Remember Noah?

[LystAP]

That's not how the game handles optional quests though - there will never be a version of events where someone else found her first. If they were ever going to build on it, we personally have to first go through the quest where we meet her and learn her importance - essentially stepping back in time to 2.5 as we do so.

It's the same logic why the Crystal Tower became required for 5.3 - it needs certain events to have happened first so the plot makes sense, and you are the person who needs to make them happen.

(I'm not sure how the timing of Noah possessing Koh is relevant either way - of course it happened prior to us meeting her, even if we did it immediately after the tower was sealed at the end of the main quest line.)

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 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. Noah is an important figure for Raha and the Crystal Tower, and even if they do not introduce her in 5.XX, as long as we have Raha, there's always a chance she'll appear.

At least I hope SE hadn't forgotten about her, she is in their lorebook. Maybe we need a red shirt guy to ask about it.

[Iscah]

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.

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.

[LystAP]

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.

If I recall the quest basically consists of the questgiver telling you to look for Koh, and once you found Koh in the Toll, she basically reveals herself as Noah and starts her introduction. There's no chain or cutscene other than her introduction. Nothing that couldn't be given after the fact.

They also referenced her lute as well. Right in Shadowbringers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsopl8EcOlk


They also went through the trouble of giving her that background snippet in the lorebook. But I guess we'll see.