I once had a Final Fantasy VII script in the works and I had to cut a lot of the story. One example is that Cloud wouldn't face the Guard Scorpion till much later and the Air Buster had been completely removed. Some dumber things were scrapped like the Chocobo Ranch and distractions like Fort Condor and the Chocobo Race for the group's freedom from Gold Saucer. The WEAPON count was reduced to Sapphire and Diamond and the battles involving Ultima and the events surrounding Cloud's catatonia were scrapped... yeah.