be too small in the original game.

I don't regret playing it or replaying it (first played it in 2006, then forgot everything about it and replayed it in 2016). All in all, I would give it something like 7.5/10, which means "a good and fun game, but could have been better in many ways". I have not played the sequels.

Might watch the Spiffing Brit.... he goes into various games

And one of them is Fable...

Fable is a perfectly balanced game

I haven't played much of the second game yet because I keep forgetting that I own it, but have experience with 1 and 3.

The first Fable is probably the hardest of them all difficulty-wise, but that's not saying much. The Fable series is really easy overall, more casual jaunts through bizarrely jokey and cynical universes than hardcore experiences. The first game tells a (relatively) more serious and focused story, whereas Fable 3 bounces around tangential subplots, with the beginning and end technically being connected, but a lot of faffing about in the middle undermining any sense of urgency.

Honestly, I think I like Fable 3 best. That's an unpopular opinion since it failed to deliver on a bunch of promises, and some people found the glowing trails that lead to your next destination patronizing (a criticism that hasn't aged well now that even The Witcher 3 includes trails that you follow around), but it's uncompromisingly weird and I can't help but respect that. I might be viewing it through nostalgia goggles somewhat. Regardless, all three make for great "turn of your brain" games where you can play as either kitten-murdering evil or angelic good, with there being virtually no gray area between the two extremes.

They're not complicated games or forgotten classics, but they have a lot of charm when taken for what they are, and there's still nothing else quite like them out there.

Never played the first one but loved the second one. Not as keen on the third. I liked the strange world and enjoyed the British accents. Didn't seem that short to me but I do have a habit of faffing about in games.

Somehow I missed the Fable hype almost entirely besides one video games magazine article. I ended up buying a used XBox much later after the fact to play Fable because I wanted to see what an XBox could do. This was actually a really fun way to experience the game, because I had almost entirely no expectations besides A.) there's a guy on the cover of the box doing magic, B.) something about fables or fairy tales? and C.) this used, modded XBox that didn't come with all the needed wires might be a paperweight so who knows or cares. So, expectations at near zero, Fable actually became one of my most fond console video games memories of that decade.

I'd describe Fable as a casual open world action game. It has a fantasy setting, and you run around towns and caves to do quests, and there's some element of character building I think? but I wouldn't ever consider it a proper RPG. "light RPG elements" maybe, but it's mostly just all in service of the action. I can't remember the story. The alignment system at high level is neat but pretty binary. I liked the marriage gimmick and having a different wife in each town until I got caught. The action was incredibly low stakes but the weapons were fun. Maybe 2 and 3 get harder. It got a M for Mature, but I think it's just a game for older kids that want some grown up jokes or easily amused adults. I'm easily amused, of course, and it's fun to just run around and smack people with a big sword. I proudly wore my "Chicken Chaser" title to the end of the game.

I don't know, maybe part of the enjoyment I got out of it was seeing if this XBox would even turn on. I wouldn't actually know how to go about playing it today in an ideal way. The Fable 1 rerelease has good reviews but some people really hate it, and I think for a digital copy of Fable 2 and 3 you need an XBox 360? The original Fable I don't think you can even get anymore outside of second hand storefronts and the whole retro gaming rig rigamarole with your cables and CRT's and what have you. A game from 2004 is considered a retro game now because that's where we're at. Maybe Fable 1 runs on a 360? Do these games run on an XBox One? What XBox are we on? Huh? What? Piracy seems like the easiest, most straightforward solution to get these games running on PC, but I would never endorse such rude, illicit activities.

Anyways, yes, Fable 1 was a load of dumbo fun, but I avoided the hype. I never got a chance to play Fable 2 and 3. Is it a good game series? I don't know. It has its moments tho.

Damn; first thing stupid me did was searching for Fable in the gog store :P

Probably only the first one IMO. The second one is console only and the third one is said to be utter garbage.

I remember playing the first and second games, third i barely got into and... couldn't get past the intro section to the meat of the game.

The first game with talking doors and getting your fighting multiplier up along with random side quests. Honestly i had the impression Fable was suppose to be a more advanced 'Morrowind' like experience. Which i found it was far more shallow instead. And 'chicken chaser' i hate that title.

The second game, drunk faery trails telling you where to go, your dog, and of course becoming king, and the one guy you might build up as a merchant gets killed midway in the game... fun fun... and the 'sex scenes'.... heh... not worth it :P

If you are looking for an in depth game, no. If you enjoy mindless hack and slash, with intermediate sidequests and interesting things to distract yourself with that have no bearing on the game.

I enjoyed what I've seen of the PC version of Fable: The Lost Chapters (on Steam), until I learnt to do magic and my magic attacks made the game crash ... No idea how Fable Anniversary compares to it and whether it fixes that magic crashing bug or not.