I honestly like Apollo as a character. He just needed a game entirely to himself so he could develop and not be in Phoenix's shadow.
Of course, it'd be hard to continue his arc at this point if you are intent on ignoring all that the first game did unless you just want to do a reboot or something.
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"Why must we always choose between certain death and SuperNiceDog?"
"I'm in an epic battle to the death, FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF!"