MSQ

[Tommara]

Stop thinking of it like "an obstacle at the end of the MSQ", because it is part of the MSQ. There is pre-credits MSQ and there is post-credits MSQ. It's a serialised story and if you arrive late, you need to catch up.

And from the perspective of someone who enjoys the story, adding that many fluffy optional quests that can't drive the main plot forward and can't be referenced later (except in further side stories) would not be a benefit.

Additionally, if they can't tell this story across the post-credits phase, they're just going to have to stuff it into the pre-credits phase and make that even longer.

Unless you pay to skip it all.