Everything I think has been said but I'll add something.
I got the feeling that they had something much grander in mind, then decided they had already spent too long and too much money, and created the most basic skeleton of an RPG with the concepts they already had.
Just look at that city were Sazh and Vanille go. You can tell that it was MEANT to have different minigames and stuff. But instead you can't do anything but go from point A to point B. I got this feeling all throwout the game. The towns like Hope's town or when Snow is on the beach have nothing to do, but you get the feeling that they were in a beginning designed to be something more.
So yeah, I think they just said: 'fuck this, put a long narrow corridor, throw some concepts of our ideas in, and call it a day'.
No troll is too much for me to handle. I rehabilitate trolls, I train people. I am the Troll Whisperer.
