there are a few things you people are forgetting that proves that origins is set in a timeline before the events of 1 and 2. 1) that the first character you meet is a teenage farah when she joins your party in collusia. 2) you meet the older one in brightstone after some gameplay and she has no memory of who she is or how she got there. the two farahs meet and think they are sisters and not the same person from alternate timelines. 3) in 1 and 2 farah has 2 fully grown adult age daughters and the horse son who is probably older than the girls. since the first character that joins your party is the teenage farah, she cant have any of this yet.
1) yes, that's the farah from THAT universe/timeline... she has NOTHING to do with old farah nor Opala, those two came from the "main" timeline, right after LOO2.
2) old Farah remembers perfectly why is she there and who she is, she is there to negotiate for aid in the war. What she doesn't remember is ever being in bright stone before, and she doesn't recognize herself because, of course, if you don't know you traveled to another timeline you don't even entertain the thought that the person standing right on front of you is yourself. this is to show that this game we are playing is NOT a prequel, but an alternate timeline. I believe that what is happening is that neither Farah nor Opala know they have been transported to a new timeline, they just think they have been transported to another place.
3) OOOOH! i see the confusion! you think that the farah we know from 1 and 2 it's the same farah than the one we know!
what happened was that Opala and Farah after the events of LOQO2 traveled to another "universe" using murdock's device to ask fro help for an incoming war (teased at the end of LOQO2) and they ended up in another timeline set in the past and in another place, where all the events of this game are happening, but neither of them know yet that they are in a different timeline, they just think they traveled to a new place.
Is as if you crossed a portal, ended up in 2006 Paris (for example) and you found a young millionaire version of yourself there: you never been to Paris, you don't ever remember your old self of 2006 being in the same situation as this kid, but he is your equivalent of this timeline.
same here: old Farah traveled to another place where she found a younger version of herself in a situation she never encountered, Young farah is just the equivalent of this timeline set in the past.
in other words: Yes, LOQO origins is set in a timeline PREVIOUS than the main one, but the game takes place in the continuity AFTER LOQO2. Otherwise Old farah, Opala and Osira would not be there.
time travel is confusing as hell in this situation, but i assure you, despite the fact that the game takes place in a timeline that takes place in the past does NOT mean it's a prequel in this situation, it's still a sequel to LOQO2