Gameplay Tips

Fable III is not a particularly difficult game, but can still have its rough spots. These tips and tricks will hopefully help keep you kicking in combat, and will also detail some helpful methods for making money, getting along with people, and exploring Albion.

Combat

The most important thing to remember about combat in Fable III is that you aren’t limited to a single weapon. You have melee, guns, and magic all at your instant disposal. If one strategy isn’t working out for you, there’s nothing stopping you from combining your skills. In most fights, starting out with your firearm of choice to pick off distant targets, then switching to melee or area-of-effect spells when enemies close in, is a sure method for success. There’s no character classes to worry about, and the more you use your weapons, the more powerful you’ll become, so even if you prefer one approach over another, your secondary abilities are never going to be useless.

Another very important thing to remember in Fable III is that mobility is key. When fighting, it’s always a good idea to stay on the move, and while you can’t run when you’re in combat mode, you can use your trusty roll to dodge out of harm’s way (A Button or Spacebar by default). As long as you don’t get surrounded by enemies, you should be able to make a recovery. Remember, too, that while health regenerates both in and out of combat, you should always have at least a few health potions on hand just in case you find yourself in a tricky situation. Health potions are available in most major towns (Brightwall, Bowerstone Market and Aurora are most convenient), and while you won’t necessarily rely on them, they will save you from being knocked out.

Finally, running away is a surprisingly viable strategy, if you don’t mind giving up the experience. Most enemies won’t chase you very far and if you make a beeline, you can always always get out of a fight without more than a scratch or to. Switching to the Sanctuary and using the map to fast travel away can also suffice as a last resort if you find yourself cornered.

Making Money

There are a lot of ways to make money in Fable III, and chances are if you follow a few simple steps you’ll have far more than you know what to do with even only a few hours into the game. There are a few ways to strike it rich, including exploration (detailed below), trade goods, and the time-honored tradition of landlording. Making money becomes a major priority during the second half of the game, when you need to decide on various policies for Albion; often these come down to sacrificing the natural beauty and quality of life of the kingdom, in exchange for coin needed during the story. As with many things, the key is: start as early as you can.

Exploration is your most straightforward source of income. Always check in nooks and crannies – if you don’t find a chest with some gold, or a gem, you’ll likely find a dig spot containing a similar reward. Even if you don’t find too much gold outright, be sure to visit a pawnbroker occasionally and sell off all your excess stuff to easily make tens of thousands of gold. Similarly, trade goods, found in many markets, can be bought in high quantities and sold where they aren’t available for a profit. This isn’t the fastest way to make money, but as a supplementary method (i.e. buy some stuff and sell it every time you visit a town/city), it’s a good way of making a bit of extra cash on the side. Note that you can also do a little gambling once you’ve unlocked the quest A Day at the (Chicken) Races.

Investing in property, however, is by far the easiest and best way to make money in Fable III. While it can initially be a bit of an obstacle to buy that first house, once you do, be sure to rent it out, keep it repaired and use any furniture you might have to bring its value up. Turning the rent/store prices up on your properties will allow you to make more, but will negatively affect your morality and what people think of you. You receive rent every five minutes of real time (while the game is turned on), so your property will likely have paid for itself within a half-hour or so of gameplay time. Use this money to buy up another property, and then another; later on, purchasing stores, taverns and so on will net you a share of their profits as well, so they are also solid investments, and don’t require upkeep like houses do. Note that you need to unlock these abilities on the Road to Rule, and picking them up as soon as they become available is a smart move.

Exploration

When you’re on a quest in Fable III, the glowing trail (a sparkly path resembling breadcrumbs) will always point you in the right direction, so it’s hard to get lost, but you will likely want to explore any side passages you come across. There are treasure chests, dig sites, and hidden Silver Keys just about everywhere, and usually if the way branches off from the beaten path, it means there’s something for you to find. Remember, too, that deeper bodies of water can also have dive spots (represented by ripples on the surface), much like dig spots, so it usually pays off to take a swim from time to time.

The dog returns from Fable II, and while your canine companion isn’t quite as important to the game as he or she once was, the dog still remains useful in helping you find treasure. When your dog barks, it always means that treasure or a dig spot is nearby, and an icon over your dog will indicate this to you; if you follow your dog when this icon is visible, he or she will lead you to your prize. When your dog growls, it serves as an advance warning that there are enemies nearby, possibly just around the corner, so be sure to heed these warnings and prepare yourself for battle.

Morality and Appearance

Your moral alignment in Fable III isn’t as important as it might initially seem, and it can be a little bit slow to influence, but there are rewards for sticking with one moral path throughout the game. Whether people fear and despise you, or love you, they will occasionally give you gifts, either as tribute or out of respect.

As you shift from one end of the moral spectrum to another, you’ll change in appearance as well: if you’re good, your skin will become more pale, almost glowing, your tattoos and weapons will begin to shine blue, and, once you’ve reached the end of the game, you’ll receive a pair of angelic wings which appear during flourishes in combat. If you’re an evil person, your skin will turn grey, your eyes and lips will turn black, and you’ll have some facial blemishes and wrinkles to boot; at the end of the game, you’ll get a pair of demonic wings and horns instead. These changes likelywise apply to your dog: good dogs will have a shining, well-kept coat, and bad dogs will have tattered, mussed-up, dirty hair.

Additionally, many of the moral decisions you make throughout the game, especially in the later sections, will have permanent and lasting effects on Albion, including the destruction of precious natural wonders and the people living in and around its cities. While morality is largely cosmetic and won’t have much effect on the main story, it will decide if your version of Albion becomes an idyllic paradise, or an industrial wasteland.

Socializing

You interact with people in Fable III primarily through the use of gestures. Gestures have been simplified a little bit over Fable II, but essentially involve being kind, rude or outright bad to someone. You’ll unlock more gestures throughout the game on the Road to Rule, though they’re quite cheap as far as Guild Seals go. Through gestures, you can make people either love or hate you, based on their gender, sexuality and how you treat him or her.

Both friends and the fearful have their upsides. You’ll receive gifts either out of love or to appease your wrath, which range from gems, to clothes, to trade goods, to toys, to gold, and other minor items. These might not seem like that much at first, but they can add up over the course of the game quite significantly, to the point where you may simply not have to buy your own Health Potions and such anymore.

Finally, if you find someone who is of a like sexual orientation and you impress him or her enough, you’ll receive quests to first perform small favours, and soon you’ll be able to ask him or her out on a date. This involves holding your special guy or girl by the hand and visiting a scenic place for some good-old-fashioned romance. Once that’s done, you’ll have the option to marry, which requires you own a house to live in, and that you have bought or found a Wedding Ring to propose with. Upon marrying, you will receive gifts from your spouse, and can have sex, which, if you choose to not use protection for, can result in either a child or you catching an STD. Children require more frequent attention and will often ask for toys to keep their spirits up. Should you be in a same-sex relationship, or don’t want to have your own children, you can also choose to adopt at the Bowerstone Shelter and Orphanage (or outside the Brothel later in the game, depending on your choices).