Vacation on Knothole Island

Last week I returned to traveling through Albion when Lionhead Studios released the Knothole Island download content for Fable 2. Ever since it had been announced I was looking forward to the new area and quest. There would be new items, weapons, augments, and trophies to be collected. As well, three more achievements for another 100 Gamerscore points.

Your quest on Knothole Island is to bring order back to the weather system of the island. Upon arriving the island is covered in snow and ice, and your dog enjoys rolling around in it! The village chieftain asks you to find the temple keys and one by one recover the tokens which guide the weather patterns of the island. In helping restore order to the island, you will open up access to some great stores: the Box of Secrets and Muriel’s House of Magical Stones. The Box of Secrets allows you to trade certain items towards new and rare island items. The items you need for trade must be brought from outside of the island. One of the hardest items to find is the Regal Purple Dye. (Hint: Clothing Traders in Fairfax Gardens sell this dye. They only show up at night & rarely have this dye. Purchase all dyes, sleep, and return until you acquire some.) One of the best items for purchase on this island is the Augment Remover Tool. Purchase this item from the stone-cutter and upgrade your best weapons with new augment stones.

As much as I had an enjoyable time on Knothole Island, I was a bit sad that it was only the one three-part quest. It took me less than a day to acquire all of the new books, treasures and complete the actual quest. Collecting items in order to finish trading for the Box of Secret items took the longest, and even then it was only a day or so later. Just make sure that you have very good speed and accuracy as you will come across several flit switches in each of the temples. Also, making sure your dog is fully trained in treasure hunting will be of great use to you. There are several dig spots available with each temple being completed; just make sure you explore the island well after each weather change. And if you have forgotten, once you collect all the tokens, you will be able to alter the weather as you need to look for the remaining dig spots, chests and collectible Knothole Island books.

I personally feel that 800 MS points may have been a bit on the high side, especially since acquiring new weapons and armour once I had finished the game really doesn’t have much of an impact on my game. Plus, the length of the new quest was definitely too short for me. It does mean that I can assist others in co-op play who are still playing through the story and allow them the chance to obtain more experience points. However, for people who are still enjoying earlier aspects of Fable, the 800 points will be well spent. I’m hoping that more DLC will follow which will allow me the opportunity to try out these new items in a new arena.

The new achievements for Knothole Island are:

[b]The Meteorologist: 50G[/b]
You, or a friend, recovered all the totems in Knothole Island and reactivated the Weather Chamber.

[b]The Collector: 25G[/b]
Thanks to heroic trading skills, every mystery item in The Box of Secrets has been uncovered.

[b]The Biblophile: 25G[/b]
You, or another Hero, have recovered the lost lore of Knothole Island.

Editor’s Note: Check out Yukino’s full review of Fable 2 here.