With the relative failure of Fable Heroes and E3 steadily approaching, we’ve been eagerly anticipating an announcement from Microsoft regarding the future of the Fable series (besides the Kinect XBLA game, obviously). It’s safe to assume that Lionhead Studios is hard at work on a new, full-fledged entry in the Fable franchise.

While Fable 3 was different from Fable 2, there wasn’t the drastic change that the series needed. We hope that Fable 4 will bring that change, and we’ve put together a list of exactly what we want to see...

From the start, Fable had a nice selection of melee weapons for close-quarters combat, simple bows, and different types of spells, but not much else. Fable 2 introduced rifles and handguns, with ranged weapons becoming a major combat component. In fact, once Fable 3 came along they were the best choice, and melee weapons and spells became irrelevant. Sure, things were just moving with the time (people don’t use swords now that there are guns in the world), but still, it is a fantasy title - that’s sword territory.

There isn’t anything wrong with putting some emphasis on ranged combat, but it’d be really nice to change the combat to make melee more rewarding in Fable 4. We want more weapons; something new, like staffs or spears. That would change things up pretty dramatically and, besides, who doesn’t want to fight bad guys with a staff?

In Fable 2, we were introduced to our canine companion. He followed you around no matter where you went or what you did, acting as a loyal friend to the player. He didn’t really do much besides dig up chests, but… come on, he’s a dog, what do you want from him? He gave the game more personality and changed as your character did, aligning with the same good or evil choice that you made. He was a part of your character’s story.

And then Fable 3 came along, and there wasn’t really a reason for him to be there. He was just sort of there. He did even less than he did in Fable 2, and it felt extremely shallow (especially when there are collars available as downloadable content). For Fable 4, we want the dog to either have a real gameplay or narrative benefit. If that isn’t the case, just get rid of him. He won’t be missed if it’s for the best.

The latter quarter of Fable 3 was extremely frustrating and it was entirely the fault of the drastic gameplay change to a decision simulator. It felt as though someone had pulled a bait-and-switch, swapping Fable 3 for a choose your own adventure book. That might sound harsh, but seriously, there was nothing there. Gameplay consisted of the player waking up, walking to their throne room, and making a few vague decisions before heading to bed to wake up in a few weeks and do the same thing again. Long live the king?

This idea would have been much more interesting if it had been mixed into the gameplay throughout the game, not just crammed in at the end. In the same vein of the dog, either give it a reason to be there or just get rid of it. Though, we’d hope that they could find a more interesting way to implement it, rather than just dumping it entirely.

Deep character customization is commonplace in most modern RPGs, so it is a bit weird that it’s not really an emphasis in the Fable series. It’s not clear whether it just didn’t fit or required too many resources with the large shifts in time between events of the game, but it needs to be in the fourth game. The simple act of having your character look how you want forms a much stronger bond with the world than having a dog follow you around.

There is some character customization, through it is largely through the use of costume changes and other items found in shops, but that doesn’t change anything about the character’s physical attributes. The decisions between good or evil modified the character’s appearance, but even that is in a different matter, that could be accomplished no matter how the character looked.

Fights in the Fable series have always felt very small and isolated, as if they take place independently of each other and have no real impact in the grander scheme of things. The one exception of this is at the end of Fable 3, but even then, it’s the end of the game, so you don’t really see how that impacts everything else going on in the world.

The story should be written around a few large setpieces that give players a legitimate reason for a giant battle early on. That way, we can see the consequences later in the game. Making choices out of battle is one thing – but being forced to spare or slay someone in the heat of the battle? That’d be something else entirely.

Fable has always been a hybrid of open world and… not so open world. Sure, you could roam around a few set paths, but there was no real reason to. You were really just out in these paths to run between quests, though fast travel quickly became the more efficient option.

We’d like to see a true, Skyrim-style open world. Heck, we’d settle for an Amalur-style open world. Running through the outskirts of Albion would give it the sense of scale it never really had, making it feel like an actual cohesive land instead of a series of isolated pockets.

We really shouldn’t have to even say this, but if Lionhead does the same thing to Fable 4 that they did to Fable 3 and take away features, some words will be exchanged. The entire reason that people pay for new games is to see the new features, otherwise the story could just be pieced out in DLC. There isn’t a reason that features should be taken out for a full release sequel – that just doesn’t make sense.

Lionhead has had their “taking elements out of the game to streamline it” license revoked. Replacing old things with new things is fine, but taking things out just to take them out is wrong (Fable 3’s stripped-down socialization system, we’re looking at you).

When guns were added to Fable 2, they were a neat addition, a way to vary up the sometimes mundane combat. But in Fable 3, they became the weapon to use, mostly because they can’t be countered. You can’t exactly stop a bullet in your face with a sword (though that would be pretty neat). It made the combat so much less exciting, if you were ever in a situation that might be somewhat tricky, you could just pull out a rifle and start blasting people; that isn’t right.

How do they make combat more important? Put more emphasis on each individual enemy, rather than just juggling between a half dozen enemies at once, sort of how Assassin’s Creed has done it in the past. Slow things down and make each one matter. That doesn’t mean that battles can’t be big, but each enemy should just require more care. If you don’t keep track of one, they could be the reason for your demise. That makes the combat much more interesting, and keeps fights from becoming increasingly mundane.

There isn’t much interaction between players in Fable, which seems like a missed opportunity. In Fable 2, they introduced a co-op mechanic of sorts, allowing other players to show up in your game world in the form of a floating ghost head, as well as the ability to play cooperatively… as a random mercenary. While Fable 3 introduced real co-op, it wasn’t up to par with most modern implementations. We’d like to see that expanded upon in a big way.

Let our friends buy a house in our world, and let us marry someone in theirs. Work it into the plot in such a way where it makes sense, and really have it be a major element of the sequel. We’ve already had a few traditional Fable games – it’s time to experiment.

As shown so far, Fable is at its best when it isn’t taking itself too seriously. We don't want Fable 4 to abandon the whimsy - we want it to embrace it. We already have Skyrim and The Witcher; Fable should be the silly, wacky, Monty Python version of those. The series already has its Grand Theft Auto - we want the Saints Row: The Third of fantasy RPGs.

There’s a delicate balance between being too far over-the-top and boring, obviously, but within that area is the perfect spot for Fable. There are tons of ways to accomplish this too – let characters be dressed up in the most outlandish ways, create more comic relief through NPCs, or add in random gameplay quirks. As long as Lionhead really embraces the humor, the series can find new fans while maintaining the old ones.

Hopefully with these changes (and a whole lot more), Fable can finally live up to the lofty expectations gamers place upon the series. Though we're fans of Peter Molyneux, maybe his departure will be just the thing Lionhead needs to really make this game stand out - if it's even a game at all.

What do you think? Do you want the series to turn into an MMO? Do you want it to switch to a turn-based combat system? Leave your wishes in the comments below!

And if you want to see more speculatory wish lists check out What we want from The Elder Scrolls Online and What we want from Dead Space 3.