This thread makes me think of the Louisoix cutscene in Turn 12 of Coil where you get to see what he really did to Bahamut at Carteneau. Usually stuff they keep as side story content between main story patches or in savage level raids is the kinda stuff that makes for a good treat to make up for the difficulty. I wish they'd stuck to that method.

Also, more on topic, as others have said it's only because they are going to make an upcoming story beat rely on a story beat from the sidequest that involved the raids. Gotta crawl before you can walk and all that.