Fable II’s Knothole Island: if you don’t like the weather, do a quest!

Same place, different weather

I have just revisited Fable II to play the Knothole Island downloadable content (a sort of mini-expack from Xbox Live) and actually finish the game, which I hadn’t quite managed when it was released (having been interrupted by the appearance of Fallout III).

The gaming press’s main complaint about Knothole Island is that it’s too small for the money (800 Microsoft Points from Xbox Live, currently ten bucks). Maybe so; it represents only a couple of hours of gameplay plus some new items (a couple of which however provide significant new options, so in that sense it can be considered a mod). That’s between each player and their pocketbook, however.

Knothole Island provides a new region with one questline in three parts. When you install the expack and start Fable you’ll be notified that a new quest is available at Bowerstone Market; go there and you’ll be taken to the island, which has a meteorological dilemma. It’s stuck in winter, and the keys to the totems necessary to change the weather are located in three shrines behind critters, traps and puzzles. There’s a series of books to find, which give you a rather thin backstory “explaining” this situation, and also explaining why there’s a set of plate armor whose pieces are scattered around the place. Naturally your job is to bring back the three totems.

Oh Say Can You DLC

People are complaining that I’m blogging too much about the Sims. Well, when Sims 3 seemed about to come out, I was… preoccupied. Now it looks virtually certain it will be delayed (still waiting on a new release date), so I’m badly in need of diversion.

Which makes it a good time to pick up the DLC (downloadable content, small game additions) that has come out for both Fable 2 and Fallout 3 in the last month. Fable has Knothole Island, while Fallout has Operation: Anchorage. Yes, both of these addons have received less than glowing reviews (Knothole/Anchorage), but since I never finished either of the original two games, it’s nice to have the incentive to go back. I’ll try em out and let you know what I think in the next few days, and talk a bit about the base games too.

BTW, Fable 2 is still Xbox-only, though it’s a good bet it’ll be out for PC eventually; the add-on costs 800 Microsoft Points, or ten bucks. (The Xbox is the only console I own, so don’t look for PS3 reviews here.) Fallout 3 is available on both the PC and the Xbox; I got the PC version, since knowing Bethsoft well from my intensive involvement with the Elder Scrolls series, I knew I’d want quick access to both patches and mods. The Fallout addon costs 800 points from either Xbox Live or Microsoft Live Marketplace.

Yeah, Fallout’s modding tool, the GECK, is out now too; it’s a free download. I’ll try to check out the mod scene while I’m at it.