Hey everyone, just had a quick question...
When the games decided to make two unique storylines for Normal Mode and Hard Mode respectively, did you see the Normal Mode, or the Hard Mode as canon?
I have a feeling that Hard Mode is canon just based off a few instances that would make sense, but can't say for sure.
Pre-2015, the general assumption this wiki (and most people, really) would use is that Hard Mode was canon since it features more story content, among other things. The problem is that there are a number of inconsistencies if one were to take Hard Mode as canon. In For Answer, for example, Ending 1 shows Lillium victorious over PQ -- this is impossible since PQ is killed by Strayed way earlier in Hard Mode. Another is Joshua O'Brien being "[Anatolia's] man" (according to Emil Gustav); taking Hard Mode as canon means that their so-called friend helped them only once ("Sol Dios") and in that mission, he's taken quick, which would negate the whole "together, Anatolia's merc and Joshua were unstoppable" (paraphrased).
People are free to choose what story they prefer, but I'd say that both modes are canon, sorta like how you can't take every For Answer League mission in one playthrough. The wiki should just use tabber to list separate Normal Mode and Hard Mode events (like in the biography section for Anatolia's Mercenary).
Ahh, you've got some excellent points there WiKiAn! One of the threads that led me towards Hard Mode was in Marche Au Supplice where we see Leonhardt and Null being destroyed. I remembered that in For Answer, Gerald Gendlin took on the Noblesse Oblige role suggesting that Leonhardt had been killed-in-action previously. But at the same time, there are those inconsistencies which suggest that neither should take priority over the other.
Moving forward, I'm going to make sure to use that tabber to separate what goes on between the two game modes for the sake of biographies, etc. When it comes to current Lynx status (in text-boxes), I'll just refer to it as determinant when it's a bit unclear.
