At this point our time at Lionhead is drawing to a close and the day ends, as it began, with Molyneux. Fable II’s development period is the final topic of conversation: “I’ve learned a hell of a lot as a designer. I came out of Fable in a pretty desperate position with the PR and the hype almost getting out of control, and there was this…” Problem? “I didn’t think people would care about acorns growing into oak trees! And that was never meant to… it was a feature we had in the game and we could do it but it was an insane, stupid feature and it took up so much time, and I cut it in the blink of an eye. And that became such a focal… such a… that really fucked what people thought of Lionhead. And me and the way I talk to the press.”

It’s a situation about which Molyneux may have become obsessive. Tellingly, it’s the only section of the interview in which he curses. “I felt I had to stop making games that were just a collection of interesting features that people like talking about and journalists like writing about but actually, when you get down to playing, it is just that – a mad collection of little fucking features that don’t actually, truly, fit together in any way. What it is, is learning that I’m not making Populous any more where the story didn’t matter a jot. Those games were about the core gameplay and that carried the whole game: Populous was 500 levels – you went from one to 500 and that’s it, that’s the game. We are making entertainment now, and entertainment is all about how you feel at the last word of this story. I had to realise as a designer that I was making things to entertain people and that story and drama and memorable moments in a game are as important as ambient orbs and crime systems and getting married and having kids. Perhaps far more important.”

It’s tempting fate to end by saying that Fable II looks like it might be the game Lionhead has always threatened. “We finished Fable with so many ideas for stuff we could go on to do, and now we feel we’ve realised a lot of that – it’s all come together,” concludes Copley. “We’ve really worked on our story, and I think that’s the major step forward and why we’re all so much happier with Fable II.”

The overriding impression we’re left with? It’s not the story, or the graveyards, or the morphing, or the reactions of the NPCs, or the dancing, or the combat, or the vistas, or the dog, or the monsters, or the dialogue, or the minigames, or the co-op, or the swords, or the magic, or the meadows, or the buildings, or the expressions, or the crannies, or the guns. All of those things have their place, but the one thing that really leaves a mark is a stark image. It’s just a little bar being reduced in size. It’s something that, after everyone’s played it, will become a new milestone for how games make their choices, and indeed their stories, matter. It’s as simple as beginning to hit the player where it hurts. It looks like Lionhead has. And what do you know: it always was as simple as making sure that every choice has a consequence.