Quote Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf View Post
Imagine if every single side quest is dated and slotted into fixed points in the main story. That would be one of the unintended effects of making clear the passsage of time in the game.
While it's not forced on you, there are actually several clear indications that sidequests and job quests are intended to take place alongside MSQ of the same level (with the obvious exception of the Lv30-50 quests for Heavensward jobs). A few examples I can think of right now: a Lv15 sidequest chain around Sastasha concludes with dialogue indicating you're just about to go into the caves and confront the pirates. Lv28 quests around Fallgourd Float make reference to the recent sightings of the 'masked man' you're looking for when you go there in the lead-up to Haukke Manor. Lv49 quests in Northern Thanalan are taking place in the leadup to storming Castrum Meridianum. The ARR dragoon questline is undoubtably pre-Heavensward, and the monk questline is pre-Stormblood.

Obviously we take in the game's timeline in very different ways - I look at all these quests and see puzzle pieces that were intended to fit together in a certain way, even if I picked them up out of order, so I need to look at them all and understand the whole picture. If I complete things out of order, that's now "how it happened for me", it means I need to file those events into the point in the MSQ where they happened. eg. I haven't finished the Binding Coil yet - but when I do, it still will have taken place in ARR and not Stormblood.