They didnt decide early on that they were going to cut all the content, if you read the employee 4chan leaks you can see it planned even in the last few months on development to put in alot of areas that weren't included but they just ran out of time. It seems like you are trying to damage control for it.
a) Why are we trusting
4chan of all things?
b) Even the 4chan guy wasn't talking about open-world stuff getting cut, at least not recently. Most of what he'd mentioned -- driving to the Cartanica dungeon, a Shiva dungeon, a short Tenebrae dungeon -- would be completely viable within the current structure, as I've stated repeatedly.
c) There's something really fishy about the idea that a significant amount of content was cut from the completed pre-alpha that they'd finished by the beginning of 2016 considering the fact that the game took up the entirety of a Blu-ray as-is and needed a patch to add in cutscenes that wouldn't fit on the disc. =P
Should they change/tweak the existing story or not is what's fueling debate around the forums and social media sites.
From what I've been reading (I don't participate in other forums), what people mean , and I, when they say "originally intended" could be, as you said, reinstating the Shiva dungeon or the drive to Cartanica.
So expansions, but not changing what's already there.
Of course you have the obnoxious ones who rudely want more of everything, even if it doesn't fit the main scenario.
Shiva, Cartanica and even Altissia demands (as in Noctis and co. Are able to venture into the rest of the other areas on the Altissia map) are reasonable in that no major narrative changes need to be made, only added.
Cartanica is the city, not the dungeon.
Adding that actually would require narrative changes. But, I agree, these three things could be worked into the game as it presently exists without causing problems. Heck, we might actually be getting more of Altissia depending on how they implement the festival -- I could see them using a new area for that or offering the gondola to the church where Luna gave her speech if they need big open spaces.
The one scenario that would be difficult to implement is making Tenebrae explorable.
I've seen quite a lot of demand for it, and frankly I'm not sure how the dev team can go about adding it in without changing the scenario that's already in the game.
Tenebrae burns when we arrive. The only way I can see it being added is it isn't burning when we get there, but after. So Noctis and co. Are right in the thick of the battle and witness the aftermath as it happens.
Insomnia is another one, although it's a plus not a necessity. Very difficult to add.
The only way I can see Tenebrae and Insomnia being added into the game without affecting the main narrative is similar to what they did with the Platinum demo.
Noctis can revisit his past memories in a dream state, and we play through the dream state to learn more.
Tenebrae could be when he was a child and was running around and playing with Luna. Or even when he was in a wheelchair.
Insomnia you can relive scenarios where you bond with the guys and learn more about them.
All in all, these additions seem quite difficult to add in, with a lot of work involved even for the reasonable scenarios.
I would love a DLC focused on Noct and Luna as kids, even if the amount of work required means it has to be a paid DLC. That seems like the best way by far to allow for exploration of Tenebrae. Then they could just add in hooks when you get there in the story so you can choose to play it in-line if you have it.
Insomnia is less important. More bonding with the guys would be nice, but it'd be easier to do that through adding tours and maybe cutscene flashbacks. =P If the co-op DLC takes place in the World of Ruin, maybe they could add an expanded Insomnia map, though. *shrugs*
He's not trying to damage control.
More like trying to engage in conversation and discuss his perspective as well as taking into account what I said.
She.
