Quote Originally Posted by LystAP View Post
We've had similar instances in how the game handles Alexander and Omega, and the Crystal Tower prior to the patch requiring it - especially how we would respond to Nero depending on if we complete the tower chain or not
It's not quite the same situation.

The use of CT/Alexander/Omega in Shadowbringers is a special case because of the time travel plot. If you haven't done them, it can be handwaved as something you did after the current point in time but prior to (in that timeline) the Eighth Calamity, and the script changes accordingly to have the Exarch say that the WoL hasn't met his past self yet. (Note that if you do go and play them later, they're not happening "now" but at their intended point in the story, and any future rewatches of the cutscene will update to match your current quest status.)

That changes in 5.3 because CT is no longer a thing that can happen "later". The plot requires present-day G'raha to be asleep in the tower, therefore you must first do the quest that puts him in there. The game will not assume that it already happened.


Nero could make his (re)appearance in post-HW MSQ with or without completion of CT because his physical state at the start of that story is the same as at the end, so someone who hasn't done it won't notice anything amiss with the sequence of events. Additionally, the game scripts it carefully to allow for the variation. He introduces himself not to you personally but to the entire meeting, where most of the others don't know him. Cid has one line that changes according to whether you've completed CT or not; everything else plays out the same and can make sense either way.


Quote Originally Posted by LystAP View Post
The timing matters since Crystal Tower is required now, which means technically, SE can include Noah and Koh in the plot as all the requirements for her to appear would have already been fulfilled.
All requirements except actually doing the quest where we first meet her. It's a short quest, but one that I think delivers too much critical information to wave over if you want to involve her in the plot specifically because of we learn about her in that quest.

It could maybe be worked around if Raha can meet her separately now, provide most of the information and reduce our input to a simple "we've met" or "nice to meet you". But it would still be a little wobbly.