Quote Originally Posted by vetch View Post
Story points like what? All the Crystal Tower info is in the same boat as Estinien's as far as I remember, and I really don't mind if five more summary paragraphs get added to ShB.
During the Eden storyline we need to summon a creature of darkness to help offset all the light so we pick the Cloud of Darkness. Yes, this is optional content but it still references back to it and wouldn't make much sense if we summoned her with no knowledge as to who she is.

Post-Endwalker content has us returning the Void and assumes this isn't our first time there and already know what to expect upon returning.

Xande, Cloud of Darkness and the Allagan Empire are the reason why Azdaja is even stuck in the Void.

Amon, Xande's servant (and minor boss in Syrcus Tower) plays a major role as Fandaniel and causing the Final Days to return. This could be explained with some extra dialogue since the original boss is just a clone, but still helps to serve as a connection to the past.

We'll likely be going to Meracydia in a future expansion and the Crystal Tower and the fact that we were the ones that killed its greatest past enemies will likely have some relevance. At some point it just becomes annoying and time consuming to write branching dialogue and cutscenes all the time all due whether or not the player did a side quest.

I could probably find more examples of how they would need to develop branching dialogue/cutscenes and trying to avoid plotholes all because of Crystal Tower being optional but I'm lazy.