While i agree that having [spoiler]the 4 people from the bar make appearence in the final dungeon[/spoiler] did seem out of place and maybe even tacked on removing the villagers subplots might have left the game feeling underpopulated and too linear. Thats not to say i really cared for their stories but were needed to flesh out the game. I wonder if playing through it on the gamecube made the final battle easier. It never seemed all that difficult or frustrating to me.