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Fable II: Express Yourself

October 16, 2008 - The life of a hero in Fable II is not just about the sword, the gun or magic. When not out slaying Hobbes and Balverines, a hero spends his time in town talking to ordinary folk.

Fable II doesn't feature dialogue trees as you might see in other popular RPGs. Instead, it uses body language to communicate ideas. Expressions are plentiful and can make people laugh, applaud, run in fear, or follow you to bed. At the start of your adventure, you start with only a few expressions, but by performing deeds and buying certain books, you can expand your repertoire.

To perform an expression at any time (even in the middle of a fight!), just tap the Right Bumper. This brings up the expression menu. With the Left Thumbstick you can navigate the six categories: Rude, scary, social, fun, flirty, and dog. Within each category are up to seven expressions. These range from flipping people off to belching to threatening to blowing a seductive kiss. Just about every variety you could want is available. Some of these expression are simple and quick -- like the slap. Others can be extended by holding down the A button. This brings up a meter. Stop the marker in the "sweet spot" of the meter for maximum effect. Miss and you fail the expression and generally make yourself look like a fool (and in some cases crap your pants).

Every citizen in Albion has his or her own likes and dislikes in terms of expressions. You can view these for anyone you meet. Find the places in Albion they enjoy most, the expressions they favor, and the gifts they love. Playing to someone's likes will only make them like you faster. Of course, if you want to be a jerk, you can play against people's likes and get them to hate and fear you quickly.

Every NPC has three ratings used to judge your hero. The most important is whether they like or hate you. Sometimes it's good to have people hate you, but those who love you will offer discounts at stores. NPCs also view you as either scary or funny. Being feared can also earn you discounts -- because a shop owner would rather be ripped off than have you cut him down for overcharging on a pair of trousers. Lastly, people judge your attractiveness. Your attractiveness is determined by the types of clothes you wear, your hair style, your level of purity, whether you're fat and if you have any scars. But each citizen has his or her own physical preferences, so you may find yourself more appealing to some than others.

If you're loved by all, people will come rushing up to you when you enter town. Kids will ask for your autograph and say they want to be you when they grow up. Women will throw themselves at you. If you're feared, some will still come to you in praise. Many will run at the sight of you. Others will grovel at your feet and beg for mercy. It's a fine line between love and hate. Be too loved and you'll never get a moment's peace. But feared heroes have a hard time even buying items since more merchants run as soon as you enter their store.

Whether good or evil, hated or loved, you ultimately want to use expressions to manipulate the three ratings used to judge you. If you want to get married, you need to find someone sexually compatible with you. There are straight, gay, and bisexual characters. You'll know someone has the potential to marry as a ring appears near the end of the hate/love meter. Get them to like you enough to push the meter past the ring and you can marry. Just be sure that you offer a ring worthy of your potential spouse. Go cheap on a high society woman and she'll be offended and refuse.

So why get married? Some folks enjoy being nagged in both real life and the virtual realm. Marriage in Fable II requires you to maintain a proper household allowance for your spouse and to appease his or her needs. Some people are fine with a hero being gone for three months at a time. Others want attention every day. They will also want sex -- sometimes often. So, in that regard, Fable II is nothing like real marriage.

When screwing either your spouse or a whore, you can choose to use protection or live free. Be careful, though, as unprotected sex leads to STDs and children. If you're a female hero and you get knocked up, you won't be able to go out adventuring while pregnant. Instead, you wake up to find the baby already born and in the crib. You can name the little one and watch them grow. When you come back from long adventures, your little one will cheer you and say sweet things to melt your heart. Just be sure to visit often or your spouse will get fed up and divorce you, taking the child with them and disappearing from Albion.

Though the expression system is fairly simple, there are some fun things you can do if you experiment. Like having an orgy. We'll leave that to you to figure out.

Check back tomorrow when we conclude our week of Fable II coverage with a look at the differences between good and evil heroes.