Michael: Moving on to our next topic we take on the RPG situation on the Xbox. Fable is the RPG everyone is waiting for, but it was delayed until well into 2004. Even when Fable is released, is the Xbox doomed to RPG mediocrity?

Cortney: Fable's delay is not good, but it's not a Vanish-Doom combo on the Xbox either, as far as the RPG market goes. I don't own a Xbox, but if I did, I'd probably be pretty annoyed by the delay. The choices are few and far between for RPGs on the Xbox. Plus, Fable is shaping up to be a cool game, and that only adds to the distress.

Michael: Personally, I'm considering buying an Xbox just for Fable. And if the game is being delayed to make it better, then I'm all for it. The Xbox price might fall even further by then, so I'd be a happy camper. But, the Xbox doesn't look like it's going to even make a dent in the PS2's RPG dominance. But, given the success of the Xbox, especially compared to the GameCube, we should watch out for what Microsoft has in sore for us with the Xbox 2.

Googleshng: Well let's see, aside from Fable, all the Xbox has in terms of RPGs is a bunch of PC ports, and Sudeki, which as far as I can tell, people only talk about because posters like this hold entirely too much sway with the gaming press. So from where I sit, the RPG front on the system is more or less non-existent.

As far as Fable itself is concerned though, I've never felt it deserves all the hype it gets to begin with. Whenever Peter Molyneux is working on something, he gets a degree of hype going for him nobody else could dream of receiving, despite the fact that when his games come up, they tend to be rather simple and often disappointing. I've already seen a bit of backpedalling on early announcements at that. Fable is promising to give you more freedom than any game ever, but I'm guessing you'll get more of that from the Elder Scrolls series, and those even have a presence on the Xbox already.

Orie: I've been contemplating the whole Xbox buying quandry since the announcement of Fable. I, like Kami, am tempted to buy one just for that. But I can honestly say that if I did I would feel dirty every time I played it, yes dirty. I would feel as if I helped Microsoft bash a small fledgeling game developer in the head and drag it back to its cave by the hair. I really don't want Microsoft controlling the video games market, I've seen what they've done to other markets. Aside from my personal feelings, Xbox has nil for RPGs. Almost any RPG they have has already been released for another console (Phantasy Star) or is a PC Port like Google says. It's just not the RPG system, it's the MANLY system! It's not built for us RPG loving little nerdy types.

Nathan: Seeing as how there arn't very many rpg's on the system currently and most of the people that play the type of rpg's that are on the system mainly play PC rpg's. Most console gamers I know would rather play a PC rpg on a PC than on a console. Also the fact that it's taking forever isn't helping them out too much. A friend and I were also joking the other day about how it took forever to daikatana to come out and that game was horrendous mainly because by the time it came out, it was outdated. I sure hope they don't plan on pulling a Duke Nukem forever thing here.

Doug: Fable has a very special place in my heart. For those who didn't know Andrew Duff, Alex Wollenschlaeger, and myself got a personal demonstration of Fable at E3 by none other than Peter Molyneux and Dene Carter. (Dene is Lead Developer.)

I have played Morrowind, and while it does give freedom in that you can wander the world at any time, this is a different kind of freedom. There are so many things your character can do and interact with that games like Morrowind have NOTHING close to. A delay doesn't hurt my feelings one bit, because I want them to get this game PERFECT.

As for the meantime, Sudeki comes out in October, and while some in here take hype at a grain of salt, and I don't blame them, twenty minutes of my time at E3 was spent enjoying this wonderful game, and I was far from the only RPGamer staff member at E3 that lost time to this gem. Also, no one has mentioned the very excellent Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic that was just released. Although I will admit that it can be buggy, this game is more than enough for any RPGamer to last them through October.

Googleshng: I can ammend that to "no more freedom than Shenmue" if you'd like. The rest of it still holds true. Getting back to Molyneux's reputation, I doubt Fable won't at least be fairly fun, I sincerely doubt that it'll be anything really groundbreaking though, or a reason to buy the system. Sudeki I'd love to discuss more, but seriously all I've heard about it is that it's by the Landstalker people, and the main character has a severe lack of clothing.

Yon Star Wars game I can't really say anything for or against. On the one hand, it has a great developer behind it. On the other, it's based off a license which has really been dragged through the mud, and it's for a system I tend to ignore.

Orie: It still remains that from whatever angle you look at it, Xbox has no real Japanese RPG support, mostly because they don't really have Japanese support in general. So if that's you type of game, don't look for it here. I like PC RPGs. I like that style of freedom. So I'll just go play Morrowind on my PC with my lovely Construction Set that isn't on Xbox. Morrowind is more than TWICE the game with the Construction Set than without. Fable looks good, but not good enough to sell a console to me. If the game comes out and just plain rocks everything else on the market...maybe. Otherwise, no I'm just not going to lay down the cash. Star Wars...it might be a decent game, but right now I'm not really feeling that I'm missing much if I never play it.

Doug: This boggles my mind. "Me: I personally saw stuff that is revolutionary for RPGs. Goog: I don't expect anything revolutionary." I'm about as oldschool as it gets around here with RPGs and slimey knows it. I'm telling you, there are twists to the way that RPGs are done that make this an awesome experience. Also, this isn't a Bullfrong game. I loved Molyneux's premises, but delivery wasn't always there. Now we have Big Blue Box, and guys like Dene Carter are helping deliver a full experience.

I won't argue the Morrowind construction kit makes it twice as much game, but less than 5% of players use those.

As far as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic goes, if you don't think you are missing something, let me tell you: You are missing something.

I won't really argue against Japanese RPGs. Even Nintendo will see a boost with a Final Fantasy game coming out on Gamecube.

Michael: So, if you're looking for certain RPGs on the Xbox, that system just might be the ticket. Fable, Sudeki, and even Knights of the Old Republic can get people to buy an Xbox. People bought GameCubes specifically for Wind Waker and Metroid Prime, so I don't see why this would be any different in the Xbox's case. But, if you're not interested in those games, the Xbox is definitely not for you.