Very Quick Tips: Fable Anniversary

Your health is low. Do you have any potions? Or food?

Fable Anniversary is a relatively straight-forward game, especially if you’ve played the original, as it’s nearly identical in terms of content. But there are a few things you can miss, so I’ve crafted a few helpful tips to help you along the way.

Before you do anything though you’re going to want to turn off the Guildmaster’s “hints” in the options menu. Trust me.

General tips (minor spoilers):

• The combat multiplier is literally the crux of the entire leveling process. If you can raise it higher and higher (by attacking enemies without getting hit), you’ll net more experience. To get around errant attacks from enemies screwing up your multiplier, use the “physical shield” ability to avoid damage — if you’re hit while the shield is up, it won’t lower the count. Consider at least taking the first level of the spell.

• Following up on that, “Ages” potions are directly tied to your current multiplier. So for instance, using an Ages potion while not in combat will net you a paltry amount of experience, but using it with a combat multiplier of 20 will grant you 20,000. As a general rule, 20 is the minimum you’ll want to aim for when using these potions, but you can get much higher.

• There’s no limit on the amount of items you can carry. If you have the cash and want to buy 50 health potions, go for it. I’d also recommend picking up at least 50 pieces of red meat, apples, and pies, as they all can be mapped to the d-pad and heal you during combat.

• The bow is generally overpowered, as it can be used in almost any situation. Unlike mana you don’t need “ammo” to use it, it can attack targets that melee abilities cannot, it’s generally more reliable when aiming (you can use a first-person perspective too), and most enemies cannot block arrows. Nock up an arrow and constantly move around (left to right works when dodging troll rocks) to kite most of the enemies in the game.

• A good portion of the best items in the game (and silver keys to open special chests) are found by fishing. Early on in the game go to the fishing hole and earn the fishing rod, then look for ripples in any body of water.

• There are only a few achievements you can “miss.” To get everything in one go, you’ll need to finish every round of the arena in one go, heal someone on an escort quest, use an Ages potion when your multiplier is at 20 or more, and defeat Whisper without taking damage.

• In terms of content, the major things you can miss are keys. In order to get every key, you’ll need to fish in the water next to the battleground where you face Thunder, and marry Lady Grey.

• Buy crunchy chicks whenever you get the chance. Sometimes you’ll need to turn “evil” and eating these live chickens will do the trick. There’s one demon door in particular that asks you to do something evil in front of him, and eating a bunch of these will do the trick. It’s odd, I know, but it works.

• If you need to turn night into day to open the shops, the easiest way is to just buy a cheap house in Bowerstone or buy houses in every major town. Instead of hunting for an Inn or a spare bed, you can just hop in your own and be done with it.

• Even if you aren’t keen on using spells for your particular hero, consider getting multistrike and slow time. Even if you specialize in using a bow these can be a deadly combination, as multistrike automatically knocks down almost every small enemy in the game (and breaks their block), and it can be spammed against bosses for thousands of damage in mere seconds. Slow time at level two is devastating, and effects every enemy in the entire game, up to the final boss.

• I won’t spoil anything specific, but even if you don’t opt for the “evil choice” in the end, you can still get a powerful sword in the part proceeding the seemingly final major boss battle inside the Guild Hall — so don’t be tempted if you don’t want to commit the act.