The coppied Factory vs SHB canon

[Mixt]

I just assume we had help in Ala Mhigo up until the second boss, then INITIATING SOUL EXTRACTION! happened, and the WOL was the only one in the group who could get their soul back in their body.

So everything from the second half of the second boss and onwards was solo, due to the rest of the strike team getting soul yoinked.

[Alleo]

I guess that could have happened too and at least would make more sense. Because why would Zenos see us as his equal if we only defeated him with others. I use the same view on Gaius and Ultima in the MSQ dungeon. We go into it with others but at some point they might have split from us because it got too dangerous. Or they died in the fire at the end (since we only have one mount) and nobody cared. :')

[Jandor]

Zenos has a pretty warped view of the world, he might view your party the same way he views his katanas. Just weapons that the WoL utilized excellently, and just like his own katanas, nowhere near as strong in someone else's hands.

I also don't think it's required that Zenos views us as purely his martial equal, we all forgetting he was fine with possessing a primal in order to fight us?
Zenos doesn't care about fair fights, just good fights. Don't think it really matters to him whether we provide a good fight by getting personally stronger, or by leading the combined forces of four nations into his castle. We've proven we can beat him either way.

[LineageRazor]

Zenos has a pretty warped view of the world, he might view your party the same way he views his katanas. Just weapons that the WoL utilized excellently, and just like his own katanas, nowhere near as strong in someone else's hands.

This, exactly. Zenos's backstory makes it clear that any strategy that brings victory is a valid one. If there's something he can't defeat, he'll find a way, fair or foul, to reach victory. He expects exactly the same of his beloved rival.

Zenos is a man for whom the rank and file are as wheat before the thresher. the fact that we were able to bring three "lesser combatants" to our fight, and commanded them well enough that Zenos couldn't lay them low in an instant, is a testament to our skill as a leader, one of many skills that make us the worthy rival he sees.

[Stepjam]

The scions are all kinda busy atm with their own things.

[Stepjam]

That was meant to be a reply to an earlier post, now it looks like a nonsequitor
Oops

[Iscah]

That was meant to be a reply to an earlier post, now it looks like a nonsequitor
Oops

You need to click "reply with quote" if you're responding to a post. "Reply" does nothing to link your post to the other one; I'm not really sure why it's an option.

You can edit the quote in later - go to the post, "reply with quote" to get it, cut and paste it into your original post.

[Enkidoh]

Okay so the 2nd Lore book doesn't say anything about how our fights with Susano or Lakshmi happened.

The Following are all the ones it does state the WoL soloed.
[i]Haukke,

Which is a contradiction as official artwork released by SE actually shows our old friend Derplander in Haukke Manor fighting succubi with his friends.

Then there is plenty of other art showing multiple party members in other boss battles, raids and dungeons: fighting the Behemoth FATE, fighting Leviathan on the Whorleater, the Final Coil of Bahamut, even Ifrit has artwork depicting multiple fighters at his summoning (although, it is stylized, and how many have the Echo there and are thus not tempered immediately is a good question. ).

So, I'm liable to take what the lorebook says that those fights at least were only fought 'canonically' solo with a grain of salt.

[Kuroka]

Just did ala mhigo with one of my wifes twinks, at least on german Zenos even says smt like "dont gvie up, friends!" when adressing our partie. IMO the "he sees the others as our tools" sounds pretty valid.

[TheMightyMollusk]

even Ifrit has artwork depicting multiple fighters at his summoning (although, it is stylized, and how many have the Echo there and are thus not tempered immediately is a good question. ).

In the particular case of Ifrit, it's mentioned that he gets summoned a lot, and the WoL has canonically fought him at least twice through the main story quests (thrice, if Extreme counts). The likely explanation is that we defeated him solo the first time, then brought backup later when we were told he'd be much stronger.