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A Flourish is a melee combat skill used in the Fable games.

Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters[]

The Flourish is a melee combat attack that can be performed by pressing the correct button when prompted. The player will receive this prompt by gaining a Combat multiplier, or by attempting to strike an opponent with a melee weapon, but the attack is blocked. When prompted, the player will see an 'X' glowing in the right hand corner of the screen, on the button assignment indicator (the same one that your spells appear on) and hear a special tone. Executing a Flourish while holding a melee weapon will cause the player to execute the attack. If the player hits, the Flourish instantly recharges. If the player misses, the Flourish cannot be performed again until it is recharged by attacking or gaining a combat multiplier. The Flourish will also not be able to be performed if the player is damaged.

Flourishes deal more damage than a regular melee attack (~25%). They break through blocking opponents, and can knock enemies down. Several types of Flourishes can be performed, depending on the situation and positioning.

  • The leaping Flourish - default Flourish, causing the Hero to launch into the air and bring their weapon down onto the target. Occurs when facing the target.
  • The left Flourish - occurs when standing to the right of a target (attacking left). With a light weapon you do a stabbing Flourish; with a heavy weapon you do a clockwise swing.
  • The right Flourish - occurs when standing to the left of a target (attacking right). With a light weapon you'll do a counter-clockwise overhead attack; with a heavy weapon you'll do a counter-clockwise body blow.
  • Combat Flourish - occurs after a single, regular, successful hit. With a light weapon you'll do a spinning clockwise Flourish; with a heavy weapon you'll do a clockwise body blow.

Fable II[]

Once the player has learned Brutal Styles level 2: Flourishes, the player can perform a flourish at any time by holding (X) and holding the left thumbstick in the desired direction at the same time, until the controller begins to rumble. Releasing (X) then performs a certain Flourish based on the weapon, the direction the player is facing, and the direction of the Flourish. This breaks through blocking foes, deals extra damage, and usually sends the opponent to the ground.

Fable III[]

The player can perform Flourishes from the very beginning of the game and is prompted to do so during a sparring session in the tutorial. They can be performed with either melee or ranged weapons; in either case, they break through defences, deal extra damage, and (often) knock enemies down. At the end of the game, before the battle with the Crawler, you go back to the Road to Rule, once there you gain the Extreme Morph ability, an ability that is activated as an expression or while flourishing in battle. When doing flourishes, the Hero sprouts ethereal wings based on their alignment: angelic white wings for good heroes and demonic black wings for evil heroes.

Similarly the ability to hit an enemy with a melee attack while they are down (for an instant kill) has returned (tap (X) while near a downed foe), it is much easier to perform as well. Whereas Fable II required you stand perfectly still near a downed foe for what felt a lengthy period of time (in terms of combat flow), Fable III has no such lengthy pause period. You can perform a roll and immediately come up and stab downward or bash the enemy in the head with such an attack, this aids greatly when fighting highly evasive enemies (such as Balverines and Hobbes).

Cinematic Kills[]

When in combat the player can counter an enemy's attack with a stylish cinematic which will kill an enemy in one hit. To counter, push the left stick towards the enemy and tap X or Y depending on weapon selected (or release the buttons if charging a flourish). There appears to be no way for the hero to control which counter occurs, or even whether it occurs, and they can be carried out against uninjured enemies or those who have been wounded (occurs more often on the latter). Regardless, each of the kill scenes results in the death of the enemy no matter how many times you've struck them. However these graphic cinematic kills disrupt combat flow and targeting, allowing enemies to close the gap on the hero. When fighting large hordes of enemies this can be detrimental to avoiding damage as they will bunch up around the hero while the player is unable to respond. A few examples of the counter attacks are below

Humans
  1. The hero will throw their sword into the enemy and then proceed to take the sword back.
  2. The hero will cause the human to fall to the ground and then impale them through the face.
  3. The hero will jump on the enemy's shoulders and break their neck with a twist of their knees.
  4. The hero will shoot the enemy in the feet and arms to make them dance awkwardly and then shoot them in the face.
  5. The hero will throw their pistol in the air, roll between the enemies legs, catch the gun and shoot the enemy in the face as they lean over and peer between their own legs.
  6. The hero will stretch their arm out fully, shoving the barrel of their rifle into an approaching humans face and cause them to lift their arms in surrender. The hero then pulls the trigger.
  7. The human will attempt to intimidate the hero by roaring and puffing out their chest, the hero responds by bringing down the hammer on their head, knocking the human to the ground and hitting their head again (occasionally driving it into the ground, though this is a clipping issue and not an intended outcome).
  8. The hero will use their rifle to shoot the humans legs, making the human fall. The hero then shoots the human in the face, killing them.
  9. The hero will take one full-weight step, and swing the hammer above their head in a full three-sixty before swooping it down and smashing the target quite a distance away from the player.
  10. The hero will kick the enemy in the crotch, jump on their back, and shoot them in the back of the head with their rifle.
  11. The hero will throw their pistol over the enemy's head, then dance around them as the enemy turns and watches the gun. The hero will then catch the pistol and shoot the enemy in the face as they watch them grab the gun.
  12. The human will give the hero 'the forks' (a peace sign with the back of the hand facing the other person, a british version of the middle finger) who will proceed to shoot them in that hand, then the other, then both knees, the groin, and, finally, the head.
Balverines
  1. When the balverine pounces at the Hero, the Hero will hold their sword out, impaling the balverine through use of its own momentum.
  2. When the balverine pounces, the Hero will kick the creature in its chin, breaking its neck.
  3. When the balverine pounces, the Hero will kick the balverine in its chin, breaking its neck and proceed to flip the balverine around by a leg lock, smashing the balverine into the ground head first.
  4. When the balverine pounces at the hero, the hero will draw their pistol and shoot from the hip in a wild west "draw" style, firing a single shot at the balverines face, stopping it dead.
  5. The balverine will attempt to intimidate the hero by roaring in their face, the hero responds by bringing down the hammer on their head, knocking the balverine to the ground and hitting it again (identical to the human version).
Hobbes
  1. The hero will tell the hobbe to look in the other direction, and when the hobbe does so, the Hero slashes its back.
  2. The hero will hit the hobbe in the crotch with a hammer, sending the hobbe soaring into the air.
  3. The hero will kick the hobbe to the ground and impale it through the face with their sword.
  4. The hero will pick up a small hobbe by its ears, and proceed to drop kick it, sending it flying.
  5. The hero will look away from the Hobbe and point their pistol at said enemy, shooting 4-5 times while counting on their opposite hand.
  6. The hero will kick the Hobbe in the crotch, knocking it into the air and then fire their rifle into its crotch while it is airborne (this can unlock the Pull! achievement).
  7. The Hero will point their rifle at the Hobbe, the camera zooming in. Upon the camera showing only the Hobbe close-up, the Hero will shoot and kill the Hobbe.
  8. The Hero will shove their arm and pistol down the throat of a Hobbe as it leaps at them. The Hero then pulls the trigger, blasting the Hobbe a few feet away.
  9. The hero will lower their sword as a Hobbe leaps at them. The Hero then headbutts the Hobbe, staring at it as it lands and dies.
  10. The hero brings their hammer down onto the hobbe, which causes them to flip into the air. The hero then swings their hammer and strikes the airborne hobbe, sending it several feet away.
Minions
  1. The hero swings their hammer up into the crotch of the minion, causing its segments to separate like a spring before the creature flies apart.
  2. The hero fires five shots from their pistol (occurs even if only one shot remains in the gun), one into each of the creatures major appendages (arms, legs and then head).
  3. The hero will throw their pistol in the air, roll between the enemies legs, catch the gun and shoot the enemy in the face as they lean over and peer between their own legs (identical to the human version).
  4. The hero will turn around, and kick the minion's head off. It will then explode.
  5. The hero will strike through the minion five times, lopping off its head and limbs in quick succession.
Sand Furies
  1. The hero knocks the enemy into the air by bringing the hammer up into the enemies crotch and then proceeds to treat them as a baseball, hitting them into the distance (corpse has no effect on the gameworld, such as knocking down other enemies it passes through).
  2. The hero will hit an enemy in the crotch with their hammer, sending them soaring upwards (identical to the Hobbe version).
  3. A Sand Fury will flip over the Hero, while the enemy is in the air the Hero drops their sword and reaches up, snapping the enemies neck while its in mid flip. The Hero then grabs their sword as the dead enemy lands in a heap on the other side.
  4. The Sand Fury will launch herself towards the hero, the hero will drop onto their back and draw their pistol. When the sand fury is over the hero, the hero will proceed to shoot her in the stomach.
  5. The Sand Fury will launch herself towards the hero, the hero blocks her strike. The Sand Fury tries again but is then shot in the face while leaping.
  6. The sand fury will ready herself to jump at the hero, but the hero brings their sword down through her head before she jumps.
  7. The sand fury will jump at the hero, and the hero will impale her as she leaps over.
  8. The hero will throw their pistol over the sand fury's head, then dance around them as the sand fury turns and watches the gun. The hero will then catch the pistol and shoot the sand fury in the face as they watch them grab the gun (Similar to the human version).

Bugs[]

  • Angelic and demonic wings may cease to function for extended periods (regardless of morality), only to begin working again some time later. For some people, they do not work at all.
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