Fable II Preview

GameSpy has put together a new two-page preview of Fable II after checking out the RPG sequel firsthand at this year's Penny Arcade Expo.
Among the lush green fields of a town called Oakfield, we discovered a farm community full of NPCs just waiting to be aggravated. Each person that you encounter is an individual with their own specific likes and dislikes. Chatting people up is therefore a bit more nuanced than simply beating folk to the ground, because the tiered expression system has a wide selection of emotive options. Any one of these options can be extended by pressing and holding the A button, which causes a semi-circular meter to appear above your head as you caper and carouse. This meter slowly diminishes while a dot bounces from either side of its original extents, so releasing the A button at the right moment to cause the most emotional impact becomes more and more difficult.

Of course, deciding how to approach a townsperson is made easier by the "Who are you?" expression which gives you a detailed list of that individual's likes, dislikes and sexual orientation (useful when choosing who to flirt with, for example). Care must be taken when bringing amorous emotes to bear on any given person though. Flirt with someone that's not into your gender and they might just laugh it off, but flirt with a child and any bystanders that notice will undoubtedly run off to get the guards. Granted, there are plenty of ways that you can piss people off enough to run and get the guards (threatening them with your sword is a good one) that won't make you feel disgusted with yourself.