Too Human was a game, some would argue, that was a victim of its own potential. The very outspoken Denis Dyack talked up the title a great deal, and many feel that the game did not live up to its hype or its extended development cycle. But after the first Fable, any time a designer's public ambitions far exceed the final product should be more properly known as "pulling a Molyneux."

Now, Fable was certainly a successful and well reviewed RPG for Xbox and PC, but many features (trees growing in real-time, the ability to have children, tangible and potent rival NPC characters, etc.) simply didn't manifest in the final product – though to his credit, Molyneux issued a blanket apology for any design feature of Fable that didn't make it in the final version of the game. Molyneux was not nearly so loquacious about the features of Fable II, letting the game speak more for itself, and indeed, it can do so more than adequately as one of the Fall's biggest releases. We take a closer look at the game's success.

Questing still pays (well, maybe not in the game)...
According to the NPD, Fable II was the best selling Xbox 360 title during the month of October. The game was also the best selling title overall during the same period, selling 790,000 copies during October, making the game a very quick seller.

The first Fable ended up selling 375,000 copies in North America in its first week of availability, 600,000 copies in the first month and over 2 million copies by 2006. These are very high sales numbers, but Fable II is already on pace to break those sales marks.

Fable II's success is somewhat notable, considering that RPGs on the original Xbox were a much rarer commodity. It also proves that Fable is now among Microsoft's more significant IP, with the first Fable being among the fastest selling Xbox titles of all time and Fable II on a slightly better pace.

Although not as stunning as Oblivion, Fable II does have some pretty vistas

I'll use my 'skill' to shoot you in the face!
The story of Fable II was crafted so that it is completely unnecessary to have played the first game to understand it – a wise decision to make the game more accessible to a larger audience. It's structured similarly to Fable in that you're an unassuming youth torn from his innocence by tragedy and later told that you are of an ancient line of heroes destined to right a great wrong. The gameplay is also quite like the first Fable>. Players must use swords, guns and magic to level up the main character, customize appearance to be as virtuous or dastardly as they'd like, and complete the game's various side quests in addition to the main adventure.