| Touching all your candies
Join Date: May 2005 Location: Michigan Fav 360 Game: H3-Shadowrun Posts: 1,532
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heres an article that goes with it link Quote:
“Groundbreaking,” “innovative” and “genre-changing” were a few of the terms tossed around the tech-laden GDC air from people already privy to the closed-doors Fable 2 demo.
Hmm, what could this feature be? A few things that ran through our head before the unveiling:
Acorns that turn into trees and eventually paper… on which treatises are penned?
A warp portal that sends your hero into the future to battle John Shepard?
A “bodily fluids” algorithm to one up the farting dynamic in the original Fable?
No matter how outlandish our guesses may seem, the real answer to the Fable 2 mystery may seem every bit as eccentric. If you guessed that there’s a canine component in Fable 2, you deserve more than a medal—you deserve a guest spot on Oprah as the “Gaming Psychic.”
Yes, you read that right, RPG crazies. You’ll be palling around with man’s best friend in Fable 2. And, believe us, Peter Molyneux isn’t taking this human/canine relationship lightly. A pooch pal is being touted as an integral part of one of the main features in Fable 2. Uh-huh, Pete literally gushed about the idea of falling “in love” with something. For as we know, the L- word is, as Molyneux continued, “an emotion worth talking about.”
The relationship between man or woman (yes, you can play as a woman in Fable 2) and four-legged friend is unmistakable in today’s society. The fact that pet meds can be shipped to your door and the existence of dog shrinks will attest to that. Thusly, in Fable 2, LionHead truly felt as though a canine companion was the absolute best way of putting emotion into this sequel of a game (Fable) that Molyneux admitted lacked the ability to really tug on the heart strings.
Sure, you will have the ability to have offspring in Fable 2. In fact, you can play as a pregnant woman, if you so desire, but the idea of bringing kiddies into battle was a big no-no for obvious reasons. Also, keep in mind that even loyal parents fail to receive the love they deserve from their spoiled little brats. But dogs? Well, merely feed your Spot and he will love you unconditionally, creating a bond that sets up emotion-filled journeys all throughout this magical world.
The very early in-game demo illustrated doggie love quite well, as the dev team created a Nintendog on steroids. Complete with the ability to morph as the hero changes in composure, and possessing both a playful and Shadow Dancer side, the dog component of Fable 2 is hardly a novelty. For instance, we saw Molyneux’s neutral character purchase a ball for his mate for a game of toss; a simple gesture to some, but a serous act for those pet lovers that would honestly go to the grave for their less-evolved companions.
It’s interesting to see how the dog was reactive to the hero’s movements, running ahead while he jogged, or spinning gleefully around when the hero was relaxed and merely plodding. But it wasn’t until the idea of a threatened hero was introduced that we realized that having a dog in Fable 2 made sense. The demo pooch went wild as three enemies were spotted ahead, like any animal with feral senses would—a move that helps to illustrate that the gamer will rely less on mini-maps and more on a mammal’s intuition in Fable 2 as well. It was also revealed that in attack situations, the dog will react to the weapon chosen by the hero, almost as if it was trained to attack foes with certain weapons drawn. For example, when Molyneux pulled out his blade to match up against an enemy with a similar weapon, the dog immediately went after the chap with the rifle (yes, there are guns in Fable 2). A bad match-up for sure, but it illustrated the point that your dog in Fable 2 will be intuitive and, above all, loyal; even to the death.
So how did that doggie in the window fare against the flintlock? Not well, unfortunately. The high-decibel yelp told the audience that something went wrong, which instantly illustrated some of that emotional response that Molyneux is seeking in Fable 2. A few “awwws” made their way out of the crowd, as the loyal companion limped its way back toward its master. We genuinely felt bad for this beast, as the emotional bond between man and man’s best friend was made early on in the demo—with a little help from Molyneux’s crafty rhetoric, of course.
The make-or-break moment of the Fable 2 demo? Molyneux planted the seed that he could just walk away from his trusty companion, basically leaving it for dead after the ferocious battle. Yes, the mutt loves you unconditionally, but rational thinking allows the hero to walk away, if he so desires.
Of course, there are ramifications to leaving a pet—which became incapacitated defending you—for dead. The townspeople will know you as inhumane, but it’s really that seed of guilt that would grow with each step away from the ailing dog that will force all but the most evil anti-heroes from casting a healing spell on Rover.
Peter Molyneux’s not evil. His compassionate nature was revealed as the spell was cast that brought the dog back to life. The playful pooch fetching the ball early in the demo is what the audience wanted to see, as the audience now cared about the well being of the dog.
With heartstrings niftily tugged, Peter Molyneux’s Fable 2 demo ended. The emotional mission of the seemingly impossible was 100% complete. Yes, we now care about a digital dog.
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