It already didn't make any sense that us being there in the past wouldn't create a seperate timeline even as a mere shade. The Crystal Tower was explicitly established to create seperate timelines, hell that's the whole reason why it was created the way it was.

And then we just got thrown into a timeloop with no explanation in a story that bend itself over backwards with painfully obvious bullshit excuses like Kairos being a thing and Venat not having any existing reasonable way or means of altering the timeline or even accidentally changing it via butterfly effect.

There is nothing "remarkably consistent" about that.

Quote Originally Posted by Cleretic View Post
We don't exactly know what causes one to happen but not the other
The writers wanted a timeloop in Elpis. That's the reason.

And the reason why they wanted it is cheap - they wanted you to know the real Hydaelyn, the real Meteion, the real Hermes, the real Emet and Hyth, for you to have been there in the real beginning and to have reach beyond the ages. That's the reason. They are not writing characters here with real motivations or worlds with binding internal logic to them that would lead to certain questions being asked about what would happen there, they are writing the warrior of light being awesome and beating up the power of despair because irl covid sucks and they wanted to give you something that's positive. It ended up being shallow for me, it rings hollow, fanfictiony and unexciting and as if the writers didn't really want to write it either.

I get that people care about the story, but don't fall into the trap of caring about it more than the writers and try desperately make it seem better or deeper than it is. It's written by many different people around an obtrusive MMO framework, a brand framework, has to weather inputs from people with differing visions and ideological alignments. It exists to sell a game. It doesn't have to be a quality story. It's remarkable if it manages to be good from time to time.

I enjoy dragonball a lot, doesn't make Toriyama a genius writer who gives two shits about consistency, doesn't make it a quality story.