Cutting Off the Branches: Difference between revisions

In short, [[Cutting Off the Branches]] is when one of the multiple possible endings in a game is considered the [[Canon]] one in a future adaption.

 

 

* Averted with the first ''[[Resident Evil]]'' game. During the events of the game, either Barry survives and Wesker sets off the mansion's self-destruct sequence(if you used Jill as your player character), or Rebecca lives and Wesker's slaughtered by the Tyrant(if you used Chris instead). Future games show that BOTH endings are canon: both Barry and Rebecca survived and Wesker got slaughtered by the Tyrant(so we can assume it was Chris who blew the Tyrant up).

* ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' and its two expansion packs allow for quite a few possibilities between them, but ultimately hints towards one set of events for the Knight-Captain. The main character canonically has to have gotten the good ending for the original campaign in order for references {{spoiler|Ammon Jerro}} made in Mask of the Betrayer to make any sense; likewise, the presence of {{spoiler|One of Many in Storms of Zehir and some of its allusions imply that the character then succumbed to the spirit eater and became evil, killing Okku and rampaging across Rasheman.}}

** The [[Original Generation]] series also tends to run into a [[Road Cone]] when characters and storylines from the various games in the franchise appear. Sometimes, Banpresto chooses one over the other, but more often, they [[Take a Third Option]]:

*** OG1 retains Kusuha and Bullet's Alpha portraits and personalities, but used the other six of the eight possible Alpha protagonists by means of [[Divergent Character Evolution]]. Kusuha and Bullet are placed in their [[Super Robot]] Alpha roles (as a [[Foreshadowing]] of their Alpha story in OG), while another pair (Ryoto Hikawa and Rio Mei Long) are given the [[Real Robot]] Alpha route (which originally negates the [[Super Robot]] [[Road Cone]] in Alpha, concerning the fate of the Choukijin). The third pair (Tasuku Shinguji and Leona Garstein) are given all-new original robots never seen in SRW before, with the fourth and final pair (Yuuki Jaggar and Ricarla Borgnine) being introduced in OG2 using existing robots from [[Super Robot Wars Advance]]. OG1 itself possessed a very minor [[Road Cone]]: the choice to play as either Ryusei Date or Kyosuke Nanbu as the protagonist. The first halves of each story are completely separate, but canonical to each other. The second half is shared, with a few slight differences. Unfortunately, when OG2 is released, the second game carries on with Ryusei's version of the second half, making Kyosuke's OG1 latter half [[Canon Dis Continuity]].

* ''[[Colony Wars]]'' was a Space Sim that had 5 possible endings, the best being one where [[The Empire]] was thoroughly defeated by [[La Résistance]] and peace was made throughout the 5 systems, too bad that doesn't make for a good sequel. So instead, the canonical ending was the ending where [[La Résistance]] beat [[The Empire]] back to the solar system but were unable to take Earth and instead had to settle on destroying the only star gate our of the system so that the Empire was trapped in the Solar System with scarce resources until they could build a new star gate generations later.

* The original ''[[Secret of Monkey Island]]'' had two slightly different end paths, neither of which had a practical effect on the actual endgame: Either you sail back home from Monkey Island with your ship and crew, or you "accidentally" sink their ship and ride home with Herman Toothrot, the local hermit. Even though sinking your ship was an obscure action to begin with, that ending was made canon in the fourth game in the series, where Guybrush's former crewmates, now back home on Méleè island, go out of their way to avoid him because he left them stranded on Monkey Island.

** ''Dragon Age: Asunder'', a novel bridging parts two and three, seems to establish that a) Shale was canonically freed and has discovered her origins, b) both Wynne and Shale have been taken to fight the Archdemon. This, in turn, implies that {{spoiler|the Warden did not defile the Sacred Ashes or support Branka in using the Anvil of the Void, otherwise s/he would have to kill Wynne and Shale respectively}}.

*** Not necessarily Shale. Long as you don't bring her with you, she won't fight you if you pick Branka over Caridin.

* All [[Chrono Cross (Video Game)|Chrono Cross]] says about its predecessor ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'' is that {{spoiler|all of the main characters died in various horrible ways}}. Also, the game has at least ten endings, and the one that's considered canon wasn't actually put in the game until the [[Updated Rerelease]] for the [[Play Station]]. In that ending, {{spoiler|Dalton takes over Guardia, and the heroes set up the long chain of events that leads into ''Cross''}}.

* Averted in ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver (Video Game)|Pokémon Gold and Silver]]'' where [[Previous Player Character Cameo|Red]] has all three starters ([[Third Option Adaptation|four if you include Yellow's Pikachu]]) and Blue didn't use his. It was however invoked in ''[[Video Game Remake|HeartGold and SoulSilver]]'', cutting off the branch of the female [[Player Character]] from ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue|FireRed and LeafGreen]]''.