Lore Timeline?

[Jaywalker]

Level 3
All content that came out in a patch "happened" in that patch, even if you didn't do it. All patches are in chronological order. e.g. The Binding Coil of Bahamut was explored after the Praetorium and before the arrival of Elidibus. The Labyrinth of the Ancients was explored between the arrival of Elidibus and the summoning of Leviathan. The Second Coil of Bahamut was explored around the same time as Leviathan appeared, but before the Ramuh debacle, around the same time Syrcus Tower was explored. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I think there's some evidence of this. Went back to hit Coil of Bahamut after MSQ everyone-is-in-a-coma situation. Besides the fact that various characters were present when technically they should have been totally unconscious, the way dynamics and references play out indicates that while the player is messing with order the event technically took place way earlier.

I don't mind playing out of order one bit, and some wiggle room is cool. But it would be nice if there was a bit of clarification imo haha.

Also, disclaimer--I don't have the lore books. I googled around to check but not much clarity.

[Anonymoose]

I think there's some evidence of this.

I think so, too. I think around the time Nanamo "died" and Estinien joined the MSQ, they just accepted that trying to make excuses for doing things out of order wasn't going to work aside from the occasional spoiler-preventing text-swap flag. Forget Zombie Nanamo showing up to dinner if you do the LV50 CUL quest between 2.5 and 3.0 content, Estinien can be, at the same time, a guy in blue armor who's struggling to resist the Eye so he can kill Nidhogg (DRG LV30-50), and also a guy in red armor who is currently shaped like a shade of Nidhogg, who is already dead.

It's passive confirmation that that tier of the hierarchy exists loosely in practice, but not having a firm hand was a major contributing factor to the Darnus debacle, lol.