If Fable 2 was a steampunk Napoleonic era riff, Fable 3 is supposed to be...a steampunk Napoleonic era riff. That's according to Lionhead by way of Eurogamer anyway.

The game will also involve a ground-quaking, planet-realigning shift in...well, something. "I think there's something fundamentally wrong with RPGs like Fable," said Molyneux. "It's a mechanic that's been there since the '80s. I'm going to take that foundation stone and throw it away." No, not a literal foundation stone. Think conventions, then speculate away. Molyneux's lips on the matter are sealed.

What could it be? If I had my druthers, it'd be the zero to hero shtick. Every RPG amounts to a mass power grab. Start small, end big. Get teased and kicked around at the outset, do the teasing and kicking toward the fireworks finale. In diagnostic terms, we call that an "adolescent power fantasy." Because it is.

Not that I'm immune or anything. Still, it's been, what, a quarter century since Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar traded Epic Evil Big Bad Quests for what was basically a lengthy self-improvement pseudo-psychotherapy session? I'm not saying go back to that, but 25 years along and we're still poking around dungeons and castles and killing dragons while fiddling attributes that sound like they were cribbed from a paleolithic patient's chart. "Me have much strength! High agility! Impressive charisma!" Plus Santa Claus sacks of cursed wands and healing staves and plus-some-number swords with prepositional titles.

In the first episode, players will experience childhood and the trials of being a young adult in the world of Albion. After completing the chapter, players have the choice to then purchase the next installment or the entire game (in select regions). "Fable II: Game Episodes" delivers the entire "Fable II" experience in five consecutive instalments, with all the Achievements, challenges and excitement of the disk-based game, as well as full compatibility with the previously released Game Add-ons, "Knothole Island" and "See the Future." The episodes are also fully compatible with the disk-based, retail version of "Fable II," allowing players to enter Albion and continue their story should they purchase "Fable II" at retail. All editions of the game offer cooperative play with friends on the same couch as well as on Xbox LIVE.