Fable 2 lead Peter Molyneux explained getting the dog into Fable 2 was a fight within the studio, mostly due to it being so bad the first time they attempted to add it.
Fable 2 lead Peter Molyneux spoke to Edge (issue 416), saying "Back when I started out, there was an element of shame about sequels; it was considered cashing in. I hadn't really enjoyed doing Populous II because of that." However when it came time to do a sequel to Fable, "I thought, 'Fuck it. I thought, 'If we're going to make a sequel to Fable, we've got to embrace uniqueness and creativity, just like we embraced it in the first game'."
And while the team were quick to create new monsters, weapons, and creatures, Molyneux thought, "That is just not enough. There needs to be something about Fable II which is really unique! And that's where the idea of the dog came in," saying, "forget bigger weapons, forget story - the most important feature in Fable II will be the dog."
And after that confident mandate that the dog is the key to everything, of course everything had to fall in place for the game, right? "The initial implementation was absolutely shit" Molyneux explained, saying "of course everyone said, 'Let's just remove the dog.'" But despite this, he added "I was really persistent about it: No, the emotion that a player experiences - that unconditional love you have for a pet is gold"
Development on the dog resulted in three iterations, the first of which Molyneux describes as "a yappy little cunt," while "The second one was much more gameplay-focused - you know, the dog would attack and do powerups." And then Lionhead finally got it down with the third, with Molyneux saying, "in the third implementation, I think the dog really worked, especially at the ending of the game."
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