If you want to create a sequel to a game that has multiple endings you are always going to be forced to choose which one you want to follow. This has never bothered me because I have always understood the logic behind it. By always I mean since around the time that warcraft 2 came out which was the first real game that I played with an ongoing story and a sequel.
Interestingly enough, KOTOR II, the sequel to the game the OP played through, managed to incorporate all of the game's previous endings by allowing the player to choose what happened at the start of the game.
Personally, I think if you're going to go to the effort of allowing player choice in such fundamental things like character gender, apearance, and even how the story turns out, then the least you can do is try to stay true to that. Non-linearity isn't just a game mechanic, it's a stylistic choice. You, the developer, have decided to allow the player to say "I'm going to choose who this character is, what they do, and why they do it."
If you then turn around and say "Actually, the correct way to play through was this certain path here, then not only have you locked out everyone who followed a different path through the game, you've actually undermined the very spirit of what the game was about in the first place. Dungeon Masters don't start new D&D sessions by saying "Everything players X&Y did last session never happened."
Interesting factoid- it's impossible to play a 'canon' playthrough of KOTOR II. Lucasarts decided that 'canonically', the Exile was female, lightside, and accompanied by both the Disciple and the Handmaiden. Except, the Handmaiden only joins your party if you're playing the Exile as a male character. Therefore, unless you're willing to mod the game, it's completely impossible for you to play through the story as it actually happened, despite the game being the story in the first place.
This is why debates of 'canon' annoy me, and I just pick and choose what to believe happened. Regarding The Old Republic: Revan, for instance:
I refuse to acknowledge the events of the novel as what actually happened. Not only because the novel is a catastrophuck of bad writing decisions, but because the characters in the novel are completely and totally removed from my experiences of the game.
In KOTOR 1, I played Revan as an unrepentent bad guy who delighted in being evil, and took back his title of Sith Lord from Malak. In KOTOR 2, I played the Exile as a significantly more light-sided male named Rail Hanaka.
I have no relation to 'Meetra Surik' (h God, how I hate that name). She's a character who is completely divorced from my experiences of KOTOR II, and I simply cannot project my character and his motivations onto her. Rail Hanaka was a cynical old soldier who had a serious thing for the Handmaiden, and a Jedi who fought for the greater good as a Jedi without becoming hopelessly naive about the Light Side/Dark Side of the Force. The character in the novel has absolutely nothing in common with that, so I simply cannot see the novel as being an explanation of what happened to my character.
...yes Lucasart, take that as a not-so-subtle hint that I'm still waiting for a proper KOTOR 3
Mass Effect 2 did something simular including the ability to import your saved game from 1 in order that the decision you made would be part of the new story.
The problems is when you do it this way, you have to make the second games story mostly independent of the first game or you have to have set it up so the players choices don't realy effect the outcome only minor parts of the story.
It doesn?t really bother me all that much. It?s annoying in an RPG series adn its nice if they try and keep it open but the only time it would really piss me off is if it?s an rpg and the same character thru multiple games. Like if mass effect had one of the endings of the first game cannon so it happened even if you didn?t do that whith your imported save. Material outside the games I don't particularly care about.
Games like Bioshock I really don't give a shit if there is cannon ending, in fact it?s probably better if there is one.
Mass Effect 2 did something simular including the ability to import your saved game from 1 in order that the decision you made would be part of the new story.
The problems is when you do it this way, you have to make the second games story mostly independent of the first game or you have to have set it up so the players choices don't realy effect the outcome only minor parts of the story.
Well, the perfect way to handle it would be to have essentially different stories depending on all the choices you made during the previous game.
But, that's probably way out of the scope of possibilities for now, maybe when we can cram 3 RPGs worth of game on one disc it'll be a possibility.
As for canon endings, eh I don't really mind them. I would prefer some of the choices I made in previous game to count for something.
Well, it's kinda annoying how in skyrim you know next to nothing about your oblivion character. Elder scrolls refuses to tell you anything about your old character and it annoys canon nerds like me.
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