Cutting Off the Branches: Difference between revisions

** The [[Mass Effect Deception|''Deception'']] cut off some branches for 2 sets of players. The first set are players in the first game, chose any option that allowed the Asari flagship, the ''Destiny Ascension'', to be destroyed, killing the council members, leading to either a human-led council, or an all-human council. The second set of players are those of the following: PC and 360 players without the ''Mass Effect: Genesis'' graphic novel (which is included with the [[PlayStation 3]] version because the first game was never released on that platform, and subsequently available as paid DLC for the other 2 versions) who made complete fresh starts in the second game. Without the graphic novel, the game then assumed you made the worse choices in the first. ''Deception'' also cut off branches for players who saved the council and nominated Anderson as councilor, as during the events of the novel, Anderson re-linquishes his position, and Udina takes over.

* [[Nippon Ichi]] has a history of throwing their game leads as cameos and [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]] of later works, which inevitably throws Road Cones into several of their works. ''[[Disgaea]]'' carries on from the good ending, as does its sequel, ''Disgaea 2''. ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'' uses its normal ending with a female Revya {{spoiler|although Revya's appearance in ''Disgaea 3'' has a nod to the Demon Path in her description}}. ''[[La Pucelle Tactics]]'' uses the [[Nonstandard Game Over]], however. For the most part these choices are understandable, as the less good endings tend to involve character deaths, depression and [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] all around, which would make for poor cameos -- {{spoiler|with the exception apparently being made for Prier, who was apparently deemed better as an Overlord}}.

** And of course the greatest [[Road Cone]] -- [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Asagi]] has canonically been a [[Bonus Boss]] in every game since ''[[Makai Kingdom]]''. [[Butt Monkey|And she always loses.]]

* Done to a depressing extreme in ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldur's Gate II]]''. The game dialogue and set-up tells you ''exactly'' who you travelled with by the end of the first game (Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, Dynaheir and Imoen) and tells you exactly how you behaved (heroically). Needless to say, rationalizing what you are shown and told in the intro level was very difficult if you're getting the [[Old Save Bonus]] from a [[Chaotic Evil]] [[Religion of Evil|Priest of Talos]].

* ''[[Fallout]] 2'' avoids many specifics by taking place in the area just north of the one where ''Fallout 1'' did, and the Vault Dweller's diary that serves as the intro story to the ''Fallout 2'' manual is somewhat vague at certain key plot points (i.e. whether you sided with Killian or Gizmo, saved Necropolis, {{spoiler|or shot the overseer}}), but from what you do learn it seems that canonically the Vault Dweller was a generally heroic figure (i.e. saving Tandi and Shady Sands, which would eventually become the New California Republic). The diary also mentions that party members Dogmeat and Ian died during the course of the adventure, although this is quite likely [[Lampshade Hanging]] of first game's [[Artificial Stupidity|sub-par companion A.I.]] - Dogmeat specifically is mentioned to be incinerated by a force field in the Mariposa military base, which is guaranteed to happen assuming you have him at the party by then and can't pass numerous skill checks to disable the fields for good. Finally, from the appearance of {{spoiler|the massive statue of the Vault Dweller in the NCR square}}, it seems that the vault dweller was male.

* Similarly, ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' avoids references to ''[[Fallout 3]]'' by setting it on the other side of the country. ''New Vegas'' does have a few references to events in ''Fallout 2'', however: The Chosen One helped Vault 15 integrate with the NCR (hence why they're expanding into Arizona) and left Tandi alive. References to a very wasteland-accustomed "Mr. Bishop" also implies that The Chosen One was male and slept with one of the Bishops, but the ending that usually comes from that scenario is averted since the Wright family is apparently in control of New Reno, having out-competed the Mordinos and Salvatores. However according to New Vegas, Moira Brown completed the Wasteland Survival Guide with a fair amount of success since it's available as an item that boosts the Survival skill.

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Thracia 776'', the midquel to ''Geneaology of the Holy War'' canonizes Levin/Fury, whereas in the first game you could choose between her and two other girls. (Well, technically six other girls but since only Fury, Sylvia and Tiltyu's sons can use Holsety there's no point in the other four.)

** On the other hand, they averted this with Lachesis by implying [[Really Gets Around|BOTH]] her predistined pairings were canon. (i.e. Nanna's father is Fin and Delmud's father is Beowulf)

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

* Due to being an online series, [[Red vs. Blue]] : The Bloodgulch Chronicles was able to be a rare non-video game example of this trope. The final episode had 3 different endings (4 more were added in the DVD). When the series continued into Reconstruction, one of them was deemed canon. However, it was obvious which one was the real ending because none of the other 6 endings would work in a sequel. {{spoiler|In 4 of them, [[Kill'Em All|everybody dies]] and the other two reveal the series to have been [[All Just a Dream]] (while also killing off either Grif or the entire Blue team respectively)}}.

* Averted in ''[[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]]''.

** ''[[Pokémon Ranger]]'' also cuts off the branch for Kate in the third game.