I don't know if it was so much rushing but just a poor implementation of it in the first place.

Go back and watch the videos from GDC in February. What they outlined in the conference was exactly like how it was put in the game.

Could it probably be done differently and better? Yes

Was it a last minute feature that was rushed into the game? No

Yes a lot of the disappointment can be laid at the feet of Peter & Lionhead for not claifying further but I don't think it's a case of overhyping or overpromising things that aren't in the game.

If the co-op wasn't rushed there wouldn't have been a rush to get it out on a patch on launch day, just annother snippet:

"Fable 2 players are having issues with freezing, according to a post on the Lionhead Community forums. Several users have reported the game or Xbox 360 system needing to be restarted due to freezing during play. Oddly, the problem doesn't seem to come at any one particular time or set of circumstances. Some users have claimed it freezed as soon as the game started, others after 3 or more hours of play.

One thing those experiencing the issues do claim to have in common is the patch that enables online co-op. Those playing without the day one patch have seemingly avoided the problems, and some of those who have had the issues are said to have solved it by clearing the Xbox 360 cache and neglecting to redownload the patch. If that's too much trouble, some users have claimed that simply turning the multiplayer Orbs off fixed the issue. These methods aren't foolproof, of course, as we're not sure what is causing the issue without official word. We've contacted Microsoft, but haven't heard back yet. We'll keep you posted as we learn more. "

It's a rushed job with bugs, if he had delayed the game he would have had everything in order.

Oh well...If the bugs are introduced by the online co-op patch then it's nothing a revised patch can't fix lol

It's a sad day when consumers start letting stuff go because it can be patched in later.....

Definately. It pissed me off with Oblivion (PC), and it would piss me off with Fable 2.

Always test thoroughly before release i was always taught.

What date did the patch have to be released by?  I agree that multiplayer could have been better, but I'm not sure I understand why exactly you are saying this was rushed.

The way i understand it is that by the time the game had to go to print they didn't have the online enabled properly yet, so they wanted to get the patch out on release day or as close to that as possible so as not to annoy too many people.

It went gold before all the features they intended the game to have was actually coded. Then they patched it, sure it wass a day 1 patch but obviously it has bugs in it currently. There shouldn't have been an online co-op patch at all, good developers just push back release dates rather than releasing unfinished products, Molyneux isn't one of them.

Having played a short stint in multiplayer mode, I agree with Mielke's comments from the 1up review; basically it's cool that you can earn gold and experince while playing with a buddy, but sucks that you can't go across as your own character. 

I don't know that they are ever going to be able to allow you to come across as your own character though, so I'm not sure that this is a) a good reason to say the patch (or game) was rushed or b) really impacts the quality of a game that has, for all other aspects, been rated as exemplary.

Did you read the part where the patch causes game freezing? I haven't encountered it but apparently plenty do. Apparently it's caused by the patch.