Peter Molyneux can pretty much be credited with creating a whole new genre in games. When he made and released "Populous" in 1989, he changed the way games were made forever.
Shame he has not made any truly great games for a while though. All Mr. Molyneux is famous for now is hyping up games so far that when you do get to play them, you feel "robbed". "Fable" is no exception. I'll go back to when this game was called "Project Ego". We were promised an open world that would be fully explorable. Branching missions that changed the story. An exact quote from then was "If there is a fence in your way, just simply jump over it and keep exploring. We won't restrict the gamer's options."
When the game became "Fable"...it lost around 90% of what was said to make the game unique. There is no open fully explorable world, there are no branching missions that change the story, etc.
Fable is a VERY linear RPG. You walk around confined areas with little to see and do. The towns are small and almost unpopulated with very few buildings to use. The only thing kept from "Project Ego" to "Fable" was the fact you could be good or bad, and that is hardly all that interesting either. Other than having NPCs react to you differently, there is no point in being good or bad at all. Still the same story...just the last seconds at the end of the game will be different.
Now don't get me wrong, "Fable" is not a bad game. It's just not the game we were promised. There is still fun to be had, but it's restrictive fun. Being good or bad is pointless and gets tiresome FAST. The story is cliché ridden with no surprises. The side quests and mini games are tedium defined.
From the dictionary...Fable: an untruth; falsehood. Yup, that pretty much sums up the game perfectly.
Fable 2 is being worked on and looks "good". It seems to have more in common with what "Project Ego" was said to be than what "Fable" became. But knowing Peter Molyneux, don't hold your breath.