Since this has come up in a few threads, I actually wanted to make a home for it for every one to discuss their thoughts on what "game mechanics" should be counted and what game mechanics shouldnt be counted.

Part of the reason I made this was both to see peoples thoughts on what is cannon on game Mechanics in ToR, but ALSO wanted to see peoples thoughts on what is cannon as far as game mechanics in other games, like GSF (from ToR) and Game Mechanics in The Jedi Knight trillogy and Empire at War or Force Unleashed.

What is exagurated, what is true, what is Relative, and what is just not cannon.... come on in and discuss.

Edit: personal thought I dont consider player choice to be cannon, thus things like "which class do I take to Planet quest or FP or Ops" I dont consider cannon, thus I dont consider them cannon to the characters. All abilities displayed by a character I consider cannon, HOWEVER I believe they are all "relative" IE Relative to who is around or who they preformed them against. I think the Stock ships in GSF are a good indication of how they are coming out of the assembly line, the "upgrades" are what some pilots MIGHT have done to tweak their preformance, but certainly was not the norm. The effectiveness of the weapons I dont really consider cannon as much as the discriptions of the components.

In Empire at War I feel again Relative is the greatest word to use. The game is meant to give you a "overall War simulator" between the rebels and the Empire, as such I consider most of the units used cannon, but everything else I consider "relative" as in the "strong weak" are good indications but exactly how strong or weak, or how much "tactical health" or "tactical damage" a unit does is just game mechanics, same, of course, with number of cannons on the ship, or number of squads in hangars, though again I also consider that "relative" for example the Empire, Relative to the Rebels had more fighters in their hangars because the rebels fighters didnt always use the hangars as they almost all had Hyper drives, they opperated both along side and independently of their capital ships.

For Force unleashed, I consider the book cannon, and any moment the game differs from the book to be non-cannon

For Jedi Knight Trilogy, again I consider everything relative. The powers exist and the "presets" in a game like Jedi Academy for the Jedi and Sith are a good indication of the average "Jedi and sith classes" of the time, but exact power displays (such as leaping hieght) is all relative to the opponents and characters in the game.

Scripted attacks and cutscenes are canon.

Ok just to clarify what you mean by "cutscenes are canon"

Canon?

or how about

"I heard what everyone's saying about you: you've explored the farthest reaches of the galaxy, you've visited planets I have never even heard of."

Which is what you get if you choose scout.... If you Choose Soldier or Scoundrel, that line is VERY different. Are all of them cannon, or are all of them Non-canon, what was Revan's Cover story?

Is the Dark Side ending Canon, its a cut scene but last I checked it was Non-canon.

"all cutscenes are canon" is a little to broad when you start thinking about it.

I believe they were talking about Force Unleashed specifically when they referred to scripted attacks and cutscenes as being Canon.

You can't really include the video game version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as canon in any way shape or form unless you are referring to a playthrough that is played strictly 100% exactly the way that it was intended to be played by the people who designed the game from a continuity point of view.

This is because Knights of the Old Republic is very much a Role Playing Game where the decisions of the player severely alter the outcome of the game and no two playthroughs are going to be exactly the same, thus no two playthroughs are going to be any more or less canon than the other, which is to say they are not canon.

The only aspect of Knights of the Old Republic that can be considered as canon (and it would be considered Legends as per Disney's new policy I believe) is the aspect that is listed by the developers as having actually occurred and influenced the greater expanded universe.

I believe they were talking about Force Unleashed specifically when they referred to scripted attacks and cutscenes as being Canon.

 

You can't really include the video game version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as canon in any way shape or form unless you are referring to a playthrough that is played strictly 100% exactly the way that it was intended to be played by the people who designed the game from a continuity point of view.

 

This is because Knights of the Old Republic is very much a Role Playing Game where the decisions of the player severely alter the outcome of the game and no two playthroughs are going to be exactly the same, thus no two playthroughs are going to be any more or less canon than the other, which is to say they are not canon.

 

The only aspect of Knights of the Old Republic that can be considered as canon (and it would be considered Legends as per Disney's new policy I believe) is the aspect that is listed by the developers as having actually occurred and influenced the greater expanded universe.

I agree, just he didnt specify. Its not easy to just put a blanket statement like "all cutscenes and scripted fights" with out specifying games you take it for. if you take it for all, then that becomes a very interesting canon you got there. After all there is a lot more games with all kinds of choices and alternate endings and the like.

Even Episode III game has an alternate ending for Anakin defeating Obi-wan.