I did not enjoy Shadowbringer (SPOILERS)

[ProstheticSoul]

"It was deliberately written so the story makes sense with or without completing the Crystal Tower story line"

I deny this assertion with every fiber of my being. Flat out false. Full stop. I just checked my cut scene history, and apparently I had already beaten the Crystal Tower raids. However, let me be brutally candid here--Shadowbringer on the whole dd not make a lick of sense to me anyway, especially concerning the parts involving the Exarch. And if a player hadn't even touched the Crystal Tower sections beforehand the story would have had ZERO emotional weight. Not less--ZERO. Nada, nothing!

As an aside, turns out I did memory hole the entire Crystal Tower saga. That must been one of the sections I completed before the seven-year hiatus. And that would certainly go a long a way to explaining why the big hood reveal amounted to jack and squat with me. That's fair. I will own up to that. But I will stand by my other point concerning optional content. I would even go a step further and state it would be a lot better for everyone involved if Square-Enix would roll out a patch for Shadowbringer for any adventurer just starting the expansion.

Right before the first quest starts there would be a disclaimer that would appear on the screen in big bold letters that would state:
DUDE, IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE THE CRYSTAL TOWER QUEST LINE, THEN JUST DO IT. FOLLOW THAT MIQOTE ALREADY. AND IF YOU HAVE ALREADY FINISHED THE RAIDS, THEN REWATCH ALL OF THE CUT SCENES. YES, ALL OF THEM YOU BIG OAF. THANK ME LATER DUDES AND DUDETTES.
-Yoshi P.

I don't know why I made him talk like he's from Cali but whatever. Anywho, my point is I just got done rewatching all of the Crystal Tower cutscenes, and mostly everything involving the Exarch is NOW starting to line up. Finally. Should have done that ages ago.