Technologically and thematically, I understand why it had to be that way. It’s a bitch to program, and the story as-is wouldn’t really work with two heroes running around. And hey, local co-op like this could be pretty cool, as your (presumably game-playing) buddy doesn’t have to just sit and watch you play by yourself, but can beat up some thugs too.

Thinking about this, I am reminded of what Shawn Elliott and co. on GFW Radio talked about with the medic in Team Fortress 2 when it first came out. The problem there was that medics are essential (or at the very least, very beneficial) to having a superior defense or offense, but it takes a very specific kind of person to enjoy playing “prison bitch” for everyone else. In hindsight, it appears as though many more people were interested in doing that than it might have seemed.

With Fable II, when talking about local co-op, I would think most hardcore gamers wouldn’t like it much as they /themselves/ don’t get to keep anything from from the experience. What you do is entirely to the main character’s benefit. However, maybe I’m underestimating people and they actually enjoyed it a lot more than that. Online, though? It seems like people were so let down by not being able to use (or show off) their characters and were put off by the janky technical crap, so it was quickly forgotten.

All that said, multiplayer games and I don’t really “hang”, despite my wish to get along famously. We don’t really understand eachother, so it’s possible that everything I just said is wrong. For what it’s worth, though, you now have my take on it. ;)

Anyway, we didn’t get your take on the second player “Henchman” feature. Just wondering if there is one…