I agree the fable version looks nice - the rounded hero image for instance.

Opus though followed the source of truth better imo. The details are more present.

Fable filled in the gaps for things it wasn't able to do (ie in the design the hero image goes behind the nav), which resulted in a better looking page that was more divergent.

Same. I like the Fable version better. Better colors, better choice of font sizes, better column sizing. Also small things like the “Experience” section header being orange rather than gray, which Fable got right and Opus got wrong.

It seemed to me that Fable meaningfully improved on the original design more than just faithfully executing the original design.

I liked the Opus version better if only because the responsiveness is less broken.